1 Define your own sound. “You shouldn’t think things have to sound a certain way in order to be ‘good,’ ” says Noah Lennox (Panda Bear), of the band Animal Collective. “There’s no perfect way to record drums or singing or anything like that. Just experiment, do it a lot, and find your own way.”
2 Emphasize performance, not production. “The performance matters most,” says Peter Kirn, creator of create digitalmusic.com. “It’s a lot like digital photography. If you don’t start out with a good image in your camera, and you try to do all your fixing with software, you’re going to have a lot of problems.”
3 Check your mikes. “The most important thing is understanding how to place a microphone, not spending a lot on one,” says Kirn. “And the easiest way to learn is to put headphones on when you’re recording and just experiment for a while.” If you want to upgrade, consider the industry-standard Shure SM57 microphone, a bombproof workhorse used for performances and vocal recordings alike. “I use them for pretty much everything,” says Lennox.
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From the Editors of Men's Health Living
THE INSTANT EXPERT >
DIGITAL AUDIO Know your MIDI from your DAW
LOOP
A loop is a snippet of music, usually just a few seconds long, that can be assembled using drum sounds and samples. A loop can be replicated or combined with other loops to create a song. Loops (sometimes referred to as “beats”) are often the building blocks of hip-hop and electronic music.
DIGITAL AUDIO WORKSTATION (DAW)
A digital audio workstation, also called a sequencer, is a software program that acts as the hub of a digital studio. Each program allows you to record and arrange audio—from a guitar, mike, or other analog instrument—as well as performances from software instruments controlled by MIDI keys or drum pads.
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT DIGITAL INTERFACE (MIDI)
MIDI is a standardized type of musical input that allows you to “perform” on a digital instrument and then “map” different sounds onto the performance. The keyboard (or drum pad or any other MIDI-enabled instrument) tells the computer which keys you’re pressing and how hard and how long you’re pressing them. The computer adds sound—so there’s no limit to the instruments you can add.
SAMPLER
A sampler allows you to record and then trigger sounds as part of a performance. Artists often use samplers and sequencers together to create loops or to sprinkle recorded sounds throughout a recording. Artists sample everything from prior recordings—James Brown screaming “Work it,” say, or a Jimi Hendrix solo—to found sounds, such as a subway train or a rainstorm.
STEP SEQUENCER
Step sequencers, from the classic Roland TR-808 to today’s software versions, let you visually create drum rhythms. Each has a strip of buttons representing potential drum hits (usually 16 in all). A blinking light loops from left to right, button to button. Press a button and the selected drum sound will play at that point in the loop.
