I'm a guitarist that's interested in working with DAWs...Where do I start?

[GirTheRobot]

Any help would be appreciated. I think what I'm going for at this moment is using the DAW for percussion, synth, etc, and laying down some guitar and vocals over them. So right now I've got a DAW (Reaper), and of course I've got a computer, but don't really know where to go from here...The end result I want is to mic up my amp (I've been told an SM57 works great) and get that signal into my computer. I don't want DI because I specifically want the sound from my amp and pedals. I wouldn't think I'd need multiple inputs, because I'd just be doing it one at a time as an individual project. Also, if I make beats and synth sounds and such in FL Studio, but record my guitar parts in Audacity, how well would that work out?

So what's the best, cheapest way to do this? Because I don't even know if I'll stick with this, I'd rather not shell out hundreds and hundreds of dollars on equipment. I'd like to keep it simple for the moment and then upgrade if I need to. Thanks guys!

 

[abaga129]

Well the first thing you would want to do is get an audio interface. There are plenty of very affordable ones out there. I'll let everyone else take it from here haha.

 

[greyskull]

give reaper a shot if you're on PeeCee.

Demo it; If you like it; buy it. it's cheap as hell and really good, if a little daunting at first.

 

[bryan_kilco]

If you have Reaper already, you don't need to record your guitars in Audacity.

I went down that road already.

First thing - get an interface. You can find cheap ones for maybe around $100 to plug your guitar into. You can send that signal straight into reaper. If you get an interface with 2 inputs, you can record the DI and your mic'd amp signal as well. (You'll learn quickly that it's often better to apply any FX or pedals to your tone AFTER it has already been recorded for variety and versatility.

If you make drums in FL Studio, you can export them as .WAV files and import them in REAPER and be good to go. I used to do this, and I bought Steven Slate Drums - Essential pack for $20 when it was on sale and never looked back at FL Studio.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. Read, read, experiment, read more.