I would like to turn my smallish summerhouse in the garden into a recording studio for myself because i would love to play around with music and record my own music. How much would the software, other bits and pieces i would need, microphone all come to? and would it be possible to wire it all up and then when i wanted to go out there connect my laptop to the cables. seems all far fetch to me, but could be possible.
I think you could do this with a high-spec laptop - a MAC would probably be better to be honest. You can record multi-tracks with free software audacity: www.cassette2cd .uk/DIY/vocal.p... ...but maybe something along the lines of PRO-TOOLS or CUBASE if you want something a bit more professional. However I would save your money for a couple of decent microphones: www.cassette2cd .uk/studio/stud... Yes, it's all possible - I would recommend linking up with some audio recording forums and see what others are saying who have done this themselves... How much you spend is entirely up to you - you could do it now with audacity software and a cheap mic, on the other hand there is no upper limit to how much you could spend! I would recommend adding a half-way decent speaker system to your laptop for monitoring - don't 'mix' using headphones, that would be a very big mistake! My final recommendation is that the best type of mic for recording onto a laptop is a USB condenser mic (see link below) - with a half-tidy laptop and a decent mic, all you will need is a bit of talent!!
First soundproof the walls then find some good used recording equipment. Maybe $1000 or less depending on what you need. The software could be found cheap online.
