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<spanid=toc-menutitle="Table of Contents"><iclass="fas fa-list-alt fa-fw"></i></span><olclass=linksitemscopeitemtype=http://schema.org/BreadcrumbList><metaitemprop=itemListOrdercontent="Descending"><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="3"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><spanitemprop=name>Home</span></a> ></li><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="2"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/><spanitemprop=name>Recording</span></a> ></li><liitemscopeitemtype=https://schema.org/ListItemitemprop=itemListElement><metaitemprop=positioncontent="1"><aitemprop=itemhref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/aria-disabled=true><spanitemprop=name>Recording audio</span></a></li></ol></div><divclass="default-animation progress"><divclass=wrapper><navid=TableOfContents><ul><li><ul><li><ahref=#arming-the-track>Arming the Track</a></li><li><ahref=#arm-ardour-and-start-recording>Arm Ardour and Start Recording</a></li><li><ahref=#avoid-clipping>Avoid Clipping</a></li><li><ahref=#region-list>Region List</a></li></ul></li><li><ahref=#continuing>Continuing</a></li></ul></nav></div></div></div></nav><mainid=body-innerclass=highlightable><divclass=flex-block-wrapper><divid=head-tags></div><article><h1>Recording audio</h1><p>Besides importing existing audio files, another way to create regions in your
Ardour session is to <em>record</em> new audio.</p><p>The source of this audio could be the line or microphone inputs of your audio
interface, or it could even be sound originating from other applications on
your computer which have been connected to Ardour via JACK. Please see the
<ahref=../understanding-routing/>section on routing</a> for more details.</p><p>This section will show you how to record audio from an external source (for
example, a microphone) onto a track in Ardour.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-editor-mixer-input.pngalt="Editor Mixer Input"></figure><p>First, you should check that the proper inputs have been routed to the
volume slider.</li><li>The track becomes highlighted.</li></ol><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-audio-1-highlight.gifalt="Highlighting a track"></figure><olstart=3><li>The vertical <em>Editor Mixer</em> strip located on the left side of the <em>Editor</em>
allows you to edit the routing.</li><li>Click on that button to investigate the routing.</li></ol><divclass="box notices tip"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-lightbulb fa-fw"></i> Tip</div><divclass=box-content><p>If you don’t see the <em>Editor Mixer</em> strip, use the <strong>Shift + E</strong> shortcut to
make it appear.</p></div></div><p>In the next image you can see that the only input of this mono track is
likely to be your input microphone.</p><p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-audio-1-input.pngalt="Audio 1 input"></figure></p><p>The tabs that you see displayed vertically on the left are available
destination. The green dot represents a connection.</p><p>The <em>Ardour</em> tabs show the connections that can be made from other sources
within Ardour. The <em>Other</em> tab displays audio connections available from
software other than Ardour, if any is available. The <em>Hardware</em> tab shows
hardware connections (for example, the built-in microphone of your computer or
the inputs from your sound card). This will be explained in more detail in the
<ahref=../understanding-routing/>Understanding Routing</a> chapter.</p><p>For the purpose of this chapter, simply make sure that <em>system capture_1</em> (or
equivalent in your computer) from the <em>Hardware</em> tab is connected to the track
you want to use so that we can do a test recording. If you don’t see a green dot
as in the screenshot above, click on the matrix to make the connection manually.
You can now close this window.</p><divclass="box notices tip"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-lightbulb fa-fw"></i> Tip</div><divclass=box-content><p>The example above assumes you are recording a mono sound source onto a mono
one for <em>capture_1</em> and another for <em>capture_2</em>.</p></div></div><h3id=arming-the-track>Arming the Track</h3><divclass="box notices warning"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-exclamation-triangle fa-fw"></i> Warning</div><divclass=box-content><p>Please be sure to first turn down the volume of your loudspeakers before the
next step.</p></div></div><p>“Arming the Track” is simply to get it ready for recording. Once you have
track strip (not the big one in the Transport controls).</p><p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-arming-the-track.pngalt="Arming Track"></figure></p><p>When properly armed, the small red icon will remain highlighted, and you will be
to avoid feedback.</p><divclass="box notices tip"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-lightbulb fa-fw"></i> Tip</div><divclass=box-content><p>Unless you have told Ardour to do otherwise, the input being recorded will be
feedback at this point!</p></div></div><h3id=arm-ardour-and-start-recording>Arm Ardour and Start Recording</h3><p>Now that you have armed the track to record, you must arm Ardour itself to
pressing the space bar) will stop recording.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-recording.pngalt=Recording></figure><p>While recording, the armed track will capture the sounds from the input. Any
existing sound on other tracks will play normally during the recording. This
allows you to play, sing or speak along with other regions and tracks you have
already recorded or embedded in your session.</p><p>While recording, you will be able to see the <em>levels</em> (the amplitude in
decibels) of the incoming sound, as well as see the <em>peaks</em> of the <em>waveform</em>
appearing as it is recorded.</p><h3id=avoid-clipping>Avoid Clipping</h3><p>The audio in the screenshot below was recorded too loud and produced <em>clipping</em>
(in other words, the signal recorded was outside the bounds of what could be
