About to take the leap. Need advice

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bluntman
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Bluntman

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I am a drummer in a punk band who is about to attempt to record something. We would like to put together a demo to hand out to venues and whatnot. Nothing too serious but we would like it to sound decent. My question mostly regards equipment. Right now we have a Yamaha PA system. I'm not sure what it's called but it's like 200 watts and like 8 channels. We have 2 Shure something something 58's and 1 shure sm 58. I will not mention our amps or my drumset as it is soon to be upgraded. Anyway what do we need to buy to record a demo. We were thinking of getting one of those roland 8 track digital recorders for like 800 bucks, but I dont know if that will do the job. I never thought it was this complicated to lay down a few punk songs but all this talk aout compression and what not confused me. So any ideas. Also how many mics do I need to record drums.

ps what is compression?
 
For $800 you could record for a couple days in most studios. That would give you the best results in the least amount of time.

If you are more interested in learning about recording and want to put together a studio than read up. You've got a lot of homework to do.
 
Tex has very good advice here. Not to discourage you, but recording engineering is not quite as simple as buying the gear, then recording your band. It is a very long and steep learning curve that for most people in your situation ends in frustration. You have a good setup, but it entails so many fine knowledge points of where to put the mics, what FX to put on the signal chain (such as compression), then how to mix and master--way more than could ever be explained in one posting on a BBS.

If I were you, I would take that $800 and spend the time in a mid-level studio which would guarantee not just an ok demo, but a very good demo. With that experience you could learn a bit by watching (a good first step), then getting a machine of your own later on. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
Stick around this forum and read, read, read. Also, click here for a wealth of knowledge about everything involved with recording. It would be for the best if you stick around here for at least a month before you decide what you're going to buy and how you're going to record (digital or analog).

Christopher
 
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