If you're a geek who's also a bit of a musician, you've probably occasionally thought about using your own equipment to record and produce CDs. I mean, you've got the microphones, a decent computer, a sound editing program like Audacity and various other useful tools.

What's stopping you from making your own demo CD? Well, that could possibly be a good understanding of sound engineering, music recording, and music production. Because, deep down you know that without getting these things at least halfway right, your demo CD will sound rotten and no-one will want to have you in their venue.

Thankfully, we live in an era where the basics of anything worth learning can be found online of you know where to look. So, here's a handful of great resources for you to use in order to learn more about how to make great music recordings and how to tweak them afterward to make them just right. Once you've learned the basics of home audio engineering from these sites, you'll be ready to make that demo CD!

Home Recording Forum

Home Recording Forum is a useful forum of musicians who are all trying to make great home recordings. The forum has sub-sections for a wide variety of topics, like recording techniques, mixing techniques, digital recording, vocals, mastering, building a studio and a whole area just for newbies. The users take regular polls on software and equipment people are using for various tasks, so you'll be able to quickly gauge the best tools for your needs. There's also a newsletter to keep you in the loop!

Apogee's Recording Blog

Apogee's Recording Blog is run by Apogee Electronics and seems to only recently have been revived after a long break. Despite the hiatus, the blog is worth a look as you will learn a lot about sound engineering and recording techniques. It's full of video posts including discussions with Berklee College music professors, and professional engineers and producers like the sound engineer from Pantera. These guys really know their sound equipment and have some great contacts!

The Daily Adventures Of MixerMan & Womb Forums

Learning from MixerMan is the slow, fun way to become a master audio engineer. His diaries and radio show tell you anecdotes about gigs he's mixed for and what went right or wrong. It's full of laughs and insight on being a live sound engineer that you'll love. Plus, it's intertwined with the Womb forums, which will let you ask questions about your sound recording set-up.

Studio Central Forums

Studio Central Forums [Broken Link Removed] is a community for recording studio professionals and apprentices. They have sections for newbies, setting up your rig, choosing your hardware mixing console, deciding which microphones you need to buy and more. There are even sub-forums dedicated to vocal preamplifiers and effects - it's got everything!

Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies

Here's a cheat sheet from the "Home Recording For Musicians For Dummies" book by Jeff Strong. It's simple and straight to the point, explaining what all the sound production terminology means. It even notes words that supposed professionals use which are good signs you need to talk to someone else! This is well worth reading and bookmarking before you get stuck into the more difficult information.

Inside Home Recording

Inside Home Recording is a blog and podcast about anything and everything musicians need to know about the art of making sound recordings at home and basic music production. The host, Dave Chick, is a composer, songwriter, producer, and mixer who's got a lot of great tips to share.

The Pro Audio Blog

The Pro Audio Blog will teach you about anything and everything to do with audio engineering, audio technology, and small-scale sound production. Sometimes they discuss how to or make use various pieces of technology, while other posts get into serious technical issues like phases, vocal sibilance, and sound synthesis.

So, you're now well on your way to becoming your own home recording engineer. But this is just a small selection of what's out there. What are your favorite blogs for sound and basic recording techniques?

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