represented digitally), which results in a loss of information and audible
distortion. The clipped peaks in the waveform are marked in red.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-clipping.pngalt=Clipping></figure><p>The best and easiest way to avoid clipping is have some control over the volume
of the incoming audio signal before it gets to the sound card. For example, you
can can move the microphone further away from the sound being recorded or use a
mixer to reduce the volume of the incoming signal.</p><p>When the audio signal has been recorded within proper limits, you should see no
red peaks, and the level meter should show a negative number as maximum peak
(for example, a maximum peak of around −3.0 decibels allows for a comfortable
distance from the clipping point.)</p><p>The range of decibels between the region’s maximum peak and the clipping point
is commonly referred to as <em>headroom</em>. It is common recording practice to keep
approximately three to six decibels of headroom between the maximum of your
signal and the clipping point, with the clipping point itself being represented
as 0dB (zero decibels). In other words, an audio region with a comfortable
amount of headroom would have its maximum peaks between −6dB and −3dB.</p><h3id=region-list>Region List</h3><p>Recorded audio appears as a new region in the recording track. Like all regions,
this newly recorded one will be available in the <em>Regions</em> list, from where you
can drag-and-drop it into other tracks if needed.</p><p>The region you just recorded will automatically receive the name of the track
where it was recorded, with different takes being automatically numbered. In the
screenshot below, “<em>Audio 1-1</em>” and “<em>Audio 1-2</em>” represent two different
recordings made on a track named “<em>Audio 1</em>”.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-region-list-recording.pngalt="Region List Rec"></figure><p>You might want to plan ahead and organize your recording session by giving
record) and type in the new name.</p><figure><imgsrc=en/ardour7-rename-track.pngalt="Rename Track"></figure><divclass="box notices tip"><divclass=box-label><iclass="fas fa-lightbulb fa-fw"></i> Tip</div><divclass=box-content><p>Did we mention how important it is to <strong>save your work often</strong>? Hit <strong>Ctrl + S</strong>
right now. Get in the habit of hitting it every few minutes.</p></div></div><h2id=continuing>Continuing</h2><p>At this point, you may want to skip directly ahead to the <ahref=../../editing-sessions/arranging-tracks/>Arranging
<scriptsrc=/ardour-tutorial/js/search.js?1652723066></script></div><divid=homelinksclass=default-animation><ul><li><aclass=paddinghref=/ardour-tutorial/en/><iclass="fas fa-home"></i> Home</a></li></ul></div><divid=content-wrapperclass=highlightable><ulclass=topics><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/title=Introductionclass=dd-item><inputtype=checkboxid=section-9278c07c1c4f7473c66529d5a0c6e688class=toggle><labelfor=section-9278c07c1c4f7473c66529d5a0c6e688></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/><b>1. </b>Introduction</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/title=Conventionsclass=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/conventions/>Conventions</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/title="What is digital audio?"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/introduction/what-is-digital-audio/>What is digital audio?</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/title="Getting started"class=dd-item><inputtype=checkboxid=section-6ba418844f4e8ce868bfa62d1bf5b9b1class=toggle><labelfor=section-6ba418844f4e8ce868bfa62d1bf5b9b1></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/><b>2. </b>Getting started</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour/title="Starting Ardour"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/starting-ardour/>Starting Ardour</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/title="Overview of the Interface"class="dd-item alwaysopen"><inputtype=checkboxid=section-65fa48091b8ede8e5c409cc42ad6af14class=togglechecked><labelfor=section-65fa48091b8ede8e5c409cc42ad6af14></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/>Overview of the Interface</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/title="Editor window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/editor-window/>Editor window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/title="Mixer window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/mixer-window/>Mixer window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/title="Recorder window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/recorder-window/>Recorder window</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/title="Cue window"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/overview-of-the-interface/cue-window/>Cue window</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/title="Creating tracks and busses"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/creating-tracks-and-busses/>Creating tracks and busses</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/title="Importing audio"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/importing-audio/>Importing audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/title="Setting up the timeline"class=dd-item><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/getting-started/setting-up-the-timeline/>Setting up the timeline</a></li></ul></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/title=Recordingclass="dd-item parent"><inputtype=checkboxid=section-f34c0a5099ecaf52ba2ddf859ecf8564class=togglechecked><labelfor=section-f34c0a5099ecaf52ba2ddf859ecf8564></label><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/><b>3. </b>Recording</a><ul><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/title="Recording audio"class="dd-item active"><ahref=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/recording-audio/>Recording audio</a></li><lidata-nav-id=/ardour-tutorial/en/recording-audio/understanding-routing/title="Understanding routing"class=dd-item><ahref=/ar