High Tech Hits the Home Studio Recording CDs in Your Studio Presented by: Michelle Sisler

Ideas for Recording CDs  Create Custom Accompaniments for students to play with at recitals  Create Duet Parts for students to practice with  Record Students’ Work/Create Portfolio  Create a CD for each student per year  Create themed CDs such as a Christmas CD with each student recording their Christmas song.  Add backgrounds.  Audition CDs  Assessment During Lessons (Can be done directly on digital piano without making CD.)  Create DVDs with students’ songs and Movie Maker

Digital Piano / Keyboard Computer with Audio Software and CD Burner Audio Cables Aux Out Created By Michelle Sisler 2006 Stand Alone Equipment Win – Sony Sound Forge Win/Mac – Cubase (Steinberg) Mac – Peak (Bias) Microphone with acoustic instrument or voice Mixing Console Optional

Getting Started – What Equipment Do You Need?  Piano (Digital or Acoustic)  Computer with audio software (such as Sound Forge or CuBase) and a sound card or Stand Alone Equipment  Audio Cables  Microphone and Mixer or Fast Track (for Acoustic Piano or other Instrument)

Equipment Information  Fast Track- Easy to use. Plug in your microphone and computer and you are set.  Mixer – More flexibility than Fast Track. You can record multiple parts, pianos, or instruments. You could also include vocal parts.  Microphones Dynamic – Designed for Voice; works for piano as well. Condensor – Designed for Instruments - Slightly more expensive but better quality. Requires power (phantom power from mixer or battery).  Audio Cables  Stand Alone Equipment – More expensive and you lose your editing features, Skips Tracks

Sony Sound Forge is the word processing software for Audio using some of the same commands you are used to seeing such as open, close, cut, copy and paste. 2 versions Sound Forge 9 Sound Forge Audio Studio

Recording Options:  If you are using a digital piano, you can record your song on the piano or disk drive and transfer it to the computer.  If you are using an acoustic piano or other instrument, you will record right to the computer with a microphone. (You can also use this option with a digital piano.)

Setting Up:  Connect cables* from your piano to your computer. The two large ends go into Audio Out on piano and the small end goes into Microphone port on computer.)  If you are using a microphone, plug into the Fast Track or Mixer and then plug this equipment into your computer (USB or Audio). *Audio Cables = Y-Adapter Audio Cable (1/8” stereo phone plug to two phono plugs) /4 “ Jack Adapters

Information on Sample Rate and Bit Depth  Sample rate and Bit-Depth refer to the size and quality of your files.  Higher Sample Rate = Higher Quality  Higher Bit-Depth = less quantization (rounding) = less noise in your audio.  Use a sample rate of 44,100 and a Bit-Depth of 16 for CD quality sound (Default Settings).  Note: Lower resolution formats reduce storage space requirements but can also compromise the audio quality of your sound files. Lower sample rates lose high frequency response, and 8-bit storage causes a reduction of your sound's dynamic range, resulting in dull and lifeless audio. Higher quality also equals a larger file size. For recording CDs, your file size can be higher but if you want to put music on the internet or a website, the file size may be too large.

To Start the Recording Process: 1. Open Your Audio Recording Program (Sound Forge). 2. Select File then New. The following window will appear: 3. Click “ok”.

Once you click on okay, this screen will appear. Click on the red Record button.

The following screen will appear. Click on the Remote button.

Sound Forge will now look like this. Leaving your Sound Forge Window open, open the Windows Recording Control Box (Start, All Programs, Accessories, Entertainment, Volume Control). This Master Volume box will appear.

Under Options, Click Properties then select Recording. In the same Properties box, make sure the Microphone Box is checked as well.

 The Recording Control Box will now appear.  Select/Check the box in the Microphone section.  In the Advanced Tab, you may need to turn off the Mic Boost.

You are now ready to test the sound. Press play or play your instrument. The input meters (green bars) show the level of the incoming signal. For recording, the incoming audio should remain primarily in the yellow. If you see the incoming signal entering the red, try turning down your volume. This will help eliminate distortion. Make sure to try out the loudest parts of the song as well. You should have both of these boxes on your screen.

Let’s Record! On the same screen, press the red Record button. Then press Play on your piano (or start to play).

You are now recording! The red recording bar will flash red.

When the song is completely finished, press the blue Stop Recording square (the same place you started the recording.) This will stop the recording. Then press Close

Your song will now appear as a waveform in a data window. The top is sound that comes out of the left and the bottom is the sound that comes out of the right.

To play your song, click the play button. You can also start from a selected point in the song by placing your cursor at that point and then pressing play, or play a specific section by highlighting the section.

Save Your File Select where you would like to save your file, type in a file name, and select a Save as Type. If you are going to create a CD, choose Wave (Microsoft) (*.wav) which is the default. Other options such as MP3, Quick Time, etc. are used if you will be putting your file on the Internet.

Editing Your Music The most common edit is extra space before, after, or sometimes in the middle of a song. This is shown in the waveform by a flat line. You will also hear the silence when you play the song. Zoom in this section using the up arrow on your keyboard. Note: Before doing any editing, you may want to save your file using “Save As” to keep your original file in tact.

With your mouse, highlight the extra space. For fine tuning and to move slightly forward or backward more accurately, use the side arrow keys on your keyboard. Make sure to select both upper and lower waveforms. To do this, click in the middle of the waveforms. Now press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Fading Out  Another common edit is fading out.  Listen to your song and find the place you want to start the fading out.  Highlight the section from that point to the end of the song.

Select Process, Fade, Out You can use the undo and re-do buttons until you have re-saved your work. Re-save your file using Save to save over your current file.

More Editing  To edit in the middle of a song, place your cursor in where you want to edit, like you would in your word processing program. Remember, for fine tuning and to move slightly forward or backward more accurately, use the side arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also Insert Markers (Special, Insert Marker) to create a reference point of where you want to edit.  To edit a mistake, play the file and when you hear the mistake, click the pause button so you know where this point is.  Play the selection or song after you edit and check to see if any further editing is necessary. This is especially helpful when eliminating space in the middle of a song.

Other Editing Options Other options include: Mute, Insert Silence, Pitch, Reverb, Fade, Pan, Graphic Equalizer, Volume, Distortion, Pitch Bend. To use these options, highlight the section you want to edit and select from the menu.

Burning Your CD – Track-At-Once Option  Open the songs you wish to record.  Under Tools, select Burn Track-At-Once Audio CD.  You will need to close your disk before it will play in your CD player. If this is the only track you will be putting on the CD, check the box next to “Close Disk when done burning.” If you plan to add more songs to your disk, do not select this until your last song. Use this option when you want to burn only one or two tracks.

Burning Your CD Using Your Computer’s CD Burning Software  Common Programs are: Easy CD Creator, Roxio, Nero  Open your Recording Software Program.  Select Create a Music CD.  Select the tracks you want to include and move them up or down to put them in order.  Burn Your CD. Use this option when you want to burn multiple tracks.

Involve Your Students  Teach them about audio production  Offer summer technology lessons  Have them record their own CD  Add to Movie Maker or Sony Vegas

Resources  Getting Started with Sound Forge (Book by Michelle Sisler $6.95) Free with Purchase of Sound Forge at Conference  Technology Guide for Music Educators (TI:ME) Artistpro Publishing  Strategies for Teaching Technology (TI:ME) Artistpro Publishing