Tutorial - Recording Your Demo.

[Cyc]

Tutorial - Recording Your Demo with Soundforge

Recording A Demo Using Soundforge (TM)

Tutorial & Photography by: Kyk

Any replication of this document in whole or part should be credited to http://www.bluelight.ru and myself.


Table Of Contents

Introduction & Summary
Hardware Setup
Making it all come together
Recording Your Session
Conclusion
References Cited

Introduction & Summary

This is a detailed instructional report on how to make a demo disk using Soundforge, a laptop and a home stereo system. This is intended for both those who DJ and/or play a musical instrument. When applying this tutorial to musical instruments, simply substitute the turntables featured here for your chosen instrument. This tutorial is a substitute to booking studio time and hiring Recording Engineers. This guide is intended for both beginners and novices with an interest in recording their work. The tutorial assumes these following minimal requirements are met:

Ø You have basic functional knowledge about your musical and electrical hardware, including home stereo equipment.

Ø You’re using a PC or laptop with Windows 2k/NT/9x/XP with at least 256MB of RAM.

Ø You have a working copy of Soundforge installed on your Operating System.

Ø All of your components are in the same general area.

When recording any process, especially for distribution purposes, it’s important to produce a quality end product. Often though, recording can be used for simple playback for musicians or DJ’s who want to listen for errors they may have missed in a regular session. Whatever the case, this process allows you to do that. When you are ready to record your final cut, this tutorial will take you through the task of not only recording, but also placing markers, converting to regions and exporting those regions to a folder. From there, you can burn your demo or design covers as you see fit, but these are not covered in the scope of this tutorial. This guide is intended for both beginners and novices with an interest in recording their work.

Let’s do a quick summary of what we’ll be discussing:

Hardware Setup – Here I will display everything you need to get started.

Bringing it all together – Figuring out how it all fits.

Recording Your Session – This is where I’ll take you through the Soundforge recording process.

Cutting & Saving Your Session – Finally I’ll go through the process of placing markers, converting to regions and saving your file, either in its ‘cut up’ form, or as a whole.

To start, we’ll do a hardware check and make sure you have all of the tools needed. You may need to do a bit of shopping to get all of the cabling or adapters. Most department or electronics stores carry everything we’ll need. Keep in mind that even if you’re not looking to record a demo today, this is a handy document to keep for future reference. This document is quite extensive. Feel free to skip over parts that seem redundant.

So, if we’re ready, let’s begin.


Hardware & Setup

Here I’ll show you an overview of everything you’ll need to get up and running. The pictures shown here are taken from my digital camera at home. This is basically just an illustrated list of the essentials. First though, here’s a few common sense tips to keep in mind.

Ø Red connects to red and black connects to black/white. These are your 2-channel stereo connectors.
Ø If you’re using traditional 3-pronged RCA cables, leave the yellow disconnected.
Ø If something isn’t working, check your cables first
Ø Handle volume tweaks with care to avoid clipping. (Explained later)
Ø RTFM. If you don’t understand an aspect of hardware or something that isn’t covered in this tutorial, read up on it.

Here is a list of what you’ll need.

Laptop or PC – This is your basic tool for recording the audio. Feel free to use a PC instead if you have the portability. I suggest a Pentium 3 or higher.

Amplifier/Receiver – These come in many shapes and sizes. The purpose is to amplify the sound from your mixer to your home stereo speakers.

Mixer/Mixing Board – This is mission control. Again, there are many models available. Mixing boards control volume, patch channels, EQ, microphone inputs and effects. Note that some mixers are powered, meaning they have an amplifier built into them.

Turntables/Instrument – This is the raw element; where it all begins. How you manipulate sound with your tool of choice is what will be reflected in your recording. Note that while turntables are featured here, they can be substituted for any digital or electronic instrument(s)

RCA Cables – These are the lifelines between your hardware components. It’s best to spend a bit more on these for highest fidelity, but spend according to your needs. You’ll need at least two sets of these.

Y-Splitter/Male – This is the cable needed to go from your PC to your mixing board. The green end plugs into your Line In or microphone jack on your PC. When available, Line In is always preferred.

Extension Adapters – These are RCA extenders. Most Y-Splitters are too short to go very far. These serve to attach two audio cables together and extend the length. Chances are, you’ll need a pair.

Y-Splitter/Female - While most mixing boards allow multiple audio inputs, some are limited in the amount of output sources. This will allow you to patch one channel to your PC and another to your speaker system or “monitor.” This lets you hear what you’re playing while you’re playing it.

 

[Cyc]

Making it all come together


Now that we’ve identified what we need, it’s time to find a way to go about using it. In this next section, we’ll take a look at how all of this hardware pieces together. Getting the right components is only half the battle (albeit the most expensive.) From now on, I will refer to all of these discussed components in bold typeface.

It’s important to remember that every setup is a bit different. You may need a different sized cable or perhaps your equipment allows you to do away with a cable mentioned. The end result is what matters. What’s important is that you understand the concepts and see the ‘bigger picture.’ Once that’s accomplished, you can apply yourself to what really matters – Making music.

