Based on my experience; I could say that the overall recording quality would be affected by the following factors:
1. The quality of your audio interface
2. The quality of your Audio Mixer- only if you are using an audio mixer in your studio; however this is not required anymore with current audio interface technology.
3. Speed and Size of the Hard disk.
4. Speed of your CPU & optimization of your operating system
5. Size of your RAM
6. The clarity and the response of your studio nearfield monitors.
7. The noise coming from the connections (wires, etc)
8. The quality of your DAW (Recording software or Digital audio workstation)
9. The quality of your motherboard
10. The quality of your headphone.(however it is not advisable to mix audio entirely using headphones)
11. The acoustic response of your room
12. The quality of your CD-drive
13. The quality of your microphones and musical instruments.
Overall, the above factors defines the quality of your signal chain. This is one of the most important aspects on making quality recordings at home. You need to pay attention to your signal chain.
Let’s discuss this one by one:
The quality of your soundcard or audio interface
Before, I attempted to use an onboard soundcard from ASUS-P4P800X in year 2004. It is a Soundmax Soundcard. Well, I can say it is decent for an onboard soundcard but the recording quality is not good. Although it helps me produce some songs, it does have a lot of disadvantages:
a. Extreme noise
b. No amplification of signals inputted to the computer
c. No proper grounding
d. Cannot reproduce bass frequencies very well.
Extreme noise can be handled by Adobe Audition 1.5 or other noise removing software. Proper grounding can be solved by placing your feet on an insulator.
But the most serious problem is the absence of quality preamp. And this seriously affect the recording quality. Although, I managed to make the problems less than what they appear in the mixing process; this is not a recommended technique for beginners. I am sure it will produce crappy results. Read this post on recording without preamp and its effects on recording quality and signal.
Until then, those problems were “slightly” solved after I bought Creative Audigy Value Soundcard
Starting in year 2011, there are lots of great USB and Firewire external audio interfaces designed for home music production. I mean, these PCI soundcards such as those designed by Creative are not professional recording soundcards. They are only great for gaming.
I strongly recommend you should be using an external USB/Firewire audio interface instead of PCI soundcards or any other methods. If you are using Windows OS for your recording; you can read this post on the recommended audio interface. They are now very affordable and can significantly improve the quality of your results. For more details about audio interface, you can read the following resources:
Guide on purchasing an audio interface
Frequently asked questions on audio interface preamps
When to use USB or Firewire audio interface?
The quality of your audio mixer
Mixer works to accept input signals for processing and output mixed signals to other audio components such as the audio interface of the computer. And there are tons of application for audio mixers not only this.
Before I still don’t have an external audio interface; I hook up all musical instruments to the audio mixer preamp to provide some preliminary amplification before passing the signal the PCI soundcard. At first I buy Behringer Xenyx 502 mixer
Today, you do not need to buy an audio mixer to get started in recording. It is because professional external audio interface do already include mixing and preamp features. However, you can read this tips on selecting a mixer for home recording if you want to buy one.
The speed and size of the hard disk
In the audio recording process, the sound going out from the guitar/any instruments are analog in nature, hard disk cannot store analog data, so the function of the audio interface is to convert analog to digital audio. It is then stored in the hard disk.
In year 2004 using crude onboard soundcard, I record at 16 bit/44.1 KHz since this is the only supported recording bit depth and sampling rate by my device on that time. Starting in 2011, I now record at least in 24-bit/48KHz using my Saffire Pro 40 audio interface. The resulting digital audio are larger in file size and would need a bigger hard disk drive capacity.
I recommend a dedicated hard disk drive for saving digital audio files (not including your OS, which would be in another hard disk drive). Aim for a size around 1TB; this should get you started without worrying about large file size.
The speed of the hard disk is important because during recording and the audio interface performs the analog to digital conversion, the disk will store these data. It will spin measured in revolutions per minute (RPM) during the read and write access. So a slow rotating disk can have problems with recording. It is recommended to select a faster hard disk such as 7200 RPM range or even better (those optimized for recording).
I currently install 2 disk drives: Western Digital 160 GB 7200 RPM Hard Drive
In early 2012, I upgraded to 1 TB hard drive dedicated for recording 24-bit audio. Hard drives today are cheaper than it was before. You should also learn how to back up your sound recording masters for the long term.
CPU Speed and Optimum Operating System
The faster the CPU, the more information can be processed.Use the faster processor you can afford. You can even use 64-bit processors paired with very high RAM for a more efficient DAW.
