How to produce with soft synths
Software synthesizers can open up huge musical possibilities when you’re producing music. Here’s how to get started. Read the post.
home studio recording
Home studio recording: How to record and mix
From mic placement tips to prepping for a recording session, these home recording posts from the Disc Makers Blog offer insights for recording and mixing in your home studio. Read and enjoy.
Mixing vocals in your home studio
Mixing vocals in your home studio can be one of the more exciting stages in the recording process, and it can also be a complex challenge. Work to construct the instruments around the vocal so that everything gets to shine. Read More.
Home Studio Recording Tips with Scott Wiggins
Our March 15th Disc Makers Twitter Chat focused on home studio recording tips featuring recording artist, producer, recording engineer, and “The Recording Solution” founder Scott Wiggins. See what Scott had to say in this #DMchat. Read more.
How to get a great vocal sound in your home studio
To get a great vocal sound in your home studio, you need to concentrate on these five technical elements – assuming you’ve got a vocalist who can deliver and a space ready to set the mood capture the mood. Check out this video for a high-impact, commonsense recording tutorial. Read more.
Audio mastering basics for your home studio
If you focus too much of your work on a single instrument in a complex arrangement, you likely will miss the fact that even if you have improved the sound of that one instrument, everything else may have been impacted negatively. Get the mix you want, mix down to a stereo file, and then perform mastering as a separate last step. Read more.
Home recording tip: save samples to speed up noise reduction
If you record audio in a place where the same noises are often around, and you are not able to prevent them, then you’ve probably found yourself removing them from your audio recordings using noise reduction software. Unless you’ve built or purchased a sound-proof recording booth, there WILL be noise. Read more.
Fixing your audio mix: how to tweak that problem bass note
You’ve finished the audio mix for your latest song. Your audio mix sounds pretty good in your home studio, but when you play the song on your iPod or in the car, you notice one or two bass notes always sound super loud, even though you’ve applied compression on the bass track to try and prevent this very problem. Read more.
A quick buyer’s guide for your home studio microphone
Microphones are among the most important things in a studio’s arsenal – but don’t get caught up in the “more money equals better quality” syndrome when purchasing a home studio microphone. Like a camera lens, there are microphones that are good for wide angles, others for narrow focus, and there are those that have a vintage feel to them. No mic/pattern combination works for everything. Read more.
Five tips for recording vocals at home
Recording vocals in your home studio can be somewhat tricky, especially if the quality of your recording space doesn’t contend with a professional studio environment. However, there are plenty of solutions that can improve the quality of your vocal recordings. The room in which you record in will be as much a part of the recording as the singers voice. This can work in your favor and can also work against you. Read more.
Isolation headphones and your home recording
Whether as a front-of-house live performance mixer, a remote broadcast/recording engineer working in a church or club, a recording engineer working on a studio session, or simply recording instruments in your modest one-room home recording studio, being isolated from your audio sound source is essential to producing a quality finished product. In order to make the best decisions about levels, EQs, dynamics, or effects, it’s necessary to hear the uncolored sound on its own. Read more.
Get Our Most Comprehensive Home Recording Studio Guide Ever!
The Home Studio Handbook includes material from our popular home recording studio guides – plus we’ve added a wealth of additional recording tips. Our new guide starts with vital information on how to make your own home recording studio – whether it’s a professional A-room or a budget-conscious home recording studio setup – and ends with creating a great mix. The 40-page Home Studio Handbook is free and available for download now! Read more.
Audio Mastering – The Mysterious Post-Production Art Form
The primary goal of audio mastering is fairly simple: prepare a recording for distribution and ensure it sounds better going out than it did coming in. Read more.
Food and the Recording Studio – A Serious Recording Tip
One thing that can help a recording session is simple: bring food. Sometimes, studio recordings can benefit from things that don’t involve recording music. Read the post.
Dithering – adding “good noise” to improve your home recordings
What is dithering?
In your English class, to "dither" means to act nervously or indecisively. When we’re talking about digital audio and home studio recording, dithering is the process of adding noise to the audio signal. Adding noise, you say? Why would you want add noise? Basically, it’s a trade — low-level hiss in exchange for a reduction in distortion when you convert 24 bit to 16 bit audio to transfer to a CD. Read more.