Need Help with Studio Setup

[KonradG]

Im insulating the office part of my barn to make a studio. Ive got plenty of guitars, basses, amps, and drum sets to suffice. I also have a P4 2GHz with 512 RAM. Im completely new to setting up an actual studio (previous attempts were extremely "ghetto"), but now i am allotted space for a full sized studio. Right now my budget is only in the low 1000 range, but with all this equipment, I THINK that this is what i need:
(Budget $1000-$1100)

-MICROPHONE: MXL 990?
-MIC PREAMP: Nothing fancy, just need phantom power... right?
-SOUND CARD: This is the tricky part for me. It would be nice if i could record 5 inputs at the same time. Is that possible? If so, would i need a specific software program as well...?
-SOFTWARE: I was thinking nothing fancy, cakewalk maybe?

ANYTHING ELSE? I was thinking later on about moniters, etc, i already have pro headphones, and decent computer speakers. Can i complete this project with my budget?
Thank you very much for your time taken to help me out. I appreciate it,
Konrad

 

[KonradG]

well, can someone at least tell me what software and card they would suggest in order to record simultaneous tracks (bass, drums and vocals all at once)?

 

[chadsxe]

Look into M-audio delta 1010lt, it has 10 I/O's. Cakewalk/Sonar is software that most people consider pro.

 

[Phyl]

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MICROPHONE: MXL 990?
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You'll likely need more than one microphone. I asssume you'll be recording vocalists, mic'ing guitar amps, drums, etc. A few Shure 57s, 58s would be a low cost solution. How many you need depends on how many sources you want to record simultaneously.

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-MIC PREAMP: Nothing fancy, just need phantom power... right?
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You have a couple of options here. Buy a mixer and a soundcard, or buy a unit that interfaces to your computer; most of these have at least two pre-amps, sometimes as many as eight. Look into Delta, Aardvark, Edirol, et al. The forums are full of suggestions. You could also buy a standalone unit that doesn't need a computer (Korg, Tascam, Fostex, etc)

Or as you suggested, you could buy standalone pre-amps and send their outputs to a sound card or computer interface device.

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-SOUND CARD: This is the tricky part for me. It would be nice if i could record 5 inputs at the same time. Is that possible? If so, would i need a specific software program as well...?
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See my answers above...mixer into a soundcard, computer interface w/ multiple preamps.

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-SOFTWARE: I was thinking nothing fancy, cakewalk maybe?
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SONAR is cool. The user interface is easy to learn and you'd get plenty of help from folks at this bbs.

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ANYTHING ELSE? I was thinking later on about moniters, etc, i already have pro headphones, and decent computer speakers. Can i complete this project with my budget?
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You'll definetely need monitors in order to mix effectively.

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I can't say whether this is all within your budget; you definitely have some tradeoffs to consider.

You could save money by looking at computer interfaces that come bundled with tracking software. You could skip the mixer and plan on doing all your mixing inside the computer. You could save money on microphones by recording only a few instruments at a time and using overdubbing to add others later.

Good luck; let us know how the journey goes.