How to make a high-quality audio recording at home: advice from a practical sound engineer

Every author or performer of songs will sooner or later want to record their musical work. But here the question arises: how to make a high-quality audio recording?

Of course, if you have composed one or two songs, then it is better to use a ready-made studio. Many recording studios offer their services. But there are authors who have already written a dozen songs and have plans to continue their work. In this case, it is better to equip a recording studio at home. But how to do that? There are two ways.

The first method simple. It includes the minimum of what is needed for a fairly high-quality recording:

• sound card with microphone and line inputs;
• a computer that meets the system requirements of the sound card;
• a sound recording and mixing program installed on a computer;
• headphones;
• microphone cord;
• microphone.

Every musician who understands computer technology will be able to assemble such a system himself. But there is also second, more complicated method. It assumes those studio components that were indicated in the first method, and additional equipment for higher quality audio recording. Namely:

• mixing console with two subgroups;
• audio compressor;
• voice processor (reverb);
• acoustic system;
• patch cords to connect it all;
• a room isolated from extraneous noise.

Now let’s take a closer look at the main components for a home recording studio.

In what room should the recording take place?

The room (announcer’s room) in which audio recording is planned should ideally be separate from the room in which the equipment will be located. Noise from device fans, buttons, faders can “contaminate” the recording.

Interior decoration should minimize reverberation within the room. This can be achieved by hanging thick rugs on the walls. It is also necessary to take into account that a small room, unlike a large one, has a lower level of reverberation.

What to do with the mixing console?

In order to connect all the devices together and send a signal to the sound card, you need a mixing console with two subgroups.

The remote control is switched as follows. A microphone is connected to the microphone line. From this line a send is made to subgroups (no send is made to the general output). The subgroups are connected to the linear input of the sound card. A signal is also sent from the subgroups to the common output. The linear output of the sound card is connected to the linear input of the remote control. From this line a send is made to the general output, to which the speaker system is connected.

If there is a compressor, it is connected through the “break” (Insert) of the microphone line. If there is a reverb, then the unprocessed signal from the Aux-out of the microphone line is supplied to it, and the processed signal is returned to the console at the line input and sent from this line to the subgroups (no send is made to the general output). The headphones receive a signal from the Aux-out of the microphone line, the computer line and the reverb line.

What happens is this: The following sound picture is heard in the speaker system: a phonogram from a computer, a voice from a microphone and processing from a reverb. The same thing sounds in the headphones, only separately adjusted at the Aux output of all these lines. Only the signal from the microphone line and from the line to which the reverb is connected is sent to the sound card.

Microphone and microphone cord

The key element of a sound studio is the microphone. The quality of the microphone determines whether a high-quality audio recording will be made. You should choose microphones from companies that make professional equipment. If possible, the microphone should be a studio microphone, since it is this one that has a more “transparent” frequency response. The microphone cord must be symmetrically wired. Simply put, it should have not two, but three contacts.

Sound card, computer and software

As mentioned earlier, for a simple studio you need a sound card with a microphone input. This is necessary in order to connect a microphone to a computer without a mixing console. But if you have a remote control, a microphone input in the sound card is not required. The main thing is that it has a linear input (In) and output (Out).

The system requirements of a “sound” computer are not high. The main thing is that it has a processor with a clock frequency of at least 1 GHz and RAM of at least 512 MB.

The program for recording and mixing sound must have multi-track recording. The phonogram is played from one track, and the voice is recorded on the other. The program settings should be such that the track with the soundtrack is assigned to the output of the sound card, and the track for recording is assigned to the input.

Compressor and reverb

Many semi-professional mixing consoles already have a built-in compressor (Comp) and reverb (Rev). But using them for high-quality audio recording is not recommended. In the absence of a separate compressor and reverb, you should use the software analogues of these devices, which are available in a multi-track recording program.

All this will be enough to create a recording studio at home. With such equipment, there will be no question of how to make a high-quality audio recording.