While slowly assembling the gear for a proper home studio, I’ve recorded songwriter’s demos with basically nothing but a laptop—making my own drum loops in Audacity; using my bass amplifier as a preamp for guitar and bass parts, running from the headphone jack into the mic input, adding all effects in post; even recording multiple vocal tracks on the built-in condenser mic until the room noise sounds like a steam boiler. It’s a step above recording it with my phone, but it gives me a reference and doesn’t cost me a dime.