in this video i'm going to walk you step
by step through the process of setting
up your audio interface for the very
first time
i'll show you how to connect your
interface to the daw in your computer
i'll show you how to connect speakers to
your interface and i'll demonstrate how
to record a microphone and a guitar
i'll use a focusrite scarlet 2i2
interface for this demonstration
but the steps in this video will apply
to nearly every interface on the market
if you're new to this channel i'm kyle
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when you open the focusrite scarlet 2i2
you find the interface itself
and the usb cable for connecting it to
your computer
the first step is to connect the
interface to your computer using the
included cable
you may need to download the most
up-to-date driver for your interface
you can find this easily with a quick
search in this case i'll search
focusrite scarlet 2i2 drivers
the first result is a link to the
manufacturer's downloads page
that lets me easily search for software
related to my interface
the focusrite control app is the only
download available for the focusrite
scarlett 2i2
however some interfaces will require the
most up-to-date driver
to work properly with your computer if
you're using a new interface
or picking up an old interface for the
first time in a long time
it's worth a quick search to see if
there are any updates to the current
driver on your computer
if you want all of the programs on your
computer to play audio
out through the interface select the
speaker symbol in the corner of your
screen
for mac users search sound in system
preferences
this will allow you to control which
speakers are used for audio from web
browsers or music applications
select your interface as the audio
output device
you may need to additionally select the
audio interface as the input and output
device
of the software on your computer called
a digital audio workstation or daw this
process is very similar in most daws i'm
going to show you in reaper but it's
probably a similar process no matter
which software you're using
in reaper i choose options in the top
menu bar
and then preferences in some software
preferences can be found in the edit
drop down menu
you want to set the audio hardware for
the daw to the audio interface you're
using
the next step is to create two tracks in
your daw
you can usually find this option under
track
or add in the menu bar i'm adding
two mono tracks so that the inputs to
the audio interface will be recorded
separately
on one of the mono tracks i'll select
input 1
and on the other mono track i'll select
input 2.
if i configured it so that both physical
inputs input 1
and 2 on the audio interface recorded to
a single
stereo track i would probably end up
with one input on the left and one
input on the right and i don't want that
that's why i'm choosing to select
two mono tracks and configure it so that
input one is routed to track one and
input 2
is routed to track 2. now that we've
connected the audio interface to the
computer
it's time to get audio in and out of the
audio interface
the first thing i'll do is configure the
output devices
my headphones and my speakers if you
just want to use headphones
simply plug them into the headphone jack
on the front panel
this small knob controls the output
level of the headphones
this larger monitor knob controls the
output level of the quarter inch
outputs on the back panel i can use a
quarter inch
trs cable to make a balanced connection
to both of my speakers
at this stage you can test the audio
output by playing audio
from the web browser or another program
on your computer such as a youtube video
now it's time to record i'll use input 1
to record a shure
sm58 as a vocal microphone and i'll
connect a condenser microphone to input
2
for recording acoustic guitar if your
interface has a mic
level line level switch switch it to mic
level
the condenser microphone needs phantom
power but the sm58
doesn't need phantom power there is only
one switch on the 2i2 that turns on
phantom power to both inputs
but don't worry phantom power won't
damage a dynamic microphone like the
sm58
before recording a microphone make sure
to turn the monitor knob
all the way down to prevent a feedback
loop from forming between the microphone
and your speakers
you'll want to use headphones for this
step inside your daw you'll need to arm
the tracks that you plan to record
this can be done by selecting the red
circle next to the track
once both circles are illuminated start
to increase the preamp gain knob
on each microphone while singing or
playing the guitar
turn it up until the meters on the
screen peak at no higher
than negative 12 decibels full scale
or dbfs aim for the signal level to
average
at about -18 dbfs
you may notice a significant delay when
listening through the daw
this can make playing impossible the 2i2
has a cool feature called direct monitor
which routes the microphones directly to
the headphones with very low latency
i'll switch this function on so that i
can hear the microphones through the
headphones
if you're using the direct monitor
feature on your interface
mute the tracks within the daw so that
you don't hear an echo
once you've set your levels and you see
the signal on each channel meter in the
daw
it's time to press record
after you record you should see
waveforms like this
rewind the track turn off the record arm
on each channel and press play
if your audio device settings in the daw
are correct you should hear the
recording
playing through your speakers if you
don't hear your recording playing
through your speakers at this point
you should go back to step two and make
sure that the audio output device for
your daw
is set properly okay so i've got a basic
guitar and vocal recording let's say i
want to go back and over dub an electric
guitar on top of these two tracks
first i'll make a new track let's select
the input of this track as
input 1 on the interface i'll unplug the
old microphones and turn off phantom
power
plug in my electric guitar directly into
input 1 with a quarter inch
ts instrument cable i'll make sure to
set the line instrument switch
to instrument the process is the same as
recording a microphone from this point
this time i'll only arm the track i'm
recording to
which is track three
[Music]
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