So you are ready to jump into the world of music recording? You've been doing tons of online research to pick the right sound card, microphones, studio monitors, etc but you haven't decided on a piece of audio recording software.

You know that you are just recording for fun and you don't need anything “crazy”. You just want to sit down and have fun recording your music.

If this sounds like you, you are certainly not alone. I don't think anyone records music to be miserable (at least not on purpose). However, from time to time, our needs will increase as our recording skill does. It won't be long before you are saying “I wish I could do this” or “I wish I could do that”.

Graphics Software Analogy

I'm going to use a graphics software analogy for now for a few reasons. First of all, I'm about as graphically challenged as you can get. Secondly, the only graphics terms that I can speak are probably less than layman's terms.

Okay, so I've decided that I want to get into creating graphics on my computer. I don't need a rocket ship, I just need something that will allow me to express myself and make a bunch of stupid looking pictures.

I could go with some $80 program that I may find at the mall or Walmart. It will probably work great at first. Maybe I want to make my name with funny looking font and make it look like liquid. Maybe the software handles this just fine. Maybe I want to turn my girlfriend's picture green. The software can probably handle that to.

However, it won't take long before I need to blend in a picture of a sky with a picture of a Rhino while turning the Rhino's eyes into mirrors. This is not a crazy idea. In fact, the result will probably look less difficult than some of the other graphics I've made. Well, if the software doesn't have the ability what do I do?

I've already spent $80 and 2 weeks learning how to make graphics just to find out that the software can't do what I need it to do. Bummer! So what then? Do I tough it out with that I have? Do I go out and buy better stuff (wasting the $80)? Well, that depends on how serious I am about having fun with my graphics program.

Okay, so we've established that going with cheap software leads to one of only two paths.

With Path #1, you simply accept the shortcomings of the software and continue to use it even though your skills and needs have exceeded it. Of course, you know you are sort of limping with your cheaper software and because of that, it's possible that you will never evolve into an expert (if this is your ambition).

With Path #2, you waste the $80 on the cheap stuff and go out and buy the real deal, pro grade stuff. You lose $80 and the two weeks it took you to learn the software.

Neither is a great choice, but maybe it was worth it to try out the $80 stuff before jumping face first into something much more expensive without knowing if you really liked it.

Back To Recording Software

I've used two pieces of software in my studio. Vegas 3.0c and Cubase SX3. I don't mean for this article to necessarily be a comparison between these two programs, necessarily. The idea is to illustrate the differences that I discovered when I switched from a “simple” program that constantly gave me headaches to a “complicated” program that made my life much easier and made music more fun to record.

Vegas 3.0c

The first was called Vegas 3.0c (the simple software) and it was made by Sonic Foundry (which was later bought out by Sony). It had no midi support so creating techno or rap beats was out of the question. This also meant that I couldn't add piano, synth, or samples unless they were played on a keyboard and recorded real time. So, I could add piano to stuff, but that meant I also had to have a nice piano (which I didn't have). Vegas had relatively poor editing, which I'll get to in a minute). Vegas also had poor routing (which I'll also get into).

Steinberg Cubase SX3

The second piece of software which I'm currently using is Cubase SX3. Cubase comes with a very powerful midi sequencer so now, using samples, I can sit down with a solo artist and create an entire band around him quite easily without paying studio musicians. The editing is extremely powerful and because of this, I've saved myself thousands of hours of headaches that Vegas caused. Cubase SX3 has very powerful routing features so, if I choose, I can send my drum reverb back to my drum bus. This means that if I decide to pull the drum bus down 1dB, I don't have to worry about finding the snare reverb and pulling it down accordingly.

My Uses Of The Various Recording Software

Since I was mostly doing rock bands, I wasn't overly worried about the lack of midi. I was micing pretty much everything anyway and kind of doing things “organically” if you want to call it that. Sure, here and there a band would want a sonic boom to hit in the middle of one of their songs, but I didn't have that sort of thing. I simply had to tell them no sometimes.

Now, I'm mostly producing. No one is more demanding than I am. If I want a violin in a song, I want a violin. That is how it has to be. Of course, Cubase SX3 seams to handle every demand I throw at it.

Drum Editing

One band decided they weren't happy with what their drummer played, They asked me to edit the drums to make them tighter. I wasn't big on this, but I jumped in. It turns out that Vegas 3.0c would only edit down to 10ms. In other words, if I wanted to shift a drum just a few ticks, Vegas would shift it over 10ms (which is quite noticeable). I worked and worked and worked on that song. It took hours and using a complicated trick where I would find the spot I needed to pull back a hair, open that one file (maybe the hi-hat mic) in Sound Forge, delete exactly 2ms, save, re-import the track back into the song, and then repeat for all 10 drum mics.

Of course Cubase SX3 (the complicated software) would simply allow me to highlight the tracks, cut them in the problem spot, and then drag them over any amount of time I wanted.

The “simple” software: 4 hours

The “complicated” software: 4 seconds

Vocal / Guitar Solo / Anything Comping

I'm big on recording quite a few vocals and then editing together all the best parts. This has been done since the 70s on hit records and is often the reason that hit songs have their emotional intensity. It's very rare for a singer to nail a song with just a single take. VERY RARE!

With Vegas, I would record a track. Stop. Create a copy of the track. Delete the duplicate. Then hit record again. Vegas could loop through a verse or chorus, but the way it hid the files was awkward to me.

With Cubase, I highly the verse, chorus, or whatever we are recording, hit the loop button and hit record. If I'm just listening to a guitar solo or something but the singer plans to jump in (without me knowing it), I just hit the record button as quickly as I can..instantly Cubase switches from “play mode” to “record mode”. You have no idea how many times this has delivered incredible takes and saved tons of time.

