Totally new to home recording - advice please!

Caveat

Hi all

Love my music, been in the studio a couple of times, but want to finally take the plunge and do everything myself via PC. All I have is my electric and my acoustic and my PC.

A friend has garageband on his Mac - have had a look and a bit of a play and it seems fine/easy to enough to use but a bit limited maybe.

I intend to record guitar/bass/vocals/drum machine - maybe a bit of keyboards. I know I will need a decent mic (for acoustic guitar and vocals) and preamp together with a good soundcard - I'm not sure i'll actually need much else though?

My specific questions are:

Can anyone recommend a soundcard + software that is easy to use and can provide fairly professional results?

Recommend a mic (+ preamp) suitable for both acoustic and vocals?

Drum machine - can I expect something decent in the software or am I being optimistic - should I get something else? Ditto for keyboards?

This is probably all too open and vague but to narrow it down a bit, hoping to spend €1000 max and software wise, other people have mentioned Logic for ease of use and quality - any views?

Really appreciate some guidance on all this as I haven't a clue but am dying to get started!

Basically, don't want to spend a fortune but don't want bare minimum that I might regret buying either - but I guess this might happen anyway.
e.g. has anyone been doing this for say 5 years and is still happy with their lower cost hardware/software?

TIA

empirix

Personally i were you and you know that this is going to be a long term thing, i would spend more money on quality stuff. I personally use Pro tools M-powered (amongst others) and a M-audio firewire 410 sound card, the sound card is decent and will cost you about 350 euro. Pro tools m-powered will cost about the same. I use PTools for mixing and mastering and use an odd vst instrument and most importantly recording audio from my hardware Synths, while i use reason for the majority of my beats etc. I am strictly electronic though. Also you will need a good set of monitors, i recently got a pair of Genelec 8030's for 1k and they are absolutely savage. This is obviously a basic outline but i say spend the money on decent stuff!

seannash

id definitely go mac and get garageband that comes free with it.if your new to production this programme should last you a good peroid of time before you outgrow it,then id recommend logic.but mac and garageband is a great starting point.
soundcard wise i dont really have much experience.my first sounfcard was an rme multiface and ive never needed to buy another one.its a great card but pretty expensive but im sure someone will be along with other recommendations
good luck with whatever you choose

Caveat

Thanks guys - Yeah, Garageband then Logic has been suggested alright.

Any other views appreciated.

TIA

squibs

I'd say get Reaper software, a cheapish audio interface and use your hi-fi for monitoring (maybe splurge on good headphones). See if you like recording, have an aptitude for it, and prefer to do it yourself, before committing big bucks. If you like it then you'll be able to make better purchasing decisions later to match your own requirements.

I have a couple of mates who asked me to spec a fairly expensive studio for them and never really used the gear after.

Caveat

Sorry, should have said - already have good Roland speakers I can use as monitors.

AcidPro has been suggested too as a cheap starting point - any views?