Hmm.
Your band could be seven hundred weirdos with differently tuned triangles.
What instruments?
What budget?

All you need to know is Shure SM57/58. Buy a bag full. Then get yourself a crappy 16 x 4 x 2 mixer such as a Mackie, Allen & Heath, Beringer, etc.. Get yourself a couple of DBX166's or the lower cost 266's as they are always handy. And make sure the mixer has FireWire or, high-speed USB 2.0 capabilities. You obviously already have a computer. But a laptop is handier with an external 7200 rpm, 3 1/2 inch storage drive and that's all you need.

Don't believe you can get acceptable quality with that? Well then....

DON'T PLAY WITH THE EQUALIZER'S! Don't bother with Chinese condenser microphones as you will have a more recognizable quality factor with the SM57/58's. You may want to engage your high pass filters when recording vocals as proximity effect can get ugly. I find ProTools inconvenient and overbloated. Try Adobe Audition or Sony Vegas (my favorites). Or whatever comes bundled with your mixer. Remember, LESS IS MORE & KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID. Then you'll come away with a quality sounding recording.

Simple engineer
Ms. Remy Ann David

Sorry, the instruments would include two guitars a bass a drum and a keyboard.

Would it be better to record the drum's on an electric set? And what about the bass directly through a pod x3 live?

"Would it be better to record the drum's on an electric set? And what about the bass directly through a pod x3 live?"

Why use an electric set when you can just sequence the samples in a computer. Real drums have feel. Depends on your drummer though and what kind of sound you want.

As for the bass, I prefer the sound of a cabinet rather than direct injection. But it depends on the sound you want.

/We use a Roland Keyboard amp for our bass, treble and mids down, bass way up, slight reverb and driven until the limiter light is on for most of the time. The mix of limiter crunch and actual cone distortion pleases me.