One of the most important decisions you can make at the early stages is which software you want to use. There are two main choices, that I can speak of from personal experience, and if you want to get advice on recording from me and my freinds, you will need to pick one of these. Pretty much every studio I have ever seen or worked in has one of these two software packages, and usually both, because they both have strengths and weaknesses. There is an addition I will mention - Garage Band. There are other options I will discuss more a little later but these are your main choices.
Logic Express
Logic Express is the baby version of Logic with a lot less features than Logic Studio, but has the massive advantage of being a whole lot less expensive. This would be the software I would recommend for a beginner that wants to get into recording. It has far to many features to ever get bored with, it comes with LOADS of loops and cool plug-ins and is very easy to going with. For a beginner it is really great - a fairly smooth transition if you are familiar with Garage Band (the free Apple recording software). Apple computers come with audio in and out so it is kinda possible to use and Apple computer as your audio interface, but it is in little mini-jack leads, there is no mic input or phantom power... But Logic rocks for beginners, so make sure you check it out. Logic is not so fussy about which units you can use with it - but you need to check the interface specifications to be sure. Check out Logic Express at the Apple Web Site.
Logic Studio
Logic Studio is the real professional program, and it's considerably more expensive. It really is awesome and all the guys I know that do lots of programming, or work with film as well, pretty much all use this. It is not as good for audio (in my opinion) as Pro Tools, but has many more features, plug ins and the Midi editing is the bomb. I was very happy using this for manyyears, and switched to using PT early this year because I no longer do much programming, I am just recording audio, and all the studios I record in all use PT. Check out Logic Studio at the Apple web site.
Pro Tools LE
Pro Tools LE is the "Light Edition" and has less effects plug-ins and a lower track count. That said I know lots of guys making great recordings using LE. The main disadvantage with PT (vs Logic) is that the midi editing is pretty rubbish, it had got a lot better with the release of PT8, but it's still not a scratch on Logic. It also does not have built in loops, and the effects that you get for free are very limited. If you think you want to move to making real high quality stuff at some point, then you probably should get to know PT because it is the industry standard professional recording software. Check out Pro Tools LE on the Digidesign web site.
Pro Tools HD
HD stands for "High Definition" and the quality of audio in HD is really awesome. But it's expensive, you are looking at at least £5000 to get a basic HD rig. You have to buy the Digidesign hardware (Audio Interface) to use it. The great thing about PT is the stability of the system (very few crashes) and the simplicity of the audio editing. After using Logic for nearly 10 years, when I switched to Pro Tools at the strat of this year I just could not beleive how easy it was to edit the audio, and the quality of the sound running the system at 24bit 96khz is amazing (I noticed it especially on acoustic guitar), SO much better than when I was using Logic Studio and a MoTU 828 interface. Not recommended for someone getting into recording uless you just fancy blowing loads of cash on something you won't know how to use properly (Those that bought a Ferrari as your first car!). Check out Pro Tools HD on the Digidesign web site.
Garage Band
Garage Band, owned by Apple, comes installed on Apple computers, but is not a professional product. It's a great bit of software for getting a very basic understanding of recording, but is very, very basic. It is dead easy to play with loops and set up drums and bass and keyboard lines, but you have very little control over the editing and sound manipulation. You have to buy an apple computer to get into it (which I recommend anyhow, I don't get on with PC's at all), and most people will get bored with it pretty quickly if they want to do proper recording. Check out GarageBand at Apple Web Site.
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