To record streaming audio for your website you are going to need a computer recording studio. This is not as hard as you might think, as there are many online resources to help you along.

We are going to look at some of the steps you can take today to jump-start your recording studio.

Decide what your needs are: What you want to do with your recording studio will decide what type of equipment you will need. How professional do you want your audio to sound? What are your long-term goals? How much cash do you have to invest in your new project? All of these questions need to be answered so you can decide what direction to take.

Download Audacity: The first thing I would do if I were starting a brand new computer recording studio would be to go to the Audacity homepage and download this wonderful software. Not only is it fee it happens to be a great piece of software. You may decide to upgrade to something more professional in the future but you may find this software meets all of your recording needs.

Search for online free tutorials: Go to Goggle and type in free (whatever software you are using) tutorial. You will find a wealth of free info out there as well as some paid tutorials. Sit down with a cup of coffee and read and learn. The Internet is full of information.

Search online music stores: Go to Zzounds or the Musicians Friends website and take a look at their recording section. You will need at least a good microphone so shop carefully and you can get a great deal.

Get started: This is the most important thing you can do to build your low cost recording studio. All the day dreaming in the world will do you no good. Start today and before you know it your low cost computer recording studio will be up and running.

Many of us at some point in our lives dream of becoming a vocalist or a band member. We want to enter the music industry, share our talent and show our passion for music. But the question, most aspiring musicians ask themselves is "where should I start?" The answer is to create your own music or sample of your composition. This usually takes time because you need to practice so you can present your own music with great beats and wonderful lyrics. Now, how can you possible practice and perfect your music? Of course you need to practice in a music studio or have your very own home recording studio.

But first how could you have your own home recording studio? In the past only well-off music aspirants can afford their very own recording studio and that is because of the high tech equipments needed to create music. Well, they can opt to go to a music studio, use their equipments and pay hourly charges or monthly membership fees. Some music studios charge you high hourly rates which is sometimes impractical especially if you have no enough budget for such fees.

Below are some of the important instruments and equipments you can find and use in a music studio.

Microphone

- The very first thing a singer/composer should have during a recording session

Keyboard

- It is not just a musical instrument but it is also needed in creating the rhythms in your songs which is much easier than other instruments.

Mixing Console

- Also referred to as audio mixer, this is where you will adjust timbre and level of sounds in your songs.

Studio Monitors

- These are loudspeakers used for the audio production.

Multitrack Recorder

- This is a recording gadget that could actually record a multiple source of sound which in the end could create a whole track.

Digital Audio workstation

- This is where all the electronic gadgets are being controlled and adjusted

Effects

- An added feature that can make additional spectacle in your recording.

These are only some of the equipment you'll surely found on a recording studio but with the continual advancement of technology, you can have your own recording studio at home with less equipments needed. There are four basic equipments you can buy to set up your own home recording studio.

Microphone

- A basic equipment which can now be bought at a low price but with the same great quality.

Audio Interface

- You could consider it as a sound card on your computer and the good thing is there are some interfaces where you could connect your playing instrument like keyboard and guitar. The price of this gadget ranges from 0-0.

Computer

- This is considered the heart of your home music studio. The best brand that you could get is MAC computer since it has its own recording software called "GarageBand Built In"

Software

- There are many software available in the market that you could use, some are free and some are not. Choose a home recording software that is easy to use, flexible and can allow you to create different beats.

Room

- Of course, it is best to have your own small space so you can concentrate in creating your own music.

Having your own home music studio is now possible. So, if you'd like to be a great musician someday start practicing now in your own music studio.

A few years ago there was a revolution in recording technology. As computers became more powerful, they started to replace traditional tape recorders that were the heart of most recording studios. Today, computers designed for home use are powerful enough to emulate an entire recording studio, and can be used for everything from multitrack recording to audio editing and scoring music for videos.

This "democratizing" of recording techniques has opened up the entire recording industry to anyone with the proper software and hardware. With software packages costing a few hundred dollars and professional-quality audio interfaces costing less than 0, anybody can have a virtual recording studio in their home.

Some of the big names in the audio recording field are Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and Sound Forge. Each of these Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) can be used for multi-track recording and editing and have the ability to combine recordings with "virtual instruments".

Virtual instruments are computer-generated sounds that can be played via MIDI. Traditionally, MIDI was used to send music data to hardware devices like keyboards and sound modules, but computers are now powerful enough to emulate sound modules. Instead of hooking up cables to an external device to play MIDI tracks, virtual instruments can be loaded into the computer's memory to play any type of sound.

MIDI tracks can be combined with audio tracks and all of it played back in perfect synchronization. All tracks can be processed with effects like reverb and chorus, and the entire mix can be compressed for a professional sounding result.

