1st recording

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Guitar03

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My friends and me started a band with 2 guitars, drums, a bass, and a singer. I have never done any recording before and I need to know where to start. I want something low cost that will sound decent that we can record on. Any suggestions?
 
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Cassette 4 track. I am not joking, its a great start, you can make them sound really good and you will learn a lot working on it.
 
Pretty much any model Tascam Portastudio will be a perfect entry level machine. It all depends on how much you're willing to spend.

FWIW, I started out with two regular cassettes decks and a cheap Radio Shack mixer. I'd record an instrument on one deck, then bounce that to the other deck while playing another through the mixer. Repeat until it sounds like Niagara Falls! The Tascam Porta-One was my first 4-track, and it actually taught me a lot about the basics of recording.
 
Will a 4-track be enough to record vocals, 2 guitars, bass, and drums?
Also, can you record your guitar on distortion when its plugged into the track?
 
"Will a 4-track be enough to record vocals, 2 guitars, bass, and drums?"

Yes, but how you do it will be the tricky part.

"Also, can you record your guitar on distortion when its plugged into the track?"

By this do you mean can you go guitar -> distortion box -> 4 track? Yes, but it will sound like crap!
 
Guitar03 said:
Will a 4-track be enough to record vocals, 2 guitars, bass, and drums?
Also, can you record your guitar on distortion when its plugged into the track?
Click to expand...

Yes, you will have to learn how do something called bouncing, which is basically recording a few tracks and them mixing them down to a free track and then recording new parts over the tracks that you just mixed down. You also might want to think about getting a little mixer, something like a Mackie 1202. With that you can mic up the drums and bass and record them down to one track. Working with a 4 track does require some work, but its actually really fun work and teaches you lots about recording and you can get some very good sounding results.

I would not recomend recording direct into the 4 track. Put a mic in front of an amp. Use the amp or a distortion pedal for the distortion.
 
If youre just starting out recording then 4 tracks are a really good way to get your feet wet.
Just remember this brother,..you've never recorded anything before,...your going to be recording on low grade equipment,...keep your expectations of sound quality LOW!!!
It's true that you can get decent results with a 4 track,...but you gotta know how to use them as well as outboard gear.
4 tracks will work to get your tunes on tape and you'll have a blast doing it.

Keep jammin'!!!!!

Take 'er easy,..
Calwood
 
I started out with a Tascam Porta07 that I found on eBay at a very reasonable price. Learn the basics with something like that and come to this place for answers to your questions as they arise. Good luck!
 
MadAudio brought back some serious memories for me in his earlier post!

I too used 2 cassette recorders using a Lafayette Electronics mixer to bounce,bus,blend & butcher tracks. No eq, comp,efx; just gain! Perfs sounded horrific but you know what, it gave me some retarded idea on how to make make the most out of tracking & mixing. Tascam 414-sumthin' was my teacher and helped!

Yeah man, 4 gettin' your feet wet, cassette-based multi-trackers are cheap
way to learning and gaining experience! Remember....... the Beatles 4-tracked one of thier famous joints (sorry, the album name escapes me) on a 4-track also!
 
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