Recording On Budget

[Lordakamai]

So here is the thing

we are 3 guys in a band 1 Guitar 1 Bass 1 Drum and guitar and bass both do some vocals.
we really want gigs but for that we need demos but we don't have money to go to an expensive recording studio every time we need a demo.
so our idea is to buy some basic recording equipment that is not very expensive to make some basic demos (and have fun recording anytime we want).
I Have a friend who is really good with computers and all sorts of technology and he'll probably figure out how to do the software thing so that's a big problem solved but we don't have anything but a laptop, 2 sm-58 mics and some cables.
So i was wondering do you guys know some basic stuff to help us make a listening worthy demo.
And if you know some basic techniques for placing mics (especially on the drums i have no idea what's really necessary and what mics could be missed since the drums on Led Zeppelin's when the levee breaks was recorded with just 2 mics right?

BTW we want to record the Instrumental in 1 take and then record the vocals to it, we don't care if it sounds kinda crappy if it get's better that this it it's worth it

http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/4 ... o%2529.mp3

I already know we'll probably need:
A mixing board
*A mic For vocals but we already have 2 sm-58s
2 Mics for bass and guitar (sm-57???)
# Mics For Drums (Maybe use the mic stands we have for overheads since we won't use em to sing)
#cables

Did I miss something???


thanks allot for reading.

[surfnorthwest]

You don't need fancy recording equipment to capture a quality live demo, just use this then ebay it when your done to get your money back. Does a good job just with the mics OR since its four channel you can borrow a mixer and select four channels out.

Zoom H4N Handy Recorder
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=H70237

[JkGriffin]

For placement of microphone to guitar amps it may be worth reading this:
http://homerecording.about.com/od/homes ... ng_amp.htm

Also:
[youtube][/youtube]

If you want it really, really easy... you may want to consider:
[youtube][/youtube]
Although I'm not sure if you are able to record vocal separately.
But if you want to promote yourself as a band, then you need to be able to play/sing together... right?

[Slash1337]

When the levee breaks was recorded with 3. One on the kick, and then 2 diangle to the drum set both the same distance from the snare apart. So the back one was kind of behind his right shoulder and the other infront to the left a bit but both pointed at the snare.

The guy who did that was the same guy who did the drum miking for the beatles with the same technique. The technique is even named after him.

You gotta say what your budget is $$$ wise. Or you can just use the Zoom which isn't all that bad if you wanna do just demos. But if you want something better then you can list your budget and a few members here can recommend some stuff for you. You pay for what you get, always stood by that.

[Lordakamai]

Thanks for the really quick responses.
I've been talking to my bass player since i posted that and we're really looking to see some slight quality so when we talked about a budget we don't really know what to expect but probably 700 to 1000$

we'll just have t get a second job maybe xD but that's ok we all got kicked out of school and have time for an extra job.

thanks guys

[Slash1337]

Well for 1000 bucks you can do this:
I'd give you links to some stuff but since I'm stealing wifi from 5 doors down my internet isn't that fast ahaha.

Get some Yamaha NS10's for your monitors. YOu'll find those monitors in almost any studio, mixing on computer speakers really isn't that great.
Then try and find a interface you can plug you mics into. For example I have the M-audio profire2626, it might be out of your price range but there are some cheaper ones that are really great. Try and find some used mics like 2 SM57 for guitar and bass. And maybe even one for the kick. And get some cheap condensor mics for overheads. You can probably find some Yamaha NS10's used and SM57's as well.
Then for a DAW, you can either download some cheap ones or go and buy say Cakewalk, Protools, Cubase. Or just download it :P

REcording will become as addicting as playing your guitar, I assure you this.

[slowpokerhino]

One think to consider also, when my old band would play clubs we'd ask the sound guy if he minded if we hooked a recorder up to the sound board. At the time it was a cheap Tascam 4 track cassette machine. Sometimes they weren't into it and we didn't push it (NEVER piss off the sound guy), but more often they actually got into it and at the end of the night we had a live tape of our show and in a few cases the quality was better than we'd gotten using expensive pro studios. Presto, free live demo!

[Wildone]

Our mixer has a USB OUT which we plug into a laptop and record the entire mix from it, no problem. It also has stereo aux outputs which you can plu into a CD recorder which works too.

[Lordakamai]

Thanks you so much guys!

Great ideas here, now we'll just have to find the gear cheap and good but we'll be ok looking for places to buy stuff

You'll be hearing from us! (I hope :P)

Thanks Guys