Home recording, especially when the subjects are music and voice, is a very complicated art and science.

An experienced recording artist knows that the appropriate PC, software and equipment are essential to great sound and quality work, as well as the right combination. However, compatibility also comes into play when choosing your guitar, along with other things to look for.

Furthermore, generally speaking, any high end guitar you might choose should sound good on any amplifier you run it through. That is not to say though that you might lose a lot by plugging a $2500 guitar into a $100 amp. Let’s be serious. Plug it into a decent Line 6 amp, Mesa Boogie, Marshall, or Fender amp to really get what you are paying for.

With that in mind, if you’ve got your home studio up and running and now need to replace or make a first purchase on a guitar, do some research and read up on what would be best for you. Do you prefer a light-weight model, something small or are you only worried about your budget?

The Best Pick
The guitar I would most like to record in my home studio with would have to be a PRS SC250. This is a beautiful electric guitar that offers the PRS standard. With PRS guitars each model has it’s own sound, which is great for selection.

The PRS SC250 sounds better than any Gibson or Fender I have had the pleasure of laying my fingers on, and that is saying a lot for someone who use to spend every day demonstrating guitars for the public in the music store I work. If you pick up one, it should sound and play exactly like the next one. No more spending an entire day playing several guitars of the same model to find the one that sounds the best. Plus the pickup choice is well done with the usual 3 selections and controls that help you play this thing which feels like playing glass.

This amazing guitar, however, comes with a price. Because it is relatively new (2007), it’s difficult to find, which is disappointing. It’s priced at $2,500 and well worth the cost but is obviously for the serious musician.

Next Best
The next best to a PRS SC250 is, hands down, a Parker Fly. The first time I ever saw one was when Dave Navarro was playing with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and I hated the thing. I had never seen a guitar that sounded so decent but looked so ugly. When I began working for a major guitar chain, however, I tried one out and was amazing to play. The sound is decent and the guitar is lighter than some acoustics, which makes it an awesome pick if you’re playing live, outside the home.

The Musicman Axis
Third on my list would be the Musicman Axis guitar. Musicman is a company which was begun by Ernie Ball, who has a reputation for his excellent products. These guitars have an amazing sound and are easy to play. The attention to detail and simplicity of design on the Axis is what makes it so popular.

Last but not Least
Fourth on my list would be a Gibson SG. I’ve always been a sucker for it’s evil look and after playing one, it has beaten out the Les Paul for me. Plus, the Gibson SG is lighter and you have the peace of mind knowing that your guitar has a great reputation and an industry leader that can warranty their products. A decent SG can also be purchased for under $600.

The Others
There are many different brands and custom made guitars for you to choose from, which will make the task of picking one out difficult. I have yet to find a Fender that was a must have and Ibanez makes a few that I would record with if necessary, but mostly I am only impressed by their bass guitars. The same goes for Washburn, which has some crazy designs but average sounds.

All in all, however, the best way to know what’s right for you is to make a list of what you want in your guitar, pick up to a dozen models that fit most of your requirements, and then go out and play them until your fingers bleed and you know exactly what you want.

They’re the recording geeks in your life and you find yourself needing to shop for one. Whether it’s a birthday, graduation or holiday gift, you know that socks, a sweater or even an MP3 player just won’t cut it. Your geek deserves to light up like everyone else and gift cards are just too impersonal. So, as my gift to all of the recording geeks who have gone without when there is a celebration, I bring you these ideas:

Buyers on a Budget

If you really love your geek, the sooner you accept that a $100 gift is a budget gift, the better. And if a hundred bucks sounds like a decent price for you, congratulations. You can afford to buy your geek something useful.

However, don’t despair if you really can’t afford the full $100. CD Rom discs, re-writable DVRs and USB cords are each under a hundred and are widely useful in extra quantities for any electronics lover.

Microphones are a great way to go for a hundred dollar budget. The Ball Dynamic Microphone made by Blue Microphones is actually a very good deal for what it is. This microphone can help out a geek in a pinch when they find that their usual mic has suffered liquid damage or a cut in its cord. The Blue Ball Dynamic Mic has been well rated despite its inexpensiveness and has surprisingly decent sound.

