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, a great upgrade for my Soundmax Onboard soundcard. But there are still serious problems such as the preamp quality not enough to provide a clean and professional sounding records.
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. It is very handy and cheap. The results were fabulous, I can now record all instruments cleanly with sufficient gain.
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.
6 Responses
Hi Bradley,
Thanks for the suggestion. I definitely checked more about this hard drive, probably write an entire posts on this about the proper selection of hard drive for computer audio recording/music production. Anyway I will add some Ubuntu studio tutorials on the future. You can subscribe to the blog feeds to get immediate updates.
Cheers..
Great Article.
try Western Digital VelociRaptor (WDBACN6000ANC-NRSN) 600GB SATA 6Gb/s 10000RPM 32MB Internal Hard Drive – (Retail ) – more money but almost 30% faster.
Having said that i use western digital black (as opposed to blue)7200rpm for my harddrives.
ssds are another choice for speed but you don’t get as much storage as of yet for your dollar.
Do you have any recommended readings for using ubuntu studio?
I suggest reading reviews about M-Audio 2496. You can read it here: http://bit.ly/9Kk54u
Make sure your computer supports this sound card, so you need to know the technical requirements first, to make sure that if you install this card to your computer, it is supported.
would like to buy a sound card and trying to get “M-Audio Audiophile 2496 MIDI Digital Recording Interface”…
What is ur advice ?
Hi Translator,
Are you using a multitrack software? Or are you in multi-track view? In order to record each of those individual drum tracks what you have to ensure are the following:
a. One microphone for Kick then feed to multirack number 1 (in your software).
b. One microphone for the overhead (cymbals) then feed to track #2 in your software.
c. One microphone for snare then feed to track #3 in your software.
d. One microphone for toom then feed to track #4 in your software.
So when the recordin session starts, those microphone captures individual soundwave and route to specific track number in multi track session. If you do not know how to use the multi-track sessions, refer to your software manual. Hope this helps.
Hi Emerson. Could you explain me how you record drums using just an USB mixer and software. I have a Peavey with 16 channels but the software cannot record cannot record single drum tracks, for example, just the kick drum in one single track, the snare on another track, etc… Thanks.