Home Recording Setup

[Suharsh]

I am looking up to setup a Home Recording system. My primary focus is vocals. I am a complete newbie who so far was using karaoke systems but wants to change the hobby to profesion. I have about $1500 - $2000 to spend on it. As I understand I need the following. Please correct me if any of these are redundant or if I need more than what is listed.
1. Books/Videos: $100 Please recommend some good ones on Digtial Home Recording and web repository ...

2. Digital (maybe multi track recorder ): upto $ 1000A friend of mine owns Zoom MRS-1044. I would rather look for a hard drive based rather than smart media card. What are comparable recorders basically best bang for the buck ...

3. Vocalizer: $350 DigiTech Vocalist VR ? Recommendations

4. Microphone: I already have Shure SM58 So I was thinking of buying the Antares AMM-1 microphone modeler.

5. In the above set up do I need a mic-preamp?

Thanks in advance.

[jamie garner]

the zoom, the fostex vf80 ($600, 8 real tracks, 126 virtual, very decent fx, 8 mic pres), the boss br-1180 ($750, the same minus mic pres), ect- would all be fine for what you have in mind. however, if you want to use pre-recorded backing tracks... the tascam pocketstudio 5 ($500, usb i/o, four recordable tracks, + 6 midi, internal sound module included) might be just the ticket! midi files are all over the web- just about any song you can think of. if 6 midi tracks aren't enough, you can use your pc to play midi files using a soundscard and record to a pair of tracks, leaving two for vocals.

just about any of the 'gizmo mic pres' would do the job- the anteres is a bit expensive, actually- the dbx 'provocal' would be great, the digitech 'vocalist vr' also....

i'd also say the 58 is fine- if you went with a phantom power-enabled mic/fx pre, i'd say the studio projects t1 would give you unbeatable results tho- WAY better than any dynamic (under $750)

as far as books go, the 'making the ultimate demo' and 'practical sound recording' are good- most any book 'home project' studio would suffice.

the above advice is what i believe would make a great karaoke studio- you could make some great recordings at clubs and contests, and the quality of the results (especially when used with a 16-bit cd as final format.

on the other hand, if you want to record local bands, ect..... well, prepare to lust after some of the most expensive toys in the world....

$2000 would cover an 8-track fostex (i'd recommend the vf80, which has a cd burner and anteres style mic/vocal fx), 8 mics (sure has a new low-ball line that includes cable, $70 each) decent ($75) headphones, mic stands, decent pc-style speakers (altec make great sets for $185)... you'd be on your way.......

i started out with about that type of thing five years ago- the difference was that a four track mindisc didn't have any fx- and since thes i've spent a small fortune 'getting a better sound'.

man, you're getting into a great hobby tho! it's about the most fun you can have!

[What]

I don't know about all this but I agree on the last part. It's so much fun, that it almost isn't gonna feel right when/if you start getting paid for it!! I'm barely starting out to but dam there's nothing in the world like it imo but then again it's my dream it's all I live for!

[Suharsh]

Thanks Jamie & What.

To be honest I am little confused. I think I need to get my basics first. So I am planning to read couple of books . Also there are classes in a local university. I am planning to enroll in it. Of course meanwhile I do intend to buy the recorder at the least. In addition to the one recommended by Jamie I am also looking at the Roland 890HD.

Once again thanks!