[butter]

today my band and i made another attempt at recording some songs... once again the recording sounds worse than japanese screamo music. im exaggerating but it really does sound bad. reason be that the only recording material we have is my sisters mac computer with garage band software. we want it to sound as good as possible so we recorded all the parts separately; lead, rhythm, bass, drums, vocals. that way we can adjust the volumes of each part to avoid one part drowning out another. plus when we tried recording it all at once, it was impossible to hear any difference between any of the instruments, therefore the reason for the separate recordings... and thats how you are supposed to do it duh.

but anyway, no matter where we record from, the guitars record with a fuzzy sound. one that they dont have when you hear it firsthand, but on the recording it sounds like the jimmy hendrix national anthem. the toms sound distant and dirty, and the cymbals sound something like pigs squealing. the bass sounds alright, as do the vocals.

so weve decided that we need some real recording equipment to be able to record anything anyone actually wants to listen to. but were all like 15 and dont have alot of money to spare between us, like a $200 budget maybe $300 tops. and 300 is pushing it

so i was wondering if you guys have any advice on recording with a band or any advice on good recording equipment/software.

thanks much

[butter]

also i just thought id make it clear that the reason the recording sounds so bad is solely because of the equipment, or lack of. it sounds great when we play live so i promise the reason for the bad recording is not us

[don11817]

Sounds like mics to me. Are you mic'ing the guitar cabinets, and if so, with what? What kind of mics are you using for the drums? Shure SM 57's and 58's are great for home recording and are inexpensive enough to fit your budget. What are you using as a mixer BEFORE it hits the computer? Cheap cables can even change the sound...

There is a lot to recording, but the first thing you have to do is capture sound, so the mics are very important. If the mics you are currently using distort the sound or are kinda cheap, they will change the sound that you get on the mixdown side.

Unfortunately the rest of the equipment is gonna get expensive fast. *** BUT a cheap but decent 8 track can sound great if you have it set up right. I know a guy who records everything in his basement with a few mics on a little 8-track analog recorder and then imports it onto his computer--and his stuff sounds great...

	Shure Microphones Shop for Shure Microphones at Musician's Friend

[drumt3ch09]

We do not have a computer for recording at this time. We tried and tried to get the best recording and we think we finally have it. We use the regular mics for every thing. We have a cheap radio shack 8 track mixer, thats connected to a Pa mixer and there plugged in straight to an old fashioned stand alone CD burner. It's starting to turn out well, We record all of our sessions for the reason of coming up with new material.

[butter]

we have only 2 mics, were getting more though, thanks for the recommendation of shure mics. and of the ones we have im not sure what brand one is but the other is a realistic dynamic mic. definitely some cheapo off brand. for a mixer were using an 8 track soundcraft mixer.

and thanks.

	Shure Microphones Shop for Shure Microphones at Musician's Friend

[bubbaandy89]

Well being a self trained recording engineer I've discovered that if you plug the amp for the guitars directly into the mixer (a regular guitar cable from the output of amp to an input channel on the mixer) it helps to eliminate some of the hiss and noise. It also provides a cleaner tone. now as for mic'ing drums, I recommend you go to Guitar Center. They have an awesome set of drum mic's with the clips and everything. Comes with three tom mics, bass mic, snare mic, and two overhead condenser mics. All this for only 200 bucks. All you need are boom stands for the overhead mics and a stubby ministand for the bass mic. Any more questions feel free to ask.