I'm new to recording and need some advice

[Fetrey]

I have a bunch of unrecorded material that I want to put on a demo but I don't know where to start. I have a band but I'm the only member (think Nine Inch Nails). I already have song titles and album art. I plan on recruiting a few musicians to back me up in live gigs but that's besides the point.

I'm looking to lay down vocal/guitar/drum tracks with a few other instruments thrown in there. I'm not neccessarily looking or mindblowing sound quality but simply something that I can release on a local level.

I also plan on recording everything at home by myself, not in a studio. I want to record each instrument one at a time and mix it as I go along.

My needs are as follows:

*a computer program that can create drum tracks internally (I don't have a drumset)
*a microphone setup that handles home recordings well

I don't have a mixer or a 4-track/8-track, BTW.


I just need to know what I must have to get started. Thanks.

[fishbulb]

Microphones -> Mixer -> Computer -> DAW (your recording program)

[Fetrey]

Microphones -> Mixer -> Computer -> DAW (your recording program)

Care to elaborate??? I mean...how many microphones??? I would think I'd only need one. What kind of mixer would I need??? What's the ideal program???

[badtaste]

Instead of a mixer, you can also use an audio interface.

As for microphones, from my basic investigations, you'll only need as many as you instruments you'll be recording at the same time. If you only intend on recording guitar and vocals, you could record them separately. Different mics are suited to record different things, so that's another consideration.

This is a great resource to read upon and I highly recommend you give it a look:
http://www.tweakheadz.com/guide.htm

[fishbulb]

Microphones
Vocals: 1 Large Diaphragm Condenser
Guitar: 1 SM57
Drums: 2 Large Diaphragm Condensers, 1 SM57, 1 Kick Mic

The drum condensers are used to pick up the cymbals and toms and are placed on the left and right sides to create a stereo image. One of these could be used to record vocals for sure. The condensers alone will not pick up the snare very well and it needs a lot of work (EQ, compression etc.) to make it sound good anyway and therefor needs its own mic. Likewise the kick drum is not picked up well and needs clarifying in the same way.

Interface (mixer)
Presonus Firepod is a very good choice. Relatively cheap, great preamps, very easy for beginners. Firewire allows easy connectivity to the computer for multi-tracking. There are cheaper alternatives however i'd recommend this based on simplicity.

DAW (program)
As far as i know the Firepod (or any mixer for that matter) comes with software to get you started recording. This could be Cubase LE (i think) or a version of Sonar. These are great and the full more expensive versions are not much better and you may not even need any of the extra features included in them. Personally i recommend Sonar, i never really liked Cubase. If you're on a budget just use the DAW that is included with your mixer.

Full setup:
2 AT2020 LDC's $200
1 SM57 $100
Audix D6 OR AKG D 112 OR Shure Beta 52 All are roughly $200
Presonus Firepod $400

Total: $900

You also need to consider stands and cables as well. For every microphone that you are recording with at any given time (i.e. 4 for drums, 1 for guitar, 1 for vocals) you need a cable for it. And say you wanted to record drums, guitar, and vocals at the same time you would need 6 cables. Stands are also necessary for all of the microphones listed above. There is a mic/mic stand/mic cable package on musiciansfriend for $20 and you get 1 dynamic mic (extremely shitty), 1 stand (decent quality), and 1 cable (decent quality) which can help you when you are in a bind.

Most of the items listed above are on sale right now and can be found for less than what i wrote and of course eBay is your friend. A lot of times you can get most of your equipment for 60% of retail for no loss of quality.

Just to be clear: All microphones will plug into your firepod, your firepod will be connected to your computer via firewire, and you can then record into Cubase or any similar program.

Questions?

[Seafroggys]

You might want to look into an Audix i5 over an SM57. Same price, slightly different sound, but used for more or less the same things. I prefer the i5 on snare.

Though you do want to make synthesized drum parts as opposed to live drumming. In that case, you may not even need a Firepod, shoot for the Firebox.

[TriggerNYC]

if you dont plan on recording drums, you only need stereo inputs. something like the tascam us122 is cheaper than the firebox and pretty good. i think m-audio or lexicon make an even cheaper box thats decent also. all you need are two stereo inputs with phantom power and firewire/usb. all of the above come with recording software

then start off with a dynamic microphone, something like the sm57 or sm58, audix i5 or 02 which are relatively cheap dynamics that are great mics. they will handle instruments and vocals. a cable and a mic stand and youre set.

then if u chose to do stereo recordings or "better" vocals, u can get a large diaphragm condenser mic, like the audio technica at2020 or sterling audio st51 and you have the phantom power and second input on your audio interface, and you can do some legit **** with all of that. again and a cable and a stand (and a pop filter)

ex.
Tascam US-122 = $130
Shure SM57 = $100
AT2020 = $100
$330 + cables and stands

thats basically all you need (if you are using a computer) and you can still upgrade

[Seafroggys]

I also wish to point out the "better vocals" does not automatically equate to Large Diaphragm Condensers. There are many dynamic mics that work well in this regard. An SM57 will not hurt a good singer, as an extreme example. Check out the RE20 or SM7b for great dynamic mics for vocals.

Even though I've heard great things about the AT2020, and I never used one personally, I don't know if I can trust $100 condensers on vocals.

[Moseph]

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Lots of good information here, but everyone seems to be pushing you towards spending more money.

Honestly, if you're doing this for the first time, you can't expect instantly awesome results from gear alone. I tend to believe that your gear will have minimal influence on your sound for a while.

TriggerNYC has a good plan, except that
(a) I don't think they make the US-122 anymore, but you can find the newer generation US-122L;
(b) I don't think you need more than 1 microphone to get started. I think you'll be able to do pretty well with just a single decent microphone (the Shure SM57 is a solid choice);

I'm not explicitly recommending the Tascam unit either: there are other good options out there for comparable cost. At minimum, take a look at the features of the Lexicon Lambda, E-mu 0404|USB, and M-Audio Fasttrack Pro as well. Pay attention to OEM software included with the products: fishbulb is dead-on with his assessment based on my experiences.

If you want something to program drums, I've been playing around with this lately and have really liked it so far:
http://supercoldmilk.com/drumtrack/index.htm