Musicians and recording specialists alike need to keep their data portable, which makes a flash drive a great gift. Even if your geek already has a flash drive, another will still come in handy and says that you’ve been paying attention. For around a hundred dollars, you can get an 8GB flash drive from Best Buy. If you’re willing to spend an extra twenty, get a decent name brand 8GB drive, like SanDisk, Sony or Kensignton.

Lastly, for about a hundred bucks the Sony MDR-7506 studio headphones will delight your recording geek. These inexpensive and cutting edge headphones feature the closed-ear design that hugs the ear to reduce external noise interference, gold connectors, copper cord and a case for protection.

A Few Hundred Bucks, a Lot of Thanks

If you’ve got more than just a $100 to spare, your gift just got a lot better. For around $300 you can get your recording musician the Cakewalk Sonar 7 software. With Cakewalk, your gift receiver will be able to mix, record and edit their work with this user-friendly program.

The Alesis MultiMix 8 professional mixer is another great idea for the home recorder. This bad boy is around $300 and features 2 1/4 inch line inputs, 100 preset effects, 4 mic lines, a 3 band EQ per channel and it’s compatible for both Mac and PC users.

The Whole Shabang

For around $2000 to $3000 you could set your professional recording specialist up with a Macbook Pro. These exquisite computers run the OS X, Apple’s most recent operating system and they come with some of the most advanced Apple software.

If you want to buy the ultimate in recording gifts, the Sound Master Recording Engineer School is a specialized program for those who plan to make careers of their recording passions and talents. It was established in 1972 and sports some of the most modern studios and equipment. For more information, visit www.soundmaster.edu.

The Los Angeles Recording School is another awesome choice. It was established in 1985 and offers cutting edge classes taught by industry professionals. It’s located on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood and offers plenty of information at www.recordingcareer.com.

Interface, simply put, refers to the many cords, ports, and docking stations located on all computers and other intellectual electronic equipment that allow different devices to communicate efficiently. This, of course, also refers to recording equipment like effects processors and mixers.

At the very least, you should be familiar with the common USB (Universal Serial Bus) cord and port. This is the most common type of interface in U.S. homes and offices and is mass marketed. The USB cord and port, for example, are used to connect a computer to a printer so that the printer can effectively pull images from the computer to print.

More specifically, inside the cord of any type of interface, are specifically designed and programmed wires that, when fired up, send signals to the devices they are connected to and assigns each one an address. In Layman’s terms, those signals or interruptions also ask the device what kind of information it wishes to process and then follows a specific set of patterns or commands that it was already programmed to understand according to each device.

USB Audio Interface

USB interfaces, which have flat and rectangular heads, are the most common. Most USB Audio cords are made by a company called M-Audio. They are good for beginners and budget systems but lack good analog to digital convertors. This means that they tend to add unwanted noise and coloration to the sound. Plus they are really only good for 1-2 channels of audio, though the new Tascam and Line6 8 channel USB interfaces are supposed to operate fully with 8 channels at 24 bit at 96k, though this is only an estimate of how much potential the product has.

Firewire Your Wires

Next up are firewire interfaces. Firewire is the direction the industry seems to be moving in these days. Firewire offers more efficient and better handling of data, and more importantly, it does it faster. Almost every company uses Firewire now, like M-Audio, Avid (ProTools), Focusrite, Mackie, Yamaha, E-MU, etc. Firewire can also handle 8+ channels of audio without any real problem, and you can daisy chain multiple interfaces without the need of a repeater or hub.

The only con to Firewire, which goes for any Firewire device, is that there can be compatibility issues depending on the maker of the firewire chip in the computer. Firewire is mainly intended for Mac users in the recording world. It’s not really an issue that can’t be resolved, however, by getting an add-on firewire card with the compatibly chipset. This can be annoying if you don’t research before buying the interface, of course.

