Re: Recording Software for OS X?
Start with Garageband '08 in the iLife '08 suite for $79 and then progress to Logic Pro. These other Mac progams are horribly dated and seem to be stuck in the
Logic is highly illogical.
I'd recommend spending some time with that one before commiting to purchase. Out of the box, nothing makes a lot of sense or operates the way one would think it should...
Cubase/Nuendo and the others share some basic operating principles & have the same or similar names for most of the common tasks & processes...
The flip side is that just about EVERYTHING in Logic is customizable. Shortcuts galore. Personally, I find it ever maddening to use & have quite a few peers who found it equally fustrating to do simple things...
Then get a Shure SM-57 or Audix I-5 or Sennheiser 609 e mike for miking cabs or vocals if you need to record an amp and Shure SM 58 or an Audix 2 or an EV N-767 mike for vocals. Unless you are miking acoustic instruments, you don't have to get a condensor mike. There are many on the market and it each has its own sound and break easily. Ribbon mikes break even more easily amd cost a lot.
Any mic can be used on anything.
An amp won't blow up or sound "bad" if you stick an SM58 or something on there...
FWIW... LOTS of people use condensor mics on electric guitar cabs and all but the cheapest of 'em are very durable.
Over the years I've dropped a few... like AKGs taking a 7 foot dive onto concrete at a show and they keep working... knock over a Neumann 87 or it takes a direct hit from a drum stick...
Not that it's recommened!!! But condensor mics are anything but fragile and easily breakable, unless your referring to the glut of $89 built in China mics out there... and they aren't worth buying anywhoo!