Home Recording Studio Design - The ComputerPersonally I love the slick white feel of a Mac Book, and I have also recently got an iMac with an extra two gigs of Ram for ultra speedy home editing.
The other great benefit of a Mac is that it comes with Garage Band which for me is a big player in the recording software market. (More on this later)
Home Recording Studio Design - The Microphone
The nicest cheap Microphone I have found so far is a Studio Projects B1, this is a great little condenser Microphone that is very versatile and can take a good beating. (Which is good for me because I get very passionate and angry during recordings and wimpy little Mics don't stand a chance!!!) I once spent $5000 on a really nice Neumann Microphone only to drop the thing plum on the floor and break it in the first day of use.
Home Recording Studio Design - Audio InterfaceThis is basically what you need to make your guitar or voice show up inside a computer and make those wavy lines on the screen. I like the Mbox as it has a couple of inputs and is nice and compact.
Home Recording Studio Design - Midi controller
When I want to add some string or maybe a sexy bass guitar I fire up my M Audio keyboard and use a program called Reason which gives me access to over a thousand really nice quality samples; a must if you have an ambitious sound in mind and do not have access to an army of session musicians.
