Welcome to Pro Tools on da cheap - I’m in no way an expert, and what follows is just “what works for me”. Have I missed something, made a glaring error, or flown in the face of common wisdom? By all means, post a (hopefully polite and cheery) comment and join the discussion.

“Yeah, I have a band and we’re ready to record our hit CD!”

Sounds cool, but sit down and take a breath.

Unless one of your band members - or a friend you can really rely on - has a lot of studio recording experience (or better yet, has actually worked in a studio), you’re in for one hell of a learning - and maybe spending - curve.

Not that it can’t be done… but recording a whole band, with a drum kit, bass, guitars, vocals, etc… is a big deal.

You’ll need a place you can spend a lot of hours recording a full band (maybe you already have a rehearsal space that will do). Optimally, you need a room that’s big enough not just for a drum set, but for the sound of the drums to open up, where you can get some mics a few feet away (and optimally a bit above) your kit. 

It’s really, really helpful to have a room where your engineer (whoever is running the recording rig while you play) can be isolated from all the noise and be hearing primarily through speakers or headphones - where he can hear not the real sounds, but how they translate through microphones, cables, and electronics. 

It’s also optimal to have a place where neighbors won’t freak out about the same drum take being recorded all night, and where a car alarm, a passing airplane, or an act of war won’t ruin your best take. 

There’s a reason recording studios exist - they have all of the above and more. Still interested?

OK. I’m no expert on this side of recording, bit you’ll need the following:

A Pro Tools setup that can record as many sources as you’ll need at one time. If you want the big, hard rock drum sound, that means enough channels to mic a kit - kick, snare, toms, overheads at the minimum. Maybe a dedicated high hat mic. Maybe even a mic on the snare bottom. So, we could now be up to five to eight tracks for the drums. (Which means you’ll need that many decent mics - and hopefully a matched pair of overhead/room mics).

OK, your bass and keyboard players can plug right into the system - one track for each instrument. You’ll likely want to mic your guitar amp (or amps). And you’ll likely want to isolate those guys from the drums, either with separate rooms, or by building gobos - movable partitions that offer a reasonable amount of sound proofing.

Chances are you won’t use the final vocal take that’s recorded when you lay down the drums and basic tracks… but you may want the singer to do their thing, to keep everyone together and keep the “feel” going. Now we’re up to 10 or 11 tracks, recorded at the same time, though some of those will be re-recorded down the road.

While you’re playing, you’ve all got to hear each other, which means headhones for everyone, a headphone mix, and headphone amp or amps.

And, you’ll need cabling for all of that - at the least, you’ll want to use your stage snake.

That is a lot to jump into… my advice is, find someone who works at a studio to help you out.

But I can’t do all that - how can my band record our masterpiece and get chicks?

Well, there is another route that means spending some money on studio time.

Remember, the most important thing is the song, and the performance of the song. Worrying about gear, wires and knobs is going to take away from all that. And you’ve got an ace up your sleeve - you’ve got a band! 

So, I’d say, try this: write songs in your rehearsal space. Try to play them live a few times - you know how much that helps. 

Then cough up the cash to go into a good studio - there’s plenty of advice on the web to help you find a local studio. And studios need to fill their rooms, so you might find a deal on a block of hours.

Book some time, and go in tight and well rehearsed. With nice new drum heads, IN TUNE. Leave all your rock n’ roll drugs at home for the big party after. Have the engineer record a couple songs to Pro Tools. Have him record at the sample rate you’re capable of mixing with your rig (maybe not 96khz… maybe you’ll do 48 instead… you’ll be learning all about sample rates). Focus on the drum sounds, and record “scratch” tracks of guitars, bass, vocals - but don’t waste your time getting those sounds perfect. Get the drums right.

Have that session burned to a hard drive or DVD, and take it home to your rig. Copy the files to your drive, and… holy crap! They open right up!

Welcome to the reason Pro Tools is the standard - it’s cross platform, and files recorded on a Pro Tools HD system can be opened on your humble LE system (just make sure you’re using the same version of Pro Tools as the studio). You will need a system capable of mixing all those tracks… but you can re-record your guitars, bass, vocals, etc. You can spend all the time you want tweaking a solo or trying harmonies, adding an acoustic guitar track, trying out effects and mixes.

Sure, you’ll pay some studio cash - but you’ll be paying for the stuff you probably can’t afford to replicate at home.

And from there, the rest of the advice I have here all applies.