Recording a demo CD yourself

Here are a few tips so that you can record a demo CD yourself at home.

Making a demo CD doesn't have to be complicated and I'm going to try and help you acheive this goal with the minimum of equipment. This page is based on a singer recording to a piano accompaniment. Obviously it doesn't have to be a piano accompaniment - it can be a guitar or a synthesizer. I am a pianist so the information is based on my experience with recording a piano and vocals. So if you are a singer you'll need to find yoursef a pianist first before you even start thinking about making a recording.

The Room (studio)

The first thing you'll need is a suitable room. The ideal room should have plenty of soft furnishings. This will help to eliminate reverb from the recording. You may ask why we should want to eliminate reverb, but the explanation is quite simple - we are going add it later in the final mix. The thing is, if you get too much reverb in the initial recording - you are stuck with it. You can't take it away - you can only add reverb. So that's the first thing you need - a nice carpeted room, with curtains, a sofa and as much soft furnishing as possible.

The Piano

The next thing you'll need is a good digital piano (Yamaha or similar) so that you can record directly using a jack to jack lead from the audio output or line out. You'll more than likely have the option of using two leads for a stereo output. Using a normal accoustic piano isn't recommended as it does complicate the whole process of keeping the piano track from spilling over into the vocal track. With a digital piano you can record directly into the multitrack recorder while listening the piano through headphones. So if anyone entered the room during the recording session - they would only hear the vocalist. The vocalist, however, would be able to hear the piano accompaniment through the headphones that she is wearing.

The microphone

I use a Rhode NT2 Condensor Microphone but this type of microphone can't work without something called phantom power. Phantom power (labeled as +48 V on some audio equipment) is a method that sends a DC electrical voltage through microphone cables. This needs to be supplied by your multitrack recorder or a pre-amp. The quality of these microphones is astounding but they very delicate and you'll definitely need to use a pop filter help stop popping and hissing sounds. You can eliminate all these complications by using a dynamic microphone like the one you probaly use with your PA system. Superb results can be attained with a good dynamic microphone. The legendary Shure SM58 is so cheap these days and is a great gigging microphone. A condensor microphone is far too delicate to be used as a giging microphone and is only suitable for studio work.

The Multitrack Recorder

There are loads of cheap digital multitrack recorders out there and the quality is amazing. Make sure that you get one with a built-in CD burner. This will enable you to do the recording and master it to CD without having to output your multitrack to a CD recorder or to your computer via your sound card. If you've got one of those old cassette multitrack recorders (I still have one of these somewhere) and you don't want to spend the money on a digital multitrack recorder - then you can use a cassette one. The quality won't be as good and you'll need a good sound card (an Edirol UA-25 is a good choice) to output the audio onto your computer so that you an make the finished CD. Try and go with the digital multitrack recorder and you'll find that it will make things a lot simpler.

Headphones

I use Beyer DT100s which are industry standard and are superb but you'll just have to use what you've got. Most headphones these days are of reasonable quality but do try and get some good ones if you've got the cash to spare.

Here is a list of the things that you need to start with:

1) Jack to jack leads - one or two depending on whether you are are recording in mono or stereo
2) Digital piano
3) Sustain pedal for piano
4) Power supply unit for digital piano (if needed)
5) Multitrack recorder
6) Microphone
7) Microphone Lead
8) Microphone stand
9) Pop filter
10) Two sets of headphones
11) Headphone splitter - this divides the stereo headphone socket into two stereo outputs
12) Jack to jack leads - one or two depending on whether you are are recording in mono or stereo Get to know your equipment.

Most of what follows presumes that you are familiar with your multitrack recorder and that you have experimented recording with both line inputs and microphones. Just play with your recorder and experiment to your hearts content - have fun.

Only when you are familiar with the basic workings of your equipment should you consider getting a pianist in to make a demo.

The songs

At some point you'll need to have a look at the songs that you are going to record. You need to decide whether any of them going to be sung in a "colla voce" style (i.e with the voice) and whether any are going to be sung with a fixed pulse. These two types of approach to a song often confuse singers. The "colla voce" type of song is sung freely and completely out of tempo - the accompaniment has to follow the singer. An easy way to work out if a song is in tempo is to perform the song with the accompaniment while trying to click your fingers of tap your foot in time with the music. If you can't find a regular pulse to tap or click to then the song is "colla voce".

The Set Up

So this is the start of your recording session. So here is the sequence of events for the set up of your recording session.

1) First of all set up your microphone stand and plug your microphone into an XLR socket (I am going to presume that you are using a dynamic microphne rather than the condensor type) on your mulitrack recorder.

2) Then set up the piano and plug your jack to jack leads (here I am presuming that you are recording the piano in stereo) into the line out sockets of your digital piano and take the other ends of these leads and plug them into two line inputs of your mulitrack recorder. If your keyboard has built in then you need to find out how to mute these so that the singers microphone doesn't pick up any sound from the piano. Very often you can just stick a spare jack plug into the headphone socket of the piano to shut the speakers off.

3) The next thing you need is a headphone splitter so that you can put two sets of headphones into your multitrack recorder. The vocalist will use one pair of headphones while the pianist will use the other.

4) The vocalist now needs to sing a few of the louder phrases from the song that you are about to record and the input of the input should be adjusted so that the level high without it peaking. NOW just bring it down a bit more just to make sure it doesn,t peak during the recording.

5) The pianist now needs to play a few of the louder phrases from the song. This time you will have to adjust the two input levels of the piano in the same way that you've adjusted the vocal input.

6) Now you need to adjust the faders (not the input levels!) untill you are happy with the mix in the headphones. You next need to add some reverb onto the tracks that you are using. These adjustments will not affect the finished recording but are just done to make sure everyone feels happy when they are playing. This is important if you are going to perform at your best.

The two types of recording

We are now going to come back to the two different song types that we discussed earlier. These two different types of song require a completely different approach from each other. The two methods are explained below:

a) Colla Voce type of song

With this type of song you need to record the piano at the same time as you record the vocal and keep doing this untill the two of you come up with an acceptable result. Laying down the piano track first and then doing multiple takes of the vocal doesn't usually work. The idea is that the accompaniment follows the singer.

b) In Tempo type of song

This type of song can be approached in an entirely different way and it is easier to get a top quality recording. First of all record the vocals and accompaniment together but just concentrate on getting the accompaniment right. It is better to have the vocalist sing while you are trying to get the accompaniment down - as a pianist plays differently when he or she is accompanying. If the pianist is making the accompaniment up as he goes along (as in jazz) - he or she will really need someone to accompany in order to get a good feel and to produce something that compliments the voice. So just keep plugging away untill you get a decent recording of the accompaniment.

Once you've got the piano track to your liking you can concentrate on the vocals. You should now have the piano on one track (or two if you have recorded the piano in stereo) and the first vocal attempt on another. I usually keep this track just in case parts of it are better than the recording that are to follow. From now on you just need to record a sucession of tracks over the existing piano accompaniment.

Once you've got the piano track down the pianist is now free to watch the input levels (not the faders!). Try and get the vocals as high as possible without peaking. If you are using an 8 track recorder you will probably end up with the piano accompaniment on tracks 1 and 2, your first vocal attempt on track 3 and maybe three recordings of the vocal on tracks 4, 5 and 6.

I usually find that three attempts is enough before repeating the process for the next song. The general idea is that all the vocal takes and the accompaniment line up and if you've done the job properly, you'll be able to raise all the channel faders, press play and the piano tracks and all the vocal attempts should play simultaneously.

I usually do all the above with a couple more songs before I start editing. But I'm now going to move on to the editing process.

To be continued...

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