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Recording on a Shoestring Budget!


Recording Equipment

  1. Computer with SCSI or fast Hard-drive (7200 speed IDE works great) - The faster the better.
  2. Sound card with wavetable synthesis
  3. Software sequencer
  4. Microphone and pre-amp
  5. Amp with reverb (or a seperate reverb unit)
  6. Four track recorder (This can be substituted with a wave/midi sequencer)
  7. Various cables including, RCA cable, 1/8 inch to female RCA, 1/4 to female RCA, 1/4 to 1/4 cables, 1/8 to 1/8 cables (usually they are stereo so consult your soundcard manual)
  8. Wav. recorder software
  9. Standard cassette deck
  10. Jammer Songmaker software; optional
  11. Samplitude Software; optional


How do I use all this stuff?


Recording a midi file to your 4 track recorder

Use 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch cable to connect computer sound card (line out) to line in on 4 track tape recorder (You will probably have to use the directions below to adapt a cable from 1/8 to 1/4 inch)

  1. 1/8 inch to female RCA; connect the 1/8 inch plug to the "line out" or "speaker out" jack on your sound card.
  2. Connect a standard RCA cable to the female jacks on the 1/8 inch plug.
  3. 1/4 inch to female RCA...Connect the standard RCA plugs to the female RCA to 1/4 inch plug.
  4. Insert the1/4 inch plug into the "line in" jack on your 4 track recorder.
  5. Record your piece into the computer sequencer with a keyboard, guitar synth, or compositional software. You will need a midi connection from your keyboard to the midi jack on your sound card.
  6. Now you can record the music from your sequencer (computer midi program) onto track one of your 4 track recorder.
  7. Disconnect the cables from the computer to the four track recorder.

Recording thru your Amplifier to a Four Track!

  1. Run your microphone cable to the amplifier then run a 1/4 inch cable (guitar cord) from the "line out" preamp (If you don't have a line out jack on your amp then you might want to get a small preamp unit) to the "line in" on your four track recorder.
  2. I just found the best keep pre-amp secret out there; a FX40B Graphic equalizer - it's a combination EQ and pre-amp. It works great for running a plain mic directly into a computer soundcard.
  3. Record your vocals on track two.
  4. Record any other non-midi instruments on track three.
  5. Record harmony vocals on track four.
  6. You can mix down directly to a standard tape deck or proceed to, "Recording your master piece from the four track to your computer"
  7. Disconnect all cables

Recording your Masterpiece from the Four Track to your Computer!

  1. Now connect a standard RCA cable to the "line out" of your 4 track recorder. Connect the other end to the female RCA jacks of the 1/8 inch plug.
  2. Plug the 1/8 inch plug into the "line in" jack of your computer sound card.
  3. Open up your wav. recorder
  4. Try to keep your audio peak level below "0" DB (sometimes -3db is best). Digital easily distorts above "0" DB! If you must adjust your computer input levels then go to Start/programs/accessories/multimedia/volumn control/options/properties/. Click on recording and adjust your line-in level.
  5. Hit the record button on your wav. recorder/player then start your four track recorder.
  6. Mix your four track (analog) recording into the wav. recorder
  7. If you are using a good wav. player/recorder then you will have reverb, echo, flange, amplitude (fade in - fade out), etc...
  8. Add whatever you like from the above
  9. Save file...this will be a very large file so you must have a big hard drive!
  10. There are a few advantages to feeding the tracks back into the computer!
  11. First, you will be saving your recording digitally so it won't degrade like tape. You'll need a very large hard drive; wav. files are very big. I burn my own cd's so as soon as I'm done recording I get the files off my hard drive. Zip drives also work well. Second, you can add reverb and such to the finished product. (Go light) Third, it is easy to make tapes for submission to publishers or whomever!

Making Tapes from your Computer to a Standard Cassette Deck!

  1. Start with steps 1 and 2 of "Recording a Midi File to your Four Track Recorder"
  2. Connect the RCA cable to the "line in" jack on your standard cassette deck.
  3. Load your beloved song into the wav. player.
  4. Start your cassette deck recording. Hit the play button on your wav. player
  5. Bingo! You've got your tape when the song is done playing!
  6. Cables may vary with different
  7. If you break something...I'm not responsible. (Don't crank the levels up to fast...do a sound check...start low with the trim until you get to "0" db)
  8. It is amazing how good your tapes can be if you just add one vocal and say a guitar solo to the #1 midi track
  9. You've got to play with the stuff so get serious! Check out the compositional software section! I can make a demo (work tape) from start to finish in an hour with it! If your a serious songwriter you can knock out many tunes per week...cheap!!!
  10. Also, midi guitar stinks! I usually add an analog guitar track (A real guitar) and turn the midi guitar track way down. This gives the total product a more realistic sound!


