Recording question

[Aefenwelg]

Hello fellow music making people,

Let's say I want to record some songs that are just acoustic guitar and my voice.

What would be a good setup to do this, from start to finish?
Assume I know nothing about recording, because I pretty much don't. Please be as detailed as possible.

I'm talking about, what kind of mics would I use? Should I use some kind of program? What's the deal with mixing/mastering?
All those types of things.

Thanks to any responders.

[Kotowboy]

What gear do you have if any ?

Could you record it into your iPhone / Smartphone if you're not arsed about quality ?

Most computers allow you to plug any old shitty mic into them and record..

Do you have *any* recording software / hardware at all ?

You don't want to spend £500 on Logic Pro and a nice AKG 414 & Audio Interface I assume ?

[Kotowboy]

If you aren't bothered about quality - you can get small portable recording devices like MiniDisc or alternatives which could record to MP3 which you might be able to

save to SD or sync to your computer ?

This is an area i'm not clued up on though.

[Sketchy]

You'll most likely need a preamp. A friend of mine (who is big into music production) uses an ART tube preamp. I also have one of these for the eventuality of recording accoustic instruments (and for jamming when using my hifi as the monitors. He also uses a program called Ardour (but as far as I know, that's only on Linux), but I generally record bass parts on an H4N Zoom and send them to him (it's a handly little recording device, mine gets heavy use).

[TheAtliator]

If you have a mac, experiment with Garage Band. You can plug a guitar or mic into your computer if you have the right stuff to do so, or even just use the internal mic on your computer. Sorry to be broad, but I pretty much only know how to use Garage Band and I happen to have all the right chords and stuff to plug my instruments in. Sometimes I go through my mixing board (as in, plug my mic or instrument into my mixing board and then send a chord from my mixing board's out to the input on my computer).

[Aefenwelg]

I have recorded with the on-board mic and another not really good mic, both to Audacity.

They both didn't sound as, I guess, full? as I wanted.

I want these recordings to sound like songs, not just a person recording themselves playing, if that makes sense.

[Sketchy]

Shure SM 58 microphones are pretty cheap and not bad.

I have a Placid Audio Copperphone, but that's more what you would use if you want to sound like an old 30s jazz or blues recording (I love it).