How to Make Beats and Record Songs on Windows XP

If you've ever wanted to be a pop musician or DJ but thought you lacked the tools to make a recording, you may be surprised to learn that you can use freeware to compose, record and publish a professional-sounding song complete with vocals and beats. Even if you have no previous experience with recording audio, with just a little downloading and setup, you can start making songs on your computer that are good enough to play at parties and impress your friends.

Installation and Setup

Step 1
Choose which audio programs you wish to use. Freeware audio programs are plentiful; some common freeware audio programs include Zulu DJ, Audacity, and Rebirth.

Step 2
Check your computer power and memory. It needs a minimum of 1 GB RAM and 2 GB of free hard drive space to run your freeware audio editing or beat making program. If you don't have enough, you'll need to upgrade before using an audio program.

Step 3
Test your sound card and speakers to see that they are operating properly.

Step 4
Download your audio programs. Install them one at a time. Completely close out the installation program for each software package before proceeding to the next audio software package.

Step 5
Configure your audio program to recognize your sound card or external audio interface. In Audacity, go to the Edit drop down menu at the top of the screen and choose Preferences. Choose the Audio I/O tab in the Preferences window. Your audio software should recognize your audio device. Select the device, such as your microphone, that you wish to do the recording as the audio input. Then select the device, such as your sound card, that you want to play back audio as your audio output.

Step 6
Connect your microphone. Check the sound level meters in your audio program. A good sound level will appear mostly in green in the sound meter. It will occasionally go into the yellow section but never into the red. When sound goes into the red, it may experience a distortion effect called clipping.

Composing the Beat

Step 1
Begin a new project in your audio program. If necessary, add an audio or instrument track.

Step 2
Choose from the sounds in your freeware beat program to program into a bass beat. Use the programming buttons to set up a pattern for the bass drum sound to repeat. In Rebirth, each of the buttons used for programming the beat represents a segment of the time in your beat pattern. If a button is on, that means that the sound will be voiced during that period of time every time the pattern repeats.

Step 3
Choose sounds and map out a treble accent beat to your rhythm using the drum machine controls in Rebirth. In a standard drum beat, this treble sound would be voiced by a snare drum, but you can be creative with your sound choice depending on your chosen style. Experiment with placing just two high-toned treble beats in your rhythm at a time to see how it changes the feel of the beat.

Step 4
Export your beat to a wav audio file to prepare to add vocal or instrumental audio to the beat. Save it in a place that is convenient for you to locate later.

Adding Audio

Step 1
Open Audacity, start a new project, and and select the Import function to add your beat track to the project.

Step 2
Start a new audio track. Press the red R on your audio track to enable it for recording. Make sure you do not have the recording function enabled on the audio track containing your beat. Press the red circle button and play button on the playback and record controls to begin recording.

Since you have loaded your beat into the track, it will begin to play while you record the audio. Start playing the audio into the microphone when the time is appropriate in the song. You can also choose to record freestyle while the beat plays and keep what you like. Pay attention to the meter levels when recording to make sure you don't record thin, quiet sound or overload and clip.

Step 3
Listen to your audio and use the edit tools to cut out the parts where you made a mistake or where the audio lacks quality.

Step 4
Start a new audio track and use the original track as a guide to help you re-record the parts that you cut out. Use the beat grid in Audacity to help you line up your audio tracks with the move tool, found in the edit tools as a hand shaped tool. After you have lined up the audio, combine the two audio tracks into the same track. You can use the time guide in Audacity to help you line up the timings.

Step 5
Clean up your song and export it to a finished sound file. Adjust the volume on the drum beat track so that the drum beat is as loud as it can be without clipping. One at a time, introduce each track to the mix and adjust its volume. Press the S button, the solo function, on each track to hear it by itself. Press the M button, the mute function, to stop a track's audio from playing in the mix. Pay attention to the master volume of your project; though tracks may not be clipping individual, the sum of the sound from multiple tracks can clip the master volume.

With the equalizer, further clean up your sound by dampening or boosting frequencies to fine tune the sound. After your song has been fine-tuned, use the Export tool to mix all tracks down to a wav or mp3 file for distribution on CD or over the Internet.

Requirements:

Computer with at least 1 GB RAM
Audio freeware like Rebirth, Audacity or Zulu DJ
Sound card or external audio-MIDI interface
Microphone with cord and adapter to plug into your sound interface

Tips

Zulu DJ has a club-DJ style setup that allows you to easily mix two songs. Audacity is a free audio editor and recorder similar to Pro Tools; it even has plug-ins and expansions to help bolster the program function.

In most dance music, the beat is 4/4 time, which means that there are four quarter notes in a measure. Common placements for the bass rhythm include the first and third beat of a measure, or the second and fourth.

Rebirth is a free beat making program made by Propellerhead, the maker of the professional digital music suite Reason. Rebirth is like a virtual drum machine and can be used to make background beats for your song.

An external audio interface can offer the added advantage of instrument cable inputs and MIDI control. USB audio-MIDI interfaces are a good first step toward a professional setup for a beginning recording artist. M-Audio and Tascam make inexpensive basic audio-MIDI consoles whch can be bought at most performance technology or music stores.

Directional microphones such as the Shure SM-57 are a good start for a basic recording setup. A directional microphone is especially useful in studios that are not soundproofed, since it picks up sound from a narrow area of the room.

Warnings

To avoid clipping, turn down the volume or use a compressor between the console and the microphone to control the sound levels coming into the console.

If you use any music samples from someone else's work, make sure you get their permission before distributing it, and give them credit.