Using Recording Software

Using Recording Software.

Once the mic is all set up, all you'll need to do is arm a track in Audacity by selecting it and press the record button. Recording a single track of audio on a computer is very easy, and mistakes can be easily edited out later by following the instructions that come with the program. Most other recording programs work in roughly the same way.

If you're trying to record a song on your computer, you'll probably want to record more than one track. If this is the case, disarm the track that you'd armed for recording and add a new track. Each new recording will need its own track, and you may need to head to the preferences menu to make sure that the old track will play while you're recording the new one.

Arming and pressing record will play the other track while recording to the new track, so you can talk over yourself, add harmonies, guitar solos, or whatever you'd like. This process is called multitracking.

A computer's ability to multitrack will be limited by its processing power, and even fast computers will have trouble recording while playing back dozens of audio tracks. Adding effects will create more of a draw on the processor of the computer and the sound card.

Home audio recording enthusiasts who are interested in multitracking should invest in a really good sound card or one of the high-end recording interfaces mentioned earlier, as this makes the process much smoother.