- 1). Line your home studio with inexpensive soundproofing equipment before you start your first recording session. Many bands use egg cartons, Styrofoam sheets and bedding to keep sound from escaping the recording area.
- 2). Start your home-studio investment with high-quality microphones and earphones. The best microphone for home recording negates background noise and isolates noise during studio sessions. A good set of headphones allows a musician to listen carefully to music during editing and post-production sessions while drowning out exterior noise.
- 3). Track down audio editing and mixing software that work best for your recording needs. Amateur artists and musicians who want basic mixing tools opt for free software like Audacity to keep overhead costs low. Professional musicians can opt for low-cost software like Power Tracks Audio Pro to create albums ready for distribution.
- 4). Explore sound effects and background music in your home entertainment collection to aid in home-recording projects. An avid video game player can use interstitial music, character sounds and theme songs to add interesting bits to self-produced albums.
- 5). Discuss the use of mono or stereo recording methods with your band before producing the first song. Producers who want music that translates well to stereo sound will assign two microphones to the guitar and bass while adding overhead microphones for the drums.
- 6). Connect regular microphone lines to your computer using a recording interface device. Most interface devices are designed to connect via FireWire or USB ports to bridge the gap between instrument and desktop. This device allows a recording artist to play around with sound levels for each input to avoid muddled music during editing.
- 7). Opt for USB microphones for your home recordings if you are not working with other musicians. These microphones plug in directly to a computer's USB port to eliminate the recording interface from the home-recording process. The downside of a USB microphone is the lack of inputs for multiple instruments in case of future jam sessions.
- 8). Run a demo session with your band to play around with layering and editing tools in the home studio. Ask each band member to play a solo, as well as a few minutes from a popular song to learn how to use home-studio equipment before laying down final tracks.
- 9). Write down a checklist of mixing priorities before turning multiple instruments into a cohesive song. Most producers will lay down drum and bass tracks first to establish the rhythm for guitar and vocal tracks.
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Find the panning and centering features in your home-recording software to create tracks that sound professional. A good producer will be able to center bass and drum beats between the left and right channel for stereo tracks. The lead guitar and vocal tracks may be panned to the extreme left and right channels to surround the listener with music. - 11
Purchase media-storage products for your home studio to keep masters, remixes and sound effects stored for a long time. Your studio should have a healthy supply of blank CDs, ZIP discs and Flash drives to keep tracks moving to fans and band members. - 12
Keep your CD, album cover and T-shirt design within your home by purchasing graphics software and a printer to handle all design tasks. Band members can share the studio computer to develop merchandise, print off concert posters and add photos to CD materials before distributing a new album.
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