Home Recording For Dummies, 6th Edition

Home Recording For Dummies, 6th Edition

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Book description

Make your next track a studio-quality gem with this celebrated recording guide

Have you ever dreamed of producing the next big song? Or maybe you need some hints on the recording gear used to create pro podcasts? With just a little bit of guidance, there’s nothing stopping you from creating crystal-clear, studio-quality tracks from the comfort of your own home. In Home Recording For Dummies, expert sound engineer and celebrated author Jeff Strong demystifies the world of recording and walks you through every step of creating high-fidelity audio.

With this book at your side, you’ll discover how to choose a room that fits your studio needs, get the hardware you can’t live without, choose the right microphone for the task at hand, record live and virtual instruments, build rhythm tracks and loops, and edit, mix, and master your recording.

Home Recording For Dummies is the must-read guide that helps home create high-fidelity, multi-track songs and recordings that blow audiences away.

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Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Introduction
    1. About This Book
    2. Foolish Assumptions
    3. Icons Used in This Book
    4. Beyond the Book
    5. Where to Go from Here
    1. Chapter 1: Understanding Home Recording
      1. Examining the Anatomy of a Home Studio
      2. Getting a Glimpse into the Recording Process
      3. Making Sense of Mixing
      4. Adding the Final Touches
      1. Determining Your Home Studio Needs
      2. Detailing Your Digital Options
      3. Computer-Based Digital Recording Systems
      4. Studio-in-a-Box Systems
      5. Mobile-Device Recording
      6. Exploring Sample Setups
      1. Understanding Analog Connections
      2. Delving into Digital Connections
      3. Working Efficiently
      4. Optimizing Your Room
      1. Meeting the Many Mixers
      2. Understanding Mixer Basics
      1. Understanding Multitracking
      2. Getting Ready to Record
      3. Setting a Tempo Map
      4. Saving Your Work
      5. Sharing Files with Others
      1. Chapter 6: Understanding Microphones
        1. Meeting the Many Microphone Types
        2. Assessing Your Microphone Needs
        3. Deciding How Many Microphones and What Kind
        4. Finding the Right Mic for the Situation
        5. Partnering Mics with Preamps
        6. Considering Compressors
        7. Analyzing Some Microphone Accessories
        8. Caring for Your Microphones
        1. Singling Out Close Miking
        2. Detailing Distant Miking
        3. Assessing Ambient Miking
        4. Selecting Stereo Miking
        5. Creating Miking Combinations
        1. Getting a Great Lead Vocal Sound
        2. Getting Good Backup Vocals
        3. Examining Electric Guitar Miking
        4. Exploring Electric Bass Miking
        5. Miking Acoustic Guitars and Similar Instruments
        6. Maneuvering Horn Mics
        7. Placing Mics for a Piano
        8. Setting Up Mics for Strings
        9. Digging into Drum Set Miking
        10. Getting Your Hands on Hand Drums
        11. Perfecting Percussion Miking
        1. Chapter 9: Getting a Great Source Sound
          1. Making Sense of the Signal Chain
          2. Setting Optimal Signal Levels
          3. Understanding Pre and Post Levels
          4. Getting Great Guitar, Bass, and Electronic String Instrument Sounds
          5. Creating Killer Keyboard Tracks
          6. Recording E-Drums, Drum Machines, and Electronic Percussion
          7. Making the Most of Microphones
          1. Performing Your First Take
          2. Punching In and Out
          3. Exploring Overdubbing
          4. Submixing
          5. Bouncing
          6. Keeping Track of Your Tracks
          1. Meeting MIDI
          2. Gearing Up for MIDI
          1. Synchronizing Your Devices
          2. Sequencing
          3. Saving Your Data
          4. Transferring Data Using MIDI
          1. Understanding Loops and Loop Types
          2. Choosing Loop Formats
          3. Setting Up Your Session
          4. Adding Loops to Your Sessions
          5. Editing Loops
          6. Creating Loops
          1. Chapter 14: Getting into Editing
            1. Understanding Digital Editing
            2. Finding the Section You Want to Edit
            3. Editing to Improve the Sound of a Performance
            4. Creating a Performance That Never Happened
            5. Discovering Other Ways to Use Editing
            1. Understanding MIDI Windows
            2. Editing MIDI Data
            3. Editing Program Data
            4. Changing Continuous Controller Data
            5. Quantizing Your Performance
            6. Transposing Your Performance
            7. Saving Your Data
            8. Transferring Data Using MIDI
            1. Chapter 16: Mixing Basics
              1. Understanding Mixing
              2. Managing Levels as You Work
              3. Getting Started Mixing Your Song
              4. Mixing in DAWs
              5. Using the Stereo Field
              6. Adjusting Levels: Enhancing the Emotion of the Song
              7. Tuning Your Ears
              1. Exploring Equalization
              2. Dialing-In EQ
              3. Equalizing Your Tracks
              1. Connecting Dynamics Processors
              2. Introducing Compressors
              3. Looking into Limiters
              4. Introducing Gates and Expanders
              5. Detailing the De-Esser
              6. Setting Up Side Chains
              1. Routing Your Effects
              2. Rolling Out the Reverb
              3. Detailing Delay
              4. Creating Chorus Effects
              5. Making Sense of Microphone Modeling
              6. Applying an Amp Simulator
              7. Detailing Distortion Effects
              8. Selecting Tape Saturation Effects
              1. Understanding Automation
              2. Accessing Automation Modes
              3. Writing Automation
              4. Viewing Automation
              5. Editing Automation Data
              1. Submixing Tracks
              2. Mixing in-the-Box
              3. Using an External Master Deck
              1. Demystifying Mastering
              2. Getting Ready to Master
              3. Paying a Pro or Doing It Yourself
              4. Hiring a Professional Mastering Engineer
              5. Mastering Your Music Yourself
              6. Preparing for Distribution
              1. Understanding File Formats
              2. Putting Your Music on CD
              3. Delivering Digital Files
              4. Creating MP3 Files
              5. Pressing Vinyl
              1. Chapter 24: Ten Invaluable Recording Tips
                1. Using an Analog Tape Deck
                2. Layering Your Drum Beats
                3. Decorating Your Room
                4. Setting a Tempo Map
                5. Listening to Your Mix in Mono
                6. Doubling and Tripling Your Tracks
                7. Recording Dirty Room Ambience
                8. Overdubbing Live Drums
                9. Pressing Record, Even during a Rehearsal
                10. Leaving the Humanity in Your Tracks
                1. Marketing Yourself
                2. Setting Up Your Own Music Website
                3. Putting Your Music on a Music Host Site
                4. Engaging in Social Media Networking
                5. Offering Free Downloads
                6. Selling Your Music Digitally
                7. Licensing Your Music
                8. Podcasting
                9. Selling Your CDs
                10. Promoting Your Music
                11. Connecting with an Email Newsletter
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                Product information

                • Title: Home Recording For Dummies, 6th Edition
                • Author(s): Jeff Strong
                • Release date: November 2020
                • Publisher(s): For Dummies
                • ISBN: 9781119711100