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From screaming rock solos, to planky country riffs, nothing adds energy and power to a song like a well recording electric guitar. And good news, they’re easy to record.

Source

First off no amount of studio wizardry will be able to overcome bad sounds being played badly. So your first task when recording an electric guitar is to make sure the source is all it can be. You will want to spend some time on tasks like making sure the player has her part down. Doing this before recording is critical because once the record button his hit anxiety goes up exponentially.

After checking the performance comes the task of getting a good source tone. The tone of an electric through an amp has many factors to how good it sounds. The first and perhaps most important aspect of tone is the player. How they play and even where they play on the neck. Other factors include string gauge, pickup selections, and even pick thickness. Couple this with all the different settings on the amp and stomp boxes and you have nearly endless tonal possibilities.

All of this to say that if you are not happy with the sound that is coming out of the amp, then you are not going to be happy recording that sound. So, if you find you are not happy then ask the player to switch some stuff around. Once you have the tone and performance you are looking for then you are ready to record.

Mic Selection

I’m going to let you in on a little secret about mic selection – the SM57 is probably THE most used mic for recording electric guitars in the world. This is true even in pro studios with $1000 per day rates. So this $80 gem is a good place to start.

However it is not always the best choice. So if your budget allows, or if you are renting a studio with a large mic locker, then experiment with some of these other first picks:

• Royer 122 Ribbon Mic
• Neumann U87
• Sennheiser U409
• Sennheiser 441
• AKG D112

Mic Placement

Insiders Secret Alert: I am about to hand you the underground mic placement secret that is usually only known by studio insiders. Here we go.

1. Power up the amp.
2. Plug an instrument cable into the input.
3. Turn up the volume.
4. Grab the tip of the free end of the cable.
5. Listen for a buzz from you touching the tip.
6. Move your ear in front of the buzzing speaker.
7. Find the spot where the buzz is most pronounced.
8. Place the microphone there.

It is really a simple and effective way to find the sweet spot on the guitar amp. You will probably want to place the mic up close to the grill, which is called close micing. This mic position should get you what you need around 95% of the time. For the other 5% just move the mic around from the sweet spot until you find what you like.

Once you have you tracks mixed it’s time to break out the Music Mastering Software and use this simple Audio Mastering System to give your track that extra bit of shine. Most musicians tend to think that all they have to do is record a track and transfer it to a disc and then they could send it off to producers as a demo. Well, unless the amateur audio recording combined with phenomenal vocals is a miraculous success, chances are the demo will not be kept for further listening. The final step should be music mastering, but sadly a lot of musicians tend to skip this step.

Not everyone knows what mastering is. Music Mastering, is when the tracks are being refined for auditions or production. Touch-ups and enhancements are made on the album to make sure that all audio listening tools can play the music clearly.

Audio engineers are not exactly cheap to hire since there are a lot of hopeful musicians willing to pay big bucks to ensure that their demos will not get scrapped within the first 2 seconds of play. Although sheer talent is very important, professional sounding tracks help a lot with auditions.

Audio mastering also involves audio evaluation which helps give unbiased perspective to music tracks. Even though mixing engineers do not come cheap, they are sure to listen and re-listen to home audio recordings for hours to make sure that no rogue sound is included in the final product. Recording engineers make sure that the sounds remain crisp all the way through its play.

Music Mastering Software – Leveling Audio Volumes and Noise Reduction

Mastering technicians make certain that the volumes of the songs are at the same level. Audio engineers are needed in order to avoid unwanted standout sounds or noises. Audio levels should not be taken for granted because mistakes in leveling often aggravate listeners.

Audio engineers can make a lot of reduction from audio signals. Professional music mastering techniques produce top of the line music with minimum disturbance. Analog audio recording produces a normal hiss-like noise. Even though it can be minimized by music mastering engineers, it cannot be altogether avoided.

Music Mastering Software – Encoding and Presentation

An expert mastering studio can even include the Universal Product Code (UPC), a barcode which allows an item to be tracked over the United States and Canada during trades. Music mastering studios can also encode the International Standard Recording Code (ISRC), an internationally accepted code used especially for audio and music video recordings. Important additional info about the artist and the CD can also be incorporated into the disc, such as the track names and the artist’s profile.

Music Mastering Software – Error Assessment

Audio technicians check and double check any track that comes out of their studios. The pros pore over the audio for hours on end. Any imperfection that might be left due to negligence is unacceptable. Musicians who trust their precious records are assured that their home audio recordings are fit to be heard and ready for critics.

It is important to choose the appropriate recording equipment while building up personal home recording studio. You must choose an efficient and high quality recording studio equipment for avoiding future hassles of fixing up the flaws in the equipment. One can buy gears that can do the desired work and can cater to the recording needs. There is an extensive variety of recording studio equipments on the internet such as microphones, multitrack recorders, studio signal processors, mixers, stereo master players, recording accessories, studio monitors, workstations, studio racks, videos, recording books, CD-ROMs and videos.

