This free video tutorial brought to you in association with Avid is the third in a series, aimed at people who are new to recording or new to Pro Tools. We follow the development of a demo recording from the point of view of someone with no prior experience of recording.

In part 2, we met Jess, a singer-songwriter who has written a song and needs guidance through the process of choosing a setup, setting it up and recording the song. In this third part, we set up a mic and get tracking.

Part 3 - Recording

In this video, we look at the process of what happens when you actually set up a microphone and hit record. To get a good recording isn't hard as long as you observe a few basics. To supplement the information in the video here are some additional resources:

Managing Latency - If you understand why you are hearing a distracting echo when you record its much easier to do something about it. Find out why you are hearing it an what you can do in Pro Tools Fundamentals - Managing Latency In Native Systems.

Recording Levels - Too loud and it will distort, too quiet and it will be noisy. Find out where the sweet spot is and why recording at 24 bit can help. Pro Tools First Steps Part 6 - Recording Levels.

Recording Acoustic Guitar - To get some more ideas on mic placement try this free tutorial from James Ivey or this premium tutorial from Dan Cooper.

Recording Vocals - Recording vocals is as much about keeping things you don't want out of the recording as it is keeping things you do want in. Pops, breaths, sibilance ("sss" sounds) and the sound of the room in which you are recording all need to be thought about. Get some additional information and pointers from this free tutorial from James Ivey and from this article from Georgie Gillis - Technical And Performance Techniques For Recording Vocals.

What Will We Cover In The Rest Of This Series?

Over the coming weeks, we will cover...

• Overdubbing and latency
• Comping
• MIDI and Virtual Instruments
• Mixing and Bouncing  

Part 4 - Overdubbing

Come back for part 4 in which we overdub some additional instruments.