What do I need for recording/PA?

Well rececently me and a bunch of friends formed a band. We have all of the equipment for our guitars but we sing through a guitar amp. It sounds like crap. What we want is to be able to hsve like 2 or 3 guys sing and be able to mike the drums. Do we need some sort of PA? What models ar good? How much (Canadian)?


Also we want to be able to record as well. What gear do we need for that? How much is it?

Thanks a lot
minofifa

You'll definately need some sort of PA, but theres a huge variety of types and a very wide price range. I myself have a Yamaha EMX660 mixer that I run into two yamaha speakers. My speakers are 15", but there're smaller ones that would probably work well also (and save you some money). As for recording, I'd recommend something like a Tascam Portastudio. I have a Portastudio mkIII. Its an analog recorder (which means it records on standard cassette tapes; digital recorders are REALLY expensive) I know nothing about the canadian system of currency, but the recorder cost me about 400 dollars in America. As for the PA, I can't remember what it cost me right now but I'm guessing it was about a 1000 dollars. All this stuff's pretty expensive, but if you guys could earn the money somehow it would really be worth it. Goodluck!

email me if u have any specific questions,
Evan
http://listen.to/EvanDyson

On eBay I found a great mic: Shure sm57. $60.00 and below is a great price. I really like this mic, since it can be used for both instruments (mic guitar amps for recording) and vocals. That's all SoundGarden uses - so good enough for me. I am without PA (not presently in a band), but have the mic go into a desktop mixer and some basic rack effects (compression, EQ) and mixer output goes to a home stereo.

Admittedly, this is decent for recording, but inadequate for live performance. Happy jams.