Home Recording Notes

The Basics
Home recording is a great hobby. There are many technologies available for home recording these days. When I started there were few options for home recording studios.  There was reel to reel and cassette.  Multitrack machines were very expensive.  I actually used two stereo recorders to be able to overdub when I first started. When the four track cassette home mini recorders first came out they were very expensive.  I recorded on two early four track machines and found that they were easy to use but they did not have the greatest sound quality.  So I waited until the price came down and the sound quality went up.  The quality of sound was enhanced by adding noise reduction technology(DBX) and faster tape speeds.

I use a TASCAM 420 Portastudio which is a four track cassette recorder. Although I have used this machine to record live sessions of bands, the main way I use the recorder is to make recordings of myself playing songs where I play all the instruments.  This is done by using a technique called overdubbing.

A four track recorder allows you to record one instrument on one track at a time. Then mix the sound of the four tracks down into stereo on another recorder.   A four track cassette recorder is basically a stereo recorder that uses all four tracks to record and play back in one direction (No side "A" and "B").  A stereo cassette uses two tracks in one direction for side "A" of the tape and two tracks in the other direction for side "B".  Therefore, as a musician I can record the rhythm guitar on track one and as I play back and listen to track one I can play bass guitar along with the rhythm guitar and record the bass guitar on track two.  Then repeat this process to add other instruments or vocals to the recording. This four track recorder comes with a built-in four channel mixer so that you can set the level of the volume, bass, and treble of each track separately.

Techniques (A high level view)

Recording:
In this section I describe the method I use to record a typical song with five instruments. The first thing I do when getting ready to record is rehearse the different instrument parts to the point that I can play them well enough to record the part without errors.  This reduces the number of times I have to start over while recording. The first track I record is the drum track. I have the drum part programmed into the drum machine.  I just start the recorder and then I start the drum machine playing and let it record for a longer time than the song will be. Then I will fadeout the ending.  Sometimes I will have a song ending without a fadeout. This takes more programming with the drum machine.  I usually record the drums on track three. Next, I record the rhythm guitar or keyboard. It depends on which instrument dominates the rhythm. I record the rhythm instrument on track one.  Now it is time to record the bass track. I mostly use the bass guitar but sometimes I'll use the keyboard. I record the bass on track two.  At this point the rhythm on track one, bass on track two and the drums on track three. Track four is blank.  I plan to record two more instruments but; I only have one track left. Here is what I do.  I use a technique called ping-pong or bouncing tracks. Using this technique I record the drums from track 3 and the bass from track two onto track four.  Once both the drums and bass are on track four, I can use track two and three to record the other two instruments. For example, lead guitar on track two and harmonica on track three.  The recording I end up with is rhythm guitar or keyboard on track one, lead guitar on track two, harmonica on track three, and bass and drums on track four.  Now all that's left is to mix the four tracks down into stereo.

Mix Down:
To mix down the four tracks to stereo you need a second recorder. I used a stereo cassette tape recorder for years.  Then I changed to a mini disc recorder to mix down onto. The mix down procedure is a process of setting the level of the volume, bass, treble, effects, and left-right position of the four tracks so that the stereo recording sounds the way you want it to sound.  The built-in mixer has a channel for each track. See the controls Diagram 1. The mixer channel has the controls to set the levels for each individual track.  There is also a master volume(fader) control and effects control. See the controls Diagram 2. Once each track levels are adjusted the master controls can be used to adjust the output level to the stereo recorder.  The Pan control is used to place the sound of an individual track any where in a 180 degrees from left to right on the stereo output at mix down.  The mixer channel effects control sets the level of depth of the effect on any one track.  The master effects control sets the level of depth of the effect on the stereo mix down output. Once the output levels are set, turn on the stereo recorder in record mode and play the four track recorder.  

Tips:
When I record, I do not use effects. I record all the instruments flat and add the effects at mix down time. I find that this helps preserve the sound quality. I add effects at mix down time.

I also plug the instruments directly into the mixer when ever possible. This helps eliminate noise. I always plug the bass guitar, drum machine, and keyboard directly into the mixer input. See the controls Diagram 3.  I sometimes plug my electric guitar directly into the mixer or directly from the amplifier output. When I use a microphone I plug it directly in to the mixer input without amplification. For example, I plug my harmonica microphone directly into the mixer without going through an amplifier. See Instruments.