Where to go from here...the musings of a madman?

[Invisible Man]

Jesus Christ. You guys need to move to the South.

$475 utilities included
Only till August though, then it's time to get fucked with real world rent again.

We tried that; you called us 'carpetbaggers.'

Fool me once, &c.

[Invisible Man]

TL;DR

A 22 dollar boss collection is all you need.

I've been banned for saying less; careful, bro.

[Invisible Man]

i am more creative when I am forced to have limits.

Lightning Bolt talk about this all the time--the power of the limited palette.

[jrfox92]

i am more creative when I am forced to have limits.

Lightning Bolt talk about this all the time--the power of the limited palette.

So does Jack White.

[Jwar]

So what's the cheapest route to go here fellas? Let's have a breakdown.

I need a drum machine of some sort or a program that can produce drums (I'd prefer the machine though).

A recording program if I cannot get Garage Band to stop being a whore.

An interface (potentially).

Some studio quality headphones.

Do you think I should mic my cab or just go direct? I never had an issue going direct. Of course I could run it through the DI of one of my amps as well.

Also, 22 dollar pedals for the win!

[Jwar]

TL;DR

A 22 dollar boss collection is all you need.

I've been banned for saying less; careful, bro.

Just to clarify this as I can read the logs... You were only TEMP banned for a few hours.

[odontophobia]

TL;DR

A 22 dollar boss collection is all you need.

I've been banned for saying less; careful, bro.

Just to clarify this as I can read the logs... You were only TEMP banned for a few hours.

I got the 24-hour hammer for making fun of JohnnyAngle in that thread...

But I fucking dig the metal zone, just committed to general tom foolery.

I think you should upgrade to Logic over GarageBand. It comes with some more shit bundled in and may eliminate the need for drum machine/hardware synths.

[actual]

Get a sampler like the Electribe ES-2 and load it with free samples of classic and new drum machines. Get Ableton and tweak the shit of the native effects and instruments. If you just need to record bass, drums and perhaps a synth, you'll probably only need a couple of inputs at a time, so get the best couple of inputs you can, like a UA Apollo or perhaps an Audient id22 as they're about half the price. If you don't give a shit about fidelity, get a mixer that doubles as an interface. I have a pair of AIAIAI TMA-1s (the older version, big up Denmarkistan), and they're great, but slightly hyped, as in bassheavy. Other contenders are Audio Technica ath-m50x or m70x, Beyerdynamic 770 or just a pair of Sony MDR-7506 or 7510. Mic or DI? Both.

[Invisible Man]

Tomorrow we wake up to find jwar's bought ALL the drum machines.

[manymanyhaha]

Drum machines: Do you like to program? Do you want to be able create your own samples, just use pre-made ones, or use analogue sounds? Do you want to be able to tap out a beat? Do you want hardware, software or a hybrid?

Interface: How many simultaneous inputs? Some of the cheaper interfaces like the Focus Scarlett or Presonus are way better than their equivalents from a decade ago. The more you spend, the more you will have some combination of better converters, preamps and clock sources, plus number and types of inputs.

Recording program: Each has their plusses and minuses. For just recording and mixing, I've never used it but if I were just starting out, I'd look at Cockos Reaper. It's cheap and it's reputation is one of simplicity, ease of use and power.

But I believe you said you are into Reznor-type music (I think) and if it were me, I'd get an Ableton Push 2 with Live Suite which would solve your drum machine and recording program problems at once. I have one and though there is a little bit of learning curve, after about two days using the built-in tutorials, I was making some weird shit with it and having a blast. Plus, you would have tons of other synths and sounds right on hand. I'm a huge fan of it. One other great thing about the Push2 is it can be simple but you can get complex with it if you want to go down a rabbit hole. It's really only limited by you.

Headphones: Are you just wanting to track or are you wanting to mix too? If just for tracking, pretty much anything closed-back will do. For mixing, you can spend wildly different amounts of money. One option would be to buy a pair of pre-calibrated headphones from Sonarworks https://storeus.sonarworks.com/collecti ... -ascending.

I can also recommend for a cheap monitor the JBL LSR305. A great starter monitor that, if you want upgrade later, will make a great pair of secondary reference monitors.

Direct v mic: I do both and figure it out later which I'd rather keep. Sometimes layer if I don't have phasing issues. The problem with direct is there is no space to it and some listeners can tell and it distracts them. The problem with mic is if you don't place it right, have a shitty mic or have too much other sound interfering.

[rickenbastard]

AKG K240 headphones if I recall correctly. They were the standard for a long time and are reasonably priced

[Jero]

Right? I get the feeling you have the same thing with pedals and gear. You want the perfect piece for every possible application, whereas I am a one hammer guy (except for oscillating fuzzes, of course ). Sad to hear about your grandfather, those are some sweet looking hammers.

Loved the hammer metaphor post! (I'm guilty of jwar type action with knives/hatchets/hammers) and I also have 90% more pedals than I probably need.

Intently reading the posts about recording...I think that's a big part of what's holding me back...actually it's the drums. Samples/premade loops only go so far for me, and I'm not a drummer, so I really don't know what I would want to program. I feel like I would basically have to learn a whole new "instrument." It's difficult enough to get done what I want with the ones I already play

[Invisible Man]

A lot of people seem to pick up drums for that reason. So few drummers out there relative to the number of guitar players who would like to play with drummers. Despite being a guitar-centric thinker, I have almost always played drums in bands because there's such high demand.

BUY A KIT JWAR

[ProCarsteNation]

BUY A KIT JWAR

This!
While it may possibly complicate the recording scenario:
Drums are
Easily the most fun, direct instant gratification I've had instrument-wise.
Also unbeatable (harhar) as psycho-hygiene


As for recording setup:

Unless you really enjoy recording, mixing & mastering and wanna master those crafts I wouldn't go too fancy/expensive going in.
You don't need your homerecording to sound like the latest .....-album. You need to make music.
Just because you could do everything in the box/at home doesn't mean you have to.
do what inspires you the most, pile up awesome demos & if at some point you wanna make it an album,
there's plenty of people you can bring in to make it shine or contribute parts

(hope I'm making sense here & realize I'm largely talking to myself here, too )

[Jwar]

Re-drum kit. Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh not sure I want to go that route. I actually played a bit of drums as a teen and never really took to it. It seemed way over my head but I can think of the drum sounds in my head, so I think electronic drums would make more sense to me. It's rare that I want to hear an actual drum as opposed to some massive beat produced by a machine. Don't get me wrong, I have thought plenty about getting drums, but feel if I did that now, I'd be giving into jumping down another rabbit hole. LOL. Speaking of that, some motherfucker I was friends with stole my cowbell...I just remembered that.

I think I'm going to get a simpler drum machine like a Korg, get some kind of program that's not 500 bucks even though I keep leaning toward Pro Tools and maybe a better interface and call it good. I'll go into micing my cab and stuff down the road. Right now, I just need to hash out ideas and get them on something. It will make me feel better and I'll actually be creating something with the riffs I endlessly write for no other reason than to write them.

Thanks for all the help guys.

Now it's time to plan this out for a purchase.