A starting band...

[theuof]

Hi guys/gals

Im quite new to these forums so i dont where to post this thread, so sorry in case i posted it in the wrong place!
My band and i have been messing around with some new songs and we have all been haviing great fun, but we have recently started trying to record some of our tracks and we realised we dont have a clue.
Now i have got a boss micro br and a computer but we dont have a clue how to get a good demo cd going, just to see how we sound! I was wondering does anyone know the best cost-effective way of using the equipment we already have or any cheap equipment we might need?

Please help,

Theuof!

[Fullofkittens]

If you're not planning on becoming a producer, spending a lot of time and money on it, you'd get a lot more benefit out of getting one of the fine ladies/gentlemen on this forum to make the demo for you.

[theuof]

Thanks for the advice - i was thinking of having a try myself and i dont mind getting my old man to fork out around £200.
Im interested in finding out what process i need to follow, so if thier is anything i dont like i can alter it at home, quite quickly.

any advice,

Theuof,

[smokingbeagle]

Hmmm. The Micro BR is more of a songwriter's sketchpad to be honest, wouldn't be of very much use for making full-band recordings of any real quallity; how good's the computer?

Your problem's going to be having enough microphones and microphone preamps to get a good band recording; if everyone's spot-on and their levels are REALLY well-balanced you'd get away with throwing up a couple of coincident condenser mics (ie two decent microphones, supplied with phantom power, sitting next to each other with their diaphragms at right-angles to give you a left/right stereo spread). These would have to go into a decent microphone preamp (or a small mixer) to supply the phantom power and get the levels up to useable.

Once you've got the whole band recorded as a 'guide track', the next step might be for everyone to re-record their parts in isolation to give you more control when you mix (you'll only have one instrument on each track, instead of everything into every mic). For this to be worthwhile it's definitely worth another mic or two, one (dedicated) kick drum microphone and another on the snare drum. Of course, you'll also need another couple of microphone preamps or desk inputs and a soundcard capable of taking four SEPARATE inputs onto four different tracks of your sequencer.

If you've only got a couple of hundred quid to play with you really are limited; I'd suggest:

A pair of Behringer C2 condensors (to put your guide track down and later use as overheads on the drums) - £40-ish
A T-Bone BD300, kick drum mic, £40 from Thomann (www.thomann.de)
A T-Bone MB75, Shure SM57 take-off, apparently good though I've never tried one (to use for snare drum and guitar amps for overdubbing) £25-ish (again, Thomann).

Which leaves less than £100 for a soundcard to get the music in and out of your computer. And don't forget you'll be needing mic stands and cables and suchlike.

Like FullOfKittens said, you'll do better having someone from around these parts knock you up a demo on the cheap(ish ) - whereabouts you based? I recorded the tunes on my band's MySpace in a rehearsal room with some modest 'semi-pro' gear and mixed at home in a decent-sounding room; still probably a few grands' worth all told though, and it's still not a 'studio'-quality recording.

[BalancedScience]

You could a Multi Track recorder like the one II have got the Zoom MRS8 which is portable,Which has a mic, two of each microphone input, two guitar,bass, keyboard inputs. MRS8 has a 8 fader tracks and has virtual tracks too. There are other makes to. You could buy one new from around the 100 quid mark to 300 quid mark.