Mono Or Stereo?

[lurgan liar]

Okay guys, this is my first ever post on this forum, so i'll keep it brief and just give you an insight into my situation

We are a 5 piece band with drums, bass, semi acoustic guitar, electric guitar and vocals / backing vocals...

I am using my computer to record our demo...I have a Pentium 2 Processor, Cakewalk sonar 2 for multi tracking, Sonic Foundry Sound Forge 6 for manipulating the sounds...

The drums were recorded on a cassette tape using a 4 track recorder , which i transferred onto the computer - the sound quality is pretty good...

I have a Boss GT6 mult FX pedal which i connect directly to the sound card to record the guitars and bass onto the computer...

Can anyone offer me any advice at all? Record in Mono first ??? Record through my Marshall Amp onto the 4 Track then transfer to the computer...??? Is Using my multi FX pedal a good idea...or are there better ways of getting closer to a real recording studio quality???

Any advice at all would be much appreciated..I've already recorded a rough version of our demo which sounds Alrite...but not the 100% quality that i am striving for...

 

[Halion]

Mic your guitar amp. I'd forget about the multi FX. I hate those things. Ain't nothing like a cranked tube amped miced correctly.

As for the rest of the recording, read the forums a bit. There is soooooo much information in here that just browsing will be of great value to you. Do realize that there are a million things that could make a mix a good mix, and that could make a mix a bad mix.

 

[thajeremy]

I say skip the 4track. just go straight into your soundcard. Is it a factory soundcard? I guess you dont have much choice with the drums unless you just use the 4track as a mixer. If it has main outs use them to go to the soundcard and just skip the tape all together. I agree with Halion...mic the amp unless you dont have any decent mics. recording direct with a good effects processor might be better than an amp mic'd with a radio shack mic. Record everything in mono. Stereo just takes up twice the harddrive space and accomplishes nothing unless you are recording with 2 mics. Double your guitar parts to thicken them up (depending on what kind of music you are recording) and pan one right and one left.

 

[lurgan liar]

Well we use a semi acoustic and a distorted les paul(led zeppelin kinda riffs)

Ok so correct me if i'm wrong...

I am going to plug my guitar into my marshall amp, place a mic directly into the cone...and another about 6 feet away(what kind of volumes do i adjust them to?)...these mics will be connected into my mixer, which will be connected directly into my sound card...I don't have a preamp(will a mixer work?)

Now what comes next...I record this into a mono track...? Make sure it doesn't clip 0 Db...

Ok what comes next....I have to lay down tracks for drums, bass, 3 guitar parts, an organ, vocals and backing vocals...

Should i record all of these as mono tracks...and make sure that i get them each as close to 0 Db as possible? Then i pan them????