Hey man....I'll give you a breakdown of everything I own to make music. But you have to be aware, that there is a HUGE learning curve to home recording...and until you get proficient with your DAW and learning about all sorts of settings and how to set up your audio and workflow and what cable gets plugged into where and yadda yadda, you will find that there are days where it can get aggravating. And then once you finally get the hang of it, and you can record something with somewhat ease, you will find that it sounds like garbage, and then you realize you gotta learn all about mixing, and the struggles that comes with.

So first and foremost, just make sure you are aware that even if you had all the money in the world, it's going to take a good chunk of time before you feel comfortable and etc.

BUT,

here is a list of everything that should help you get started.



I assume you're a guitarist yeah?

First off, just buy the full version of Reaper. It's $60. It's worth it.
Also, for drums, I use Steven Slate Drums...The full kit is worth it..but if you want just the $40 version, that will work also.

For an audio interface, the best quality/bang for your buck would probably be something from Focusrite

And then you will need a set of monitors as well....again, the best quality/bang for your buck IMO is a set of these

And then of course you're going to need things like cables, etc.

XLR cables for mics,

balanced cables for connecting things like your interface to your monitors, etc,

get some instrument cables as well if you don't already have some,

A good surge protector as well, can't recommend this one enough, it has rotating sockets so you can fit everything on it.



From then, its just a matter of how much money you want to spend, and what all you want to do.

How do you plan to get your guitar tone. Are you going to mic a cab? If so, look into something like an SM57. If you wanna do it the cheap/free way, be warned you will be dealing with a latency issue. USB interfaces have latency, so monitoring your tone can cause some issues sometimes. You plug in your guitar raw straight into the interface, and throw on some plugins on the track that give you your tone. If you want to hear just a raw, clean guitar, there won't be any latency. But if you want to record while hearing your distortion, the computer has to take your clean signal, process it through the plugins, and then back out to the monitors, so there will be a split second of latency if you don't have things set up correctly and if your pc specs arent up to par..and even so, you never can truly get to 0 latency without spending some SERIOUS money.

If you have some extra money, I would highly recommending getting something like this eleven rack...I personally use this. You can bypass the latency issue by choosing what you monitor on the interface...do you want to monitor what is coming from the input (the eleven rack) or the playback (the computer) or a blend of both. So essentially i can just listen to my guitar live as I'm recording straight from the Eleven Rack, but i'm not acutally 'monitoring' it in Reaper. By doing so, my guitar doesn't have to travel through the computer and back out, thus no latency. You can really get some great tones out of this thing also...I like to call it the 'Poor Man's AxeFX'. Here's an example of something i'm working on...both using the eleven rack and the steven slate drums, so you can get a sense of the quality of the drums and guitar tone. I have done some slight eq'ing and stuff, but nothing dramatic.

Of course you don't need something like that for guitar, there are plenty of plug ins that are free that can help you with tone.

And lastly, as far as plug ins go, if you dont wanna mic a cab, or use something like an eleven rack, just search on youtube "free plugins for metal guitar" or "free metal guitar plugins" or whatever, and just watch. Youtube is your friend when wanting to learn about how to use reaper and finding plugins. I know for a fact there are full playlists out there to learn how to use reaper properly, from start to finish. So consider looking for those.

For other basic plug ins like EQ, Compression, Noise Gate, etc, I wouldn't worry about those. Reaper comes with like 13 or so of it's own plugins. They honestly are some great plug ins as well, and are all you really need.

Here's a picture of my set up, with all the stuff I suggested in this post.


Hope that helps.

Hey, I can actually make a solid recommendation! This must be my lucky week for posting here.

I've got a pair of AKG K240 mkII's I love very much. I got them at a good deal on Amazon when I ordered the old version and they sent me the new version either by accident or through trying to phase out the old version. In short, they sound fantastic. They're pretty flat in terms of frequency response, but being over-ear they still have pretty deep-sounding bass. I've found them really nice for recording and mixing.

The only downside I can think of is they can get pretty uncomfortable over long periods of time, but this is definitely a personal thing, as I have pretty weird-shaped ears that have bits of flesh sticking out everywhere.

If you can't afford the the $110ish pricetag (I couldn't when I got them), it appears Amazon still sells the original version for around $70. They are (according to what I've read) almost exactly the same headphones in terms of drivers/construction, just with less padding and fewer accessories (the mkII's come with a second replaceable cable, a different set of ear pads, and an 1/8" to 1/4" adapter). I have no doubt these would also be an excellent investment if they in fact are the same headphones as the ones I own. Here are the originals.

Hope this helps!