When Cubase is looping, it stacks all the audio files on the same track. I don't have to make duplicates of anything. I don't have to re-arm anything. It's done the first time.

Vocal Editing

Let's say the singer did 4 takes of a chorus that I looped.

With Vegas....well, I hated looping with Vegas.

With Cubase, the stacked audio files are right there waiting for me to listen to. They have an extremely well thought out system for muting certain files or pieces of files that makes listening to the music very easy. It's extremely simple to edit through the pieces I want without much effort at all.

Organization

When recording a lot of tracks, it can quickly get out of hand on your screen.

With Vegas, you just had to deal with it. The tracks were in order and that was that.

With Cubase, you have folder tracks if needed. I'll usually toss all my drums in the drum folder. All this does is places all the drum tracks under a single box which can be minimized when I don't want to look at it. This really simplifies the screen when working on a song with lots of tracks.

So the “simple” program is really complicated looking and the “complicated” program is neat, organized and easy to organize.

Learning Curve

As discussed with the graphics software, to really get the most out of any program, you really need a few weeks of daily use to understand the ins and outs. You can scratch the surface with any program in a night or two, but it often takes longer to really dig in deeper.

I've found that high end software does not take that much longer to learn than something more “simple”. However, the first day with a high end piece of software like Adobe Photoshop or Cubase SX3 is usually a total shock because the high end systems typically have systems that are totally different from that you are going to find in Microsoft Paint or some free recording software (although there is okay free recording software out there).

However, these shockingly new systems are usually shockingly well though out. They are in place because there the simple systems run into brick walls sometimes. Many times, when you run into the limitations with a program, the only way to solve the problem is to approach it from a totally new perspective. I think that is why some programs are considered “complicated”. They are simply labeled complicated because the user hasn't taken the time to learn the system that actually ends up being MUCH simpler in the end.

Automation

When I mix,I'm big on automation. I'm constantly riding the levels of volumes, effects, and even panning.

Vegas was pretty good about allowing me to draw little lines for all the aux sends to reverbs, delays, etc.

However, in Cubase SX3, I can automate ANYTHING. Okay, there are probably some things that can't be automated, but so far everything I've wanted to automate, I've been able to automate.

Shortcuts / Keystrokes

When use get serious about working in your audio recording software, you will want to use keystrokes and shortcuts to make life easier. It's just faster and more efficient when you don't have to rely on the mouse the entire time.

Vegas had shortcuts, but to my knowledge, I never saw where I could create my own shortcuts.

Cubase SX3 lets you define or refine ANYTHING. If you really don't want Paste to be Control + V, change it to something else. Sometimes a singer gets a little to much sibilance in their voice (the high end eeesssessss). Before relying on a de-esser or multi-band compressor, I like to knock these down a db or 2 by highlighting just the “ess” sound and then reducing the gain just a little bit. Well, after I double click on the file in Cubase, the .wav editor opens up. Once, I highlight the section I want, I have to go up to the Audio > Processing > Gain menu. That got old in hurry. So, I just assigned the “\” to open the gain window.

I found myself always feeling pressure to open Auto-tune. This occurs because in the middle of an intense vocal session, I may try to see if I can quickly fix a note right there on the spot. If not, it'll need to be redone. Well, going to Audio > Plugins > Direct X > Other > Anteras > Autotune (or something like that) took way too long. So, I changed it to Control + Shift + “ ` ” (which is similar to a command I use in Dreamweaver, a web page creation program.

Wav Editor

With Vegas, sometimes I needed to get down and dirty and edit a single .wav file. Vegas couldn't do this, so I ended up buying Sound Forge. Sound Forge is pretty good at editing .wav files and it sure got plenty of use. Of course, I had issues all the time with files that I opened in Sound Forge wouldn't open back up in Vegas. So then I would have to stop what I was doing, restart the mix, and see if I liked the changes. Of course, these kinds of changes are destructive and there were times where I screwed up and saved the wrong file.

With Cubase SX3, the wav editor is built in. I figured the Cubase SX3 editor would be inferior in some way. It is not! There is not a single feature in Sound Forge that I miss having with just Cubase SX3.

When Simple Programs Stop Being So Simple

Simple audio recording software is setup to have limitations like you have drawn a line around your property. If you ever need to extend past those boundaries, SORRY! TOO BAD! You are stuck. Often times, the solution is extremely complicated. (See my drum editing story above). Of course, if you never exceed what the program can do, it doesn't matter. But, you will never really know if you need these features or not. This is the problem for any musician trying to find the ideal recording software.

Recording Software Is More Important Than The Microphone

I'm going out on a limb here, but if I had a choice of working in Cubase SX3 and use a $100 microphone or use a $100 recording software and much more expensive microphone, I'd take Cubase SX3 and the cheaper mic. I think I could make the song better with the tools in Cubase SX3 (the sequencer, the ability to snag takes on the fly even with the musician isn't looking, and the ease and speed of comping the best takes together) than with a lesser, limited program.

Conclusion

A simple program is only simple because it's easy to hop in and record the first day. Some programs take a day or two to get used to. Any audio program I've ever seen has taken 2 weeks to get a solid handle on. These higher end recording applications typically aren't super user friendly until you actually understand how and why they are so helpful to making better music.

Sometimes cheaper programs require you to buy an additional program to do the tasks you need to do (Vegas required Sound Forge to actually edit individual .wav files). For the price of Vegas and Sound Forge combined, I could have had Cubase SX3 and all its other tremendous benefits (illustrated above).