So, let’s plug our cables in…

Here we see Y-Splitter/Male connecting to Extension Adapters, connecting to RCA cables, connecting to Y-Splitter/Female.

A good method of practice is to first secure all of your cables for use first. Remember, your Mixing Board may support multiple sound outputs. If that’s the case, simply plug the RCA’s into the back of your Mixing Board and forego the use of the Y-Splitter/Female. If your Y-Splitter/Male is long enough, forego the use of the Extension Adapters and RCA’s.

Now we can plug everything in…

Shown here is the back of a typical Mixing Board. Notice the “Output” and the corresponding RCA jacks. Note that some instruments require a ¼” phono connector. You may need to modify your setup if this is the case.

This is where you will be plugging in the Y-Splitter/Female into. “Output” means it’s outputting sound to the recording device (your PC.) Don’t worry if you get the wrong jack on the first try, we can troubleshoot later. My Mixing Board only outputs sound to one thing at a time, so I would pick either the red or white and plug the splitter in. Because the Y-Splitter only allows mono sound, you may pick either. The other one will be used to plug into the receiver/amplifier so let’s take a look at that next.

Here we see the back of a typical Receiver/Amplifier. You can generally choose any of these “CD/Tape/Phono” to plug into your mixer.

Now from the Mixing Board we need another separate set of RCA’s to go to our Amplifier. Again only one of the RCA
cables will be used on the Mixing Board; the half we didn’t use. On the Amplifier side, we will be using both red and white RCA’s. Again, we’re only using one half of the output from the Mixing Board, which is where will be where we plug our RCA in. Pick whichever half you didn’t use for the PC.

This is a laptop/PC with a barebones sound card. This means the only audio Line In source is through the microphone jack.

This laptop represents most on the market today. Optimally, like your PC, this would have a “Line In” jack for recording audio. However, you can make do with the microphone jack. Just remember that because of the high amplification, you must adjust your volume carefully to avoid sound clipping and static noise. You will be plugging your Y-Splitter/Male or green cable into your microphone jack (or “Line In” if applicable.)

Finally, now that our hardware is set up, we can do some basic testing and start the process of recording.

Recording Your Session

First, we’re going to test our sound.

On the volume control panel (usually located at the bottom right toolbar of your PC,) turn the “PC Speaker” volume all the way up. Once done, your volume should look something like this:

Notice that your “Microphone” volume is fairly low. That’s the channel we’re using to record from. By keeping it low, we reduce static on the end product. For now, let’s just focus on testing and troubleshooting.

Once you’ve turned the volume up, put a record/CD on or play a few chords from your instrument. If your Amplifier is configured to play the channel corresponding from the RCA, you should hear sound from your home stereo. As well, because we’re sending audio in to the PC from the Mixing Board, we should hear sound coming from our PC speakers. If you don’t hear sound, consider the following:

Ø The amplifier settings don’t correspond to the channel you have your RCA’s plugged into.
Ø A cable is loose or improperly connected
Ø Your computer speakers are muted
Ø You have headphones plugged in (in which case, sound would be projected through them instead)

Assuming everything is working properly, you may now turn your PC speakers down and set your PC to record.

To do this, we again open volume control, but this time we click on “Options” then “Properties.” Making sure that “Microphone” is selected on “show the following volume controls,” click the “Recording” option and press “OK.” Once the “Properties” screen disappears, check the “Microphone” box. Keep volume control in the background in case you need to make adjustments to the microphone volume. If you’re using “Line In” instead, simply substitute “Microphone” for “Line In.”

It’s now time to open Soundforge and start recording your demo. Click on “Start/Programs/Soundforge” and wait until it loads. Once loaded, you can either hit “Cntrl+R” or “Special/Transport/Record” to bring up the recording menu. The menu should look like this:

Notice the two parallel lines. When sound is not being played, they should be almost dormant. When sound is being played, they will oscillate up and down. One thing you want to avoid is oscillations going too far into the red. Optimally, you want to stay around yellow with peaks just touching the red area. Adjust your volume controls accordingly. If you record a signal that peaks too far into the red, that’s known as “clipping” and will record a crackly or static-like noise. If this happens during a trial run, try reducing the “Microphone” volume in the “Recording Control” menu of your volume.

After you’ve played around, tweaked your volume and set all of your controls, hit the “Prepare” button. This eliminates any delay between when you hit the record button and when it actually begins to record.

After that, whenever you’re ready, hit “Record” and do your thing, keeping an eye on those two bars.

 

[Cyc]

Cutting & Saving Your Session

Congratulations on your first recorded mix. You’ll notice that when you’re done recording (by selecting “Stop”) that the recorded file will appear in the background. If you’re happy with your end product, feel free to exit the recording menu and enter the main screen.

What you’re left with should look like this:

This is your mix represented in waveform. In other words, it’s a graphic digital representation of what you just accomplished. From here, we can section the mix with “markers.” At this point, those interested in cutting a mix will most likely be DJ’s. However, you may also wish to further edit your work. Feel free to experiment with this software as there are many options not covered in the scope of this tutorial.

