Music making for everyone

Computer music isn’t just bleeps and noise – we explain how a PC can become your personal recording studio

Many people associate computer music with electronic bleeps, noise and artificial-sounding vocals, but computers are just as capable of recording rock, folk, jazz or classical music.

With a little free software installed, a home computer can be turned into a home recording studio of surprisingly high quality. If you can play an instrument, sing or even compose your own music, it’s a real treat to have your performances nestling in among your CD collection. In this feature, we’ll explain how to convert your own performances into a recording to treasure.

Track record
It may not look much like a recording studio, but any Windows computer can do a pretty convincing impression of one. It doesn’t have to be a terrifyingly expensive computer, either – most home PCs have what it takes. To prove it, we’re going to explain how to record a song using nothing more than a home computer, a microphone and simple, free software.

A key feature of music-production software is the ability to record different instruments on separate layers, known as tracks. These tracks are then played back on top of one another, rather like playing two or more different tapes at the same time. This has two advantages. One is that the same person can play multiple instruments, one after another.

As you perform each one, you’ll be able to listen to the other instruments that are already recorded so you can keep in time and tune. The other advantage is that each instrument can be controlled separately after it’s recorded, perhaps to adjust the volume or even to delete it and have another go.

The ins and outs
There are five things required to record music on a computer. One is the computer itself, and the second is recording software. We’ll use a program called Audacity, which is free, easy to use, doesn’t require a powerful computer and will run on Windows 98 or later, Mac OS X or Linux. The remaining requirements involve getting audio in and out of the PC.

Just as important as choosing a microphone is getting sounds back out of the computer again. Most people already have a set of speakers attached to their computer and these will normally suffice for now. If you catch the music-making bug and continue to record music, though, you may want to invest in a set of speakers designed for making music.

These are often called active monitors, and they are designed for accurate rather than flattering sound – prices start at about £50 from shops such as Digital Village. You’ll also need headphones. When recording multiple instruments on separate tracks, it’s important to hear the other instruments as you perform – but listening through speakers is impractical as the microphone will pick up the sound.

Using headphones when playing is a simple way to keep the instruments separate, producing the best results.

Setting up
To get started open a web browser, click here and click Enter. Click on the link marked ‘Download Audacity 1.2.6’. On the page that appears, click the link labelled ‘Audacity 1.2.6 installer’, and on the following page, click the words ‘this direct link’. Choose Save, select a memorable location on your computer’s hard disk and click Save again.

Once the download is complete, select Run or double-click the saved file and follow the instructions to install the software. We’re almost ready to start using Audacity but before doing so, plug in any USB microphones or soundcards you’ll be using.

If you’re using a microphone with a standard mini-jack plug rather than a USB plug, connect it into the Microphone (or ‘mic’) socket on your computer – this is often colour-coded pink. Double-click the Audacity icon on the Desktop to run the software.

Audacity generates lots of small files for each project so it can get messy unless they’re kept well organised, so it’s worth immediately clicking the File menu and choosing to save the project somewhere sensible – creating a new folder to save in is a good idea. In the top right-hand corner of the screen is a microphone level meter but it’s switched off by default. Click it to activate it and speak into the microphone.

If the level meter starts flashing, great, but if not we need to switch it on somewhere else too. Don’t click the level meter lots of times, as you’ll lose track of whether it’s on or off – its setting isn’t clearly marked in the software. Even if the microphone is working, it’s unlikely that it will be at the ideal volume for recording. The aim is for the loudest part of a performance to register at about -6 on the level meter in Audacity.

Most of the recording will be much quieter, but that’s fine. Quiet sounds can be turned up but if the microphone level is too high the results will sound crackly and distorted. Check to see if the microphone has a built-in switch or volume knob, and make sure it’s turned up. If you’re using a USB soundcard with its own volume dials, make sure that any Microphone dials are turned up too.

Most people will need to adjust a software volume control. There are three ways to do this. The easiest is to adjust Audacity’s volume slider (which has a picture of a microphone next to it), but this doesn’t always work. The second is a bit of software provided with most soundcards that you can access by clicking a button in the Notification Area.

However, these software control panels vary, so we’ll use the third technique: Windows’ own Control Panel. If you’re using Windows XP, click the Start button followed by Settings, Control Panel, then Sounds and Audio Devices. Select the Audio tab. Under Sound recording, make sure the soundcard you’re using is selected and click Volume.

