Recording a MP3 Here are some things you should know about recording a MP3…
MP3 is a music file format, sort of like .AIFF and
.WAV; the acronym
stands for MP3s are pretty much what makes the Apple iPod and
other portable music
players
(even music players built into cell phones) a viable
business. From a
business perspective, recording a MP3 allows musicians to sell music
directly
to their fans, without going through the "middle management" layer of
a record company. Now, you still have to have a good sound, and good
production values to make a
MP3 file work right – like anything with music recording, the
studio time, and
the post production time, is critical to your success. In
case it's been
a while since you kicked it out in a studio, let's run through the
basics. Quality input determines the quality of your sound
output.
Quality input
depends a lot on the recording
environment; MP3's encoding means that a
less
than perfect recording will get significantly worse after
digitization.
So, make sure when recording a MP3, that the sound quality of your
studio is
as good as you can make it; it's worth it to spend the time to do some
sample
recordings and stamp out the dead spots. Next to sound absorbers and reflectors on the walls
to kill unwanted
echoes,
it's your microphone that drives your recording quality. Get
good microphones;
you'll want a good condenser microphone in front of your lead singer,
and two
dynamic range microphones near your instruments. Like
anything that has
to deal with music, as you get more experience, your microphone
collection will
grow. (In particular, mic’ing your drum kit is
going to be a fascinating
experience.) Placement of your microphones for a good recording
is a mixture of science and
acoustics, and art – and is something you'll spend a lot time
of trial and
error. Take a look at general articles on studio setup to get
the most
out of this, and measure your recording area carefully. It's
amazing what
a couple of feet of placement can do. No one ever said
recording a MP3
was going to be easy, but believe me, in the end … will be
well worth the
effort. Once the gear is set up, decide how many tracks you
plan on laying
down.
4 is the minimum; fortunately, modern digital recording gear lets you
do this
with a heck of a lot less hassle and fuss than you'd expect even from
five
years ago. Apple's GarageBand software allows 12 tracks with
trivial
ease, and is a far cry from recording on 2" tape. As always,
it's
the time at the mixing boards that eats album creation. Look
into setting
your fades, and cross track and timing beats down early and work from
within
them.
Once you've got your digital music down, it's time
to rip it to a
MP3.
Now, MP3 as a format that doesn't support multi-track audio beyond
stereo
sound, so be sure to convert down to that when you've got it to the
stage you
need it at. You'll also need to select a bit rate, which is a
measure of
how much data is played per second, and directly impacts sound quality
and file
size. If you're trying to capture CD-quality sound, lots
of track overlays
and a
complex arrangement, look at 192 kb/sec. It's a large file
size, but
everything you want in the music will be in the download.
Standard for
most digital music is 144 or 128 kb/sec. If you're recording
an interview
with just people talking, or people reading text (such as an audio
book), you
can (with a good, quiet recording area) make a lot of progress with 64
kb/sec
bit rates to kind of give you a comparison. Hope this information helps you out when it comes to the do’s, don’ts and how-to’s of recording a MP3.
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