How To (record in your Bedroom)

Mix Magazine

Mix Magazine is a publication dedicated to audio recording, and song mastering. Much of the publication articles discuss quality recording, music production as well as sound engineering adhering to the tastes of professional recording or just audio, music and movie enthusiasts.

The topic I have chosen is on tips on how-to record music with high quality sound with the least amount of equipment from a bedroom set up. The reason I have chosen this topic is because there are many struggling artists out there who have the least amount of financial resources to adequately facilitate them to record quality material. With the aid of online articles as well as expert advice from an actual producer this feature article will include a D-I-Y comprehensive steps in producing quality sounding records with very affordable methods and tools.

Kundai Makombe who’s artistic pseudonym is Kripmac is a prominent music producer in Zimbabwe. He is known for working with some of the biggest names in the Zimbabwean music industry particularly the Zim Hip Hop genre. Not only an acoustic composer and digital producer, Kundai is also a sound engineer.

Most independent artists usually resort to using bedroom studios. Recording in a bedroom studio is indeed a delicate process which will be explained further. So the first order of business in outlining the vital concerns which tend to be the downfall of independent artists without the sufficient studio equipment Kundai shared his top 3 tips when recording in a bedroom.

Tip. 101. The best affordable equipment

Kundai tells us “Most artists feel as if state of the art equipment is the only way to produce a quality sounding record. That indeed is not true. Standard USB compatible condenser microphones may not be as advanced as XLR recording microphones. But they too are effective as well as economic. The best and most affordable brand of studio equipment I would recommend is Presonus. Presonus comes with a package both containing a microphone and a sound card.”

EXTRA TIP: A book on journalism broadcast by Herbet Zettle published in 2007 tells us that “Condenser microphones are much more sensitive to physical shock and temperature than dynamic microphones. Condenser mics are used for critical pickup indoors.”

Tip. 102. Soundproofing the room

Kundai explained the following point “An average closet can be made just as effective as a sound-proof studio. By hanging blankets on the closet doors as well as ensuring the microphone has a pop filter, the noises the microphone picks up will be restricted to the ones in the proximity of the closet. That way very little distortion will be recorded (assuming all the sound is equalized and levelled.)

Tip.103. Artist’s clarity

Kundai emphasizes that, “An artist can have all the greatest equipment under the sun that money can buy. But in the end it all comes down to the artist’s execution. Vocal clarity is the spinal cord to all studio recording. The artists must be able to clearly utter their lyrics, melodically captivate the listener. The equipment can only capture and edit the material before it is released. Eighty percent of the job is the artists.

Kundai highlighted the crucial points of bedroom recording. Even though many audio technicians and enthusiasts would argue that he missed certain points. With that being said an extract taken from the website (www.musicradar.com) lists the fourteen other methods and factors to take into consideration as follows.

·         Microphone Positioning

·         Drum Miking

·         Beats First

·         Dry Vs Wet

·         Mic and DI(mic Signals)

·         Headphone mixes

·         Record at 24-bit

·         Sample Rates(192kHz recommended)

·         Headphone Bleed

·         Low latency monitoring

·         Gain Structure

·         Compression

·         EQ while recording

·         Separate Rooms

Conclusion

Well there you have it people, expert advice on how to record word class quality sounding material from the comfort and minimal expense of your bedroom. For further information visit

(http://m.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/25-pro-tips-for-better-home-recordings-169382/)

Sources Consulted

(http://m.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/25-pro-tips-for-better-home-recordings-169382/)

Zettle H. 2007. Wadsworth Cengage Learning Lyn Uhi USA