Although professional sound recording packages can be fairly expensive, you can get your feet wet by trying out one of the shareware programs that are available. They will allow you to see the capabilities of digital recording, and if you want to develop your interests further you can later buy one of the professional programs.

Once a musician (of any age) starts writing and playing his or her own songs, or joins a band and starts playing in front of actual people, it's not long before the urge to get some of this music recorded for the ages begins to settle in. After all, why write a song if the only way to play it for someone is to grab your guitar and actually, well, play it for them? And why should everyone in the audience know exactly what your band sounds like playing live when you yourself have no idea?

So the idea dawns. "Hey! I ought to have some kind of recording setup here in my basement (or spare room, etc.) so that I can record my songs and put them on a CD! And wow, maybe I could take the recording stuff to one of our gigs and record the band playing, then put that on a CD too!"

It's a great idea, but for someone brand new to the world of recording, that phrase "some kind of recording setup" raises a lot of questions, beginning with, what kind of recording setup? In the Ancient Days, there was only one answer: get yourself a multi-track tape recorder and use that as the basis for your home studio. The audio world has changed, but the descendants of those early units still exist in the form of "standalone" DAWs (Digital Audio Workstations) such as those made by Korg, Tascam, and others.

These economical standalone DAWs have evolved to the point of becoming truly "a studio in a box." Want reverb? It's built in, with 100 variations. Want delay or chorus? Built in. Distortion? Guitar amplifier simulations? Compression? Mastering algorithms? Yup. All built in and ready to go. Everything works together because it was designed that way. The amount of equipment needed to provide similar flexibility 20 years ago would have filled half of your studio!

The Lure Of the Computer

"But what about a computerized studio system?" you may ask. "Isn't everyone running ProTools (or CuBase, or Sonar) on a computer these days? Why should I limit myself by using some obsolete overgrown tape recorder instead?" Well, that's a good question, except for that crack about the tape recorder!

Yes, "everyone" is using these advanced, sophisticated, leading-edge tools and systems, if by "everyone" you mean Madonna, Beck, and the seasoned audio engineers at your local pro studio. These are music professionals who have been doing this full-time for years. You are a newbie. A brand new pilot doesn't fly a 747. And no, you probably should not start out with a computerized studio setup.

I don't know how many posts I have read on home recording forums that read something like this:

"I got my new ProTools system set up on my laptop, but I can't get any audio through my sound card. I've been through the manuals over and over and user support is no help. There are three levels of menus to set up the routing and I don't know what any of the words they are using mean. Help!"

or

"My CuBase setup seems to be recording OK, but when I play it back there are lots of pops and crackles. Last time it stopped in the middle and a message about 'cache or buffer overflow' came up. What do I do now?"

or even

"My computer locks up whenever I try to download the required software upgrade from the Internet through the firewall, and now it won't run the original version either! Is there a workaround??"

Is this the kind of questions you want to be asking a week (or two, or four) after you first set up your brand new home recording studio? I think not! But this sort of setup trauma is a fairly common experience, especially for those brand new to recording, or computers, or both.

You Better Think Twice

But not just them! My music partner, whom I shall refer to as Mr. A (although his real name is Jack Burgess), recently upgraded from an 8-track standalone DAW to CuBase software, running on a computer system specifically designed for recording studio use. Now, Mr. A is a smart guy, and is a certified expert on both recording and computers, having worked with both for literally decades. And yet, it took nearly a month of telephoning and trouble-shooting before he was able to successfully record a track and then play it back, one of the more basic studio functions.

If it took Mr. A a month, how long would it take you?

So, no. If you really are just starting out in recording, don't be swayed by the siren song of the high-end pro systems. You'll get there. But try walking first. Check out the Boss BR-1600CD Multitrack Digital Recorder, for example. Look it up on the Musician's Friend website and read the reviews left by pleased users. You can be recording with this unit (or one like it) the very day it arrives at your house! With a computer-based system, not so much.

When computers found their way into homes they were used for every possible and imaginable task. Audio recording was not an exception. First music software applications were promising but from today's perspective they were very modest. This was due to limitations of computers at that time. Now we have two main streams of personal computing: PC and MAC. Both are used in professional recording studios with plethora of complex software applications.

The 1980s was a very important decade for music production and recording. MIDI started to emerge, Yamaha introduced the DX7 synthesizer, some samplers like Akai S1000 were very poplar, and first music software applications were written for microcomputers popular at that time. Various software sequencers were written for Commodore C64, Sinclair ZX Spectrum and Apple II. A real breakthrough was Macintosh with graphical user interface. It had widows with icons and a mouse pointer. Mark of the Unicorn developed Performer, the first sequencer for Macintosh.

