Yo Ollie! Welcome to the board! Well, usually, when people ask broad questions (the BIG questions) here, they get their balls busted for not being specific enough for the techs. But- there are several reasons *not* to bust your balls. First, you're a noob, Secondly, you are 15, which usually means you have big dreams and little money. Thirdly, and most importantly, you have asked a question *so* broad that it begs for philosophy, not technical explanation. You have not asked for information, you have asked for wisdom. In the end, you have to decide for yourself whether any of the answers you receive contain any of the wisdom you seek. I hereby give you some of my 2 cents worth:
Always think about the signal chain in order, not in reverse. It's the performance, the instrument, the room, the mic, the preamp, the recorder, in descending order of importance. Don't think so much about how to record things, think of how to find something worth recording.
Mics are tools, and there is no tool that is good for everything. Tools are more or less specialized. There really are better and worse mics, but there are also right and wrong mics. The right cheap mic is always better than the wrong expensive mic. Corollary- vocal mics are like shoes. They either fit, or they don't. There's hardly a mic so cheap it couldn't make somebody sound good. There is also no mic so expensive it can't make somebody sound awful.
The time to fix problems is at the beginning. Instead of trying to get rid of noise, don't record it in the first place.
No matter what you do, making good recordings takes money, quite a bit of it. If you don't have money and you want to record things, find money. For most of us this means selling crack or getting a job. Every day, some Nimrod here asks "How can I make radio-ready recordings with $200?" That's the equivalent of asking how you can enter the Daytona 500 with $200 and an old Honda Civic. The good news is that in entry level recording $500 will get you a car you can learn to drive. The Ferrari will have to wait.
If you do have money, spend it wisely. Know that any piece of equipment you buy will do the job it is intended for. Not spending money is hard, but it is a skill that will serve you well.
Make sure that you record things you love to record, because you are unlikely to get rich in this business. Record a waterfall or bird songs, something that's just cool. You'll learn to use mics that way.
Before you really mix things, learn how to be a tracking engineer. Before you try to master things, learn how to be a mixing engineer.
Don't subject yourself or others to sound pressure levels that cause hearing loss. When you are 60 and half deaf you'll regret the things you can never hear again. Don't do it to other people because it is slow torture. And- they will ask for it.
Don't get sucked in by the great TUBE myth. Tubes add "warmth" right? There are really cool preamps with and without tubes. Most cheap preamps with a little "toob" in the front end to add distortion suck. Tubes do produce great distortion in certain boutique and vintage guitar amps. That's one place where tubes excel. Also note that many expensive mic preamps use tubes, and some are clean as a whistle. In and of itself, the fact that something contains a tube is meaningless marketing.
So what is this "warmth" thing anyway? It is selective distortion, hopefully flattering, like airbrushing a centerfold to eliminate annoying detail. When we don't like it, we call it "muddy". When we do, we call it "warmth".
Dreams don't just happen, and buying lottery tickets of life won't get you the grand prize. You have to *make* dreams happen. Corollary- Marry someone who makes dreams happen.
Listen to music you think you won't like, whether it be gangsta rap, opera, or Japanese classical. You can steal tons of stuff from every culture. As the legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie said, "If you steal a song, they'll call you a plagiarist. You steal a thousand songs, and they'll call you a great American folk singer!" Please to keep in public domain, comrade.
Do small things well, instead of big things badly. First, gain the gear and the skill to record well in mono and stereo. Worry about mic'ing up a whole band with drums later.
Never have just one of any cable. You will live to regret it. Murphy's Law is part of the wisdom you seek, grasshopper.
If you build a studio that looks like a garage, the talent will bring their garage game. If it looks like a recording studio, they'll either bring their studio game, or choke. Sure you can make a pop filter with an embroidery hoop and pantyhose. It's different, though, if it's on an articulated arm or gooseneck instead of a crude coat hanger. If you want to do it yourself, fine. Just don't do a half-assed job.
If you ever get to the point of going semi-commercial, treat all your clients as participants in a creative process. Get their fingers on the faders to build a headphone mix. I often put vocalists through blind mic clips of their voice, so they are involved in choosing their sound. I try to guide them to what I like, and decisions get made. On the other hand, if the talent is too dumb to really work with, but you need the money, put on a suit, flash money, and be the bossy jerk producer these drugged up geeks need and deserve. - Or just ditch them and be poor.- I prefer the latter.
Who is more likely to break into your studio and loot your gear, a bunch of crackheads who are pissed off that you can't make them sound like Limp Bizkit, or a string quartet from the Berklee School with the $30,000 cello, and the $15,000 bow? I love recording classical music. They may be tightwads, but they're not thieves.
That's enough for now, except because you have asked a BIG question, you should get at least one BIG answer. So- I leave you with the 2 greatest pieces of wisdom I know. The first is what my father told me about women before my first hot date, and the other, some good joss from a Chinese Fortune cookie:
My father said, "Son, like most men, you are ignorant, ugly, and poor. The problem is that men go out and seek a woman that is more ignorant, uglier, and poorer than they are. Their purpose is to be able to say that they are better looking, better educated, and have more money than their wives. This gives them the illusion of power. Son- Go find a woman that's better looking than you are, is better educated, and has more money than you. You'll still be ugly, ignorant, and poor. But- you get a better woman."
And the ultimate fortune from Sum Dum Goi-
"If you lie, you have to remember what you said."
