Thread: Record music on a computer.

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 g progTam called Audacity, which is free, easy to use, doesn't require a powerful computer and will run on Windows 98 or later, Mac OSX or Linux.

The remaining requirements involve getting audio in and out of the PC. You'll find more details about choosing a microphone in the box on page 53, but just as important is getting sounds back~out of the computer again. Most people a'lready 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 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.