Beginning Recording for a Band - Choosing Equipment?

mieliehobo

Hi Everyone!

I am in a band and up till now all we've done is practice but with no recording whatsover so we aren't really sure where we could be making any mistakes or errors. We've decided to buy some equipment to record.

In our band we have drums, 3 guitars and a bass. What kind of equipment would we need to get started?
Also if you could give me an idea of what it would cost I would be greatful.

Thanks!

Gearhead

Spend as little as possible to achieve your goal. Let´s say your goal is to improve on the stuff that you miss while practicing. Assuming you have vocal(s), you will already need a (small) mixing desk and a PA for practice. Maybe your practice venue already has that. If you can get all instruments into the desk, you can just plug the ´tape out` into anything that records. A laptop would be nice because you can send mp3 files around after practice. Failing a desk, you can just take a smartphone and put it in the right place (some epirimenting will be necessary) to record.

If you want to record a demo of what you wrote, things get more expensive very quickly. The minimum is two dynamic mics into a decent desk into a laptop/daw with a pair of monitor speakers but before you know it you are building a studio. Remember that every rand spent towards recording is not spent on lessons, instruments and other gear. Gear? Buy once and good, buy brand, buy used. It takes quite a costly bit of gear to beat a SM57/58 into a Mackie into Yamaha NS-10s.

If you want to know whether you guys sound any good, go participate in a battle of the bands kind of competition. You will get valuable feedback and experience, and most of the other bands will be at more or less the same level.

Mo-Facta

mieliehobo wrote Hi Everyone!

I am in a band and up till now all we've done is practice but with no recording whatsover so we aren't really sure where we could be making any mistakes or errors. We've decided to buy some equipment to record.

In our band we have drums, 3 guitars and a bass. What kind of equipment would we need to get started?
Also if you could give me an idea of what it would cost I would be greatful.

Thanks!

Why don't you tell us what recording equipment you have at this juncture? If you don't have anything at all, the options are endless.

Also, tell us what your goals for the recording are because, as gearhead pointed out, "recording a band" can be done any number of ways with any assemblage of gear from super expensive, to right down to a simple smartphone.

Cheers ?

DrGonzo

Hey man,
As gearhead pointed out, first off decide what you kind of want to achieve and that will dictate what kind of equipment you need
At the base level, you need to get a good quality USB/firewire soundcard and Digital Audio Software a la Cubase, Reaper, protools etc.
The more instruments/microphones you want to record simultaneously will dictate how many preamps (mic/line ins) on your soundcard.
if you want to be doing demo level quality you gonna prob wanna get a set of monitors to do a basic mix on.

AlanRatcliffe

The best thing you can buy right now is a good book on home recording. That'll give you a good idea of what you are in for and help you decide things like whether to go software or hardware, what mics you will need as well as letting you plan your studio gear with an eye to upgrading as you go, etc., etc., etc.. Keep an eye out for titles by Paul White.

Mo-Facta

Alan Ratcliffe wrote The best thing you can buy right now is a good book on home recording. That'll give you a good idea of what you are in for and help you decide things like whether to go software or hardware, what mics you will need as well as letting you plan your studio gear with an eye to upgrading as you go, etc., etc., etc.. Keep an eye out for titles by Paul White.

Yes, I would recommend "Modern Recording Techniques" by David Miles Huber or "Music Techology: A Survivors Guide" by Paul White.

Paul White's "Basic" series (Basic Mixers, Basic Midi, Basic Multitracking, etc) are also good but you have to get the whole series to get a holistic view of each component of the process.

Cheers ?

mieliehobo

Thanks for the help everyone, this has given a bit of insight on what we need to do. We're a rock band, our venue/practice are is our school hall. Our school does have a basic P.A. system but I'd rather not use it.