How do I record and create MP3s from home?

There used to be no substitution for a good recording job done in a professional recording studio. Now with the rising popularity of digital PC recording and the low cost of recording software, many people are re-thinking the idea of home recording. Plus with the ease of MP3 distribution, and the many sites that offer free web hosting and the ability to upload and download free music, the difficulty of promoting and distributing your band’s MP3s has been made very easy. The questions at hand are, what do I need to begin recording at home, how do I turn my recordings into MP3s, and what do I do with said MP3s after I am done creating them?

Home recording on a PC requires just a couple of things; a computer, recording software (i.e. Pro Tools, Cakewalk, Cubase), and a digital soundcard. If you will be recording multiple tracks from multiple sources at the same time, you might want to invest in a mixer as well. (This is assuming that your sound card only has one audio input) This will allow you input more than one instrument/microphone to your computer at the same time. Install your recording software and sound card drivers. Plug your mixer into your sound card, plug your instruments into your mixer and you’re ready to begin recording. The recording process may be a little different depending on what software you are using, but most decent software comes with a good instruction manual which you can consult if you are having problems. After recording, you will want to mix all tracks down to a stereo audio .wav file.

Now that we have our recording done and our .wav file in hand, we’ll want to convert it to an MP3 file. If you will be burning your tracks to CD, you won’t need to convert it to an MP3 file. But for distribution for music downloads on the web, the smallest, best quality, most universally accepted format will be an MP3 file. You can take your .wav file and export it as an MP3 through whatever audio recording program you use. Most recording software offers that option, but keep in mind that you might need to mess with the output settings to get the best quality MP3 out of your program. Another option is to use a stand-alone .wav to MP3 converter. If you go to download.com and search for “.wav to .mp3 converter”, you will be presented with a good list of programs that do just that. I have had good results using both methods, so it’s really up to you.

Once you have your MP3 files, you can set-up your own website and offer free music downloads. Or you can go to one of the many sites that offer free web hosting for musicians, so that the musicians will have a place to offer downloadable music MP3s, music videos, and music lyrics. Sites like, DiskFaktory Jams and Section Z are both free and have other tools for musicians to access, like message board forums and internet radio stations. Once you have your recording done, the possibilities are endless!

Jason Cole and http://www.DiskFaktoryJams.com offer great tools and a cool place to hang out for musicians. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting DFJams

Welcome to the official DiskFaktory Jams wordpress blog!

Hi everyone, this will be our first blog post on WordPress, so let’s get acquainted. DiskFaktory Jams is an free online musician’s community where anyone can come and:

Upload mp3s
Upload music videos
Post blog entries
Set-up a online store through paypal
Post calendar events
Set-up an internet radio station
Post photos

For more information, or to sign-up, please visit http://www.diskfaktoryjams.com/

Over the next few weeks we will be posting some very special articles written by our expert musicians. Please feel free to come back and check them out as we post them. FYI, all articles posted are free for you to copy and distribute on the internet.

Thanks for stopping by!

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How can online communities benefit musicians? With the rise of sites like Myspace.com, SectionZ.com, and http://www.diskfaktoryjams.com/, musicians have never had it better on the internet. These sites give you the ability to do things that once would have cost you tons of money. As a musician, how do online communities benefit me?

Hosting music MP3s and music videos
When you sign up for one of these site, most of them give you the ability to post your free mp3 downloads, and music videos on their free web hosting plans. You get a website address where you can post a bio, some band photos, show dates, and mp3s/videos. This allows you to distribute your band’s music for free! All you need to do is create business cards or stickers with your band’s website URL on it, pass them out, and there you go. You can also use message board forums to promote your band’s website, which will get your music MP3s and music videos to even more people.

Gaining experience from others
You may not know a lot about music promotion or the whole industry based around it. But there are tons of people out there that do, and a lot of those people are active in online musician communities. Take time and sign up for one of these communities, become active in the discussions held on their message boards. You stand to gain a lot of experience and knowledge by joining and participating in these communities.

Networking/Promotion
In addition to being places where you can store / distribute MP3s / download free music, and learn from other people. Musician communities are great places to network and promote your band. Need to find a band to open at your next show? These websites often list their bands by region, making it easy for you to get familiar with local bands. Also, many music industry people hang out looking for the next big band to sign. Yours could be next!

These 3 examples do not fully cover all the different reasons for participating in these musicians communities, but should give you a little bit more insight on how they can benefit your band. From free MP3 music downloads, music video downloads, message board conversations and free web hosting, there’s a lot that online musician communities can do to help you out.

Jason Cole and http://www.diskfaktoryjams.com/ offer great tools and a cool place to hang out for musicians. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting DFJams