One must read reviews of the recording studio equipment before making a purchase. There are a number of review websites from where one can get details of the pros and cons of specific recording studio equipment. Reading customer reviews is the best alternatives available to get unbiased details of recording studio equipment. If you are a musician or a song writer then it is indeed a tough task to choose appropriate recording equipment. The career of a musician depends very much upon how well the song is recorded. That is why it is essential for musicians to buy premium recording equipments. You will have to pay more for if you buy advanced audio recording equipment. Recording equipments made of state of the art technology are expensive than normal ones.

Buyers must analyze if particular recording equipment can cater to their music recording needs or not. One can invest only if it serves the needs and can boost up the music career of the musicians. Musicians must check out the sound of the speakers in the recording equipment as sound matters the most in recording equipment for the musicians. It is imperative to check every single feature of the recording equipment before buying it. Again review websites are the best options to get technical details of the recording equipment. Internet is the best means available to get recording equipments for studios, sound engineers and producers.

You can make use of the internet to get supply of the audio production software, midi and audio interfaces, audio editors, studio outboard, virtual instruments, equipment cases and spares. If you are planning to buy recording equipment from online manufacturers then you must scrutinize the reliability and authenticity before spending your hard earned money. You must choose a manufacturer who uses secure payment techniques so as to offer monetary protection to the buyers. A good recording equipment manufacturer can also offer you door to door delivery so make sure to choose the one having door to door fast delivery service.

In order to record anything on your software recording program you need to make sure everything is set up right. This can make a big difference in the quality of your finished product.

Today we will look at some of the things you need to consider before you hit the record button. Whenever you set up a new song I like to go over my options and set things up the right way.

Save as: This is absolutely the first thing you should do when recording a new audio file. I can’t tell you how many times I have nearly rewrote a previous saved file that would be a disaster if lost. All of this can be avoided if you get in the habit of saving your file with the proper name first.

Where to save: Be sure and save your file in the folder you want to keep it in. It is very easy to lose your audio if you are not careful with this step. Also it is a good practice to save an edited and unedited version of your audio.

Type of file: What file type you save your audio in depends on your plans for the audio. If it is going on a Cd you should save as a wav file. For most other uses you can get by saving in the mp3 format. I always save my audio as an uncompressed wav file first then I may convert to mp3 if the situation calls for it.

Sample rate: You should save your audio at least at 44.1 kHz. This is standard CD quality, which is important if your final product will wind up on an audio CD.

Bit rate: If you have a choice between 16 bit and 24 bit choose 24.

In and out settings: make sure you’re in and out routing is going to the right buss in your recording software. You don’t want to record a great audio file only to have it recording over your previous file.

If you want to learn about Converting your articles and/or eBooks to Audio products, this is a good place to start. Why would converting these products be of benefit to you and your business?

• Almost anyone can create an audio product. (If they know how to proceed)
• Most marketers won’t do it. (So you are already ahead of the game if you do)
• Most marketers don’t use the right techniques. (They don’t have or ever have considered using a director/producer)

Here are a few tips you should be able to apply right away, which will give you a good start at converting articles and eBooks into quality audio recordings.

If you can understand that almost anyone can create an audio product, then you will have the confidence to make your product a success. You just need to know the process.

The equipment you will need is important. Now you probably know or already have a good microphone and audio recording software, but did you consider your “studio environment”. By studio environment I mean a place or room that:

• Is quiet
• Not to big and has very little or no echo
• Has a chair that is comfortable, but in which you can sit in an upright position
• And has a music stand or table top for your script.

Once you have set this up. You now have your “studio” that you will record in.

Now… How do you improve your read?

Here are a few techniques directors use and you can use right away, to improve your audio narration.

Pretend to talk to someone across from you - A big mistake that most non-professional narrators do when reading a script is reading to a “crowd”. In most cases 1 person is listening to your narration at a time. So imagine that you are explaining your content to a friend or business associate. Be conversational and not just read the text.

A mirror in hand — When I was recording voice-overs in professional sound studios, we didn’t always work with professional narrators. And the best way to get someone to give the right style of read was to have them read a few lines while referring back to their facial expression while reading.

For example, a serious read put on a serious facial expression, upbeat and happy, then smile while you read, etc.

Use hand gestures — Be free with your hands. Use them to express yourself as you read. This will give more dynamic variation in the read. This is one reason why these article to audio software programs don’t really cut it… unless you are only interested in making a one time sale and then having customers who are less than impressed.

Also, print out your script and go over it and add or remove anything that will help you accomplish a better read.

Bonus tip: Don’t be afraid to use some natural pauses and put in a few seconds pause after a main point that you want your listener to really absorb.

Now this brings us to why most marketers won’t do it:

• Lack of confidence in their own voice
• Too time consuming
• Too much work

However, you now know that a few of the principal “director’s techniques” will build your confidence. And these same techniques can also be applied to on-camera narration in video. So get yourself setup and start applying these tips for better quality recordings.