long time (for me) musician, first time recorder

[my_music_talks]

well...
i've been playing guitar, and various other instruments for about 5 years.
I've been writing and playing with my best friend for about three years.
We've gotten to the point where we're ready to record, but we are both high-school students without jobs, who also live in two different states (north and south Carolina) anyway i have an idea on which equipment could be good but i need alot of advice

EQUIPMENT:
Macbook (the second best one $1300)
Behringer XENYX 1204FX

i have no idea about mics, or monitors, or anything else i might need
and would garage band be enough for "budding musicians"

 

[jerjabs]

Man...that is one big question with countless possible answers.

Off the top of my head I'd say this.

1) If you are using a Mac you should try to find a used MBox mini. The mic pre quality of your mixer and the pres on the MBox are probably similar so dont add the mixer to your chain.

2) Buy a decent condenser mic for vocals. Lots of good used mics can be found on craigslist. The Rode n2 or the Studio Projects C1 are all good budget mics. You can also use them on acoustic guitars.

3) Buy a used POD for recording guitars. Being completly un experienced with recording, Don't try to mic up amps and what not in untreated rooms. All this will do is give you VERY amateur results and piss you off. Pick up the old POD 2.0(Used) for cheap and you will have a great tool that wont break the bank and sounds cool on bass too.

4) Buy a book on mixing...read it.

5) Pick up some used M-Audio monitors to mix on.

6) Get EZ Drummer for all your drums.

7) Double your vocals and put the main vocals in the center with any harmonies doubled and panned one to each side. Double guitars one being panned hard left and one hard right and pan the BASS down the middle.

8) Don;t consider trying to record a drummer on your guys NON budget. Just use EZ Drummer.

9) GO EASY ON ADDING EFFECTS ALA REVERB! Newbs get too excited with effects and their recordings end up sounding like amateur soup. Less is more. Get good tight takes and you wont need to "hide" stuff with verbs.


Hope that helps. Your big issue is that you need to have some cash. So GET A JOB!!!