In this video, I'm going to walk you step-by-step
through the process of setting up your audio interface for the very first time. I'll show you
how to connect your interface to the DAW in your computer, I'll show you how to connect speakers to
your interface, and I'll demonstrate how to record a microphone and a guitar. I'll use a Focusrite
Scarlett 2i2 interface for this demonstration, but the steps in this video will apply
to nearly every interface on the market. If you're new to this channel, I'm Kyle. You can
learn audio production online by checking out the weekly videos I post to audiouniversityonline.com.
If that sounds interesting, subscribe below. When you open the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, you
find the interface itself and the USB cable for connecting it to your computer. The first step is
to connect the interface to your computer using the included cable. You may need to download
the most up-to-date driver for your interface. You can find this easily with a quick
search. In this case, I'll search "Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 drivers". The first result
is a link to the manufacturer's 'Downloads' page that lets me easily search for
software related to my interface. The Focusrite Control app is the only download
available for the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. However, some interfaces will require the most up-to-date
driver to work properly with your computer. If you're using a new interface or picking up an
old interface for the first time in a long time, it's worth a quick search to see if there are any
updates to the current driver on your computer. If you want all of the programs on your computer
to play audio out through the interface, select the speaker symbol in the corner of your
screen. For mac users, search "Sound" in System Preferences. This will allow you to control which
speakers are used for audio from web browsers or music applications. Select your interface as the
audio output device. You may need to additionally select the audio interface as the input and
output device of the software on your computer called a digital audio workstation, or DAW. This
process is very similar in most DAWs. I'm going to show you in Reaper, but it's probably a similar
process no matter which software you're using. In Reaper, I choose 'Options' in the top menu
bar and then 'Preferences'. In some software, 'Preferences' can be found in the 'Edit' drop
down menu. You want to set the audio hardware for the DAW to the audio interface you're using.
The next step is to create two tracks in your DAW. You can usually find this option under
'Track' or 'Add' in the menu bar. I'm adding two mono tracks so that the inputs to the
audio interface will be recorded separately. On one of the mono tracks, I'll select Input 1
and on the other mono track, I'll select Input 2. If I configured it so that both physical inputs
- Input 1 and 2 - on the audio interface recorded to a single stereo track, I would probably end
up with one input on the left and one input on the right and I don't want that. That's why I'm
choosing to select two mono tracks and configure it so that Input 1 is routed to Track 1 and Input
2 is routed to Track 2. Now that we've connected the audio interface to the computer, it's time
to get audio in and out of the audio interface. The first thing I'll do is configure the output
devices - my headphones and my speakers. If you just want to use headphones, simply plug them into
the headphone jack on the front panel. This small knob controls the output level of the headphones.
This larger 'Monitor' knob controls the output level of the quarter inch outputs on the back
panel. I can use a quarter inch TRS cable to make a balanced connection to both of my speakers.
At this stage, you can test the audio output by playing audio from the web browser or another
program on your computer, such as a YouTube video. Now it's time to record. I'll use Input 1 to
record a Shure SM58 as a vocal microphone and I'll connect a condenser microphone to
Input 2 for recording acoustic guitar. If your interface has a 'Mic Level / Line
Level' switch, switch it to "Mic Level". The condenser microphone needs phantom
power, but the SM58 doesn't need phantom power. There is only one switch on the 2i2
that turns on phantom power to both inputs, but don't worry - phantom power won't
damage a dynamic microphone like the SM58. Before recording a microphone, make sure to
turn the 'Monitor' knob all the way down to prevent a feedback loop from forming between the
microphone and your speakers. You'll want to use headphones for this step. Inside your DAW, you'll
need to arm the tracks that you plan to record. This can be done by selecting the red circle next
to the track. Once both circles are illuminated, start to increase the preamp gain knob on each
microphone while singing or playing the guitar. Turn it up until the meters on the screen peak
at no higher than -12 dB Full Scale or dBFS. Aim for the signal level to average at about -18
dBFS. You may notice a significant delay when listening through the DAW. This can make playing
impossible. The 2i2 has a cool feature called 'Direct Monitor', which routes the microphones
directly to the headphones with very low latency. I'll switch this function on so that I can
hear the microphones through the headphones. If you're using the direct
monitor feature on your interface, mute the tracks within the DAW so that you
don't hear an echo. Once you've set your levels and you see the signal on each channel
meter in the DAW, it's time to press record. After you record, you should see waveforms like
this. Rewind the track, turn off the record arm on each channel, and press play. If your
audio device settings in the DAW are correct, you should hear the recording playing through your
speakers. If you don't hear your recording playing through your speakers at this point, you should
go back to Step 2 and make sure that the audio output device for your DAW is set properly. Okay,
so I've got a basic guitar and vocal recording. Let's say I want to go back and overdub an
electric guitar on top of these two tracks. First, I'll make a new track. Let's
select the input of this track as Input 1 on the interface. I'll unplug the
old microphones and turn off phantom power, plug in my electric guitar directly into Input
1 with a quarter inch TS instrument cable. I'll make sure to set the line instrument switch to
"Instrument". The process is the same as recording a microphone from this point. This time, I'll only
arm the track I'm recording, which is Track 3. I want to offer you a free Home Studio Checklist
to make sure you've got everything you need to make professional-sounding recordings at home.
You can find this checklist absolutely free at audiouniversityonline.com/free-home-studio-checklist/. If you got value out of this video, hit
the "Like" button. Check out the next video that's coming up and for more content
like this, subscribe to Audio University.
