How to Record a Keyboard on a PC
- 1). Connect your keyboard to the computer by way of the adapter cable. Plug the 1/4-inch plug into the headphone jack on the keyboard and the 1/8-inch mini plug into the line input on your sound card. This jack will be light blue in color. Connect your headphones to the green output jack on the sound card.
- 2). Load your multitrack software and configure it for use. A no-cost, open-source option is Audacity (see Resources). To prepare Audacity to record, select "Edit" from the toolbar, "Devices" from the drop-down menu and the "Devices" tab. Be sure that your sound card is selected for both playback and recording. Other software will have similar steps. Refer to your software's documentation.
- 3). Prepare your software to record a new track. Monitor your keyboard through the speakers or headphones. In Audacity, pressing the red record button at the top of the screen will add a stereo track and start recording. Other software may require you to add a track and arm it for recording. Play your performance and press the space bar to end recording.
- 4). Record overdubs by adding more tracks and performances. Be sure to de-arm tracks you have recorded already. Audacity will do this for you, automatically adding a new track the next time you press record. Continue recording until you have all the performances you want.
- 5). Mix your recording by adjusting the levels and panning of individual tracks within your software. Most multitrack software have a mixer or console view to make this easier, as well as built-in features to help you adjust the sound of individual tracks with equalization, reverb and compression.
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