By Philip De Lancie

This article continues Line 6’s home recording series with a step-by-step exploration into recording software and interfaces. When you’re up and running, head over to the Line 6 Community to download free Reason ReFills, free drum loops and free backing tracks! More great articles to come! Bookmark the Line 6 Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

In the opening article of this series we looked at computers for home recording. This time we’ll look at a couple other essential ingredients of a home recording setup, touching briefly on the audio interface and then focusing on the software that turns a computer into a DAW (digital audio workstation).

Today’s DAW is a computer-hosted hardware/software combination that handles several related tasks:

Conversion – the changing of audio signals from external instruments and microphones into digital data on the way to the computer and back to analog signals on the way out.

Recording and Playback – the storing and playing back of audio data to/from the computer hard drive.

Synthesis and Sampling – the generation of “software instrument” sounds by the computer, either sampled (based on actual recordings) or synthetic (built by modifying and combining waveforms).

Sequencing – the storing and playing back of MIDI data that is used to play software instruments from the computer and also to control playback of external devices (e.g. a MIDI keyboard or sound module).

Editing – copying, cutting, pasting and otherwise modifying and reordering recorded sounds.

Effects – modifying recorded sounds or software instruments by applying reverb, chorus, distortion, etc. to make them sound more pleasing or to create a desired mood.

Mixing – combining and balancing all the recorded and software-generated sounds into a final mix, typically two channels (stereo) but possibly surround sound (e.g. 5.1), often using automation. (more…)

By Philip De Lancie

Vocals to drums, the right microphones ensure the best recordings. This article continues Line 6’s home recording series with an exploration into the most common microphone types, specs and applications. Big recording budgets, giant studios and seasoned engineers are becoming increasingly infrequent so be sure you’re making the right microphone choices. More great articles to come! Bookmark the Line 6 Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

Microphones are like people: each has its own distinct personality. So choosing one isn’t a matter of which is “best” but rather which gives the desired result for a given purpose. In fact, unlike other gear, where frequency response should always be as flat technically possible (what goes in is what comes out), mics are often chosen because of the way they color the sound of what’s being miced.

Studio engineers develop their mic-choosing skills by listening to a lot of different mics on a lot of different instruments. Home recordists don’t have that luxury. What we can do is look at the mic choices typically made by professional engineers for various instruments, try to understand why those choices seem to work well most of the time, and apply what we’ve learned to mics that are within our budget. To do that, it helps to start by understanding a bit about some basic technical concepts.

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By Philip De Lancie

Big budgets, giant studios and seasoned engineers are becoming increasingly infrequent, and more and more musicians are recording their music at home. This article, the first in a multi-part series from Line 6, explores and demystifies the fundamentals of home recording: everything from software to interfaces and beyond. Bookmark the Line 6 Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

Whether you’re a singer-songwriter or in a band, the quality of recordings you can make at home today is vastly improved compared to the early days of Tascam Portastudios some three decades ago. But the same technology that gives you more power to make your musical ideas heard has also brought a huge increase in the variety of different options and equipment. Familiarizing yourself with it all can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you’re just getting your feet wet. The key is to break things down into the basic building blocks you’ll need, and to look at each in turn to see how it fits into the big picture. That’s what we’ll be doing in this series of related articles on home recording. We’ll start by looking at the hardware at the heart of today’s home recording setup: the computer on which you’ll run digital audio recording software in order to create a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW).

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By Frank LaMonte

This article, the first of a five-part series from Line 6, explores some classic uses of popular guitar effects. Over the coming weeks and months, many artists, writers and in-house music freaks will be contributing articles, videos, downloads and more to the Line 6 Lounge. Bookmark the Lounge and don’t miss a thing!

What the What?

The signature swish of early Van Halen’s “Atomic Punk,” the soft swirl of Hendrix’s “Machine Gun,” the white-hot waves of Husker Du’s “Metal Circus,” and tons of others: phase effects have oozed their way into every damp corner of rock history. And if today’s oversized pedal boards are any indication, phasers are here to stay.

How Did They Do it?

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