When I first became interested in making my own home recording about a year ago I
started to research the type of equipment I needed and the type I could afford.
I found out that all you needed was the following to make a decent recording:
1) PreSonus Firebox. A good Audio Interface is necessary to enhance the sound
from the microphone to the computer.
2) Digitial Audio Editor. I use the free program called Audacity found at Audacity
3) Good pair of headphones. I use Audio-technica brand (ATH-M30). The reason is that
while making recordings you do not want to have sound leaking from the headphones into
the microphone. As well the way you sing is enhanced with what you hear.
4) Good microphone. I use the Shure PG57. More information can be
found at About Microphones
5) An updated or new computer with enough RAM and Hard drive capacity to not
only operate the digital software and process the music but to store the vast
size of songs you will be recording over time. I have a HP Pavilion a1102n that
I purchased new in 2005 with the following characteristics:
Pentium 4 , 2.93GHz, 512MB RAM, 160GB hard drive.
Now I needed a place to record. To learn more about the nuances of home recording
I bought the book Home Recording for Musicians for Dummies.
I actually found that the best place for my recordings was in my closet. The clothes
acted like a dampening affect. One thing I learned was the echoes were bad since the
sound bouncing around against the walls fed back into the microphone.
All of the male voices that you hear in the hymns are mine. Typically I would sing each
part of the hymn twice over to give the effect of a "choir". Now one would say why not
copy the part and make more parts instead of singing each time. The problem for me is
that by copying the part it just sounded exactly the same and identical causing the part
to be louder. When I sing a part more than once it is impossible to match the part identically
so the effect of having more voices present is created.
I was fortunate to find a website that had the background music to Latin hymns. Since
there was no way I knew of to copy the background music to the audio software (for
playback during recordings) I used my Creative Labs Mp3 player that has a built in
microphone. I then played the hymn holding the Mp3 near the speakers. This created a
a .WMV file that I could then import to the recording software.
During recording I would playback the hymn and then sing each individual part two or
three times. Once I was finished I would usually delete the background hymn leaving
only my voices.
On the hymns or songs where there is a full piece orchestra I was able to find it in a Mp3
format (for example Domine Deus, Agnus Dei). These songs were performed by a women's
choir so it was simple matter of singing over the bass part (and baritone on some of them)
and "drowning" out the women on those parts. It worked out in part because women
just can't sing as low as men (well maybe most women).
The way I sing 4 parts (Bass, Tenor, Alto, Soprano) is to sing the Bass part early in the morning
since my voice tends to be pretty low. As I sing through the parts and my voice warms up my range
increases until I'm able to hit the very high notes. Every now and then I must sing falsetto (simulated
singing in the high range) to get the very high notes. The beauty with home recording is that I don't have
to sing the entire part at once. I can rest, drink some water and pick up where I left off since sometimes
the strain of singing high notes can be demanding. Generally I am singing a 20 note range to sing the Bass
through Soprano part.
On average it would take me approximately 3 hours per hymn from start to finish, including mixing the
final recording.
Here is a picture of me making a recording in the closet. The door would actually be closed and I would
have headphones on but just use your imagination.
Oops! Look out for those boxes on the shelf! :o)
From Jesus Through Mary!