masonvonritchie wrote:
1. Budget: About $200
2. Will you be recording drums? Eventually, yes.
3. You mention that you have a mixer, but do you have an interface to get your mic signals from the mixer into your DAW? Yes
4. Do you have any studio monitors? If not, what would you be mixing with? No
5. What microphones do you have available for your use (make/model)? A Nady Starpower 9
6. Is this just to record your own band, or do you want to start a "bedroom studio" to record friend's bands & the like? This is just for my own work.
For $200, Project 5 seems a pretty good bet. There are other options, but it all comes down to features and functions that you will need out of each. Research that price market on Mus. Friend etc... as much as you can to check out the features & reviews. I think you will find that most of the software is extremely similar in features and function. It just depends on what brand you want to
try out.
Check the company websites for free demo trial versions of the software. That may answer more of your questions than any of us here can.
There are TONS of ways to record drums. I asked, because the number of inputs on your interfaces will affect how you mic the kit up & get it into your DAW. Separated tracks are always nicer to work with in the computer, but there are micing techniques that you can use to get a great drum sound with a very small number of microphones.
Studio monitors are a very important putchase to think about. Not that it can't be done without them, but there are budget-minded solutions out there. Keep in mind these monitors SHOULDN'T make everything sound good. They should be flat, revealing, and portray accurately the material going through them. It is the engineer's job to make it sound good through these monitors. Once that is accomplished, the mix should translate well to any other system the CD is listened to on (car stereo/home stereo, etc..)
As far as the StarPower 9 microphone goes....it may very well be good to get started with, but you will probably notice a very large difference by upgrading to just a Shure SM57. The SM57 is one of THE standard mics used in a studio, good on everything from drums, guitar cabs, and even vocals.
Hope that helps. I know your initial question really only had to do with software, but I'm trying to show you that it's only a small piece of the chain by having you think about some things you may need to deal with to get the final recording where you want it.
If you are just wanting to get started recording to see what it's all about and learn along the way, I think you are off to a good start. You can check out
www.homerecording.com/bbs and
www.gearslutz.com for a TON of info on the subject.
If you are very critical of your recordings and want them to sound somewhat comparable to what you hear on the radio, it more than likely will not happen with what you have or will have in the near future. If this is the case, I would urge you to visit a recording studio near you and save yourself the frustration. Hourly rates are generally not too bad, especially if you do a song at a time, then save up & go back in.
Another plus with the studio setting....you could go in there, use some really nice gear to record tracks with, and then bring the raw files home to play with. If it just isn't working out, you will still have the option of having the studio engineer do the mix down, and all will be good.
Hope that helps. I'm trying to be as "middle-of-the-road" as possible.
