Recording Music

Ever wanted to combine your two passions for music and engineering? Audio engineering is a highly coveted occupation with plenty of demand but stiff competition. If you are interested in getting...

Dolby surround sound is featured in movie theaters and home entertainment systems. While Dolby surround sound comes in a variety of formats and speaker arrangements, the most commonly used version...

If you want to build a home studio or convert an existing room into one, carefully evaluate its acoustics, how vulnerable it will be to sources of noise, and how likely to disturb neighbors. Once...

Your bedroom is a perfect place to set up a home recording studio. Quality recording software includes the ability to sample and eliminate unwanted ambient sound, but it's best to start off with...

Sound engineering refers to the practice of recording, editing and manipulating sound by means of digital or electronic equipment. This multidisciplinary field is utilized in numerous industries,...

Have you ever heard a song on the radio and wished you could save it for later? With streaming audio recorders, you can. Streaming audio recorders allow you to record music straight from your...

A revolution occurred in music that took the instruments out of the studio and placed them on people's computer hard drives. A multitude of programs allows people to create beats on their...

Whether you are a professional producer or a budding home recording enthusiast, you can build your own basement studio that rivals the professional studios we see in major metropolitan areas. With...

Technology is changing the way the music industry works. Once recording companies controlled who produced music and who could sell their music. Now, with relatively inexpensive equipment, talented...

Vocal booths are small areas where a vocalist can perform and the environment can be controlled sonically. Whether you have a home studio or a professional audio recording suite, you can make your...

There's something seemingly magical about the electric guitar. Its tones have mesmerized us for decades. However, with the advent of digital amp and cabinet modeling, recording a real guitar amp...

A sound engineer is responsible for the quality of the sound in a recorded audio project, such as a music album. A sound engineer has many duties and responsibilities that require an appreciation...

Sound is one of the most pervasive phenomena in our physical plane of existence, second only to light. Art and science are used to shape, model, mold and direct sound in various ways to achieve...

The phonograph was the first and, for nearly 100 years, the most popular device for recording and playing music before the 1980s. This important device has since been outdated by cassettes, CDs...

Hip hop has grown from being street party music in the Bronx played through boomboxes and jury-rigged stereo systems to a multi-million dollar giant of the music industry, dominating the pop...

If you have always wanted to make beats but didn't think you could afford the recording equipment, you may be surprised to learn that getting started making your own music is cheaper and easier...

Once relegated to expensive music studios and wealthy hobbyists, beat making technology has made great leaps in its ease of use and availability to the average consumer. Simple programs that can...

The record industry's stranglehold on making music has come to an end. The resources to record music are no longer unattainable and costly for the average home composer. Free, open-source software...

Walk into a professional recording studio and you are likely to find multiple isolation booths. Isolation booths allow you to separate different sound sources while you record. This results in...

Mastering is a post-production process in which the producer edits and tweaks the technical aspects of recorded music in order emphasize certain qualities or to achieve a desired "sound."...

The ribbon microphone is an iconic symbol of popular culture. Many images with Elvis or Johnny Carson include a ribbon mic such as the RCA 44 or Shure SM33 in the shot. The ribbon microphone's...

Soundproofing is used professionally in theaters and studios to reduce unwanted noise and improve the clarity of the sound inside the soundproofed room. Homeowners often use soundproofing to...

Sound effects such as echo and reverb have been a standard tool of recording studios since the earliest days. Beginning in the 1950s, more effects were done electronically. They evolved into a...

There are countless ways to mix your music to your liking, and the best way to learn is to experiment. Trust your ears and develop them by mixing often. Know your gear and how to use it. Reading...

Sound insulation is used to reduce sound transmission between two areas of a building. When applied in the roof or ceiling, this insulation can keep noise from passing between levels of a...

An iconic symbol for industry, travel and new beginnings, the train whistle is a common sound effect in television, music and movies. Making your own train whistle sound effect is easy to do if...

Recording a song for the professional market can be a time-consuming, laborious task. But with some recording tips, you can save yourself time and money while doing what you love best: making...

When recording engineers and audio researchers started experimenting with recording better sound in the 1950s, they started trying two offshoots of traditional monaural recording: stereo and...

Great music starts with a good song and good musicians. It becomes great when the producer gets his hands on it and uses the host of tools at his disposal to bring out the best in both. While a...

Recording acoustic guitar tracks well is one of the most difficult tasks that anyone in music can do. Experimentation is key to achieving perfect results, however there are a few basic,...

With the advance of music technology in the last few years, it is increasingly easier for people to learn how to make their own rap beats without a lot of fancy equipment. You can produce...

Sound level meters are instruments designed to measure levels of sound. Every sound level meter is made up of a microphone, processor section and display unit. The goal of a sound level meter is...

The Internet has created opportunities for many aspiring hip hop artists and music producers to write and record their own music and to build fan bases all over the world. Many producers who make...

Whether it is your spare bedroom or a multimillion-dollar facility, every recording studio requires basic equipment to operate. For today's cost-conscious home recording enthusiast, acquiring...

Soundproofing technology can seem complicated at first. It can be difficult to know what kind of sound dampening materials to use to help soundproof your home or studio. If you can do some minor...

With digital recording it has never been easier to document music or sound at home on your personal computer. Many programs, even some freeware, are available to assist in the recording process,...

Making music is a process that begins with the songwriters and musicians, but the art of producing music happens in the studio and during the final mastering process. Just the right sound is often...

With Reason and its software music tools, you can create professional-sounding beats and background music on your own. Though Reason may appear to be a complicated software suite, it is actually...

For more than 50 years, Cerwin-Vega has been an American sound icon, known the world over for its high-end, high-performance loudspeakers praised by audiophiles for low distortion, high efficiency...

In a recording studio or performance space, whether it's your bedroom or a multimillion-dollar facility, ambient noise can often find its way into the soundscape. The clicking of shoes on the...

RT60 is the time it takes a reflected sound to become inaudible, around 60 db below the level of the original sound, and is used to measure the acoustical qualities of a room. The "RT" stands for...

The unmistakable sound of the acoustic guitar has gone unchanged for years. Yet the recording methods for capturing acoustic material have constantly evolved. Although digital recording has...

Acoustically isolating a recording studio is an absolute requirement if you are serious about achieving good recordings. It is just as important for major recording studios as it is for home-based...

Sound engineering is the process of capturing sound on microphones to either amplify it for a crowd to hear or record it digitally or onto analog tape. There are many tricks that engineers use to...

As computers have become more technologically advanced, home recording studios have skyrocketed in popularity. A mid-priced computer, paired with some basic equipment and software, can offer...

Learning sound engineering may seem like a challenging task that will require years of difficult technical training. However, the science of sound engineering is not as complicated as it may...

The most important factor to consider when building a professional audio mixing room is sound reflection. Irregular surfaces scatter sound waves. Flat surfaces reflect them. Build your room in a...

Recording an acoustic guitar can be done by using two stereo microphones angled appropriately or by using one microphone directly in front of the sound hole. Get the best recorded sound out of an...

An audio noise gate is used to gate out or remove a noise or unwanted sound within a track, and it can be set at different ratios in order to catch that sound. Find out how to use an audio noise...

Using microphones as drum triggers can be done by putting mics very close to each drum, isolating each sound as much as possible and gating to get only the snare sound. Understand the process of...