PCI Audio Interfaces

Lastly there are PCI based audio interfaces. These have really fallen in popularity as they aren’t portable and also tend to raise bigger problems, like noise caused from being operated off the same power supply as the computers.

Many companies still use PCI for their low end and top tier systems, like E-MU and Avid (ProTools). Coming down the pipeline, however, there are rumors of PCI interfaces being released soon that can handle more channels and has greatly improved features. Again–research it.

The Interface Dilemmas

As a recording artist of over 10 years, the biggest issue I have with most of audio interfaces out there is that almost all the units that have built in Mic Preamps don’t offer insert points or they only offer them for 2 of the channels.

Inserts are a connection on a preamp that allows the signal to leave the equipment through a jack for processing after the amplification and before any other part of the signal path, like the digital conversion. The importance of this is really simple; Almost 100% of all interfaces out there do not offer compressors that aren’t software driven (meaning after the digital conversion), so you end up having to use a standalone mic preamp and compressor to bypass the built in ones, which then makes you question why you bought a unit with mic preamps in the first place.

In the end, knowing just a little bit more about audio interfaces and all the different ports you never paid attention to on your computer, will now help you understand compatibility in your equipment and may even save you some money and heartache. For excellent home recording information on all those pesky ‘how does it work’ questions you’re afraid to ask a cocky professional, keep check-in at our site and also visit www.howstuffworks.com.

My suggestion is that you really get familiar with how to run the equipment before you plop down a few thousand dollars on something you might not even enjoy all that much in the end.

First things first you should pick up a decent PC. Macs are more equipped for this type of artistic endeavor, but for a beginner a PC would be best because of it’s price and user ability. So instead, pick up a moderate but decent system for around $500, or use the one you’re using right now.
An ideal starter system should have around 1.5+ GHz for the processor, at least 1Gb of ram, a 7200rpm hard drive that is seperate from the one your operating system is on. Some of this of course can be played with and tweaked if you have IT know how.

The next thing you need for your PC home recording studio is the sound card. To narrow it down you should look at ones that have built in microphone preamps. This helps you keep costs and equipment lists down. The main ones to look at when starting out should be the M-audio brand as they offer great systems for a good price. They also have great product support and drivers, which is a must in computer audio and PC recording.

Try looking at the Fast Track Pro, which goes for about $200. It comes with some decent software, but I would suggest downloading a software called Reaper by the company Cockos. It’s only $50 and is an awesome program (there is a free demo on their site as well).

After choosing your sound card, a good set of headphones to listen back to your recordings and do some basic mixing is what you need next. The Sennheiser HD201 headphones are a great set as they are pretty flat sounding, meaning they don’t change what’s coming from your sound card much, and for $25 you can’t beat them. Most brands are pretty basic, but this is the one I’ve had the best experience with at the lowest price.

The last thing to get is a good microphone. Your recordings will only be as good as your mic. As always, I recommend the EV/Blue Cardinal as a great all around recording mic. Its priced around $200 but is worth every penny and will save you heartache later on. You could spend about half as much on standard Shure SM57, but I really would not recommend recording with it.

To summarize your purchases so far, you should have:
computer $500
sound card $200
software $50
headphones $25
microphone $200

Of course if you have a computer already, you’re halfway there. And many times you will find the budget sound cards, like some PreSonus models which come with the condensor microphone. This should save you a $100 or so and free up some cash for more software or the microphone I mentioned.

With plenty of research and the products I listed, or at least something similar, your home recording studio is incredibly affordable and can be done. Be sure to get plenty of advice from your local music retailer and always check out your product’s reputation online before making any purchases. Happy Recording!

If you’re like me and you like to give the crowd before you record at home, whether coffee shops or your little sister’s graduation party, the POD XT Live is awesome. It offers the kind of versatility you need to pick up and go or plop it down at home and flip the switch.

What It’s Made of
The Line6 POD XT Live boasts a whopping 42 amp models, like many other PODS, and the standard but awesome 24 cab models, both of which can get you soft sounds for a baby or ripping screams to scare the seniors off. The 80 effects models the XT Live uses are straight from the Vetta II amplifier and reputable stomp boxes. This, obviously, also lends to your being able to find the right range for when you record.

