RocktheRookie said:
Hey. I'm completely new to recording stuff. I play the guitar and sing and I wanted to know what I need to start recording my songs, and how put them on the computer, and how much it will cost to do all that. Any advice would be great. I'm just totally new to this whole thing.
Get your flame-proof vest on, dude, because negative posts will be coming! But not from me. At least not today...
I'll give you some basic ideas, but will let other chime in. I'm assuming you already have a computer with a stock soundcard.
Electric or acoustic guitar? Either way, you're probably gonna need a decent mic for either your acoustic or your guitar amp. For an acoustic you'd probably want a condensor mic. For an amp, you can go either condensor or dynamic. Either type, however, will also do well for vocals.
A condensor mic requires "phantom power" which cannot be supplied by a stock soundcard. So your going to need either a mic preamp or a mixer. But even a good dynamic mic will not be totally compatible with your stock soundcard, so you'll still need either a mic preamp or a mixer.
Most stock soundcards tend to be crap for good recordings (unless you have a fabulous front end, which I assume you don't), so you may want to consider getting a new soundcard (AKA interface in the audio world). There are too many types and brands to list right now.
Recording software will also be a must. There's also a lot to choose from in this area, and this ranges from free to ridiculously expensive.
Monitors (what you might call speakers). Sure, you can do stuff without good monitors and get decent sounds. But the better you can hear it to begin with, the better you can record it. GIGO (garbage in, garbage out) applies to audio as well as anything else.
Here's a good resource for you to check out:
http://www.theprojectstudiohandbook.com/directory.htm
