Hello world! My gear, my experience, and my ignorance.

[Jhund]

I've been screwing around with recording stuff off and on for about five years. I've been playing guitar for 12 yrs, drums for 3 yrs, bass for a few months, and been amateurish at singing for as long as I can remember. I like a very large variety of music, from classic rock to progressive metal to punk to pop and back.

I've always had lots of cool ideas for riffs or songs, and I'll record bits and pieces of what I like, but I've never composed an entire song start to finish. My goal is to be able to get my ideas from my head to a recording without sounding like a train wreck. Rather than tackling two beasts at once (writing and recording), I want to record a cover first. I think once I manage the first one, I'll have beaten the block and things will roll down the hill from there.

In any case, here's a basic rundown for the gear I have:
Recording Equipment: MXL 990 & MXL 991 mics, Pod Studio UX2, 2x KRK Rokit 6 monitors, my computer (gaming comp, so has plenty of processing power/ram), I use audacity to record (though I'm open to other programs, i just dont know much about them).

Instruments: I have an Ibanez RG770DX (2x humbuckers & a single coil), an epiphone SG, and a yamaha acoustic (fairly cheap, but sounds decent). I also own a fender american standard p-bass, and an Alesis DM-10 electric drumkit.

Over the next 2 weeks or so I plan on forcing myself to record a cover of the song Tyler by the Toadies. I want to see how every instrument plays into the next, how the effects should work, etc.

To get to the point: I'm forcing myself into an uncomfortable learning experience and you get to watch (or listen)!

Where should I start? Do I record a drum track to a metronome? Do I make a "rough draft" sort of track, then later re-record and "pretty" it up? How do I pick amp settings (or drum kits) that don't have crazy EQ settings that interfere with other instruments (bass and drums, guitar and voice, etc.). Where do I even start?

Any and all advice is appreciated. I really am unsure of where to begin, and even links to relevant recording tips would be great. Anyone familiar with the UX2 or other line6 sound interfaces? Any cool tricks?

Thanks in advance.

 

[240v]

You've got some great gear, and you'll be able to make nice recordings if you use what you have correctly. I won't go over recording techniques and effect chains here because that stuff you can look around YouTube and the forums

As for recording, you generally start with drums. This will make everything easier later. I'd make the drum track fairly nice, and then see how it fits in the mix after your other instruments are recorded, and make any adjustments if required.

Do you want to mic an amplifier or do you want to go directly into the computer for guitar? If you have a nice amp, I'd mic your amp, but I've done some pretty nice recordings with amp sims. LePou are amazing amp sims and they're free. The same thing goes for bass, you can either mic your bass amp, or go direct in. A nice bass amp sim is TSE B.O.D. Vocals are pretty straightforward, but equalizers, compressors and reverb are more important here.

I've always seemed to dislike Audacity, personally. I feel like it's workflow isn't made for recording. Reaper is a great DAW for about $60. It's much better than Audacity IMO. However, you want to stick with one primary DAW, because switching can be a pain in the a** later!

You don't have to treat my advice like instructions, you always have choice in music. You can look around the forums for answers to questions as well, everyone is very friendly here. Hit me up if you have any questions, and good luck with your recording(s)!

 

[mjbphotos]

I'll echo 240V - first thing, upgrade your DAW. Audacity is very limited. Reaper is free to try out, but there is a slight learning curve.

If you are comfortable playing drums, go ahead and record a scratch drum track to a metronome. If guitar is really your main instrument, record a guitar scratch track to the metronome first, this will give you a better guide when recording the drums.