That versatility that I was talking about allows you to use the Line6 POD XT Live as a pedal for multi effects or you can plug the thing straight into your PA.

The Plugs
The Line6 POD XT Live can be connected to just about any computer with its USB port which is convenient because of the many software products you can get online. The XT Live comes with a USB cable and you can download free programs at www.line6.com.
Also available on the XT Live is the port that can connect you to a Variax guitar. I wouldn’t recommend this but there are some very die hard Line6 fans that truly enjoy using the Variax.

The MIDI in and out connections for the POD XT Live make for more convenience, as usual, but even more impressive is being able to plug some phones straight into the POD XT Live. In fact, the equipment automatically switches itself to a studio position whenever you plug your phones in.

Other features, besides the input where your guitar goes, include the Aux input which allows you to connect to many devices from a CD player or MP3 player or even a drum machine. Other electronic instruments can be used as well. The Output to Amp allows you to connect to an amplifier, recorder or mixer if you like. Just flip the switch in the back of the machine and rock without changing your tone!

Even crazier about the Line6 POD XT Live is the fact that you can connect another pedal to it, whether you choose a Line6 product or not. Of course, many believe that it’s simply better for the devices to use the same brand when connecting directly. For this, you could get the EX-1 which is pretty basic. The extra pedal will allow you to control volume and other functions all at once.

All in All
To conclude, the Line6 POD XT Live is an excellent piece of equipment to have if you like both sides of the coin: Home recording and live performances. If you prefer not to work live, however strange that may be as a musician, you can always go with the POD XT, which is also a superior machine without the fancy live action. Wail on.

At the same token, if you read about electronics as much as an electronics guru, you already know that a good set of speakers, no matter how much you love them, doesn’t last forever.

After being kicked, moved and moved again, played too loudly and all around mistreated, your favorite sounds can wind up sounding like they were sung by a country singer in a tin can. Which is why I went on the hunt for these great deals:

Get the Job Done
For $300-400 you can get the simple but reliable MK2 Monitor One made by Alesis. Alesis has an excellent reputation in professional recording and these cuties feature 6.5 inch low-frequency drivers, a magnetically shielded 1 inch silk dome-tweeter, flat frequency response, awesome bass response, a special cone and so on.

If you have more like $500, the M1 Active 520 and the M1 Active 620 are both a step up with additional features like a low frequency woofer for crisp-sounding bass and midrange, high precision drivers, acoustical wave guide, 1 inch thick baffle, a TRS connector with volume control, hi, mid and low frequency EQ switches and a rear port. Oh, and don’t forget the power-switch and light bar for your convenience.

The Recording Connoisseur
The serious recording artist, no matter your method, should know about the entire KRK studio monitor line. My ultimate goal in perfecting my own recording studio would be a combination of 4 KRK V8s, one KRK V88 and a KRK V12 S Subwoofer. This is a full 5.1 surround system and will cost between $3,000 and $5,000 for speakers and a modest conversion set up. And that price may not include the mark up for their rarity as the V series has been discontinued. For more information about an awesome KRK system, check out their site at www.krksys.com.

Home Systems for Less
High end studio monitors like Alesis and KRK sound lovely but when doing serious recording, speakers are needed in a series. If you have to resort to using a home surround system for playback to save money, be sure to get the serious stuff. Bose would obviously be my first choice but I would not recommend buying a set of Bose speakers from Target or any other unspecialized retailer. Buying a Bose system is best done online at their website www.bose.com.

When you’re looking to save even more than Bose can offer you, my last choice would be Kenwood. I would prefer to keep a high end Kenwood in my car but when you’re on a budget, you’re on a budget. Get the high end Kenwood system until you have more cash for something serious but avoid their small speakers. I find that with Kenwood, no matter how old fashioned it seems, bigger is better.

