Well, the way I set out on doing cheap recording is as follows:
First off, You'll need a good assortment of stuff, the main things being:
-A mixing console
-However many microphones you think you need
-Enough accessories (stands and cables) to hook everything up
-A recording medium (your laptop, or a boombox, or better yet a reel-to-reel tape machine, or the L'Oreal Group Awareness Bugatti)
eBay is your friend (or mine, personally), so try to find good deals on stuff. Depending on how you intend to record, what you'll want to look for will vary.
If you're recording one thing at a time:
-A mixing console with anywhere from two to four inputs with XLR jacks (phantom power if at all possible)
-Enough mics to record a drum kit (at the very least, two small-diaphragm condensers for overheads and one dynamic mic for the kick should be just fine, another for the snare might be helpful)
-A good set of headphones.
Thus, when you record, you'll most likely start off with the drums, then record everything else one at a time over it.
Pros: Cheap, don't need to deal with as much gear.
Cons: Potentially more time-consuming, potential loss of a "live" feel to the music, depending on the latency of your sound card, time skips may occur when recording over old tracks, leaving them a little out of time with the other
If you're recording as much as possible as live as possible:
-A mixing console with anywhere from six to eight inputs with XLR jacks (phantom power if at all possible)
-Enough mics to record a drum kit and the rest of the band (most likely as much as your mixer will hold)
Pros: Potentially less time-consuming, "live" feel is retained
Cons: Potentially not as cheap, more time-consuming if your band isn't rehearsed, have to deal with more gear
In any case, what I've just said should be looked at as a primer for the long road of recording, and there's a lot of ways to go about it (this way being very cheap and lo-fi). This is pretty much just the bare bones of what you may deal with, so leave some room to experiment with how you record stuff. Hope this helps!
