DO IT YOURSELF

We’re in a world of unparalleled creation. With the tools, technology and time to make things, there’s no reason not to give it a try! In this month’s cover story, we take a look at a few things you can do on your own to try to surf this wave of making things. Go out there and make something great!

We did a quick article on home recording a few months back, but with the continuation of social distancing, more and more people are getting into creating content from their homes. Whether it’s for a podcast, making music, or a side-gig doing voice overs, recording at home is more possible now than it has ever been. You just need a little hardware, a space, and most importantly, creativity.

Words by Ren Alcantara

To be perfectly honest, if you have a modern smartphone, you have enough hardware to record. The microphones on these phones are surprisingly good, and as long as you’re not trying to meet some sort of recording industry standard, it should be more than capable for the task.

If you’re going to use your phone for recording, bear in mind a few things. Firstly, you’re going to want to get close to your device’s microphone. This achieves a few things, not the least of which is capturing as much of your sound source as possible. When you get close and the microphone picks up more of the source, it also gives background sounds less of a chance to get into the recording. Remember though, that getting too close may change the quality of the audio being recorded, so experiment with distance a bit until you get the sound you want. You don’t even really need a stand—putting your phone atop a standing roll of toilet paper will do. Just increase the recording resolution to as high as your app will allow, and let your creativity shine. We’ve actually recorded a podcast this way, while the quality wasn’t the same as our regular equipment, it was surprisingly usable.