studio upgrade/booth building

[Botinok]

iv decided to upgrade my whole studio and i have a cuople questions.

1) im looking for some monitors..but im on a low price range..im prolly gonna buy a pair of ebay cuz thats the biggest bang for the buck and i have had very good results with ebay...i dont really want to buy a reciever cuz they are expensive, so i was thinking of going with actives...which ones should i get? i was thinking of the alesis m1 actives, but i dunno

2) i have an AKG c3000b...but i need a phantom power preamp..and suggestiosn of what kind i should get? keep in mind im on a lower price range..so the cheaper the better..but i still want good quality

3) i need a soundcard...i was thinking of the delta 44....but again i have no idea...i dont do any kind of midi work, just vocals...so thats pretty much all i need.....i have a pretty good comp (over 1 gig ram, 2.4 P4, windows XP, pr8x mobo...120 gb HD, and a 60 gb HD..ect. ect.)

4) do i need a mixer? and if so what kind....i was at a studio the other day and they use a mackie digital mixer, which they say is awsome...do i really need it or should i stick to mixing on my PC

5) im turning a small closet into my booth...how do you think that would work, its probably about 8 feet tall, and mybe 5 feet acroos, and like 3 feet deep, i wasthinking of putting that foam shit that eggs come in on the walls, cuz thats what the local studio did, and they said it works great, but i dont know if the space is too small or what..

thats basicly all my questions for now...i know its kinda long, but any help would be appretiated...i havnt reall been able to get straight answers...

the studio that i was at are using a pair or alesis m1's and say they work great...but they havnt really tested anything else

thanks in advance

-Andrei

[Harlequin Man]

about the eggs stuff... what kind of studio did you visit.. that a MYTH... its just makes it look silly?

[Botinok]

really...well its not a mainstream studio...they are also kind of low budget....but i hurd there stuff and it sounded great..so i dont know

[fernandoesmaron]

my suggestions

1) wharfedale pro diamond 8.2 active

2 / 3 / 4 ) You could buy an emu 1820m or an emu 1212m with an analog mixer ( a.ex. tapco blend 6 ). I wouldn´t buy an digital mixer.

5) hmmm i am not an expert !!

[Lo-Fi Mike]

i have a little home studio and get paid to record musicians (rock, country, rap).
they all are pleased with there products. and i have no mixer at all, i once bought an alesis studio 32, but i sold it on ebay and lost 100 dollars when i found out i did not need it. Now i use a collection of pre amps, channel strips, plug-ins, and i mix in the computer.

[Botinok]

is the emu a pre-amp or what?

[fernandoesmaron]

the emu 1820m is an soundcard with an breakoutbox & have 2 "TF Pro" preamps.

there is another without the "m" the emu 1820. Have same features but not the mastering grade converters.