1. "How big does it need to be?" Or, if you are like most of us with limited budgets "how small can I get away with?" In the age of analog, the recording space in a professional studio was a minimum of 11,000 cubic feet. Anything over that gave no more benefit on soundwaves and so it was a good measurement.. "How do I determine cubic feet?" It is simple mathematics. For square feet, you multiply width times height. If you have a room 10' (' means foot, " means inch) by 12' that would be 10 x 12 = 120 square feet. For cubic feet you multiply your square footage with height. If the ceiling is 8', then 120 X 8 = 960 cubic feet.
To achieve 11,000 cubic feet, you could have a room 25' x 30' x 15' = 11,250.
I included this part mainly for those who might be building new and wanting to create adequate space. This allows for a great sounding room with natural acoustics to capture the sounds within it.
2. If you are the budget conscious home-owner making use of a basement, garage, empty room of some sort, then you need to use more acoustic materials to capture your sound. Why? Sounds resonate (bounce) off of walls.
If you add things to a room it changes the noise structure. If you are in an empty room and make noise, it echoes more. When you add things to that room, no matter how small or big, it changes the sound. With that in mind, when you put absorbant materials on the wall (foam, etc), it makes the room sound different, too. If you put the foams and reflective materials in the right places then you get something pleasing instead of the wrong sounds in your microphones.
There are all kinds of sound products available for rooms. You can also make your own. I personally use Aauralex products.
3. Recording devices. Most everybody is using some sort of digital device today for recording. For me, analog always sounded more alive with the hisses and pops, but I use mostly digital, too. I am not going to go into a list of what is best and what is worst. You can do searches for that on the internet and read reviews of equipment on places like Musiciansfriend or Sweetwater.
You can find 4 track, 8 track, 16 track, 24 track, 32 track and upwards in recording. I have used 2 track and 4 track analog tape machines, 16 track digital recorders and hard drive recorders for computer. For computers, there are all kinds of products, pro tools using USB, and Presonus Firebox (and others) using firewire.
One thing to note about firewire and USB. Both are ports for hooking up to a computer, usb is more popularly used, but firewire uses less processing power and allows a clearer signal.
If you go with a computer system and decide firewire or usb, you also must choose operating system. Logic Studio for Apple, Sony Acid for Windows, Cubase for either. There are also some flavors of linux, like Dyne:bolic. There are lots of choices.
4. Mixers. You have chosen a recording device to plug in and now you want more control at your fingertips to direct and mix the sound. This is the function of the mixer. Depending on the size of your band, your budget, and your need, you can get any size of mixer just about.
For a small band of 4 people, you might get an 8 track mixer. If you are a solo artist you might do with as little as 4 tracks. You will have wires running from your instrument or amp to the mixer and from the mixer to your recording device, and possibly from that device to computer. All mixers allow control of clipping and treble and bass with panning functions, or they can do much more, some allow processing of information, changing the sound of the room size (for those smaller rooms), or even more. Still, it won't stop the bounce of sound from your mics. Keep that in mind.
5. Speakers. Generally, you will want 2 sets of speakers, one for the sound engineer as he is working, and another for the room where the band can listen. Most recording devices should have a line out for routing the sound to the speakers. Near-field monitor speakers are what will sit by the engineer. These allow every bit of sound to be collected, absorbed and worked through for proper monitoring.
For the band, any type of speakers could be used. For solo artists where the engineer is the same guy recording, one set of speakers will work.
The end.
Here is some music that I have recorded as I rebuild this site.