Im ganna need some help here...

[Cloneboy Studio]

I am just looking for some stuff to fool around with for now and maybe make a demo for the band and some of our friends.

Hrm... focus more on software and maybe a MOTU 2408 MK II then. The 2408 is good, I had one for awhile. 8 inputs, 8 outputs, okay converters and 24 bit.

 

[JustaBassist]

Yes! You should play USSR!!

 

[gordone]

Why did you spend ~$300 on Adobe Audition? You could have gotten N-Track for $60, and had $240 left over for the important stuff like mics, a soundcard, a book or two on how to record...

Is there anyway you could return Audition? If you're that strapped for money, you should have done alot more research before buying a $300 piece of software.

 

[sile2001]

You want cheap? Buy a few dozen books on recording, audio engineering and so on. That's how everyone should start. Then see if you can sit in on a few sessions at a studio in your hometown and absorb what you can, maybe assist a few sessions.

THEN lay down the cold hard cash.

Honestly, recording is one of the worst things to just 'jump into' because before you know it you've wasted 5 thousand bucks on stuff you don't need. I'm glad I took my time and went from borrowing a 4 track, to getting my own and using that for 7 or 8 years and then thinking about going into digital because it finally became affordable.

If you're serious about wanting to learn the craft by all means do it. If you are trying to save a few bucks and record your band... you need to go to a studio and record.

I cannot echo this enough!!!!

You will be doing yourself a huge favor by reading a lot on these boards and in other books and websites about recording before you by any gear at all.

When I started out, I bought an M-Audio Firewire 410 interface. It was a good piece of hardware, but I didn't really think through what I would really want to do and didn't look at what other people had to say. In the end, having only 2 channels to record with frustrated me to no end.

So I ended up buying a Motu 828MKII and a Presonus Digimax LT, and now I have 20 channel capability. But I also have a Firewire 410 that I'm trying to sell (and I'll have lost money on that when I do sell it).

 

[tubesrawsom]

wanna start cheap get a tape recorder and a 3$ mic and sprout from there dont buy stuff tht would be way to advanced for ur skill level in recording

 

[Big_Mike_I]

Audition clues

I'd invest in a couple of Shure 57s or 58s. Then I'd find a really nice condensor mic. I bought a Behringer Eurorack 1002 for about $150 bucks. It works very nicely and allows me to mic guitars, drums or whatever several ways. I think the quality of the mic will make the greatest difference in sound.

 

[Henri Devill]

Nubs is that you?

 

[lpdeluxe]

Real cheap recording...

I agree with CloneBoy. Just because computers and recording software are easily available everywhere does not mean it'll be either easy or cheap. Trying to be a recording musician will lead to frequent situations where

...the band is expecting you to get THAT sound and you don't have the gear to do it...

...the band just wants something useable and you don't have the chops to do it...

...you recognize that something has to be done either musically or in the recording and you don't know how to do it, or you don't have the piece of equipment to do it with, or the member of the band responsible for that part can't or won't play it...

and naturally you could spend all your money on fly gear and then discover you're not any good at, you have impaired hearing, your playback is too loud for your apartment, you can't get along in a creative way with musicians (which skill recording REQUIRES) or you find out you want to play guitar but you're always behind the board and the band finds somebody else who plays everything WRONG...

you get the picture. It's not something you can do on the side, unless you're satisfied with mediocre results. It takes patience, musical knowledge (more than I have, sometimes) and explaining to the "talent" in a non-confrontational way why her sweetums' word in NOT law in your particular studio.

So buy an all-in-one DAW and a couple of inexpensive mics and have a go. I hate to say it, but you just about have to want to record more than you want to play music. If that's the case, do it. But be aware that the only way to get good results is by dedicating yourself to it and spending money (I can already read in my mind all the posts from people who'll jump in here and say that's elitist or worse) unless you are ready to settle for second rate.

 

[Cloneboy Studio]

So buy an all-in-one DAW and a couple of inexpensive mics and have a go. I hate to say it, but you just about have to want to record more than you want to play music. If that's the case, do it. But be aware that the only way to get good results is by dedicating yourself to it and spending money (I can already read in my mind all the posts from people who'll jump in here and say that's elitist or worse) unless you are ready to settle for second rate.

Only if it considered elitist to not suck.