Any of you ever done any home recording or creating of music?

I'd like to start putting some of my own stuff together and the last time I did it was 20 years ago using a 4 track tape recorder in my mates bedroom. Any info on easy to use free software for home recording would be much appreciated.

I'm not talking about creating something that can be sold on iTunes, I just want something that lets me create a drum track, record a bass guitar and some rythmn / lead guitar over the top so that I can record songs and ideas to play back to the guys I'm jamming with to give them an idea of what I want something to sound like.

Ta

Sorry Jase I didnt see this before.

I've alway's recorded through my digital 8 track until i got my filthy imac and now I'm a converted garageband user, as it is so simplistic to use and also alot of fun.

As for Pc software, I used cakewalk several times, i got a copy from ebay, but it was a pain to set up and to be honest was too complex for a beginner (producer) like me.

I'm not aware of any great freebee software I'm afraid, and would still opt for a SD or XD card recorder personally, you can pick them up quite cheap now.

For a good live recording (for your band) and a good home recorder, my drummer had this http://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Zoom-H2-Digital-Field-Recorder-and-USB-Mic/7TC

We used it to record our recordings on our myspace http://www.myspace.com/theredhotsillypeppers
and just rerecorded the vocals for clarity.

It was a very handy bit of kit and so easy to use.

My mom is about to get a PC and one of the requirements is that her boyfriend can record music on it (he thinks he's a musician), the music shop has recommended Propellerhead Record, costs about 200 quid apparently. Does anyone know if it's any good? I know nothing about music recording so I'm speccing the PC for her but no idea about the software.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe7Iapsu_38

Seems very user friendly, much more so than Cakewalk or Fruit Loop, which was always the top software.

Like this vid says, it seems like a program for musicians rather than engineers, which the previous two i mentioned were definitely designed for.

It seems very similar to Garageband and Logic Express on my mac, which i totally vote for, and to be honest this program makes me want to buy it for my Windows partition.

I'd vote yes for this program

oh beans, i dont know what instruments your mum's BF is using, but if he is planning on doing any Midi Controller work, make sure the Sound Card has the correct ports for this. THe Midi - USB leads I have are sketchy. I know one of the soundblaster cards has dedicated Midi Input/Output, so i'd either recommend your Mum's BF does some testing of USB leads or by the Soundcard with dedicated inputs.

Thanks.

Yee I saw about the ASIO compatible thing so have specced the PC without upgrading the card as Dell don't seem to offer a compatible one so was planning on just ordering a separate soundcard from somewhere and hoping my mom's boyfriend is capable of installing the card. He's never touched a computer in his life so I may be expecting too much but it's either that or nothing.

As for the instrument I think he had a keyboard last time I went home though that was about 10 years ago and I know he had guitars too so who knows.