What To Avoid
It’s really a shame to knock hard working professionals but the truth must be told. Avoid using the Yamaha NS10. In fact, I would not resort to using Yamahas for anything other than their high end home surround system for watching DVDs.

Lastly, I would highly recommend you avoid Sony speakers. The once cutting edge leader in home surround and even professional equipment, has now been reduced to every shelf in its mass marketed domination.

Don’t get me wrong. Sony makes great boom boxes for the rockers and hoppers that don’t need crisp, clear sounds. But as a recording artist, Sony products, in my opinion, have become almost disposable and their sound quality will leave you grinding porcelain.

The Microphone
As I’ve stated before, you have about as many choices in a mic as you do cars. Do you go with the SUV or a Hybrid? What about a Jaguar? And just like when checking out the gas mileage, choosing a microphone should be based on your needs.

All in all, I suggest a “condensor microphone” that has a little bump around the 3kHz range on the frequency response grid (look for a hill around the middle right hand side), but you also want something that sounds accurate to what you are putting in it. Most everything else can be added/altered by other equipment.

For this I greatly recommend the EV/Blue Cardinal ($200) as this is my favorite mic by all means. I have used these big boys and the cheapy joe mics and this has the best sound for your buck.

The Mic Preamp
There are so many things that can go wrong when recording. The biggest problems people face are clipping the mic preamp or recorder. This happens when you have a level up way too much and the equipment can’t handle it. You will find this may happen even when you have the levels down–if you are clipping the input to the mic preamp for example. The output might be low, but the input is screaming.

So what do you do? Every part of this is extremely simple to avoid with a compressor. This fabulous piece of equipment will take your signal and automatically lower the level when it becomes too high.

Other things that can go wrong can be excessive “hiss” which can be resolved by using some better cables and/or using equipment that has a higher signal to noise ratio. Turning down the gain on your mic preamp helps as well. My favorite obstacle is when the recording just sounds off and wont fit in a mix. Play with the EQ’s in the mid frequencies, add a reverb or delay, use a stereo spreader (usually works best for me) or just re-record.

Just remember that nothing is ever set in stone. As long as you have people that understand (and they better understand that no good recording ever does) that it might take a few takes to get things sounding right. And remember if it’s not fun it’s not worth doing.

The Compressor
What you spend on a compressor should dictate the quality you get. Remember to always personally test each piece out before you buy, however, and research, research, research.
If you want to go further you can use a DeEsser (which helps remove some of the “hiss”), Exciter (which boosts specific frequencies to make them stand out), 31 band EQ, Limiter (acts as a brick wall to volumes, keeping them at a specific volume), and a good multi-effects processor (for reverbs, chorus’s, delays, etc.).

Another thing you might try is adding different microphones, preamps, etc. to your home studio as you will find that what works for one vocalist or song might not work for the next. I always recommend at first looking at channel strips as these generally come with a mic preamp, compressor, and EQ in one unit. Granted you wont usually get the same quality out of one of these as you would if you bought each piece on its own, but they are great for starting out and space limitations.

Art Pro Channel as it is by far the best in it’s price class plus has the added feature of allowing you to bypass any part of it or rerouting any part of it (no other one I’ve looked at does this). This makes expanding the system later much easier. If you have the money, look into some of the Joe Meek equipment, and if you’re really looking to invest, try the Mindprint DTC (probably THE best piece of equipment I’ve used under 2 grand).

Now that you have a little inside info about recording your voice at home, I wish you luck in the best screams, chorus lines and beats you can possibly get.

If you were to go out today as a novice and buy a complete PC home recording studio, there are many things you will need to research before you buy. And once you’ve chosen a product, research it again. To get you started, however, I have these tips and tricks on how to build your own home recording studio..

A Computer: Home Base For Your Recording Studio

Assuming you will be using a windows platform, you should look at an Intel CPU with dual core and decent speed. The chip set on the motherboard is not necessarily a priority, but I would recommend staying away from Via or SIS as these tend to not perform that well when working with audio.

