For musicians and songwriters, having a CD of your original music is essential in getting gigs, obtaining a booking agent, hiring a manager, and signing a record deal. Your album is also going to generate income for you or your band through sales at concerts, in record stores and on the Internet.
Thanks to affordable home recording technology, you no longer have to spend a fortune to produce your debut CD. All you need are a few decent quality microphones, audio recording software and a computer, a little technical know-how, and whatever additional outboard gear or effects you wish to use. You will also need to have a set budget for your project and stick to it faithfully.
First, if you're not planning to play all of the instrument tracks yourself, you will need to hire some studio musicians. Placing an ad in your local newspaper, online, or inquiring with your local musicians union will quickly connect you to available studio musicians in your area. Most musicians charge a fee by the hour; in larger cities some may require to be paid union scale wages. You should also budget some extra money to pay the musicians for rehearsal time prior to recording. Alternatively, vocalists can save money on musicians' hourly fees by using prerecorded backing tracks of the songs they plan to record in the studio.
Next, soundproof your recording room with blankets, egg crates or professional studio foam to deaden the area as much as possible. Ideally, you want to choose a room in your home that is separated from other sources of sound. An interior room in the center of the home is most desirable to eliminate street noise.
Invest in the best microphones you can afford. While it is acceptable to record with the same dynamic mics you might use onstage (such as the old standby Shure SM 57 and 58's), you will get far better results with a high quality condenser microphone. Some recommended large-diaphragm condenser mics are Neumann's U87 and U47, Sennheiser's 421 and 441, the AKG C12, and the RØDE NT1000.
As professional grade condenser studio microphones can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars, you may have to make do with less-expensive mics if you are on a limited budget. However, buying just one really fine microphone can make a huge difference in the sound quality of your record. (Tip: If you only have one high quality microphone to work with, cut your tracks one at a time using the same mic for vocals, guitar, horns, and so forth.)
Place your microphone about six to 12 inches away from the sound source for most acoustic instruments. When miking amplifiers, you'll need to experiment with mic placement until you get the sound you want. For vocals, use a windscreen to eliminate vocal "pops" and "s" sounds from the singer's mouth. When it comes to drums, you may want to employ a combination of close miking and stereo overhead mics.
Run some instruments direct into the mixing board to eliminate eternal noise from other instruments "bleeding" into the microphone. For example, bass guitar and electric guitar can be recorded direct on a single track, or in combination with a miked amplifier on a separate track. You can do this by running a cable from the line out of your amp into the line in of the mixing board, or by plugging the guitar into a direct box, then running the DI box into the board.
Open the audio recording software program of your choice and start a new track. Do as many takes as necessary until you have captured the performance you want, and save each track as you go. Then layer on multiple tracks and overdubs until you have a complete recording of all the instruments and vocals.
Mix the tracks yourself if you have the technical expertise to do so. However, it is highly recommended that you hire a professional mixing engineer for this stage of production. The costs of mixing the tracks at a recording studio are fairly affordable by the hour and are well worth it if you want your album to sound top-notch.
Take your mixed tracks (either on CD, digital audio files, analog tape, or whatever format you have) to a professional post-production facility for mastering. In this final phase, a specially-trained mastering engineer completes the finished product by applying proper equalization, compression, and other dynamics processing to make your album sound consistent from track to track.
Use a CD duplication house to mass-produce your album, pressing as many copies as needed to suit your purpose and budget. You will need to provide a master of the tracks in the correct sequence, along with camera-ready photos and/or artwork for the cover and interior sleeve design. Many CD duplication facilities have an in-house design department who can design your album art for you if you need some help.
Don't neglect to copyright your original sound recordings and obtain copyright clearances for songs you are covering by other artists on the album. If you are unsure who owns the copyright to a specific song, check with the copyright office or performing rights organization (such as ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, etc.) in your country of origin.
For further reading and step-by-step tutorials for every phase of your album recording project, the author recommends Recording An Album: The Indie Band Survival Guide.
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