equipment priority?

[splooiesir]

This is my first post on these forums, and I am pretty new to a lot of things despite hoping to become a recording engineer someday. I am attempting to create a fairly good home studio and was wondering what my priorities should be in terms of which equipment I should get before something else.

I am currently using a terrible Dell laptop that I bought through my university (parents' idea) as my recording computer. I own an Mbox 2, Pro Tools 7.3, and a single SM58. Extra mics (at least until I get a drum set) is not a problem considering I record all of my tracks by myself, thus separately.

I am looking into a new computer, but I'm not sure if that's the first thing I should be worried about. I know already from experience that I need a mic preamp, so I'm looking into one of those and a compressor (I yell quite a bit).

A main thing that I am wondering has to do with the PreSonus Firepod. It says there's a mic preamp built into it; is this good enough to eliminate my need for a separate preamp? As of now my top priority has been to get a preamp, but if the built-in one is good enough, I would just as soon get the Firepod.

So, any advice on that and/or other things I should be getting? I guess you might want to know that I play "punk" music, if that helps. (Not like 70's spike-punk, but more pop-punk).

 

[ssscientist]

A main thing that I am wondering has to do with the PreSonus Firepod. It says there's a mic preamp built into it; is this good enough to eliminate my need for a separate preamp? As of now my top priority has been to get a preamp, but if the built-in one is good enough, I would just as soon get the Firepod.

The Firepod preamps are more than good enough for what you're doing. They would actually be among the strongest links in your recording chain. They're full and clear and sound very nice even when driven hard.


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[Dani Pace]

What is your recording environment? Get your room to sound as good as possible. If your room sounds good to start with (no matter what recording gear you use) your recordings will sound better.