Audacity

[cdanddvdpublisher]

Has anyone here used Audacity to mix their own recordings? If so, what other equipment did you use to improve your quality?

[TimOBrien]

What do you mean by 'improve your quality'???

Sequencers only record and playback what is presented to them.

Quality starts at the following:
* Talent in front of the mic
* Room's acoustic properties
* Mic and it's placement
* Preamp
* Soundcard and analog>digital conversion into the computer.

All of the above are MUCH more important than what sequencer you use and lots of hit records were made with FAR more inferior equipment than whats available over-the-counter today.....

[cdanddvdpublisher]

I just mean, did you do any mixing or run with straight recording off of the Audacity take? In the old days, recordings would be made live while musicians played over the air. You didn't have 15 takes because you were on the air. Now aways, before the DIY recording phenomena, you go into the studio and pay for time and when you were done then you edit and mix. I've got Audacity and I like it. I don't have a band as I'm a solo artist so I just sing into them mic as I play. Is that adequate for a quality recording or has anyone else improved the quality from that original by mixing and editing different sets?

[TimOBrien]

As I said above, the software makes little to no difference.
It's all the other things I listed above that will make more 'quality' in your recordings.

A $25 mic going into a $30 Soundblaster (or, worse yet, a $1 built-in motherboard soundcard) in a untreated room is a problem, not using Audacity or a $500 program like Sonar or Cubase. The key is to find software that works the way YOU want it to and you're comfortable with it.

If Audacity works for you, good. Stick with it and learn how to use all its features. At some point you'll probably find you need more features and want to move up.... but the quality of the sound won't change...