The record industry's stranglehold on making music has come to an end. The resources to record music are no longer unattainable and costly for the average home composer. Free, open-source software like Audacity makes it easy for anyone with a good home computer to create and record beats. Dazzle your family and impress your friends at parties by composing your own funky beat on your computer at home.
Instructions
1. Download Audacity, the free audio recording software, for the operating system version you use on your computer. See Resources for a link to download Audacity.
2. Install Audacity. Use the Preferences function, located in the Edit menu, to configure Audacity to recognize your sound card. On Windows XP, you can also use Control-P to access the Preferences panel. The audio settings are located in the Audio I/O tab in preferences. Under "Playback" select your audio playback device, like your sound card, and under "Recording," select the device into which you will plug your microphone.
3. Plug in your microphone or sound source. Place the microphone where you plan to use it for recording your beats. If you plan to jack a sound source such as an Ipod into your sound card's microphone jack instead of recording live beats, you need a male to male headphone cord. If you are using a USB audio input card with instrument cable connectors, you may need to adapt the headphone cable with a 1/4-inch adapter to get it to fit.
4. Test the sound using the sound test tool located in the Preferences panel. Be sure that levels are high enough to record quality sound, but are not so high that they are clipping. It is important to avoid going into the red, because sound that is clipping may pop and sound distorted.
5. Compose your beat. Most basic beats will have a kick drum and a snare--high and low sounds which make up the basic components of a beat pattern. A variety of sounds can be used in place of kick drum and snare. If you need some ideas about where to place the sounds of your beat, listen to a song that has a beat that you would like to emulate and give the beat that inspired you a touch of your own flair.
6. Start a new project in Audacity in the File menu. Add and record enable a track in Audacity, then begin recording by pressing the red circle to enable recording, then the arrow play button to commence recording.
7. Edit your audio. After you have recorded the audio you need for your beat through your microphone or the audio device you plugged in, you can use the editing tools to cut out any mistakes and arrange and remix the sounds. Make sure the beats line up smoothly so your rhythm stays on track.
Tags: your sound card, sound card, your beat, your microphone, your sound, beat that