Musical endeavors have been a main feature of my life for about 11 years now.  When I was 14 I started playing Guitar after being enthralled by a certain Suicidee named Kurt Cobain.  Soon I was singing (horribly) and recording my own stuff. 

How I did it.

 It started with me only singing falsetto (I wasn't sure how else to do it) and recording with a very basic setup.  I would go from my guitar amp directly into a karaoke machine.  I recorded it on Deck B, and then I would switch the tape into Deck A and listen to it, whilst I recorded a new track (along with the previous recording) onto the tape in Deck B.  This method was a crude version of "Bouncing", something even used by the Beatles.  Read more about tape bouncing here: Article on Bouncing

I sometimes used a radioshack mixer for monitoring and its nice delay (actually it was crappy, but I could move the knob around and get all sorts of weird effects).  I recorded vocals into a semi-functioning microphone held together with Duct Tape.  Not sure what brand, but I dont think it mattered at this point.  The pictures below show my setup from those days (circa nov 1996):

Eventually, I migrated to a better karaoke machine, and got the chance to use a friend's equipment to record stuff for the "Eclectus" projects.  It was a zoom 505 guitar pedal and a Dr. Rythym Drum machine.  Some interesting ideas were forged with this setup, but it was still very hard to come up with good sounds, and it was still very hard to bounce back and forth from tape to tape (the sound degrated very much after 2 generations).

Then came computers.

My mom had given me a 233 mhz pentium II Computer with a 6 GB hard drive and 32 megs of RAM.  One day I figured out how to record into it, using windows sound recorder, and used all of the effects available to me in that program, such as reverse, reverb, and fade in and out.  I recorded a really interesting piece, but lost it, due to system failure, and CD burners hadn't come out yet.  I struggled recording music with this computer for a couple of years after this.  I could get about 4 simultaneous tracks running concurrently, and used the digital version of bouncing to keep things simple and light on the processor.  Even so, eventually it became impossible to record even ONE track without dropouts, or clicks, or whatever you may call it.

After getting some temp work on Long Island, I made enough money to get some much needed equipment.  Too bad I got the wrong stuff.  The only enduring purchase I made was a Nady SCM-900 microphone and a Behringer mixer (both still alive today).  I also bought a Behringer Virtualizer and a Boss Dr. Groove drum machine, which soon became very obsolete to me.

Then I got an insurance settlement.

The first thing I did was buy the best computer I could find.  Of course, this was 2001, and the best I could find was a Pentium 4 1.7ghz.  I still have this computer and use it for my music producing even now.  Although I will say the increased quality of software is making it harder for my cpu to manage, and if I ever have the money, I will have to upgrade to a better system soon.

Here is a picture of the computer i use now:

This picture was taken back in 2002, so there are some things that I dont quite have anymore, for good reason.  Since then, I recorded an entire CD, which I will likely upload low quality versions of on here, and sell CDs; and I have gotten much better equipment since. 

Now I record with an Emu1212m or a Firepod Audio interface, depending on if I am at home or recording abroad.  I have a laptop now to use for field recording.  I have increased my microphone selection from just one, to about 9 different microphones, shure, audix, studio projects, marshall, and the trust Nady.  I use Behringer Truth monitors and AKG Headphones (I hope to get better headphones) for monitoring during mixing or performance.  My Les Paul goes into a PodXT for processing, then into a marshall amp (preamp bypassed) for micing.  I am suited to recording small acts, single performers, or even perhaps a band.  Although it isnt the main feature of my life in general, Music writing, performing, and producing is something i will never give up and will always enjoy.