Basic Equipment Advice

[elihu.j]

Hey. So I'm very new to this whole thing, and I'm wondering what essential equipment I need. Right now what I want to record is guitar, bass, vocals, drums and possibly piano. I want to do this for as little money as possible. Maybe I'm foolish and this can't be done. As I said, I'm very new.
Thanks for in advance for your advice.

 

[Minion]

If you want to do this well you are gona need to spend upwords of $1000 bucks ......

For drums you will need an interface with at least 4 mic preamp inputs (for real drums) I use 7 just for drums , for guitar you will need another input and another for bass and another for Vocals ...... so that makes at least 7 inputs , now you will need Mics and cords for each input and of course a PC and recording software ...... other things like room treatment and stuff are also good to have ......
You will also probably need a headphone amp and a bunch of headphones depending on how you go about recording , you should also get some studio monitors for mixing and mastering ....

So I would look for a Recording interface with 8 mic inputs ($400 -$500) .....

A bunch of ok mics ($75 -$100 + each)

Cords and cables

Headphones and headphone Amp (at least $50 each set and another $50 for cheap headphone amp)

Studio monitors ($200-$300 for cheap ones )

Some of this stuff you might allready have and there are ways you can cut a few corners to save money like useing a good stereo system for monitors but still you are looking at a pretty good chunk of change ......


Good luck

 

[Massive Master]

Studio monitors ($200-$300 for cheap ones)

But keep in mind that your monitoring chain is by far the absolute most important part of any recording rig. By a longshot, far and away, no question, period, end of discussion, no exceptions.

If you're looking to do this "for sh*ts and grins" then go ahead and go cheap. If you're looking to make quality recordings, then dump as much as you possibly can into your monitoring chain first. Everything else is secondary (even if you have to wait another year to purchase your first microphone - that year, spent learning to listen and acquainting yourself with your monitoring chain, is going to pay off much bigger than jumping in "on the cheap").

 

[grimtraveller]

Hey. So I'm very new to this whole thing, and I'm wondering what essential equipment I need. Right now what I want to record is guitar, bass, vocals, drums and possibly piano. I want to do this for as little money as possible. Maybe I'm foolish and this can't be done. As I said, I'm very new.
Thanks for in advance for your advice.

Do you have any equipment at all ?
I don't doubt what Massive says, but I come at it from a slightly different perspective. Bear in mind that we're all biased, mainly due to our experiences. Whichever path you eventually take, you may conclude it was the right way or that you would have done it a different way.

My take would be to start fairly cheap (or let me say relatively basic) and get into the process of recording (which involves mic placing, learning about recording levels, how to actually play when recording), and mixing. I recognize at this point many will say "but if you can't hear it properly because of a defective monitoring chain then how can you even mix it" but I don't believe that to be true. Obviously this doesn't apply to everyone, but I believe in small leaps and steps and I know that invaluable for me was the trial and error of learning different ways of doing things. And I could always hear it even though the rooms I was in would've been regarded as the worst of the worst. You may well prefer a different way and my advice would be to listen to all the advice given and weigh up the different options.
Portastudios both analog and digital tend to be my strong point but though I would encourage you to look into them, I would advise going the computer and interface route. With that in mind, I would definitely encourage you to do a search in the newbie section, but other sections too, like the 'Recording techniques' and 'Drums'. Lots of good stuff there.
You'll soon be in there with more pointed questions. Which is a good thing.