Often, the technology of recording may seem like a relatively new development; and in the grand scheme of things, one has to admit that this is so. However, despite the amazing advances that have been made in recording techniques and the technological advances that have been made in the field in the last few decades, the recording of sound has quite a long history. The capabilities of the typical recording studio are far beyond what they were even twenty years ago; but by taking a longer view and understanding how the technology of recording has progressed, there is a lot to be learned and applied in your studio.

The first true studio recordings were made in the 1890’s. At this time, all recordings were of course made acoustically. Recording technology was still in its infancy, with magnetic wire (the antecedent to magnetic tape) being used to capture the recordings which were then run through a horn which in turn would be attached to the cutting needle which grooved the record.

These recordings were quite limited in terms of how sounds could be captured - even the higher end recording studios boasted little more than a soundproofed wall. Mixing, mastering and editing were all an impossibility at this stage. Despite the limitations of the technology, recorded sound captured the imagination of the public with field recordings becoming popular - and in these days these were, quite literally field recordings, with the equipment being set up outdoors to capture nature sounds.

The 1930’s saw great advances in recording. Amplifiers were developed and microphones were quickly improving in dynamic range. The mixing board was developed during this decade, along with the advent of monitors for engineers to better hear what they were recording and mixing. Magnetic tape became ever more widely available and the acoustic recordings of the previous century quickly disappeared in favor of these new technologies.

Up into the 1970’s the equipment continued to improve, although the basic technique of recording remained much the same. Soundproofed rooms and microphones, with recording largely being done live through the board an onto tape. Re-recording would involve an entire new take rather than just rerecording and dubbing one track. Editing was also used very little save by avant garde composers.

It was improved monitoring and more effectively exploiting the capabilities of the existing technologies (i.e. -magnetic tape) that allowed the recording industry to move forward. Editing became much more a part of the recording process than merely a postproduction duty.

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s artists and producers made advances by experimenting with the possibilities of the recording studio, discovering techniques which are now standard and finding new sounds which expanded the palette of popular music. Mixing and mastering had become an art in and of themselves.

The progression from acoustic to analog technologies presaged the later transition from analog to largely digital recordings - but the recording industry, thanks to the work of pioneers in studio experimentation is a field not afraid to embrace new technologies and explore their possibilities. Recoding has grown immeasurably as a set of technologies and an art in its own right as a result.

The history of recorded sound is a story which is still unfolding, with artists, producers and recording engineers all continuing to make advances in techniques and technologies along the way - and it is a fascinating story to watch unfold.

There are many talented singers around and their skills come in several different varieties. Some of them sing the blues and others are great pop music singers. Then there are those who don’t have the best voices in the world, but boy can they perform!

There is always someone out there who can sing better and is more talented at what they do and this clearly re-enforces the fact that it is important to market your talents to the very best of your ability to ensure you do not get passed by.

Marketing, in simple terms means to sell and can be associated with almost anything such as goods, services and even your singing talents.

Marketing and management services are offered to singers by both companies and individuals in exchange for a flat fee or sometimes for a percentage of the singer’s income. The majority of those offering such a service are experts in their field and can be depended on to gain maximum exposure for the singer, in a professional manner.

Nonetheless, because of the complicated world of the recording industry and show business in general, singers should be extremely cautious when dealing with marketing and management services. Do some research and check out that the person or company providing the service is accredited by their organization and this will avoid your involvement with any fly by night marketers who have only one aim and that is to take advantage of your inexperience.

Once you have employed the services of a professional marketer or manager you will not only have the luxury of access to venues and shows which will enable you to promote your career in singing but you may even be lucky enough to have some of your songs used on the soundtrack of a movie.

If you can get your complete album included on a movie soundtrack this is an excellent publicity means, as when the movie takes off and hits box office highs, there is a good likelihood that the soundtrack will become a great success too and your career will be launched into a whole new dimension.

So how can you spot the right marketer for you? You should look for one with a good reputation who is known for having lots of show biz contacts. This will open many avenues for you to promote and develop your career in singing.

If you don’t learn how to hold your guitar properly, you will not only feel awkward and uncomfortable but you are also likely to injure your hands and wrists in the long term. So if you want to become a budding guitarist, take note of the few handy tips detailed below.

When you practice, do so in the sitting position. You will be more relaxed and will not get tired as quickly as when standing. Make sure you get the most out of using the seated position by keeping your body upright and holding your guitar so that the back of it touches your chest. The neck of your guitar should be parallel with the floor. If, however, you prefer to stand, you will need a wide strap to spread the weight of the guitar and make it more comfy when you are playing. As an alternative to wearing a strap over your shoulder you could put one foot up on a chair or stool, thus creating a place for the guitar to rest.

Rest your right arm loosely over the guitar and your hand should naturally fall in front of the sound hole. This is where the sound comes from when you strum the strings of the guitar over the hole. If you are playing your guitar whilst seated, rest the instrument on whichever thigh feels the most comfortable. This is usually the right thigh for right-handed players and the left for lefthanders.

Your thumb on your fretting hand needs to rest at the rear of the neck of the guitar and when playing chords you will be aware that your thumb is pressed hard against the backside of the neck. You can easily discover which location suits you best by testing the various thumb positions when you are playing different kinds of chords.

Your left hand should be moulded to the curved edge of the neck of the guitar. Fingers on both hands will be curved at the knuckle points and the left hand fingers will be balanced at the fret board on top of the strings. When you are strumming it is best to move the wrist rather than the fingers. Once you have mastered the correct position, you will find that your playing methods will be much easier to learn.