The CPU commands the transfer of data from the audio interface to hard disk when using what we call as PIO (Programmed input/output) mode. PIO mode stresses the CPU too much. This is not a recommended data transfer mode because transfer of information coming from the audio interface are being passed via the CPU for checking then the CPU will transfer to the disk to save.
The most recommended is DMA (Direct memory access), all data transfers from the hard disk will not pass the CPU for checking, this is optimal during recording.
The quickest way to check when PIO mode is activated is when you hear clicks, pops and distortion when audio is being played back despite having a fast CPU and a large RAM. This will add serious latency problems. You can read the following tutorials on how to change it back to DMA mode:
Recommended OS tweaks for PC – read the “Second Tweak”.
Windows Xp or Windows 7 optimization guide– for Firewire and USB audio interface -read tip #6.
You can as well refer to the above tutorials on how to optimize your operating system for best operation.
Size of your RAM
RAM is called Random-Access-Memory, one of the most important components in a computer system. Its main role in computer audio recording is a fast temporary storage of data.
Instead of querying hard disk all the time. RAM stores the data temporarily, for faster data transfer. So in a computer audio recording, big RAM is much needed. For a typical Pentium 4 system, I recommend a RAM of at least 1GB. In 2012, you can easily get 4GB RAM for your 32-bit DAW computer, then with 64-bit processors and operating system you can even install 8GB of RAM comfortably with supported motherboards. Insufficient RAM can cause latency and audio dropout.
The quality of your studio monitors
I highly recommend, whatever type of studio monitor brand you like to use, make sure:
a. It has wide and flat frequency response (around 53Hz to 20,000 Hz)
b. It is a stereo sound system (2.1 is recommended for audio mixing, more than that is just confusing)
c. Has subwoofer dedicated to deep bass. As a sidenote, there is a lot of debates on this. Some pros do not recommend mixing with subs. I recommend having one if your music contains a lot of bass content such as dance music.
d. Medium to high power amplifier can be played loud without distortion or cracking.
For complete recommendations on studio monitors, refer to this post.
The noise coming from the connections
Noise is unwanted in recording because it will surely destroy your recorded signal. Noise can be further classified as “hum” (low frequency noise, such as 60Hz hum from power lines) or “hiss” (high frequency noise). Although all system has noise, in computer audio recording it is highly suggested to keep it at minimum. To learn more about noise and some preventive measures; it is recommended you read this article on the common causes of noise in recordings and the solutions.
The quality of DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software
This is important. Quality DAW can offer a wide recording features to maximize recording quality. There are lots of high quality DAW like Reaper and Adobe Audition. Pro tools from Digidesign is an industry standard and commonly used in big project studios.
Starting in year 2011, my new personal favorite is Reaper. It only costs $60 to license and you can get a lot of features and superb 64-bit internal processing (read this article for details)
Read the following tutorial below if you are still building your PC/DAW hardware system:
Building a DAW/recording studio at home.
The quality of your motherboard
I used the top of the class motherboard at the time (2004) I built my computer. It was Asus P4P800-X. It was far expensive than any class during that time. But I say, it was worth it. P4P800-X has the best onboard soundcard I have tried and helps me to record some songs.
Powerful motherboards offer so many RAM slots, PCI slots, faster connections. And above all, it offer fast onboard USB or Firewire connectivity crucial for hooking up your external audio interface for optimum recording quality.
The quality of your headphone
Although not very important but it you will use this to check the audio during a recording process or review the mix in a headphone. It is not recommended to rely on headphones for your entire audio mixing process, find out why in this tutorial.
The acoustic treatment of your room
You can do some testing on your room acoustics to assess monitoring accuracy. Then listen to a professionally mixed CD to assess the bass levels, treble levels and mid frequencies. Learn how to treat your room properly to create an accurate monitoring environment..
The quality of your CD-drive
This is usually important during the mastering process, wherein a mastered track will be burned down to CD audio, this will use the CD drive. If your CD drive is not optimized for audio, then you will have problems. The best CD burner/writer & media for mastering/computer audio recording applications requires very slow burning speed of around 1x to 4x.
It is because the slower your burning speed, the higher accurate it is. The faster the burning speed, the more prone to errors. It is why master CD to be submitted for replication needs to be burned at a slow rate to prevent digital errors during CD replication.
Content last updated on October 21, 2012