LeftyBassist.com

This post will be long, so thank you in advance if you read the whole thing.

Looking into getting a new setup. pjmuck's home recording thread is excellent, but I don't want ruin a perfectly good conversation, so I am starting a new one.

First, some fun facts about me:
* Mediocre guitarist than turned into a mediocre bassist. I always played guitar like a bass, so it was no shock that I played bass like a guitar.
* I listen to all kinds of music, but as a musician, I am into rock music. Love early punk (No Wave), indie rock (Replacements, Modest Mouse, Archers of Loaf, Fugazi), Motown/Stax, krautrock.

I recently moved cross-country and sold a lot of my gear in the process, including all my amps. I still have one bass, several guitars and quite a few pedals.

My new location is not a hot bed of music. Primarily cover bands, which I have no interest in. I doubt I will find anyone to start a band with since my tastes are eclectic and I am over the hill in the rock world (late '30s), but I will try. My immediate goal is to focus on songwriting at home. Perhaps if I can create full songs on my own, I can show case others more or less what I am interested in. I always created songs in a communal fashion (especially since I do not write lyrics or can sing).

Been playing guitar over the bass right now. Still not playing much since I have no amps. Started thinking about what an ideal setup should be. Wanted something very small for home use, but big enough to play a small show (perhaps with an extension cab). Looked into small amps such as the Vox AC4, but no solution would be adequate for a bass.

Started playing guitar via a Yamaha DG-Stomp plugged into small computer speakers or headphones. The sound wasn't actually bad. I also own an MXR M-80 Bass Direct Box, but I have only used it as a distortion pedal, never for the direct capabilities.

So now I am debating if I even need an amp or not. I have been wanting to get into home recording, so perhaps I should just get (active) studio monitors instead of an amp. The volume would be controllable and would be far easier to record with a floor processor.

So my questions are (finally):
* would playing with the DG-Stomp/MXR and studio montiors be decent for at home practice?
* would this gear also be suitable for simple home recordings?

Other gear: purchased EZDrummer software years ago, but never used it. Also have a Macbook with GarageBand, which I also never used.

I'll let the experts chime in here with better suggestions, but here are my findings thus far as I delve deeper into this:

- What's your budget? This is a hobby with a bottomless pit that can very easily get expensive (Trust me, I'm already considering selling off some basses to buy audio gear), especially the deeper and more experienced you get into it. But experience will almost always outweigh the desire for the most expensive gear, thus a pro can make magic with a $500 setup where an amateur can't with $5000 worth of gear. I suggest you experiment with what you have and learn about proper recording mic'ing techniques to see how far you can get sonically.

- What exactly is it you want to do and how "pro" do you want to sound? Do you just want to do simple demos or make an attempt to produce pro quality recordings? The latter takes significant time and money.

- I think it goes without saying you need a bass amp, especially if there's hope to play out in the future. Most have a DI out anyway, but the traditional method of recording bass is at least a DI out + mic'ed amp for that fat oomph. Grab yourself a used SM57 for under $70. No studio should be without at least 1. You can use them on just about anything from bass to guitar cabinets, even vocals. Even your modeled guitar amps will sound better mic'ed up.

- Compression! An absolute must for recording. Some of the better cheap ones (under $200) are the DBX 160a (still an industry standard classic compressor) and the FMR RNC (never personally used).

- Monitors are not a necessity, as they're only one part of the equation in prep'ing a proper studio playback room. (I'm heading down this road now). I've met a few very capable people who mix and record solely through a set of headphones. So if you don't want to go through the hassle of room prep AND you intend to track via DI or close mic'ing (and you don't mind wearing headphones all the time), consider headphones as a quick and cheaper option. You can always A/B your tracks on other audio gear later and adjust accordingly.

-Garageband is perfectly fine for recording. Decent amount of effects/loops etc. and processing to get you going. as you get deeper into recording, you may find them lacking and want to invest in better outboard gear or better software sounds, but for now use what you have.

- You'll need an audio interface with a decent A/D converter to get your sounds into your computer. (I don;t believe the DG has a USB out, does it?). Most agree there's a big difference in sound quality between the higher end ones (Apogee, RME, etc) and the cheaper consumer gear. (Mbox, M-Audio, Tascam, etc). You may not hear the difference...yet, so if you're on a tight budget and just want to get going (until you're experienced enough to outgrow it) you could buy something like the Focusrite Saffire. But if you're just going to record 1 track at a time and you've got a limited budget, I'd suggest the Apogee One (single channel in $225) or Duet (2 channels $499). I just bought the RME Babyface, but it ain't cheap ($650-up on ebay). I just got my Babyface last week and there's a Huge difference to my ears from the cheap Behringer interface I was using.