Recording digitally

Microphone to Computer: 

An ordinary computer microphone plugged into the sound card will record live sound or music direct to WAV using either Windows Sound Recorder or MusicMatch . . . poorly!  For better results, you’ll need a better-quality microphone placed near your source, and at least an impedance matcher/transformer (see Microphones and Mixers).  

Windows Sound Recorder is very awkward to use, especially for long excerpts.  In general, record at 44,100 bytes per second stereo (CD quality), and convert later for posting on the Web – unless you intend to record over a few minutes, in which case you need bigger guns.

MusicMatch also will record from the mike input on the sound card.  From the “Options” menu, click on “Recorder/Source” and select “Mic In.”

You can, of course, record to tape and then digitize later – with some loss in quality.  If you intend to record an entire concert, and do not have access to a CD recorder or such, tape is your best option.

Line-In to Computer: 

If your music source is already recorded, you can simply use the line-out on your device (tape deck or other) and record through your line-in on your computer sound card. (Don’t “line-out” from a CD player for this – see below.) You’ll need an RCA (standard audio) to 1/8” mini-plug adapter.  The process is otherwise identical to using a microphone.  It is also possible to use a sound mixer, and send the results to the "line in" on your sound card, with better results than using a microphone directly

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CD to Computer: 

The process of digitally converting a standard audio CD into computer files is called “ripping” (a term coined, I’m sure, by an adolescent).  MusicMatch will rip CDs for you to any format with any bit-rate you choose.  Of course, you can also record CDs using Windows Sound Recorder (see above), but the process is long and tedious, and the results must be converted anyway.

When using MusicMatch to rip CDs, make sure your CDROM drive is supported by MusicMatch.  If it isn’t, or MusicMatch locks up your computer when you try to rip something, or the resultant files are flawed, you’ll need to rip using the MusicMatch analog setting – go to “Options/Settings,” and click on the “General” tab.  The setting you’re looking is in the lower right hand corner – click on “analog.” See Sound File Formats for a discussion of MP3 settings.

Of course, there are legal implications for using someone else's music.  See Fair Use and Copyright under Presentation/Web for a discussion of this.

Converting file types with MusicMatch: 

Go to “File/Convert.”  Select the source file type, and format/quality of the target file, click “Start,” and sit back. If converting to MP3, don't forget to set quality!  See Sound File Formats for a discussion of MP3 settings.

Recording to CD/DAT: 

By far the easiest, and best quality, method of recording digitally is to have a digital-format recorder.  DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is much less common, and the results of DAT recordings not so universally transferable.  CD recorders record directly to CDR disks in CD format, and the files can be instantly converted for editing or other uses by any computer with a CD drive and free software.  The only shortcoming is that CD recorders are not cheap - usually, over $500.

Recording to Computer using a Digital Converter: 

The main disadvantage of direct-to-computer recording (either by line-in or microphone-in through the computer's sound card) is that the sound card does the conversion to digital and 1) most computer sound cards are not very high quality digital converters, and 2) they're located inside a very electronically noisy environment.  This is why such recordings usually have a lot of hiss and other artifacts.  You can take care of the first problem with a better sound card, like the M-Audio Audiophile 2496 PCI Digital Audio Card (about $150). However, a better solution is an external digital converter.  CD recorders and DATs, of course, have such converters, and their quality is much better than cheap sound cards.  Stand-alone converters for use with computers are not cheap (the MIDIMan Flying Cow at right is about $350, but requires a digital I/O card as well - another $100), and add another piece of hardware separate from the computer.