For the history of MIDI sequencers Atari ST was also important. Designed as a gaming computer with graphical user interface it featured also MIDI I/O and it was cheaper than Mac. Steinberg Cubase and Emagic Notator were first developed for Atari ST.

First PC software applications were Cakewalk MIDI sequencer and the SCORE music notation package. However, at that time PCs with first Windows were not so stable as these days and many musicians preferred Mac for which CODA's Finale software appeared at the end of 1980s. Cubase and Notator were also ported to Mac and PC platform.

In 1989 Digidesign introduced one of the first hard disk audio recording systems Sound Tools. It was a two-track recorder/editor used with Q-Sheet software. In 1990 the first MIDI and Audio sequencer was introduced. It was Opcode's Studio Vision and used Digidesign's Sound Tools hardware for audio. 4-channel Pro Tools appeared in 1992. There was also one not so popular microcomputer, the Acorn Archimedes with an interesting software called Sibelius. It was a score writing package which was also ported to Mac and PC. Later in the 90s Cubase VST (Steinberg ) and Logic Audio (Emagic) both implemented the notation features.

Computers became faster with more RAM and disk capacity so the next trend was multi-track recording. Steinberg worked on MIDI + Audio sequencers like Cubase VST (Virtual Studio Technology). Third-party developers welcomed the plug-in feature and a new market emerged. Emagic and Mark of the Unicorn also accepted the plug-in approach. In 1990s Pro Tools introduced 64-track system MIX with 16/24 bit audio at 44.1 or 48 kHz. At that time Cubase VST, Logic Audio and Pro Tools were all available on the PC platform.

In 1999 Steinberg introduced Nuendo. It offered 96 kHz recording and 5.1 surround audio. Pro Tools offered surround audio in 2002. At that time Pro Tools became a standard for professional recording studio software. Pro Tools 5.1 proved it's capability of recording MIDI sequences and audio tracks. It's user interface was simple and powerful for either recording, editing or mixing audio. At the same time Logic Audio was the most popular sequencer on the Mac platform. Digidesign introduced Pro Tools HD (sampling at 96/192 kHz) in 2002 when new operating system for Mac, OSX become available. Cubase SX and Logic Audio were also released for OSX. Pro Tools 6.0 for OSX become available in 2003.

Some ownership changes also occurred: Digidesign was acquired by Avid, Sony acquired Sonic Foundry, Emagic was acquired by Apple, Adobe acquired Syntrillium's Cool Edit Pro software and changed its name to Adobe Audition, and Steinberg was acquired by Pinnacle. Now every leading recording studio software runs on both popular platforms, PC and Mac. And stability is not an issue anymore.

One of the big players in professional audio recording is still Digidesign's Pro Tools. There are actually three flavors of Pro Tools, all of which share the same user interface and file format. The primary distinction is the hardware they complement. Pro Tools|HD runs on elite DSP-powered Pro Tools|HD hardware and is mainly used in professional environments, Pro Tools LE used in home studios works with a variety of Digidesign hardware including the Mbox 2 family and Pro Tools M-Powered delivers even more options via compatibility with dozens of M-Audio interfaces. Some audio engineers, producers and remixers use Pro Tools hardware with third-party software instead with the original Pro Tools software.

Computers and software in music recording and production are inevitable. We can hardly imagine working with analog tapes and mixers. Digital signal processing has raised audio technology to a new level. Personal computers have evolved to a level where everybody can afford a home recording studio. Cheap hard disks allow us to record unlimited number of tracks at arbitrary sample rate. Music recording has never been easier. There are also some disadvantages with this new technology. You can easily compress music and make it louder destroying the original dynamic and life it originally had. CD clipping is also very popular. However, the advantages of using computers in recording studios are huge. You only need the right software and some skills.

After I had blown quite a few thousand dollars in a recording studio, a sound engineer friend made a cool suggestion. "Why don't you buy an ADAT, and do some tracking at home?" So I purchased that venerable 8 track digital tape recorder and saved oodles of time and money putting all my synth tracks on tape. That was my start in home recording, and oh, the fun I've had since!

What are the basic pieces of equipment and software one needs to record at home?

There are so many ways to do this! Well, since you're reading this, you probably have a computer, so let's base our home studio on the computer. We'll start by understanding the different functions we will need filled in home recording. Then we'll understand what the best hardware and software products to do it are. In general, the principle I recommend is to use fewer pieces of equipment with more functions. That approach saves time and, usually, money. As you advance in your recording skills, you can go for more specialized equipment.

There are two distinct phases in recording a song. One is the "in" phase, referring to everything needed to get your music performance into a basic recorded form, with however many tracks you need. The second phase is the "out" phase, where you will take that raw music, process it and create the final stereo version.