Lots of RAM!
When it comes to RAM, fill up with as much as your pocketbook can afford. RAM is the biggest bottleneck in every computer as the door everything has to step through in order to get to the CPU. I suggest 2 gigs or better, which shouldn’t set you back too badly. Never use Intel Celeron CPU’s or AMD Sempron CPU’s as these will make any media creation impossibly slow.

For your hard drive use a SATA with the 3Gb transfer rate, after first making sure your motherboard supports that rate. You will write a lot of information to your hard drive very quickly when recording. If you’re able, use two drives–one as your master hard drive and a second one just for recording purposes.

You will also want a large monitor to work with multiple applications simultaneously. All in all the computer will probably cost you between $800 and $1500 if bought as individual pieces and you are able to work with the hardware yourself.

Audio Interface
The next thing you will need is the sound card (audio interface). I recommend the EMU 1212m if you want a PCI based card and are on a budget ($100-150). You will need to buy an Analog to Digital convertor to get full 8 input abilities from this card though, so look at the Behringer ADA8000 and pick up 2 optical cables to run between them.

If you have some money to throw around and have a firewire port on your system look into the PreSonus Fire Studio ($400-600). These all offer amazingly good quality a features.

Recording Software
In order to record sound you will need specific software. Here you have thousands of choices, but I will highly recommend picking up Steinberg’s Cubase ($200). Others out there will cost more and are simpler to figure out, but you will quickly discover that your recordings will sound better through Cubase. If you are really on a budget, download a program called Reaper. Currently it is a free multitrack recorder, mixer, MIDI tool, looper, and editor with decent sound.

Not necessarily needed but considered convenient is a digital or MIDI mixer to interface with the recording software. I suggest the Behringer BCF2000 ($200) as it is very affordable and reliable.

Preamps
Now it’s time to plug your guitar into the sound card. This can be done by a few means, one of which is plugging directly into your sound card’s preamps, if able. If you chose the setups like I mentioned earlier you are ready to go. But I would highly recommend using at least one Art Pro Channel ($320) as it offers much better mic preamps than most preamps built into sound cards and comes with a compressor which will help you keep the input level under control. From there just hook into the sound card and you’re ready to rock.

Get a Quality Microphone

For the best beginner’s mic, pick up the EV/Blue Cardinal ($200), at least one Shure SM57 ($100), and maybe a few AKG C1000s’s ($200) for overhead recording. You could probably record everything through the Shure SM57 but your recordings will suffer. Make sure to pick up a few boom mic stands and at least one “popper stopper” and plenty of cables.

As far as FX go, your recording software will generally come with some good stuff built in. Remember to use a compressor after the preamp and before the recorder. This will prevent your signal from clipping and screwing up a great take. If you went with the Art Pro Channel, you’re in luck as it comes with a pretty good one.

Cables

This leads us to our next area–cables. Sure you should use all Mogami or Monster cables, but $20+ for a five foot cable is just ridiculous. Blue makes some great mic cables, so pick up at least 2 of those. If you go with another brand, at least use Mogami or Monster cables for your essential connections (cables to the speakers, signal processors, or any long runs) as the cheaper ones are not reliable. Any cables that you use for plugging in an instrument can be done using simple LiveWire or budget cables.

Sound Proofing

Sound Isolation is very important. For newbies with a spare room, craft foam with starch water painted on them after hanging, is acceptable for lining the walls with. If you’re serious and can’t afford time spent on police calls for noise disturbances, Auralex is a great resource for the professional stuff. Their stiff foam is easily hung on walls to prevent sound from bouncing, which causes reverb.

Studio Monitors

Monitors (or speakers) are the next big thing. These come in 2 real forms, powered or non powered. I would recommend beginners get powered monitors like the Alesis M1’s ($300 for the pair) or you can use a standard stereo receiver and normal speakers, though it’s not quite the same. With monitors, you want their sound to be “true” or uncolored. This means that they should produce exactly the same frequencies (at the same levels) that you are sending them, which is impossible. So you want them as flat as possible.

