Audio Recording

If you are using a personal computer to produce music, then you should be using a song mixing software. This piece of software should be able to accomplish the following tasks in order:

Task #1: Recording tracks (guitar, bass, piano, drums, etc) to your computer hard drive.
Task #2: Removing noise (if necessary) on your song mixing software.
Task #3: Mixing recorded tracks to get the best sonic results as possible.
Task #4: Mix down all tracks into one; ready for audio mastering.

It is increasingly popular for independent musicians to create and produce their own music at home using computers. In fact, it is highly possible to create professional made recordings from it.

One of the most important factors for success is your “knowledge” and “skill” of your song mixing software. Before I list down all possible choices, the following are my friendly advice regarding the use for that piece of software:

1.) Never change your audio mixing software after months of practice or years of experience. Doing this can seriously affect the quality of your produced recordings.

The “mastery” of your audio mixing software is a strong asset for you to create great recordings. And that includes manipulation of the EQ, compressors, plug-in and other important tools included in that software.

2.) The most expensive audio mixing software does not necessarily mean the best.

3.) No matter how great your audio mixing software, it won’t still produce great results if you do not have a “trained” ear (that can recognize good and quality recordings), well acoustically designed studio and a near field monitor with a subwoofer.

With that in mind below is my most recommended song mixing software depending on your budget, productivity and expected recording quality:

For beginners with budget ($200 above in software) and expecting to get the best recording productivity, produced recording quality and professional mixing environment:

Adobe Audition 3 = $340
Cakewalk Sonar 8.5 Producer Software = $350
Sony Creative Sound Forge 10 = $318
M-Audio Pro Tools M-Powered 8 = $203.24

For beginners with no budget and expecting to get a good recording productivity and quality (not offering the best professional mixing environment to get the best results in long term):

Audacity = free.

Final Recommendations:

1.) If you are a beginner and looking forward to have a life long career in recording production. Buy a great mixing software with budget $200 and above. Learn and stick with it through years. Upgrade it only when very necessary (e.g when the software manufacturer requires it for security reasons).

Sometimes it is highly possible that upgrading software (for example Adobe Audition 1.5 to Adobe Audition 3) can introduce a lot of new features that can affect your mastery level of the current version.

2.) If you are a beginner and not looking forward to have a life long career in recording, then installing Audacity will suffice everything. Of course, you will not expect it to have the best sets of recording and mixing features like those in paid mixing software listed above.

August 25, 2010 Update:
For those that are looking for audio recording software between free and $300 (somewhere around $30 to $60), it is recommended to visit PCMusicStuff.com that offers a large selection of low cost audio recording, sound editing and music mixing software, MIDI software, and tips for recording and mixing music.