For those of you who are left handed, there are guitars on the market specifically for left handed players or you can re-string a right handed instrument the opposite way around. As long as you remember that the thickest string needs to be the one closest to your face, it will work just as well as a left handed guitar.

You Can Learn To Play Classical Guitar - It is much easier to learn how to sit, how to hold your guitar, and how to play the music if you have someone right there to show you and to correct you if you make any mistakes. Contact your local music store or put an ad in the …

Welcome to Your Best Stuff - Before anything, you need to know how to hold your guitar properly. You can imagine, if you get this wrong right from the get go, and you continue to play either hunching your back or straining your wrist, you’re going to make this …

Beginner Guitar Lessons: How to Hold Your Guitar - Beginner Guitar Lessons: How to Hold Your Guitar iPlayMusic Inc. 1 min - Nov 2, 2005 All iPlayMusic titles include a “Basics?? section with videos that review the most fundamental skills required to play Guitar including chords, …

In the studio, there;s a lot of different software which may be in use. They all have slightly different capabilities and there is more than one way to get that perfect sound. If you are up on these different programs and what they can offer to the producer, you will have an easier time deciding which to use to get that “just right” sound for your recordings. Read on for a brief rundown on some of the most popular options:

1) MIDI - Standing for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, this is an older technology and as such has some limitations when it comes to editing in stereo. There are however a lot of prebuilt MIDI patches available and MIDI offers a broad palette which should not be dismissed out of hand because of its age; indeed, MIDI is still in use in just about every studio.

2) Adobe Audition - This is a very easy to use software package which can provide even the home user with professional sounding mixing and mastering capabilities; again, it has some limitations, but its ease of use and its versatility make it a favorite of many.

3) Band in a Box - This is a piece of software for Mac systems that is ideal for smaller scale recordings and is designed largely for the novice. This software can help you build arrangements and as such is used by some as a sort of sketch pad for recordings. This by no means implies that you cannot use Band in a Box to make your recordings, however.

4) Cakewalk - At one time available only for Mac, this is now an option for Windows based systems as well. This is a MIDI based program which also offers some mixing and mastering capabilities.

5) Fruity Loops - This is more effective as a tool for creating and mixing loops than as a recording suite per se, although it can be used for both. A favorite of DJs and minimalists.

6) Vegas - Like Adobe Audition, Vegas is a multitracking solution which can also provide mixing and mastering capabilities. Individual tracks can be EQ’d just as in Adobe Audition.

7) Cubase - A larger and more complex program, Cubase offers a lot of versatility to the user. Unlimited numbers of patches (called VSTs) may be used on a single track for a full sound. Cubase also has a host of plugins and add-ons available for it which expand its capabilities. A great piece of software with a little bit of a learning curve.

Studio Vision - A higher end option for Mac systems, Studio Vision offers a lot of control over your tracks and is a top choice of professionals who use Mac systems in the studio.

9) Reason - Somewhat similar to fruity Loops, this is another suite which has found a large audience among DJs, hip hop producers and others who work with loops and rhythms. It can do more than this, but looping is its specialty.

10) Pro Tools - This is the industry standard software and one of the best known tools in the recording field. There are a lot of options for the use of VSTs and complete control over tracks. ProTools takes some learning to get the most out of, but its versatility makes it well worth the effort.

Each of these software options has different capabilities for producers and some programs will work well for some while not suiting the needs of others. If you know about all of these programs, you will be able to choose and effectively use their capabilities for your recordings.

Now at last it’s time to put your voice on tape. make sure you have everything set up the right way before you start the tape rolling and begin to sing. Voice is one of the hardest things to properly record, but is often the most important part of a recording session. You’ll want to know how to go about things before you begin.

First off, don’t record your vocals first. Get everything else into place before you even think about recording your voice. Having to work from the vocals as a starting point will only bewilder everyone else involved; it is far easier to add vocals last into the mix. Putting vocals first can even cause the track to get off, which is hardly the result you want for all your hard work.

Once everything else is properly recorded, get your studio set up for recording vocals. You’ll want a small, enclosed space for this so as to not have too much resonance. You want to capture the voice, not the room here. You’ll need to position the microphone or microphones to capture voice from all sides, yet not pick up any other sounds present in the room.

Very important when recording vocals is keeping an eye on peaks. Vocals can easily peak and go into the red, which can ruin your vocal track! Compressors are the way to prevent this. Many microphones have compression built in, which compresses (thus the name!) the sound waves created by the voice before they are passed to the mixing board. Even if you are using compression, make sure to check the peaks on the vocal track before you actually record. You’ll want to leave yourself some space to adjust volume.

From here on in, it is all about getting the mix right, which can be tricky with vocals, particularly for the novice recording engineer. Equalization units (or EQs for short) can assist in getting exactly the sound you want for your vocals, and everything else besides. You can use EQ to control the highs, lows and middle frequencies in your recording. This can be done on the mixing board as well as in post production via software. Noise gates can also be a great help. Noise gates prevent and control resonation and can be set to cut off resonation above or below a certain threshold which the engineer may define.

With the voice recorded properly, the engineer can then treat it like every other track in the mix, adjusting volume, normalizing to match other instruments and so on. The important part is getting it recorded well in the first place.

After normalization, there are a lot of software tools available for the recording engineer or producer to work with on vocal tracks. What has been removed from the vocals during compression can be added back into it with reverb, flange and other effects. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the tools at your disposal, you will likely need to tinker to get that perfect sound. With software, you can always undo any changes you make; so take your time and get just the vocal sound you want!

By using these simple rules given in this guide, you can turn recording vocals from a dreaded chore to one of the most enjoyable parts of the entire recording process. Record the vocals right, and you will give yourself ample room to work with the sounds and get that perfect vocal track on every recording you produce.