Headphones

This leads us to headphones, which you will use to test your recordings and for rough mixings. When choosing headphones, same as with your studio speakers, you want a flat response. Also you need the kind that hug your ears. Probably the best headphones I’ve used for basic monitoring are some cheap 20 or 30 dollar generics I bought from Guitar Center that don’t bleed out. This means when wearing them, you don’t hear much outside of them.

Now you have all the equipment, what’s left besides your recording space? Well, how about a comfortable chair that you will pretty much be glued to? I have actually bruised my tailbone from sitting in a bad chair for 20 some hours while mixing, so I suggest just as much research goes into a chair that fits you as your equipment.

Finally, If you plan on recording a band, it’s best to use 2 rooms if possible. Keeping the speakers in the same room as the equipment is bad for obvious reasons. But once you have your space, and all the equipment mentioned in this article, you are ready to rock, roll and record your way to artistry.

Since the term “signal processor” is a general term for many different devices, so it could be a Filter, an EQ, a Compressor, a Gate, an Expander, a Limiter, a Transient processor, a Preamp, a DeEsser, a Stereo Spreader/Imager, and many other things. Lets start by going down the list.

Filters

A Filter is a device that cuts out a specific amount of the audio signal. The usual types you will see are High Pass (meaning it will cut out all the higher frequencies), Low Pass (meaning it will cut out all the lower frequencies/bass), and Band Pass (cuts out a specified frequency).

There are many other types but these are the ones that will concern a home recorder most. For a decent filter I would suggest looking at the Electrix Filter Queen or Factory (depending on budget) as these offer incredible results for their worth.

EQ’s

An EQ is a device that boosts or drops one or many frequencies in the audio signal. The easiest way to think of an EQ is to visualize a bunch of filters tied together. The main types of EQ’s you will see are 3 to 4 band Parametric EQ’s which offer a Hi band, Hi-Mid band, and Low band. Parametric EQ’s are not perfect, though. When you adjust the Hi band you will be adjusting part of the Hi-Mid as well because of a slope that binds each band together.

Graphical EQ’s

Next are Graphical EQ’s. These offer many more bands of EQ’s which makes it easier to select and adjust a specific frequency versus a wide spectrum of the signal. Most commonly you will find these in studios and on stage in a 31 band version.

When it comes to Mastering an album you will generally want a parametric EQ that offers multiphase and octave support to keep the smaller frequencies from being left behind or buried. These small frequencies are subtle but necessary.
As for a Parametric EQ, I would suggest an PreSonus EQ3B and for a Graphic EQ I would suggest the Behringer Ultragraph.

Compressors

A Compressor is a device that takes an audio signal and tries to keep the volume within a specified range. These are insanely important in any recording as they help reduce noise, keep a sound from fluctuating in and out (unless desired), and prevent sounds from clipping. It is good practice to run everything through a compressor when recording. The main features to look for in a compressor is the Attack, Release, and Output.

There are also different types of compressors. The main three are Optical, Transistor, and Tube. Everyone will have a different view as to which is better, but it should be noted that what works for one track might not work for another.
Transistor type compressors are often found at the budget end of the spectrum as they are a lot easier to work with and cheaper to make. You will however see them in higher end products as well.

Optical compressors tend to be more of a hi-mid product as they are a more difficult and complex circuit to make, but do offer a lot better specs and more true sound. Tubes (or Valves in Europe) are a very passionate thing to most engineers as they generally add a “colour” to a sound, but also have a tendency to be noisier.

Overall I like units that offer both Tube and Optical as this can give you a choice in the matter depending on the track you are working on. Try looking at the Art Pro Channel.

Gates

A Gate is a great little tool that cuts any sound out that isn’t up to a specified level. This helps get rid of a lot of line noise in a track including outside disturbances. These can normally be found built into other units like Compressors and Preamps so I wont tell you which unit to look for specifically.

Limiters

A limiter is another great tool to has as it keeps all the sound, within a threshold, at a certain level. This differs from a compressor in that a Limiter can be adjusted by frequency not just total output volume. If you are looking for one, as they greatly help in final mixing, try the Waves Plugins as their L1 is probably the best one I’ve used.

