CD Recording Made Easy

If you have a Yamaha Clavinova in your studio, you can practically set up your own recording studio! (If you don’t have a Clavinova, check out this post for instructions on how to set up recording with your acoustic instrument.) I just recently found out how to connect the Clavinova into my computer so that I can record directly from the Clavinova into my computer as an audio file – not just a midi file! I’ve been recording in my studio for the past couple of weeks this way and it works incredibly well! The sound quality is wonderful, since it’s recording directly through a cable and there is no interference. And it’s so much easier than recording a midi file and then converting it to a wav file.

Here’s what you need:
1. Clavinova (I’m sure this would work with other brands as well, but the only one I currently have in my studio is a Clavinova – a CVP-301 – thanks to our wonderful music store, who is loaning me one so that my students can prepare for the upcoming Clavinova Festival!)

2. Audio Cables (this is the one I purchased from Radio Shack and it works great!)

3. Computer (within 6 feet of the Clavinova because of the cable length…a laptop is ideal, because it can be placed right on the Clavinova.)

4. Free Audacity Recording Software

That’s it! It may seem like a lot, but don’t be overwhelmed, because it’s incredibly easy to use once you get everything set up. And it is well worth it!

Follow these easy steps:
1. Plug the phono end of the cable (one white, one red plug) into the corresponding color input jacks on the underside of the Clavinova.
2. Plug the 1/8″ stereo plug into the mic input jack on your computer.
3. Open the Audacity recording software.
4. Click the record button and begin playing. (You can also pre-record onto the Clavinova, especially if you want to do some sequencing first, and then start the recording in Audacity and hit the playback button on the Clavinova.)

It will record directly through the cable (no feedback!) as an audio file. Once it’s in Audacity, you can export it as either a wav file or an mp3. The files can then either be burned to a CD or downloaded to an mp3 player – or shared on-line for that matter! In fact, if you want to hear a sample of a recording, click here to hear an mp3 of a piano accompaniment part I just recorded a couple days ago. It will give you a pretty good idea of the sound quality you can get when recording this way.

Have fun recording professional-sounding CDs right in your own studio!