I'm going to tell you how, in just three easy steps, you can record your own music and produce high quality mp3 format files at absolutely zero cost.
Step 1: Acquire a digital camera.
Any digital camera should do really. I find the cheap $100 Flip video camcorders work splendidly. If you already own one, great. If you don't own one, try to borrow a friend or family members' digital camcorder. If all that has failed, you may be able to find someone willing to let you rent one. You'll be using the camcorder to film yourself playing your songs and then uploading the video to your desktop computer.
Step 2: Download the freeware program Any Audio Convertor
This simple to use free program can be used to extract the audio portion of many different types of video files. You will be using this to isolate the sound of your video file and discarding the footage. This program is free, simple to use and virus free. You can download it for free by clicking here.
Step 3: Download the freeware program Audacity (be sure to also download the LAME mp3 encoder as well)
Once you have extracted your sound file with Any Audio Convertor, you will then send the saved sound file to Audacity to be remastered. Simply load the file into Audacity and use the scissor tool to cut extraneous silence from the clip and use the equalization effect to balance out the volume of the track. It's fairly straightforward. You must be sure that you have downloaded the LAME mp3 encoder as well or Audacity will be unable to save your file as an mp3. Follow the instructions on the LAME mp3 encoder FAQ page to ensure it is setup correctly. When you are certain that your encoder is setup properly, click on project>edit ID3 tags in audacity (while your sound clip is open) and you can then alter your file's characteristics (such as the name of the track, the artist, the genre, etc.).
Three easy steps to producing your very own music album, for free. This is definitely a page you will want to show your talented musically inclined children. That dream of making it big in the music industry might not only be attainable, but also far less expensive than you'd imagine! Don't forget that while there are pay services that shop your music for you (i.e. http://www.taxi.com/) there are also many free ways to promote your songs (i.e. myspace, youtube, etc.) If you have the drive, your dream's alive!