Transient Processors

Transient Processors take those little bits of the signal that we might be able to hear noticeably and alter them to help shape the overall sound but these units are expensive. The SPL Transient Designer 4 is $1,250 alone.

Preamps

The gist of a Preamp is that they are used to bring things like guitars and microphones up to a manageable level before mixing. You find the same debates in these as you do in Compressors, just with a few different components. You have Tubes again, Transistors, and Transformers.

There is no ultimate preamp as everyone has a different taste and sound. The big things to look for is the amount of gain (somewhere in the 60+dB range to start) and how much noise it puts out.

What I would recommend for anyone starting out is to look into Channel Strips and these offer a Preamp, Compressor/Limiter, and EQ in one package. Many times you wont get the same quality as if you bought each piece alone, but they are great for having everything in one spot. Again I would recommend looking into the Art Pro Channel.

Stereo Spreaders

A Stereo Spreader is a piece of equipment that helps widen the stereo field so that the sound seems bigger and fuller. These are generally pretty basic looking things that offer very few control, such as “width.” The best one I’ve used is the built in “Stereo Spread” from Steinberg’s Nuendo 2, though it might be on other versions as well.

Stereo Imagers

A Stereo Imager is a piece of equipment that takes a mono signal, such as a microphone, and doubles it into a stereo signal. These are great for helping you give some width to that vocal tracks. Again here I’d have to suggest looking into the Waves Plugins as they have the best and easiest one in a plugin form.

Pretty much any software will do this though so there is no real need to get the plugin, also if you are going through a mixer before the recorder it is doing this as well.

I hope this information about processors was helpful and that you check in again for more great Home Recording articles.

The standard mixers you will find in any recording studio or perhaps on stage at a concert, have multiple mic preamps, a 2 to 4 band EQ per channel, 1 to 4 effect loops per channel, and a slider for each channel to adjust the channel’s level.

For clarification of effects loops, an effects loop is a part of the mixer where a knob “sends” a partial channel signal to an output which is usually attached to an effects processor (like reverb). Then it comes from the output of the effect to the “receive” inputs on the mixer. Another knob, on said channel, is labeled “receive” which specifies the amount of the returned signal that is mixed into the original.

EQ’s are generally pretty basic–offering a low, mid, mid high, and high band. What determines a budget mixer from a pro mixer, however, is the amount of mic preamps, how many bands of EQ it offers per channel, how many send and receives there are per channel, and how long the sliders are for each one. Longer sliders usually suggests more range.

Analog mixers and digital mixers

The difference between Analog and Digital mixers is pretty simple. A digital mixer is essentially an analog mixer that has had a few things replaced and added. The analog sliders are replaced by motorized sliders whose states can be saved and recalled without you needing to touch the sliders.

There is also an analog to digital convertor that converts the analog signal into a digital signal to be hooked up to other digital equipment, a computer, or a digital recorder. Usually these have built in effects and signal processing.

There are also mixers called “MIDI Mixers” which interface with digital recorders or PC’s via a midi connection. These don’t usually offer any analog connections and are used only to control the recording software.

Which type of mixer should you start with?

For beginners, I definitely suggest choosing an analog mixer. Analog mixers are relatively inexpensive and will get the job done without complication beyond basic recording knowledge.

Digital mixers bring on a whole new world of electronics and recording as well as coming with a large price tag. The bottom line is digital mixers are complicated and most start around $500, certainly unequal to analogs, which start at $50, making a moderately priced analog the best compromise.

Popular brand names

As for brand names, Behringer is a mixer that will suit most purposes as far as inputs, but they do not come equipped with effects. They have a reputation amongst some musicians, to be poor on quality and sometimes sound, so be sure to research your product thoroughly. For my personal preference, I suggest you step on up to a Mackie. Mackies come equipped with effects and give better quality sound in the recordings. They’re also that mid-range price which seems to impress me most.

If you are looking for a high end machine, however, I suggest the Aleen-Heath, which is a slightly more superior machine, obviously at a higher price.