Recording with a Combination Midi/Wav Sequencer only!


  1. Record your instrument tracks to a sequencer via the midi connection on your sound card!
  2. Connect your microphone via the 1/8 inch "microphone" or "input jack" on your sound card! You will probably need a 1/4 inch to 1/8 inch plug adapter.
  3. You may need a power mic to boost the signal if it's too low.
  4. Record your vocal track.
  5. Some of the combination sequencers will let you export your wav. file. to a wav. recorder/player. You can then add reverb and import it back to the original file!


Converting Midi files to Wav. files


  1. Mr. Jim Kearns corrected me on the issue of looping the output to input on a soundcard to make wav's from midi's. I'm forever in his debt! Here is his example of how to do it without looping. Small variations with different software (like Samplitude or Soundforge) should get you the same result.
  2. Setup for Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 (<- midi software) (using a soundblaster live card): Load you midi file into Cakewalk. Go to Options/MidiDevices/OutputPorts. Select and highlight your midi synth for the card your using. Hit the 'Move Selected Devices To Top' button. Make sure this device is at the top. Hit OK button.
  3. Setup for CoolEdit Pro (wav recorder software): Go to 'Options/Settings/Devices'. Make sure your sound card is listed here. Then go to 'Options/Show Levels On Play and Record' and activate it.
  4. Now, go to your windows sound mixer (play section) and make sure you have the midi button in the 'On' position and the volume slider right up full. Also make sure the master volume is up also. Go back to CoolEdit and start recording. Then go to Cakewalk and hit 'Play' Go back to CoolEdit and you'll see the VU level bars at the bottom of your screen is active ie. signal is coming in. Note: The 'Options/'Show Levels On Play and Record' activation from before, turns on the VU meter in CoolEdit's play and record operation.
  5. When you've finished recording, hit stop in both CoolEdit and CakeWalk. You can then go back and play your new Wav file in CoolEdit.
  6. All the recording is being done in the digital domain, so the quality is far superior than if you did it using the cable method.

Hard Disk Recording at a Great Price!!!


  1. The "Samplitude" Hard Disk Recorder and editor is AMAZING!!!
  2. If you follow their "Quick Start" help catagory you will be using the software in about two hours!
  3. The software allows you to line up wav. files in seconds
  4. The editing functions are as fast as a runner on steriods!!!
  5. Use the "Converting Midi Files to Wav. Files" proceedor above or record your instrumentation directly into the wav. player.
  6. You can also use the sequencer/wav. recorder that comes with Samplitude to record your vocal or instrumental tracks. (Hit the record button and set it up in media)
  7. You may want to run your mic into a pre-amp and out to the "line in" jack on your sound card. This should give you a cleaner signal (most sound cards will let you run the mic directly to the input without a pre-amp!)
  8. I use a "Zoom 3030" run directly into the computer for my analog guitar tracks (no amp)
  9. Send your mixed wav. tracks out to a cassette deck and walla!!! You get one great tape; cheap!! With a good soundcard (Full Duplex) and mic you can get a recording good enough to put on a "CD".
  10. "Samplitude Pro" is about 150.00 and "Samplitude Studio" is about 300.00. This software is worth thousands!!
  11. I just bought the "Studio" version - it's Amazing!!! Download the Demo...you won't be sorry!!!
  12. If you turn off "Graphic file while recording", in the recording window, then you shouldn't have a problem syncing at 44k with a pentium!!

Midi to Wav without a wavetable soundcard by Tom Campbell


  1. I've recently had good success recording midi to .wav by going from sound card midi out to midi in on external synth module, then phono plug out from the synth module to line in on the sound card. This worked better for me because I have a cheesy (non-wavetable FM) sound card.

Download Samplitude's Demo!!

Samplitude's Webpage


Some other Great Links!

Shure Tech Bulletin--Checkout Product Support--Interfacing Microphones to Sound Cards

A Consumers Guide to Assessing Audio


Click here for songwriting hints and much more at my Homepage!