I'm assuming you're using this mic, which from what i understand should come with a usb adapter initially. In which case, i'd connect directly into your pc and record, assuming your pc specs are decent and are running low latency drivers like ASIO.

Program wise, Reaper allows for unlimited trial, but asks that you buy the product every time you load up. Give this a try, and afterwards, if you really like the product, you should definitely buy the license. It's only $60, way cheaper than most professional products, and considering that the developers are nice enough to essentially make the software free, the least you could do is show some support.

These are amazing. For me they have the perfect amount of grittiness to hold on, perfect thickness, and they're purple! I love purple.

Hey man, I got this Elixer baritone set
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002E1O7C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_92yMBbVXZK4P4

I really like them so far, the bottom three strings (the highest being only a 12 gauge) are still quite bendy but the top three (especially the low B which is a .068 holy shit) are super thick and I needed to file my nut a little bit to make them fit properly. I also like the coating on them which I didn't expect to get at this large of a gauge.

I used an A/B/Y box to go to 2 amps at a given time. Of the 3 guitar tracks recorded for each song, 2 were cut using the Sunn + the Laney, while the 3rd was cut using the Laney + the Peavey. Pretty much the only pedal I used this session was a Superfuzz clone made by wattson. That pedal sounds huge. I also used a pigtronix class A boost for a lead at one point. The sunn rig actually strips out much of the high end coming from my guitar and functions as almost a clean bass sound to offset the guitar sound from the laney. The XXX through the 2x15, by contrast, has a dirty bass sound, so all three rounded things out nicely. I got the idea to run the XXX through the 2x15 from having previously sent guitar heads through it with good results in the past. I bought the cab off a friend in Primitive Man, and he had told me to give a guitar head a shot through it, so I did.

Look into getting an A/B/Y box to split your signal. I'm considering getting the Voodoo labs pedal in this link as it can run up to four heads simultaneously.

It's not that cheap, but I've been in love with the Schecter PT1 for a while now: http://www.amazon.com/Schecter-PT-Electric-Gloss-Black/dp/B00067R1R2

I will one day own one.

I like /u/LIBERTYxPRIME squier suggestion. But it's not that much cheaper than the Schecter.

You can't go wrong with a pair of these:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003LPTAYI?cache=d733496d13fd2dc564ded12a3116bf27&pi=SY200_QL40&qid=1404779906&sr=8-2#ref=mp_s_a_1_2

Honestly anything made by Sennheiser is a good choice. Just make sure to check the specs, 60hz is all you really need for low end, everything below that just messes up the mix anyways. You can also find cheap speakers and a mini sub for cheap (40$ or so). It's always a good idea to have multiple speakers so you can hear it on multiple different platforms.

I'd recommend checking out the book "Likable Social Media". Lots of great ideas and perspectives on there, which should give you some direction!

https://www.amazon.com/Likeable-Social-Media-Revised-Expanded/dp/0071836322

If you're a super beginner, get your tremolo picking down. Learn theory early on too. This is a good way to understand the basics without just memorizing a bunch of scales which is what tons of guitar players do

I bought a Samson Go Mic for myself so I could record ideas at school. It's $40 new and it's a pretty good microphone for the price (and the size, it's quite tiny). It has the option to run as a cardioid mic, a cardioid with -10dB, and one that captures all sides (I forget what that's called). It's also a USB microphone so all you'll need is a laptop and something like Audacity and you'll be hooked up and rolling right away.

EDIT: here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001R76D42?pc_redir=1396773716&robot_redir=1

Was it something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Roland-10ft-Interconnect-Cable-RCC-10-US14/dp/B06XNTWHGH

If so, that's a rudimentary USB audio interface. It takes analog audio (in this case, from the guitar's pickup) and converts it to digital, then pipes it into your computer. I'd recommend getting one with, at the very least, a preamp and combo 1/4in/XLR jack, and make sure the company has their drivers available for download, and that they get updated and run fast.

Budget? Needs? Is it just for vocals? Need more info.

That said, this is the best speaker money can buy at that low of a price. If you need to amplify more than one thing, get a simple 4-6 channel analog mixer like this.

Not into metalcore but I'd say http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B007KZQNEK/ref=mp_s_a_1_8/176-0501532-1583913?qid=1420516565&sr=8-8&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70 is a good bet. Bugera gets bad rep because of reliability. I had mine replaced and it's still working after three years YMMV great sound for a small price

At that price range your options are pretty limited, but I'd say get something along the lines of this USB mic - it comes with a cut-down version of Sonar, which is a reasonable DAW. You'll also be needing a mic stand and a pop shield (by no means forget this - it's cheap but super-important!). If you decide to upgrade your setup after that, or want to wait and expand your budget a bit, feel free to PM me.