Jeff Strong - Home Recording For Dummies

You can choose from numerous music-production software programs. In this section, I include some free ones, full-featured, professional-level ones, and online collaboration-friendly ones. I’m sure at least one of these will meet your needs.

There is a huge amount of free audio recording programs available if you are on a tight budget. Here are a few I recommend:

Audacity: Audacity is the most popular free multi-track recording program. It is compatible with Windows, Mac, and Linux computers.

GarageBand: GarageBand is extremely easy to use. It is only available for Macs, but it’s so popular I can’t not include it in this list.

Pro Tools First: This is a free version of one the most popular and powerful professional programs. You are limited to 16 tracks and four inputs, which may be plenty, depending on your music. It can be used with both Windows and Mac computers.

For many people, making music is a collaborative process. You can find a variety of websites online that make this process easy with full-featured recording programs and active communities of artists you can connect with. Here are some popular options (you can find many more with an Internet search):

BandLab: BandLab is a free and is compatible with Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.

Soundtrap: Soundtrap has several pricing tiers, including a free tier. It is compatible with Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android devices.

Pro Tools: Avid has made it easy for you to collaborate with Pro Tools software on Mac and Windows. There is no extra cost to use the tool. All you need to do is enable collaboration in your Pro Tools session.

Though there are numerous high-quality audio recording programs, some have been around long enough and used by enough professionals that they stand out. Here are a handful of companies that make some of the best:

Apple: Makes Logic Pro Audio and GarageBand. These programs run only on Mac systems. Logic Pro X has been around for a while and is one of the top programs available. The downside is that it’s for Macs only. Like all the programs, Logic has its way of working — some people like it, while others have a hard time grasping the way the user interface functions. (I love it.)

Avid: Makes Pro Tools, Pro Tools HD and HDX, and Pro Tools First. These programs work on both Mac and PC systems. Avid’s Pro Tools HD and HDX systems are arguably the standard for digital audio in pro studios, although many pro studios are using any one (or more) of the other programs I list in this section.

Mark of the Unicorn: Makes Digital Performer. This program runs only on a Mac up to version 10, and now works on Windows as well. Digital Performer is a powerful program that does MIDI and audio equally well. One advantage of this program is that Mark of the Unicorn makes very good audio interfaces that are designed to work well with its software. You end up with a better chance of having a stable system.

Steinberg: Makes Cubase, Cubasis, Nuendo, and WaveLab. These programs run on both Mac and PC platforms. Nuendo is Steinberg’s best program, and it’s excellent for recording audio. Nuendo isn’t very strong in MIDI sequencing, so if this feature is important to you, this may not be the best program to use. In that case, if you like the Steinberg line, you may want to try Cubase, which is a great program that’s on par with Logic and the others, and is stronger in MIDI sequencing than Nuendo.

Most of these manufacturers offer program demos that you can download for free to see whether you like them. These demos work just like the full versions except that you generally can’t save or print your work.

Some of these manufacturers also make audio-interface/sound-card hardware optimized for their systems; this hardware can generally work on other systems (check with the manufacturer to make sure). You may find an easy and great-sounding solution by choosing a software and hardware setup from a single manufacturer. If you do, you’re likely to have fewer compatibility problems.

Integrated mixers/recorders/effects processors were once quite common (computer-based systems have overtaken them in the last few years). Cassette porta-studios, first introduced in the 1970s, enabled the home recordist to compose music at home without spending a fortune on equipment. But it wasn’t until the Roland VS-880 came out in 1997 that great-quality recordings could be made at home using a single piece of equipment. Okay, you still needed an instrument and microphone to plug into it, but everything else fit into this one little box, which is now referred to as a studio-in-a-box system.

One of the biggest advantages of using a SIAB system is that you don’t need to be computer literate — just turn it on and start to record. SIAB systems are also portable — you can take them almost anywhere to record, so you’re not limited to your studio room. (You can get a view of an SIAB system in Figure 2-5.) Think about this for a second: If you want a big drum sound and all you have is a small converted bedroom for a studio, you can load up your SIAB system, a few microphones, and your drummer’s drum set (don’t forget the drummer) and go to an empty warehouse, gymnasium, or church, for example. (Of course, you can do this with a laptop computer system, too, but it’ll cost you more.) In fact, with many of these recorders you don’t even need to have electricity to do this. Some of these recorders draw very little power and can operate on batteries.

Early versions of SIAB systems were somewhat limited in what they offered and weren’t very user-friendly when it came to sharing files between systems. The newer generation of SIAB systems is being designed to import and export audio files in formats that you can open on other manufacturers’ recorders, freeing you to transfer files between different systems.

Many of the major recording manufacturers make SIAB systems. Check out these companies and compare the specifications of each unit:

TASCAM: TASCAM has been in the home recording market for a long time, first with cassette porta-studios in the 1970s and now with digital systems. You can find several units, including the DP-005 six-track recorder, which records at 16 bits, and the DP-32SD 32-track recorder, which records in 24 bits.

Zoom: Zoom is a relative newcomer to the SIAB market and offers innovative solutions that can be used as a stand-alone studio, computer audio interface, and computer software controller. Zoom’s two recording systems include the R16 and R24, 16- and 24-track units, respectively. They both record in both 16 and 24 bits and integrate seamlessly with a computer. This means you can record on location and connect to a computer to overdub and/or mix.

FIGURE 2-5:A studio-in-a-box system contains everything you need to make great recordings.

Smartphones and tablet computers are gaining ground, both in the number of people using them and in their ability to be used for creating music. As recently as a couple years ago, when I last updated this book, you couldn’t do much with your phone or tablet. Perhaps you could record a couple tracks at 16 bits or maybe mix tracks in other software within your computer with a mixer app, but that was about it. Nowadays, you have quite a few ways you can use a smartphone or tablet to record and mix music, though your options are still mainly limited to Apple devices.