Here in Adorama we want your dreams of sound
production to soar, so we are going to pare
it right back to the basics.
These Back to Basics shows will help
you understand the very basics, the equipment,
the terminology, the concepts and hopefully
giving you the confidence and knowledge to
either record your first song or even design
you own soundscape.
In this episode I want to show you how to
use a computer as your recorder.
I am suggesting a computer as it will allow
you the most versatility and expandability
as you progress and gain confidence in your
abilities.
You can use a desktop or laptop either is
a good option.
There a billion old computers out there, ask
your friends and family if they have an old
one you could have.
Should the machine be a bit slow then bring
it to a repair shop and get an SSD or 'solid
state drive', put in to replace the old hard-drive.
The replacement will turn a slow machine into
a machine that is quite quick and will be
much better for working with sound.
When you get you machine home, I want you
to look at the computer's settings window.
On a Mac it is called System Preferences,
look for the sound icon and click on it.
On a Windows PC find the settings
window under the 'devices' icon you will
find the sound icon click on it.
In either systems you will see your options
for 'sound output' and 'sound input'.
This is where a lot of problems may occur,
when your computer does not recognise any
sound equipment you may have attached to you
computer, if so, your sound software will
have a problem working properly for you.
If you are having any problems with the sound
equipment that is attached to the computer,
the sound options in the settings
window is the first place to check for
any issues.
Make sure that your equipment
is listed on the list of sound devices out
and the sound devices in.
(it may be listed in a drop down menu)
When I say sound equipment attached to your
computer, I mean any equipment that allows
you to put sound in or out of the computer.
A device like this is called an Audio Interface.
It could be an External interface, an internal
sound card, or even a USB microphone.
The range of such equipment is mind blowing.
As an exercise, have a look at the Adorama
online store at the Computer audio for
video section. Familiarise yourself with
the language they are using in the descriptions
and see if you can recognise common properties
in the different pieces of equipment.
We will go through the terminology and go
through the properties of lots of different
equipment as we go along.
As always, if you have any questions put them
in the comments below.
A lot of computers come with a mic input
and a speakers out, which will allow
you to put in a computer mic
and plug in some speakers.
The connectors are usually a 3.5mm jack.
You can pick up a computer mic for pennies
and starting out, computer speakers would
be absolutely fine.
The mic input on laptops and some desktops
can be very limiting as the mic inputs can
be really noisy because the components are
generating electrical noise that go down on
your recordings.
When you are looking on the Adorama site,
have a look for a basic
digital audio interface that will get you going.
You will need one or two mic inputs, a headphone
option, as well as outputs to a set of speakers.
A USB interface is totally fine.
One thing to look out for is free software
that bundles with your interface.
A lot of companies offer free recording
software and some even give away lite
versions of big professional
'DAW's or Digital Audio Workstations.
Most professional sound work is done on one
of the many types of DAW such as
ProTools or Nuendo.
We will go through what they are and what
they do in a later episode.
I've already covered software interfaces,
see episode link below.
What I want you to do when you have finished
watching this video and clicking the
like button, is go and download and install a free
audio software package called Audacity.
When you open it, Audacity will work off the
computer's default settings for the
microphone and speakers.
On a laptop that will be the internal mic
and speakers.
Click the big red button on
the top left hand side, and it will go into record.
Say a few words then hit the spacebar.
Welcome to your first recording!
Hit the spacebar again, and listen to what
you just recorded.
What you are looking at is called the 'Waveform'.
This is a picture of the sound you recorded.
The quiet bits are the small waves and the
loud bits are the big waves.
The two flashing green bars to your top right
are your meters.
They measure how much signal is
coming into your recorder and are
used in all aspects of sound production.
They are really really important.
When you see the green bars going red that
means that there is too much signal going
into your recorder.
The audio you are recording will sound distorted.
There is a 'Recording Volume� slide, up
on the top right.
Pull that down to reduce the amount of signal.
The red peaks on your meters go and you will
be looking at all green bars on your meter.
This is you reducing the 'Level' going
to you recorder.
So when you are recording
anything and you are hearing the audio 'distort'
then reduce the 'recording Level' to protect
your recordings and have nice clean audio.
If you just recorded your voice on a laptop
the recording might sound distant and with
a lot of the room around you. That is
the reverb of the room and the reason that
you sound distant is because the laptop mic
is far away from your mouth.
Do another recording whilst your are leaning
into your laptop. Listen to both recordings.
The first take is distant and roomy
version, the second is clearer with less room
and you are probably seeing more level
on your meters and a bigger waveform on the
display.
The reason you are hearing and seeing such
differences are because of the Proximity
of the mic.
The proximity of the mic is all
about the position of the mic in relation
to what you are recording.
The closer to the source the clearer the recording
because you are getting a more direct signal
being recorded.
Mic proximity is really important when recording
and is also something we will look at later.
In the meantime, have a really good play with
you new software. I need you to experiment
for yourself with the program.
Have a look around it and see what happens
when you start clicking on different stuff.
There is also a manual that will walk you
through aspects of the program.
Next time we will look at finding the best
Audio interface for you and how it will
work with your computer.
We will also look at a few aspects of audio
software that are common to free and professional
programs alike.
I'm Keith Alexander and you've been watching
Adorama TV.
Don't forget to subscribe to Adorama TV
for more great videos; and tell us what you think.
If I can answer any of your sound questions,
no matter how silly you may feel they are,
put them in the comments below.
I will answer them.
You can like, comment or share this video
and please come by the Adorama
Learning Centre for more great tips and tricks.