How to Record My Voice to a CD

By Michael Cantrell

Updated September 22, 2017

Items you will need

  • Computer

  • Studio microphone

  • Recording software

  • Recording interface

Record My Voice to a CD
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Recording your vocals and burning them on to a CD disc can be a lot of fun and a great way to express yourself creatively. You will need some good old-fashioned creativity, the right gear and some spare time to create a really good vocal track. This article will tell you what type of equipment you will need, how to process your vocal track and how to burn the vocal track to a CD-R.

Install your recording software. The best recording software is Adobe Audition. This will enable you to not only record and layer your vocals, but will also enable you to add your own instrumentation to your music and vocals as well.

Hook up your interface and install the drivers and software. The interface is a box that your microphone and other instruments can plug into that is also hooked up to the computer through the USB port on your hard drive. This will take the sound and run it to your recording software and allow you to make your vocal track and put it on a disc.

Connect your studio vocal microphone to the interface. There are plenty of really good studio microphones available for you to use, so shop around and find one that is in your price range. You will want a microphone specifically designed for recording vocal or instrument sounds, as opposed to a performance microphone. These types of microphones are called condenser mics. A great microphone that is affordable and provides excellent quality sound is a Marshall Electronics V57M Studio Condenser Microphone (see Resources section). You might also want to check out the Rode RODE NT1A Studio Condenser Microphone with Shock Mount. These mics are known for having extremely low amount of distortion in the overall sound.

Open up your recording software and arm a track for recording. The software will already be in multitrack session mode, which will have the screen divided into individual rows called tracks. To the left of each track will be a panel with options on it. Click the red "R" button to arm the track for recording.

Click the Record button located at the bottom left corner of the software program. Speak or sing into the microphone to begin recording your vocal track. Click the Stop button when you are done recording.

Double-click on the vocal track to open it in the track editing mode. Here you can edit and add effects to your vocals to make them sound more professional and to give them a good polish.

Use noise reduction tools on your software to take out any hiss or additional unnecessary noise from the vocal track. Open up the equalizer tool and choose a preset that will make your vocals sound full and warm. When you are equalizing your track, be sure not to cut out too much of the bass or add too much treble as this can distort the sound of your vocal track. Try and keep it all as balanced as possible. Add a little bit of reverb to the overall vocal track to polish it up.

Save your vocal track as an MP3. In order to burn a vocal track to a CD, it must be in the MP3 format or it will not play in any home or car stereos.

Open up your CD-burning software program. If you do not have one of these programs you can purchase Nero burning software online, or visit your local computer shops or department stores and purchase a program.

Open up the disc drive of your computer and put in a blank CD-R disc. Close the drive back up and wait for the computer to read the disc. Click on the tab in the software program that says "Add File." Locate and double-click on your vocal track. Now click "Burn CD." After the file has been burned, your vocal track will now be on the CD disc.

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