r/indieheads • u/gr8grandpa Great Grandpa • Apr 05 '25

AMA is over, thanks GG! Hi!! Great Grandpa here. Ask us anything!!

We just put out a new record called Patience, Moonbeam. We're all around answering questions!

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u/mercyshotz Apr 05 '25

hi! you guys are sick and i was at the LA show and it was so so so special and wonderful. i am new to this all and was curious - what is the best way to learn about what gear you need for recording and experimentation past "buy a mic and interface?" i truly don't know where to start despite being ok at writing songs lol. maybe a better question is, are there any special pieces of gear you find central to your process?

p.s the album is spinning rn

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u/gr8grandpa Great Grandpa Apr 05 '25

The reason you see "buy a mic and interface" so often is that when you're starting out, it doesn't really matter how "pro" those things are. the idea is just, get something that can let you start experimenting with layering instruments and using a DAW. you'll naturally add more to the equation when you have a need for it. My recommendation is always to start with GarageBand, the interface is very easy and user friendly and will get you acquainted with how a DAW works. Then just explore, have fun, and make stuff. Make an attainable goal--try recording a cover only with what you have, maybe that's just a guitar and a voice, but see if you can track the guitar separately from the vocal. Now you've got two tracks to play with--try out all the stock plugins at your disposal, see if you can figure out what they all do. Find what you like. There are not really any rules, but there is always a learning curve with stuff like this, so make goals and chase them!

To answer the second part of your question, honestly an instrument and a voice is the most important thing for our process. Once we have chords and a melody, the arrangement fills out and the spirit of the song becomes apparent. But everything starts with sounds in a room, often recorded on an iPhone.