How To Record Your Own Music

Here I share my experience recording my own music.

1. To begin, you need the recording music software. In here, I'm using MP3 Auto Recorder v3.0. I chose this freeware because the result is in MP3, the filesize is small (only 705KB in zip file) and the quality of the recording is good enough.
2. After installation, configure MP3 Auto Recorder v3.0 for one-time-only use.
   • Click Config menu, choose Devices for Recording (see yellow rectangle in the screenshot).
   • On Devices for Recording window, Apply section: select Yes option (see red rectangle in the screenshot), then click OK.
   • To remove the Devices for Recording window, click Cancel button (see green rectangle in the screenshot).

   

3. Now the microphone/mike. Do you have a mike that can be plugged into the back of the computer? Is it long enough to connect between your computer and piano? If all answers are yes, then your mike is ready for use.

   If you don’t have a mike and your music instrument is an upright piano, you can ask the electric expert to modify the mike of your headphone as I did.

   Here's how to do it:
   Take only the mike of the headphone and connect it with the 10 meters cable. (If 10 meters are still not enough, I think it is better to move your computer/PC desktop closer to the piano or use a laptop).

   Then open up the piano lid and hang the mike right (inside) of the piano but not touching the piano hammers and strings.

   For other instruments, you need the 'real' mike (not modified from the headphone) and mike stand.

    

4. Setting Up a Microphone in Windows XP:
   • Double click the Sounds and Audio Devices icon on the taskbar.
   • Click Option menu, choose Properties.
   • In Properties window, Adjust volume section, click Microphone and then click OK.

   

 

5. To start recording:
   • Run MP3 Auto Recorder program.
   • If you are ready to play your music, ask someone to click the Start button and then click the Rec button.
   • Play your music.
   • After you are finished, click Stop button (see red rectangle in the screenshot below) and another left Stop button (see purple rectangle in the screenshot below).

   

6. Listen to your music as you play it back:
   • Click Playlist menu (see red rectangle in the screenshot) then click your first recording in the Playlist window. For example, 2008/06/25 11:04:39 A 00:00:09 (see green rectangle in the screenshot).

   

7. Rename your first recording file:
   • Go to Windows Explorer.
   • In here, I installed MP3 Auto Recorder in E:\Program Files\Auto Recorder v3.0.
   • If you don’t know which directory you installed it in, just search "auto recorder" using Windows Search (Start, Search, For Files and Folder).
   • In sub-subfolder Auto Recorder v3.0, click Sound folder.
   • In Sound folder, click your-recording-date folder, for example, 2008_06_25, then rename your first recording, for example, 110439A0009.mp3 to my-first-recording.mp3.
8. To normalize the amplitude, you can use Magic Audio Editor Pro:
   • Run Magic Audio Editor Pro.
   • Click Open an existing file, for example, my-first-recording.mp3.
   • On Effect menu, choose Amplitude then click Normalize.
   • In Normalize window, Preset section, select Normalize 100%+DC Bias Adjust (see red rectangle in the screenshot below).
   • Then click OK. And click Save icon.

Now, you have finished recording your own music. Share it with your friends!