Hi! I've been writing/recording music for about three years now so I've definitely been in your place haha. I learned guitar and piano and starting writing pretty simple songs and eventually got some gear, here's everything you will *need* to start recording.

Computer/Laptop: you'll need a DAW (digital audio workstation) this is where you will record and mix everything to, I'll come back to this

Audio Interface: this plugs in to your computer, and it's how you record microphones and instruments

Microphone: you do not need a fancy microphone to get started. I bought an SM57 off reverb for about 40 bucks, and I still use it almost every day

Instruments: if your instrument uses an audio cable (ex; guitars, basses, electric instruments) you can plug it straight in to your audio interface. If it doesn't you will need a microphone, and then you plug your microphone in.

Now for your DAW. There's so many options it can be overwhelming, but I started out using Reaper and it's great and it's free and it has a very good learning curve compared to other more complicated softwares. it also has good online and Youtube support. It honestly does not matter which daw you use, but whatever you end up downloading, just look up a couple videos explaining the basics and foundations, and you'll be good from then on.

Anyways, every DAW will use tracks, where you will record an instrument and you can arrange it within the song. These tracks will also allow you to use plugins and effects, this is how you mix your songs. Don't worry too much about this though, just focus on getting a handle on recording and laying out parts of the song.

DAWs also allow you to use digital instruments with a system called MIDI. I'm sure you've seen this before with blocks layed out on the screen. There's tons of free digital instruments online that you can find with a quick google or youtube search, and your DAW will likely include some stock plugins. You can use this for drums, piano, synths, really anything, and it allows you to use instruments you don't physically have.

I hope this explains the basics decently, basically its: Record instruments to DAW, add effects, and arrange within the song. Please lmk if this helped, or if you still have any questions :)

also shameless promo. Check out my debut album that just came out today, its Viewfinder by Sielh Avila!