The "in" phase -- sending the music to your computer

Music can be put into your computer either as audio or as MIDI. Audio is actual sound recordings. MIDI records no sounds, but only the digital instructions for an instrument to play. It is much like a combination of a pianist and sheet music. Without an instrument, he can make no music. With MIDI, you are saving the note and volume instructions to be played on the instruments of your choice later on.

Although some programs let you put MIDI notes into your computer through your computer keyboard, and other programs have music generation features that allow you to create an entire backing band without playing a note, the best solution is a velocity sensitive MIDI keyboard. It gives a much more realistic performance. For example, playing a key softer will record a softer note. Other features, such as aftertouch, allow you to add vibrato and other realistic effects.

Audio simply means actual sounds. Audio tracks will include vocals, acoustic instruments, and electronic instruments whose sounds you wish to use. You will do well to get at least two microphones. Some microphones are better constructed to record vocals, while others are optimized for instruments. In addition, having two mics allows you to record in stereo, or two soloists performing at the same time.

Receiving the music into your computer

All of this will get your music up to your computer's door. How do you get it inside? With an audio interface that has: a microphone jack that fits your microphone cable and preamp function (so that the signal is strong enough to be properly recorded), phantom power (if you use a condenser mic that needs it), a line input for synths and sound modules, and a MIDI interface. Remember the principle - less products that do more. Some find it simpler to run every audio sound, mics and all, through a hardware mixer (with phantom power and effects) and sending that pre-processed signal to the audio interface's line input. You'll still need the MIDI interface function for your MIDI recording, though.

Once your audio and MIDI are inside your computer, software takes over. For our recording we will use what's called an integrated audio/MIDI sequencer. Famous names include Cubase, Cakewalk and so forth. These programs record multiple tracks of audio and MIDI in perfect synchronization.

Now you have all the equipment you need for the "in" phase. What will you need to take the many tracks of audio and MIDI you have recorded and make a song out of them?

The "out" phase -- making MIDI into music

We mentioned that MIDI is simply digital instructions, it is not actual sounds. Now we will need to create actual sounds from those instructions. There are two options for this: external and internal.

External sounds come in little boxes called sound modules (or keyboards with their own great sounds). Sound modules have hundreds of high-quality patches that re-create every instrument in the orchestra, classic electronic sounds, spacey new synthesizer creations and sound effects. To use them, you send the MIDI back out from the sequencer program through the audio interface's MIDI output and into the sound module. You then take the audio output from the sound module back into your computer via the line input on your audio interface and record it on a new audio track in the sequencer. It is now a real sound and is perfectly lined up with the other tracks.

Internal sounds come in lots of different types. Instruments that you use from within your audio/MIDI sequencer include VST instruments and software synths. The latter may automatically come with your audio interface, or require installation like any other program. Option two is a full-blown sampler/synthesizer program, such as "Reason", that you connect your sequencer to through a software function called "Rewire." And there are also sound modules that come in the form of PCI cards that you physically install on your computer.

Fine tuning and effects

Most every song will use spatial effects such as reverb and echo. You may find that some tracks are slightly out of tune. On others, there may be a consistent buzz that needs to be removed. For all of these, you will want to have an audio editing program or plug-in. A plug-in is simply a function you can add to your basic sequencer program. Plug-ins exists for all kinds of functions, including reverb, compression, equalization, noise reduction, pitch correction and so forth.

An audio editing program is a standalone program that does all of these things. With most audio/MIDI sequencers, you can configure your software to call up the audio editing program and fix the track without leaving the sequencer.

Mixing down

Once you have all of your tracks and sounds recorded, you will need to mix them down to stereo. Again, this can be done in an external or internal fashion. To do it externally, you would need a hardware mixer. This method limits you to the number of tracks you can send independently through your audio interface and the number of tracks your mixer can handle. Nonetheless, mixers give you a real surface to work on, and often include quality studio effects, reverbs and such.

Internal mixing means using your audio/MIDI sequencer to mix down the entire song to two tracks. The advantage of doing it internally is the expanded number of tracks you can use. The disadvantage is the difficulty of mixing with a mouse on a computer screen. There are, however, hardware mixing surfaces which simply control your software program.

Mastering and burning

Once you have your stereo mix, you want to put the finishing touches on it. These touches include overall compression, equalization, noise reduction, fading in and out and bringing the recording up to a normalized level of volume. Your audio editing program should be able to handle these adequately, although there are specialized mastering programs which offer higher quality and many more enhancement features.

Then you're ready to burn your song to CD. Odds are that your CD writing drive came with a program that does just that and you won't need anything more. I did mention that you'll need a CD writing drive, didn't I? Well, now I did! And if it's MP3 you're after, most audio programs encode MP3s as well.

And that's it! Now you have everything you need to make your musical magic at home. Have fun, but I don't need to tell you that, because it just is.