Cheapest, easiest way to record band?

  • Thread starter Thread starter romanianreaper
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Smashedguitaris⸸ said:
I have a rhode k2. It is a good ambience mic that could mic the band sound in the room. It isnt cheap, but there are others like ir that are way cheaper. Otherwise you are spending a bit on micing all kinds of shit
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I have one. Put an Amperex Bugle Boy 6922 in it and it will double in value.
 
My suggestion would be to get a 4 input interface, an SM57, a Shure Beta 52a, and a pair of SDCs for overheads like the Rode M5, Lewitt LCT 040, or AKG P170. The SM57 will double as guitar and snare mic, while also being usable on bass. The Beta 52a will be your kick mic, while also usable on bass. Try to get mics that are more than just one trick ponies.

Don't forget, you'll also need mic cables and stands. You can get the mics and interface used to save a nice chunk of change. \\

Laptops are 100% fine for recording as long as they're a well spec'd laptop from the last few years. You will definitely want 16gb of RAM at minimum if you plan on mixing and running multiple plugins. My suggestion would be to get a used M1 Macbook air for under $1k as this will have you set on processing power, compatibility and if you get the 16gb model, RAM. It's actually what I use and I love how portable and powerful it is. I bought mine used almost 2 years ago and it's been able to handle anything I've thrown at it, including editing 4k video for my Youtube channel.
 
Bad.Seed said:
My suggestion would be to get a 4 input interface, an SM57, a Shure Beta 52a, and a pair of SDCs for overheads like the Rode M5, Lewitt LCT 040, or AKG P170. The SM57 will double as guitar and snare mic, while also being usable on bass. The Beta 52a will be your kick mic, while also usable on bass. Try to get mics that are more than just one trick ponies.

Don't forget, you'll also need mic cables and stands. You can get the mics and interface used to save a nice chunk of change. \\

Laptops are 100% fine for recording as long as they're a well spec'd laptop from the last few years. You will definitely want 16gb of RAM at minimum if you plan on mixing and running multiple plugins. My suggestion would be to get a used M1 Macbook air for under $1k as this will have you set on processing power, compatibility and if you get the 16gb model, RAM. It's actually what I use and I love how portable and powerful it is. I bought mine used almost 2 years ago and it's been able to handle anything I've thrown at it, including editing 4k video for my Youtube channel.
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You bring up a good point. Maybe the Tascam or Zoom is a great investment so I don't have to watch a computer become obsolete.
 
romanianreaper said:
You bring up a good point. Maybe the Tascam or Zoom is a great investment so I don't have to watch a computer become obsolete.
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I was recording full bands almost 10 years ago now on my old HP laptop which certainly wasn’t a powerhouse and never had a problem, unless you’re recording dozens of tracks with a bunch of plugins on every channel I don’t think you’re gonna have a problem. Zoom and tascams were cool 20 years ago to record concerts, no one is recording anything legit with them
 
RaceU4her said:
I was recording full bands almost 10 years ago now on my old HP laptop which certainly wasn’t a powerhouse and never had a problem, unless you’re recording dozens of tracks with a bunch of plugins on every channel I don’t think you’re gonna have a problem. Zoom and tascams were cool 20 years ago to record concerts, no one is recording anything legit with them
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I guess at the end of the day, It is all about using something to capture tones. Sgt Peppers still sounds amazing and they were limited on tracks. We are just doing basic stuff.
 
romanianreaper said:
I guess at the end of the day, It is all about using something to capture tones. Sgt Peppers still sounds amazing and they were limited on tracks. We are just doing basic stuff.
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yeah but you dont want to dick around with silly things like a zoom recorder especially if youre looking to release something, you might as well just do an iphone video in that case. Kyles advice is right, any decent interface at least 4 channels, a couple lewitt 040s for overheads, id put them in a simple fool proof X/Y pattern over the kit to start, a 57 and a 52 and youre good. recording isnt this incredible monumental task guys make it out to be, it takes some time to get good at it but getting started is easy, especially if you know reaper already like you do
 
That is true too. I'm going to have to see what we end up collectively wanting to do with this stuff. I think we are definitely leaning away from going to an actual studio because we would like to put the money into tools we can use again and again but we'll see.
 
It depends on the quality you want. If you’re just doing this for fun and posterity then go ahead and record it yourself. It can be fun figuring out what gear you need, how to set it up, etc. But it will sound like an amateur recording/mix at the end of the day.

When you go to a (good) recording studio, you’re mainly paying for the experience required to get a professional sounding recording. If you’re writing original music, it can be good to focus entirely on the creative aspect of songwriting/playing and hand the reins over to someone who knows how to handle all of the technical aspects of recording/mixing the music. Most of the bands we like did it this way. Recording/mixing an album is difficult.

If I could go back in time, I would’ve avoided going down the rabbit hole of learning all of the ins and outs of audio engineering myself. I spent a lot of time on it, and I did enjoy it, but I also have less musical output to show for it. I think if my band had just practiced more and we went to a studio to record, two albums of material would exist instead of an unfinished EP.
 
romanianreaper said:
That is true too. I'm going to have to see what we end up collectively wanting to do with this stuff. I think we are definitely leaning away from going to an actual studio because we would like to put the money into tools we can use again and again but we'll see.
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thats what i was gonna mention too, youre gonna waste time and money on a zoom recorder only to say "fuck, this sucks". theres literally endless videos showing you how to do everything, we can all make fun of people like Glenn Fricker but the reality is a lot of his and others videos are informative for starters and its all free to watch, if you watch his "how to record drums" videos youll learn pretty much everything you need to know to get started at least

 
RaceU4her said:
I was recording full bands almost 10 years ago now on my old HP laptop which certainly wasn’t a powerhouse and never had a problem, unless you’re recording dozens of tracks with a bunch of plugins on every channel I don’t think you’re gonna have a problem. Zoom and tascams were cool 20 years ago to record concerts, no one is recording anything legit with them
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100%. I have an old R16 I think Zoom thing we used to record practice with when we were starting out. It is cool b/c you have 8 mic inputs which is plenty for 4pc practice but no matter what you do it always sounds the same. Essentially cheap haha. But it did a great job at letting us listen to/critique ourselves.
 
I think if we decide to do a nice, professional, polished EP, etc, we might end up going into a studio. We are working all of those stuff out. Thanks everyone for the info!!
 
+1 on ditching the zoom
+1 on going to a studio


And also im finding out that recording isnt the hardest part. EQ'ing and compression to make it sound better than decent, is much more of a learning curve...as long as you're recording mostly direct.
 
 
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