Using Audacity to record songs

Hi I’m thinking of recording a CD, is Audacity a suitable package to use both for instrumental and vocal recording, or is, as with most other packages, background noise and the lack of software to remove it a problem? Thanks

Audacity is an excellent free multi-track recorder and editor, but as with any other software, if the signal that you are recording is noisy, or poor quality, then you may not be able to get very good results. You can’t expect to get studio quality from a $5 computer microphone. Make sure that the recording environment is quiet and without too much reverb (plenty of soft furnishings in a quiet room can help a lot). Check that you record at a good level and avoid recording too loud as that will create distortion that is extremely difficult to fix.

Audacity includes tools such as “noise removal” that will help improve the quality of recordings, but they cannot do miracles - the recording needs to be as clean as possible when you record it, then use Audacity to edit as required.

There are many tips and tutorials about recording techniques on the internet - remember Google is your friend.
Happy recording :smiley:

you ca here some peoples efforts with audacity in this trhead

http://audacityteam.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3238

Ok thanks for the help :slight_smile:

I’ll let you know how I get on.

I AM USING A ROLAND USB AUDIO INTERFACE UNIT TO INSTALL A DRIVER VERSION 1.0.0 FOR WINDOWS VISTA 32-EDITION. I READ YOUR REFERENCE MANUAL. I AM UNSURE AS TO WHAT I HAVE TO DO TO START RECORDING MY MUSIC FROM MY CD TO MY INTERFACE TO MY AUDACITY PROGRAM AND THEN TO MY MUSIC FILE IN MY COMPUTER. MY ORIGINAL CD I AM TRANSPOSING MY MUSIC ARRANGEMENTS INTO A DIFFERENT KEY. PLEASE HELP ME. MARVIN SMILEY @ marv1229@bellsouth.net

Have a look at the Tutorials and Tips in the Audacity wiki (link at top of page).

BTW, it is generally considered bad manners to type all in upper case on web forums.