How to Choose the Best Software for Your Recording Studio

A recording software program can be a free system designed for podcasters or an expensive professional quality system in which you can score and record orchestras. While they all share the same basic functions, some software, like ProTools or Cakewalk, can construct elaborate musical compositions or add sound bites from other sources to the mix. Here's what to look for when choosing software for your recording studio.

Instructions

1. Review all the functions you'll need in your recording studio. Even the most basic software, including Sound Forge and Audacity, offers cut and paste capacity where you can move one track or audio blip to another point in the sequence.

2. Choose software that lets you use a MIDI device. That means you can connect an electronic keyboard, a guitar or other instrument to your computer and record songs and audio samples directly using your recording software.

3. Control pitch or tempo. Some recording software also functions as a pitch correction and can gloss over off-key notes or imperfections in a vocalist's performance and eliminate the need for retakes.

4. Mix your recordings with a software system. High-end software, like Cubase, ProTools and Cakewalk, allow you to mix multiple tracks with your desktop workstation instead of relying on a separate mixer. Anything you can do with an analog mixer you can do with software, like bussing and adding sound effects, such as wah-wah and flanger.

5. Organize sound loops if you want to build a song from various tracks or pull loops or sound effects from a music library. Add samples or sound loops from a song or from effects software like Cakewalk or Sony Media and transfer them to your mixing program to get the sound you want.

Tips & Warnings

• Make sure your recording software matches your studio system. Invest in big brand name software if you're recording and mixing several instruments.