I want to start home recording....never tried it.

I have never recorded anything on my own before. I want to start make intrumental demos. I have a limited budget and perfer something simple that will still make effective and decent sounding demos. I plan on doing everything alone so i guess drum software is a must. Any ideas guys?

I use Guitar Pro.

I find it really handy because i tab out my entire song after writing it on guitar. I'll loop certain sections and play along to create the bass and 2nd guitar parts, and especially when I'm writing solos. I cant play drums, but I'm actually pretty good at figuring out a great beat so I'll tab it out in GP aswell. Then I drag the MIDI over to GarageBand on my mac and use the "rock drums" setting and I have myself a pretty decent sounding drum kit. Not great, but for a demo, who gives a ****.

I'd also suggest finding Audition on torrents and downloading that. If you're on Mac, bad luck though. The only thing that makes me regret going to Mac is not being able to use Audition. So far, you've spent nothing as long as you manage to download those programs for free. The you need something to put your guitar into the computer. $5 from the electronics store to get the right connectors

Or you could go buy a good mic like an SM57 and a Firewire input for your computer.

I've never used Reaper, but it is highly recommended among the budget conscious as being a great way to jump into multi track recording. Free if you want, $50 bucks open license if you like it enough to want to donate. I hear it does a lot fo the fundamentals that are needed to get a decent demo.

Nothing easier than EZ Drummer. Or you could get Groove Monkee midi clips and run them into a used drum machine like an SR16.

SM57 is the basic standard for recording many instruments. Seems to be everyone's favorite go-to mic for home use.

If you need to record while people are sleeping, consider a decent set of headphones.

Do you already have a soundcard that isn't a Soundblaster?

soundchaser59 said:

SM57 is the basic standard for recording many instruments. Seems to be everyone's favorite go-to mic for home use.

Click to expand...

Thats because its so good.

My mate/mentor who's band is celebrating their 21st birthday this year... 16 of those signed to a major label... still uses SM57s on guitars. I think the only time they didn't was when they made a $1m album about 5 years ago with that Nu-Metal producer Josh Abraham. My mate owns his own studio now, so they'll never make a $1m album ever again... If they do, it'll be one big mother**cker of an album. hahah.

Anyway, point... when they've got a big budget and still use SM57s... the mic is good.

I'll add a vote for Reaper. I've used it off and on for a few months. If you're familiar with recording software in general already, it should be real easy to pick up, if not there might be a bit of a learning curve. But IMO, it is a pretty good software. I usually use Tracktion as my main host, but with their lack of support these days, I'm transitioning over gradually. The SM57 is an industry standard for micing guitar cabs, but it can be tricky to find the sweet spot. Another decent mic IMO around the same price is the Sennheiser e609. If you go up the ladder a bit, the Sennheiser MD421 or even the Royer R-121. take it a step further, and any combination of either would give you some excellent possibilities.

You just want to record a couple of demos or release something with really worthy sound?

I've had good success with Sonar and ezdrummer and sm57. Spend the money once and your done. Also, find a used cheap bass and that you can plug right into your computer - don't need an amp.

Also, try and find a compressor plug in. You'll eventually want one.

The real cheap way is Audicity - it's free and works pretty good. But you'll need a drum machine though - you can find used ones pretty cheap these days.

BTW, these softwares are huge resource hogs - hope you have a decent computer and sound card.

good luck!

Well, Brach's is still selling really well.......doesn't mean it's the best chocolate, though. Far from it. For just a couple dollars more a guy can get a bag of Ghirardelli....... :lol:

I know what you mean, though, there is definitely a reason why so many SM57's are being used. It aint the best mic for the job, but it is probably the best $100 dollar mic for the job. It sure beats the heck outa the i5 and the cheap chinese condensors. 8)

I say get a 57, a presonus firebox and steal some cracked software off the web. cubase has my vote for windows and logic for mac. You'll be in only $300 and you'll ahve a pro sounding rig.