This page contains some suggestions for people who may want to collaborate musically with other people via the Internet, but who may be new to digital recording and MP3 file compression.
Many people prefer using professional studios to record their music. But others may want to try out some home-based recording using their computer. The following assumes that you want to record acoustic instruments at home via a microphone, that you have a limited budget, and that you know very little about recording.
You need:
1) a decent professional microphone, ideally a condenser mic.
2) a small external hardware mixing console into which the mic is plugged.
3) Plug the output of the mixer into the line-in socket of your computer soundcard.
4) You need a multitrack audio recording programme installed in your computer to receive and edit the sound from your mic/mixer.
5) Recordings are saved as large sound files on to your computer hard disk. These need to be compressed into MP3 format using an MP3 Encoder programme.
6) You can then upload the MP3 file to a web-site or attach it to an e-mail.
You need a decent microphone (or two if you want to record in stereo). Computer stick microphones can be used, but the results will not be as good as those produced by a professional mic.
Dynamic mics: these are of rugged construction and therefore commonly used on stage where they are able to withstand the pounding they get from this environment. They are less sensitive than condenser mics at higher frequencies (higher notes). They are used in recording studios, but usually for recording high volume sources like miking up guitar amplifier speakers, which might damage a more sensitive condenser mic.
Condenser mics: are more sensitive than dynamics to higher (i.e. treble) notes and give a clearer, crisper sound at these frequencies. But they are generally not rugged in construction and can be easily damaged--and they are more expensive than dynamics. They are better suited to recording studios than stage use and are ideal for recording low volume sources like acoustic instruments. They require a battery.
Dynamic mics are pretty good, but a condenser mic is probably best for low volume recording of acoustic instruments.
Plugging a professional mic into the mic socket of your computer sound card may at first give worse results than a computer stick mic. The volume levels may be two low--this is what I found to be the case when I tried it. This is because the stick mic was purpose-built for use with a computer whereas professional mics were built for more general use. To realise the full benefit of a professional mic, you need an external hardware mixing console (just a mixer, not a combined mixer and recorder). Plug the mic into the mixer and then plug the output of the mixer into the line-in socket (not the mic-socket) of your computer soundcard. The mixer will give you more control over volume controls and equalisation and you will notice a dramatic improvement in the sound quality.
You need an audio recording programme installed on your computer to receive and edit the sound from your mic/mixer. There are several of these which will do the job. There are single track programmes which, as their name implies, can handle only one track, and multitrack programmes which allow for more than one track to be recorded and mixed down. A useful list of such programmes can be found here. After you have recorded a piece of music, it is saved as an audio file on your computer hard disk, e.g. a Windows .wav file.
An audio recording occupies a large file size. A Windows .wav file saved from a three minute recording occupies around 30 Mega Bytes, which is far too large to send as an attachment by e-mail or even to upload to a Web-page. Until recently, this made exchanging recorded music over the Internet very difficult. But this problem was solved by the advent of MP3 compression technology, which reduces the music files to 10% of their size. This revolutionised the possibilities for posting and exchanging music files on the Internet. And it made possible the growth of sites like MP3.com and Napster
Therefore, before you can post your music file on the Internet, or send it as an attachment to an e-mail, you have to compress the file using one of the many MP3 encoder programmes created to do this. You can find a list of them here. Some of the more recent multitrack audio recording programmes allow you to save your recording directly into MP3 format, thus avoiding the need for a separate encoding programme.
For an excellent, but expensive, multitrack audio recording programme try Cool Edit Pro which allows you to save your recording directly into MP3 format. If you want something cheaper, try the cut down version of this programme, Cool Edit 2000, from the same site. Both versions allow you to add special effects to your recording (e.g. reverb) and edit the recording. If you need to use a separate MP3 encoder, try the excellent freeware MusicMatch Basic. This programme does all kinds of other things as well--it is an MP3 player and will also rip tracks from CDs into MP3 format.