Audio Auctions and Audio Streaming

How to Use Your Computer as a Recording Studio


A few years ago there was a revolution in recording technology. As computers became more powerful, they started to replace traditional tape recorders that were the heart of most recording studios. Today, computers designed for home use are powerful enough to emulate an entire recording studio, and can be used for everything from multitrack recording to audio editing and scoring music for videos.

This "democratizing" of recording techniques has opened up the entire recording industry to anyone with the proper software and hardware. With software packages costing a few hundred dollars and professional-quality audio interfaces costing less than $100, anybody can have a virtual recording studio in their home.

Some of the big names in the audio recording field are Cubase, ProTools, Sonar and Sound Forge. Each of these Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) can be used for multi-track recording and editing and have the ability to combine recordings with "virtual instruments".

Virtual instruments are computer-generated sounds that can be played via MIDI. Traditionally, MIDI was used to send music data to hardware devices like keyboards and sound modules, but computers are now powerful enough to emulate sound modules. Instead of hooking up cables to an external device to play MIDI tracks, virtual instruments can be loaded into the computer's memory to play any type of sound.

MIDI tracks can be combined with audio tracks and all of it played back in perfect synchronization. All tracks can be processed with effects like reverb and chorus, and the entire mix can be compressed for a professional sounding result.

Although professional sound recording packages can be fairly expensive, you can get your feet wet by trying out one of the shareware programs that are available. They will allow you to see the capabilities of digital recording, and if you want to develop your interests further you can later buy one of the professional programs.

Hans is editor of the Audio Howto Section of the Selected Audio Review Guide


MORE RESOURCES:

Harding Sporting Events to be Streamed Over the Web
ArkansasSports360.com, AR - 36 minutes ago
For fans with dial-up connections, Harding will continue to provide live audio streaming of all football and basketball games with Billy Morgan handling ...


JVC El Kameleon KD-AVX44
CNET Reviews - 15 minutes ago
We were surprised to learn that the unit also supports A2DP-audio streaming from Bluetooth devices. We were easily able to control playback of music stored ...


TrustedReviews

IFA 2008: New Philips Streamium Hi-Fi System Breaks Cover
TrustedReviews, UK - 7 hours ago
Wireless is only 802.11g unfortunately, but this is more than sufficient for audio streaming even if it does limit the wireless range. ...


Mascom Wireless makes 3G and 3.5G product offerings
Sunday Standard, Botswana - Aug 27, 2008
“The remaining service that can be offered in addition includes, video/audio streaming, mobile TV which is online broadcasting, High Speed push-email as ...


Sony SNC-P1 network colour camera - advancing to the next level
SourceSecurity.com, UK - 9 hours ago
... the efficient MPEG-4 compression format, which provides smooth video/audio streaming via ordinary broadband network environments such as DSL or CATV. ...


Sensory's BlueGenie Voice Interface(TM) Powers First Voice ...
MarketWatch - Aug 26, 2008
BlueAnt's product portfolio includes hands-free, stereo audio streaming and wireless communication products offering cutting-edge technology, ...


The Air This Week
Boston Globe, United States - Aug 26, 2008
Schedules and dial-ups for audio-streaming sites worldwide are available at www.publicradiofan.com and classwebcast.googlepages.com/Station_ Listings.html . ...


Meet the Squeezebox’s big brother
PC Pro, UK - Aug 6, 2008
We love the Squeezebox Duet even more - when it comes to audio streaming its difficult to imagine a device as intuitive and gorgeous coming along to topple ...


Grooveshark Autoplay: Pandora for the rest of us
The Inquisitr, Australia - Aug 26, 2008
However, Pandora (despite its brilliance) hasn’t been available outside of the United States now for over a year, so great contextual audio streaming has ...


Wi-Fi radio roundup
San Francisco Chronicle,  USA - Aug 4, 2008
The good: Reliable wireless audio streaming; stylish design; built-in lithium battery with four hours of battery life; solid connections, ...

Audio-Streaming - Google News

home | site map
© 2006