The microphone volume will appear – drag it up or down to get the right volume. Don’t worry if adjusting the level control doesn’t have any effect through the speakers – or even if you can’t hear the microphone at all. The important thing is that Audacity can hear it, which you’ll know when its level meters start responding. In Windows Vista, the process is a little different.

Right-click the speaker icon in the System tray then select Recording Devic es. You should then see a list of audio inputs. Click the one labelled Microphone (or Line In, if you’re using an external mixer) and click the Set Default button. Click Properties followed by the Levels tab to access the microphone’s volume control.

Making tracks
With the volume level set, it’s finally time to start recording. If you’re recording an instrument, make sure it’s in tune, and that the room you’re in is silent. Place the microphone about 30cm away from the instrument, facing the area where the sound comes from. Hit the Record button and Audacity will create a track and start recording.

If you’re planning to layer other instruments on top and want them to come in on the first beat, remember to say a countdown before playing – this can be removed later. When you’re done, press Stop, Skip to Start and Play to hear it back. To record another instrument put your headphones on, turn the speakers off and click Record again – Audacity will start recording on another new track.

The previous recording should be playing as you record but if it isn’t, stop recording and click the X at the top-left of the new track to delete it. Click the Edit menu followed by Preferences, and on the Audio I/O tab, tick the box labelled ‘Play other tracks while recording new one’.

Once you’ve built up a few tracks – maybe one of guitar, and one of singing, for example, it’s time to adjust the volumes so that they sound good. There are various ways to do this, but the easiest is with the Gain control to the left of each track. This makes adjustments in rather large steps, but by holding down the Shift key as you adjust it, it’s possible to get more fine control.

Try using the stereo Pan controls too, located just below the Gain control. These help give a sense of space to recordings. Keep the most important instrument – usually the voice, if you’re using vocals – in the centre, though. Another option for adjusting levels is to use Audacity’s Envelope Tool, located at the top-left of the screen with an icon showing two triangles and a blue line.

This tool sets different volumes for different parts of each track, allowing them to fade in and out and have different volumes in different sections. Click on a track to set its level for that point, and create multiple points for volumes that change over time – this takes practice, but can sound very good in the finished recording.

The other volume control that’s worth keeping an eye on is the master volume and, more importantly, the output volume meters – these will jump up and down as you play the song back. If these meters turn red at the right edge it means the output is distorting, so reduce the Output Volume control, found just below the Play button, until the red light disappears.

Save and share
When the recording sounds fit for public consumption, it’s time to save it in a file that can be shared. However, before doing so, it’s worth trimming the start and end of your recording. This will remove the sound of you counting in, as well as any shuffling of instruments or false-starts. Click and drag the mouse across the area you want to delete and, simultaneously, across all the tracks.

This is important, because if you miss any tracks the result will be a song played out of time. When the unwanted area is selected, press the Delete key on your keyboard to remove it. Audacity can export in various formats but the simplest is to save the song as a WAV file. This file type is the same quality as a CD and will play in any audio software.

Click File, Export as WAV, choose a sensible name and location on the hard disk and click Save. The various tracks will then be exported as a single stereo file. One word of warning: all tracks will be included, even if they are set to mute, so delete any unwanted tracks before saving the song.

This WAV file can be converted to a smaller MP3 file, or even saved to a CD, using Apple’s free iTunes software. This can be downloaded.To convert the song, open iTunes and click the Edit menu followed by Preferences. Click the Advanced tab, then click Importing, select MP3 Encoder from the list and click OK.

Now drag and drop your WAV file into the iTunes library, right-click it and select ‘Convert Selection to MP3’.

Going further
You’ve just recorded, mixed and saved your first recording, so what’s next? There are countless other things to try. Have a go at copying and pasting parts of a recording into different sections. Or how about adding effects to change the character of a track? Drag the mouse across a track to select it, then choose something from the Effect menu.

If you try this, though, remember the one downside of Audacity: it applies these effects permanently, so you can’t adjust or remove them later. When you’re ready to upgrade to more sophisticated software, check out Sony Acid Music Studio 7. This software makes it possible to try out different effects and it can also add extra synthesised sounds to your own acoustic recordings.

Once you’ve caught the music-making bug, it can easily consume your evenings, weekends and bank balance, but there are few pastimes more rewarding. PCs can create music without recording instruments, and you can mix synthesised sound with recordings to great effect. Our free online guide tells you how.