Recording Advice

I'm looking to record some of my music, and was looking for recording tips from people who are experienced in the matter. What type of mic would you use to record vocals? Would you use a mac or pc? What software pro tools, cubase, garageband, etc..? Recommendations for EQ the instruments and voice so it doesn't sound so amateur.

Thanks,

Them's big questions! The good news is that computer type (PC v. Mac) and the brand of DAW (digital audio workstation, or, colloquially, recording software) doesn't much matter. The PC/Mac debate is eternal, of course, and there are fierce adherants of the various DAWs who routinely thrash each other online, but at the end of the day these questions aren't that important. If you become truly experienced and creative in technological terms, you may find one or another DAW to your liking, but as you get started this shouldn't be the case, as they all do pretty much the same thing in the same way (speaking generally). I've worked with Sonar, GarageBand, and Logic, and while they each have their quirks, they all do the same thing in pretty much the same manner. And they all produce excellent recordings!

As far as mics, get a decent large diaphragm condenser if you can. Expect to spend $300-500 for a good entry-level mic--but there are some Chinese-made mics around that are supposed to be good and go for less.

The EQ question (and the larger threat of amateurism) would require a book-length dissertation to answer. Come to think of it, there are lots of books out there. Perhaps you should determine your DAW first and then buy a thick book that addresses the use of that DAW?

I would agree with pretty much everything Jack said.

All other aspects being equal, there is no discernible difference between various modern DAW softwares in terms of recorder digital signal.

Might as well try Reaper:

http://reaper.fm

Reaper is non-crippled, non-expiring shareware, and runs on both Mac and PC.

A good recording vocal mic, a good clean pre-amp, and a good audio interface with flat, noiseless ADCs (Analog to Digital Converters) are the more important components for getting good voice recordings.