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We would love to hear
from you. Write to us at
mcsn_05@yahoo.com
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about recording...
Now that you've written your song/s, the next step would be to make a recording so that others can hear it. If you have written enough songs to make an album, and have the resources to do so, go ahead and have your album produced by a professional producer who has the experience and all the gear needed to make your album sound professional. No home recording can ever beat that! Before you do that though, I would advice you to read Pastor Wah Lok's article
on "Recording
and Marketing an Album".
For a list of local Christian Producers and Professional Recording Studios,
click
here.
home recording...
This section is intended to help you make a simple recording of your song(s) so you can share it with others online. And if you are already doing that, please go straight on to the next section, "Sharing Your Songs". It may take a little more than hard work and frustration, at some point, but let me assure you that it'll be more than worth it. Let's face it, I've done it for8 years and still do not know half of what I need to know. However, this is an untrained person telling you it's possible, for the purpose I've stated above. The links on this page are a definite must read. They will provide you with the technical know-hows. And of course, you learn as you go along.
I remember the days when we would place a cassette player with an inbuilt mic on top of the piano, hit the record and play button, and start recording, praying that we won't make a mistake because then we would have to stop, rewind the cassette, and start all over again. Once we've made a decent enough recording, we begin the process of dubbing to make enough copies to pass around. Believe it or not, this seemingly simple method still works today, assuming that everyone else still has a cassette player to play from!
Whenever the term 'home recording' is mentioned today, more often than not it involves the use of a computer. My experience with it started about 8 years back when a church elder (bless him, Lord!) gave me a set of midi cables. (Back in those days, a set of midi cables costs almost RM100!) I then got a soundcard with midi I/O interface (this is the part where you need to open up your cpu, remove the old useless soundcard, and replace it with the new one), and hooked it up using the midi cables to the synthesizer. With a simple recording software, and a lot of sweat, I managed to make simple accompaniment tracks. I later realized I could record the vocals using an external mic jacked into the mic input of the soundcard. The recording was rather raw, no doubt, but it was an encouraging start. By this time, I'd begun using a software that supported both midi and audio/wave recording. Today, I use a mixer, a better soundcard, a synthesizer with USB midi, a computer, and a good microphone. It's a long, long way from being a professional recording studio, but it works, and I'm able to produce music that the church is more than happy to use for live performances, plus record my songs to be shared online.
getting started...
Ok, so what do you need to get started? It really boils down to how much time and money you are willing to invest. This would be a good time to go browse the links I mentioned earlier. There's a wealth of information out there. Most times, it makes my head spin just to try and understand the technical jargon. If it happens to you, don't give up. May I recommend you start with these sites:
www.pc-music.com,
www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm. The rest are in the links on the right.
Easiest and simplest method (with not very good results, but can hear-lah): use the computer as you would a cassette player. Install a free recording software (choose one that supports audio recording), make sure you have enough hardisk space because the wave files are pretty big, setup your mic, and click record. You can play and sing into one track, or you can record the music first, select a second track and record the vocals, which means the music and vocals will be on separate tracks. You can repeat the process until you're satisfied with what you hear. You then 'bounce' the tracks into one track (sort of like merge the tracks together), and export it in a format of your choice (if you can't decide, choose mp3). I know it's hard to be satisfied with your recording, but hey, give yourself a break. It will sound raw because of the method used, not to mention the noise level picked up in the recording. If you're not satisfied, let's try something a little more challenging.
You have a computer and a synthesizer. You want to try out this magic midi stuff everyone's raving about. Good. If you have not already checked out the sites mentioned earlier, you really need to do so now. These pros have done a good job explaining the details.
What's so great about midi anyway? Well, from a musician's point of view, what took you hours to do years ago, can be done with the click of a button. For example, producing a music score or doing notation is so simple with midi: play the keys on the synthesizer, and the notes will appear on screen. Decide to change the key, and all you need to do is select the notes you want transposed, click transpose, set the value and voila! It's done in a second! (Throw that theory book out the window! Ahh...just joking...) And this is just the beginning. There is so much more. If you do a midi recording, and you make a mistake, no, you do not have to redo the whole recording. Just find the wrong note and correct it on screen. If you play a little out of time, just quantize that section, and it'll correct itself.
Midi recording has its downside (which I will leave you to discover yourself, or read about it elsewhere). You will also need to learn about audio recording using the computer because you need it to record your vocals. Everything you need to know to get started is just a click away, so go ahead and...click...click...
Footnote:
Unfortunately, the task of recording a song is not dependent only on the hardware and gear that you have. There's the other musical aspects that we need to consider when we want to record the songs we've written i.e. music arrangements and form, and if you're adventurous, the backup vocals as well. This can be simple, or not. We hope to be able to give you some tips and provide resources on this soon.
If you would like to
be included in our mailing list, please write to
mcsn_05@yahoo.com.
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