Past music experience, however new: need help designing modest studio

[ps_7]

Hi there everyone, this is my first post, and I'm hoping I can get some help.
Sorry if this is a bit unstructured, Im new to the home recording studio set ups and equipment.
Before I go in to what I'm looking for, I might as well put in some background.
I started recording music many years ago. I sampled and used tracking programs to put together my music, mainly Impulse Tracker and a program called Modplug tracker.
Anyways, I'm looking to build a recording studio with my friend. I am looking to be able to make great music as I am now going to start using MIDI, and I recently purchased another Korg. My buddy also has some equipment, such as a great MIC for recording vocals and instruments.
Im looking for suggestions on set ups. I am not looking for a fully professional studio, this is just a starting point. However, I want to maintain quality of recording and output. My idea so far is this:

computer for composing music, and a second for samples etc. connected via LAN. Thinkign mabye a Terratec (suggestions? Im looking for a good card. Right now all I have is a soundblaster Live :S) card for MIDI and sound, a few large harddrives, quite a bit of RAM (suggestions?)
I've got a simple home amplifier and some quality monitor speakers as well as headphones to work with. Wondering what programs you would recommend? Right now Ill be using Acid and Soundforge, as well as my old tracking programs. Modplug works with MIDI.
Im going to try and keep the sound of my speakers as transparent as possible, and hopefully wont need much EQing. Are there any other components you would recommend for this recording studio? Anything Im missing>? Perhaps some other suggestions?
Thanks very much everyone.

 

[Richard Monroe]

You don't need all that CPU, dude, it just has noisy fans and draws juice. One fast desktop with 2 hard drives, silenced. Aside from that, you need to consider your purposes, and your front end. As far as your purposes, are you creating a band, a label, a corporation? Or are you creating a partnership, a home studio for fun?
It's helpful right from the beginning to know whether you are looking at it as a business, a hobby, or both. Be advised- building a decent studio takes a bunch of money, and building a commercial studio takes more. Decide what you are building, who's going to pay for it, who's going to own it, and what you and your buddy are going to do with it.
Secondly, you are thinking too much about where the music is going (the almighty computer), and not enough about where it is coming from. What you are recording is more important than what you are recording it on. If you have a great musician, with a great instrument,playing a great song well, in a great room, into great mics and great preamps, it's really hard to muck it up. You put those great mics almost anywhere, and it won't sound bad. What you plug it into doesn't matter that much. Don't build your studio from the computer up. Build it from the instruments and mics down.

 

[ps_7]

Richard Monroe: thanks very much for the reply.

I realize that I failed to give detailed information on my direction with this.
I am primarily an electronic music composer. When I originally made music, I strictly used samples. Im curious to see how I could make music now, with MIDI and the instruments on my keyboard, and the control of a better program like Cakewalk. I also want the ability to record actual instruments and sample/integrate them in as well. Also, I'd like to be able to work in vocals.

As for my motivation, it is a hobby, and something I enjoy doing. However, if I were to distribute my music, I want it to be at an acceptable quality. I'd like to at least have a basic set up that could allow expansion.

As far as mastering and effects, I think that in electronic music it is a part of the actual music making process, not so much an editing process.

Im still in the dark about these new programs and eager to learn them. I am wondering: for my purposes, would I need lots of peripherals? Or could I get away with a computer, good soundcard with MIDI and inputs, good sound system and monitors to play the music, and powerful software to do my tweaking as opposed to hardware? (cakewalk, reason, etc?)

Thanks again for the help

 

[Richard Monroe]

If you want to have the capability to record real sound in real acoustic space, considerable peripherals come into play. Namely, mics, microphone preamplifiers, and the sound of the room itself. Electronic music affords you the luxury of ignoring ambient noise, and the acoustic properties of the room itself. If you're starting with real sound, at a minimum, you will need a good quality large diaphragm condenser mic, a pair of small diaphragm condenser mics, and a middle to high quality 2 channel mic preamp. You will need some materials to modify the sound of the room you are recording in, and you'll learn to hate those big noisy CPU's.