Now we can add our markers. The best way to do this is to listen to your mix, hitting “M” on your keyboard whenever you notice a spot where you’d like to stop. This can also be accomplished with by selecting “Special/Add Marker.” The end result will be a series of cut up “regions” that we can export as individual tracks. Markers automatically number themselves, starting at “01.” Once the markers are set, you can drag them across your waveform to make slight variations on where you want the cut to happen. Markers will be shown as follows.

Notice the numbered markers. Make sure there is a marker at both the start and end of the waveform.


Next, we convert those markers into regions. By doing this, we timestamp the markers which gives Soundforge the information it needs to cut each separate piece of data. To do this, we select “Special/Regions List/Markers to Regions.” You should notice the markers change into regions at this point.

Finally, we’re ready to extract each region into a folder. By doing this, we turn each region into a track. These tracks can be burned to CD and using CD burning software such as Nero, can be made into a full-length production.

To extract your regions, select “Tools/Extract Regions” and follow the prompt that follows.

Notice the changes from tracks to regions. Here is what will be displayed after the “Extract Regions” button is selected:

You can choose to select a “Prefix” name that will attach itself to the beginning of each region filename.


Browse to a folder that you’d like to save to. If you like, choose a prefix that will lead each filename. Once finished, select “Extract” and wait for each file to save. The regions automatically save in high quality “wav.” Format. Make sure there’s enough space on your hard drive to accommodate the files.

You’ve now finished cutting and saving your mix into individual files. However, don’t forget to save your uncut file; you may want to make changes to it later. Like most other Win32 applications, the modus operandi is “File/Save As/” and name your file accordingly. One great feature of Soundforge is its ability to save files in multiple formats. Shown here are some of the different ones available. Watch out for saving your only backup in a ‘lossy’ format such as .mp3 – Due to compression, sound quality can be lost. Always save one backup in .wav format.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking time to read this tutorial. Soundforge is a powerful program with many different features, most of which are not covered here. If you wish to find out more about this program and its abilities, follow the links below in “References Cited.” If you’re serious about sound editing, this program is a great place to start. It’s a competitive market out there in the music industry and next to whom you know, there’s a great emphasis put on what you know. Ingenuity is only as important as your success at distributing it.

Here’s a short list of other great software packages to check out.

Fruity Loops http://www.fruityloops.com/
Pro Tools http://www.digidesign.com/
Cubase http://www.cubase.com
Acid http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/

References Cited


Sound Forge: Sound Editing Tutorial – 10/10/04 - http://www.alice.org/bvw03/Sound_Forge_Tutorial/sound forge tutorial.htm

Sound Forge 7.0 Software – mediasoftware.sonypictures.com Sony- 10/10/04

http://mediasoftware.sonypictures.com/Products/ShowProduct.asp?PID=668&keycode=3141-3001

LeValley, Don - Audio Editing – Sound Forge - 28 May, 2004. – 10/10/04 http://wiscinfo.doit.wisc.edu/ltde/ORFI/avs/Modules/audio.htm

LeValley, Don - Audio Editing – Soundforge –28, May, 2004 – 10/10/04 http://streaming.wisconsin.edu/recording_audio.html

 

[Cyc]

As always, please report any errors, broken links or points of ambiguity.

This is still a work in progress - I will be resizing the last 8 pictures because I realize they're too small.

Mods, could you sticky this?

If this guide is helpful to you, let me know. E-mail is [email protected]

 

[DG]

Damn Kyk, excellent job. Ive always wondered what some of this stuff you explained was. How long did it take you to do

 

[Cyc]

Thanks

It took me about 12 hours. It also doubled as a school project for "technical writing."

 

[BA]

Nice job, very thorough!

 

[Maui2k]

as a recommendation. If your going to hook up rca's through your computer, using a y-splitter will only deminsh the sound quality even more. I would suggest using a usb interface, but since those are so expensive, you might as well buy a digital recorder.

A digital recorder would be ideal especially for dj mixes. Because 9 times out of ten a dj mix is once through, on one track. However, since the length is so long, you'd want a straight to disc digital recorder, not a zip disk.

Wires, monster cable rcas are guarenteed for life. They are a little pricey, but you don't need long chords for dj mixes. The sound quality is unmatched, and even if you set it on fire, you can bring it into any store, and get a new pair for free.

the first thing a record label hears is the sound quality, despite whatever the talent is. most will just throw out a cd if it sounds like it was recorded by a headphone jack on a soundblaster sound card

 

[Mystic Styles]

i record my demo's with a y splitter, the sound quality remains fine to me

 

[Cyc]

Chances are, if you've invested in expensive audio equipment, you're past the point of needing my tutorial.

This isn't meant for the rich audiophile. This is for the working-class bedroom DJ/producer who wants to make a demo with what is readily available.

 

[Code~613]

gonna un-sticky this. If anyone wants to access it, simply use the search function. As Im sure it will dissapear soon from a lack of new posts.

~C

 

[@lterEgo]

this is the sweet thread with pictures i've been trying to dig up on this subject. enjoy!

 

[AndroidsDreamofBTC]

Bump. This needs to be merged into a mega production thread. I will create one when I get back home.