Reply To: Starting from scratch (Help)

[Tres SeaverParticipant]

Jeff, welcome aboard!

I would be tempted to get my feet wet with what you have already. E.g., given the Macbook, you could use Garageband as your DAW. Find a cheap used 4-input USB audio interface, which should run you under USD 200 used (check out reverb.com for deals).

You can then try recording your drums with the Rode as a mono overhead and the SM-57s on snare (it is the classic go-to for snare) and the kick. After all, Warren showed us that Van Halen used 57s for almost everything, including the only kick mic!.

The 57s should be fine for recording guitar amps, and your bass can initially go directly into one of the preamps on your interface. You could also plug electric guitars directly into the interface preamps, and use GB's amp modeling (they have bass amp models too).

Once you've worked with those mics a while, you can decide how many more you want for your drumkit, which will also dictate how many inputs you need on an upgraded interface.