Want to start recording music, but don't know where to start? This three-part guide will have you making music in no time.

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Porta-system-a-go-go!
Those of you who have a laptop computer, can now throw that all-important word "porta" into the mix. That's to say, by using the laptop's own audio card (or by adding-on a pro-quality USB audio interface)... you're ready to take Cool Edit 2000 or Cool Edit Pro on the road!

Yup, this means that you can save your musical ideas to disk whenever the mood hits, capture that magic jam with the buds at 2AM, even overdub extra track parts on the road... Get the picture?

Global Positioning
Ok folks, now let's take this "on-the-road" concept just a step further. Let's say you have this killer session that's been built up from all your MIDI toys and/or live instruments... you've laid down an amazing vocal overdub... The song's just groovin'! One thing's missing... It REALLY begs for a lead guitar solo... and you know just the person who could pull it off! Unfortunately, she moved to Toronto last year... No problem! She has another friend that has a PC-based project studio who'd be happy to help her to lay down the part!

Literally, through the amazing wonders of MP3, you could simply e-mail the parts anywhere in the world... No ifs, ands or buts. "E-dubbing" is a fairly straightforward process. Here's what you do...

1. Create a stereo or mono mix of the relevant parts of your session.
2. Encode the entire song (or just the section to be worked on) as an MP3 file. The file compression choice use is totally up to you, as the receiving party will simply use the track as a monitor guide track.
3. Send the song or section to your buddy as an e-mail attachment (along with any instruction notes, lead sheet jpgs, lyrics, etc.)
4. Once your buddy receives the files, he/she can import the MP3 directly into Cool Edit Pro, Cool Edit or any multitrack editor that can import MP3 files. If their editor doesn't deal with MP3, a number of conversion programs are available for translating between the MP3 and Wav file formats.
5. Once imported, they can go about the task of laying down their part onto a separate track.
6. Once an acceptable track has been recorded, the new track can then be converted to the highest-quality MP3 file format possible. It's been my experience that the file will literally be "CD Quality", when it's been encoded at 160 Kbps. The quality will be especially high when the original Fraunhofer codes are used (which are included in the Syntrillium MP3 plug-in). Go ahead, encode a file and check the quality out for yourself!
7.Have your friend or hired-musician email the MP3 file back to you.
8.Convert the file back into the .Wav format and drag it into the original multitrack session at the appropriate spot. It's been my experience that there will be no loss in quality and you'll have full mixing control over the newly recorded "e-dub"... just as though it was recorded in the next room!
In session
OK, let's come back down to earth and get to the simple nuts n' bolts of recording a simple session into CE 2000 or CEP - it's easy and fun! For starters, let's walk through the process of recording a basic demo into the program, from start to finish:

Step 1:Select the "Live Update During Record" option. By making sure that this option is selected (Options/Settings/General Tab/Play from Cursor), you'll be able to watch the tracks automatically draw and update on the computer's screen as the session progresses.

Although it isn't necessary, this option lets you see where you are in a session's timeline and makes recording a heck of a lot more fun. Definitely a recommended practice for CE2K and CEP, in general.

Step 2:Switch the program to the Multitrack Mixer View mode (F12). Pressing the upper left-hand Multitrack Mixer View button (or F12) will place CEP into the multitrack mode.

Step 3:Name each channel input Although this isn't necessary, naming the track (or tracks) that you're about to record on will make it easier to identify the channel inputs during this and future sessions. Equally as important, it'll cause CEP to save each track to the session directory under the given track filename (i.e. kick drum.wav). For archival purposes (and peace of mind) it's a lot easier know what's been recorded onto a file called "Steves kick drum.wav" than one that was automatically called "Track34-1(2).wav"!

This simple practice of naming each track will definitely make the session and any future changes to the session go much more smoothly.

Step 4:Place the desired track (or tracks) into the "Record Ready" mode. Arming the desired track or tracks is done by pressing the red " " button within each of the track control boxes. Once you're ready to roll... simply press the transport's record button and start laying down your track(s)!

Once you've laid down your first track or set of basic tracks, you can start recording additional tracks... while listening to your previous tracks over phones or speakers. This is done by disarming your previous tracks and then arming the next track or tracks to be recorded. Once several tracks have been laid down, you can start to mix your levels and pan positions, using the programs various mixing options.

Step 5:Mixdown. Once you've finished recording, the process of creating a final mixdown can begin. This involves making final adjustments to your mix, pan and effects levels. Effects can be added to a particular track by simply double-clicking on the waveform (this will automatically open that track into the edit waveform view). Once done, all or a defined portion of the soundfile can be effected by calling up any effect from the Transform Menu.

Step 6:Save the completed "mix" to disk. When using CE 2000 or CEP as a porta-system, this process can take either of two forms:
· 1. The individual track files can be saved to hard disk within the session's directory. This is usually a wise precaution, as you might want to go back at some future time and continue working on the session, or you might want to take a killer riff and copy it into another session or special project.
As always, it's a good idea to save important sessions to a removable backup media (such as CD-R, CD-RW or Jazz disk).
· 2. In addition to (or instead of) the above, the program can mix a multitrack session down to a mono or stereo file, eliminating the need to transfer the session tracks to a DAT recorder, etc. In this way, CE 2000 or CEP can internally mixdown the multitrack session to two hard disk tracks for archival as a wavefile, MP3 file and/or for burning to a CD.
Sounds easy? Doing it is just as easy, fun and powerful! If ya don't believe me, check out the demo and take it for a porta-spin yourself!

LET'S LOOK AT PUNCH-IN RECORDING. READ PAGE THREE

 

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