Help me setup my studio (please?)

[danny3.guitar]

I'm planning on setting up my own personal studio. I'm not going for anything real professional, just something decent enough to produce quality recordings. Until now, I've been recording direct, and have finally decided to just save up and get a decent setup going.

I'm good with computers and very familiar with the recording/mixing/mastering process, so that's not a problem. But, I have absolutely no experience with mixers, or other hardware, although I'm sure I could figure it out with some practice.

Anyway...

What I'll be recording:

Mainly, I'll be doing instrumental/acoustic pieces, using either a steel string acoustic, or classical nylon string guitar. I don't plan on doing any drums or bass, since I don't own either, and I'm not a singer, so there most likely won't be any vocals (unless a friend comes over or something). If I do add drums or bass, it will probably be with a drum machine or something similiar.

Either way, my main focus is classical/or steel string guitar.

What I plan on using:

I've got a pretty decent PC that I've been using since I started. The only thing is that it can be pretty noisy sometimes, so I was thinking of just putting it in my closet and getting extension cables for the monitor, keyboard, etc.

I'll be needing a decent set of studio monitors, a mixer, sound card, and a microphone.

For a microphone, I've been thinking of getting the Studio Projects B1 mic. I'm not really sure on what mixer to get. I've heard the PV is good. As for a sound card, I'm pretty sure it will be something M-Audio...not sure which one to get, or which will best suit my situation...and I'm completely clueless about studio monitors. I've been using Creative 5.1 surround sound (with only 2 of the speakers configured as stereo speakers) until now.

So any help in this area would be appreciated.

How I plan to set it up:

This is the hard part for me. Since I don't have any experience using the hardware, I don't know the most "ideal" way to set it up.

Basically, I plan to have it something like this:

Guitar -> Microphone -> Mixer -> Monitors/Headphones -> Computer

Not sure if the monitors/headphones or computer would come first, but I need to be able to switch between the two, because I use headphones for tracking, and monitors for mixing/mastering.

So basically, it comes down to, which gear would best suit my situation, and how would I set it up?

Also, I'm on a budget, but I don't mind saving for awhile if I have to.

P.S. I plan on treating the room if I need to (foam insulation, etc.), but I'll wait for that until I've got everything else in order.

Thanks for the help.

[danny3.guitar]

Ok, I meant to post this in the 'newbie' forum, and posted it here by accident. I must have been browsing this forum when I decided to post this

Sorry about that, maybe someone can move it to the other forum? (I don't think it will let me)

[knightfly]

Danny, you'll need to "cut and paste" your post here, and just post it again in the newbie forum; I've yet to see mods do much of ANYTHING here, much less housekeeping... Steve

[Nothingface]

Hey Knightfly, are you the same Knightfly on the John L. Sayers forums?