Whatever hardware you buy, spend the most time on Mic pre's and Monitors. Monitors first.

Got a budget in mind.

Chris

Definately monitors and pres, but I think you'll find you need more ram and more HD space. I went thru about 250 gigs of HD space in 6 months. After a year I had to back up all kinds of stuff to make room. Now, my rule is to keep client's projects for 6 months and then delete.

quality mics is a must as well.

as LittleDog asked, what is your budget?

definitely RAM and HD-space.
RAM is important especially if you're running MacOS X. i would at least double the amount you now have. you'll notice that the whole computer will feel much more stable and smooth.
a fast (external) HD is also recommendable.
and maybe some plugins? like waves/t-racks/etc. etc.

I don't really have a budget. I don't plan on buying everything right away. Just looking at long term goals. I do plan on upgrading the hard drive and ram or getting a brand new machine. So far it sounds like iam on the right track.

Question? Mic pre's and a preamp are the same or do you use different pre's for mics? :?

Yes, a pre and preamp are the same thing.

Littledog, why i the world would they want to get monitors before a pre. you first need to get the audio into the daw before you can listen to it? at least if they can get a pre and a mic then they can record for now and when they get the monitors start mixing. otherwise they will just have a glorified cd player.

Also, good monitors are great to have but....
the most important thing is your chain going into your daw
MIC - MIC PRE - AD/DA - DAW. You can always go and get new monitors when the time comes and still use your great sounding audio that went into your DAW much easier than getting great monitors first and then re-recording everything when you get better input end hardware

Some of the most respected monitors are the Yamaha NS-10's. They are crap ass monitors. the reason people love em is because they are crap and if you get a mix to sound good on them then it will sound good anywhere. granted they dont have the sparkle of high end monitors for your customers to hear.

The Yamaha MSP5's are supposedly todays equiv of the NS-10's and they are only around 200 a peice

Sorry Reddawn, I totally disagree.
Your monitors are the only contact you have with the signal. It is the window to everything that comes before it.

I didn't say that hacksaw has to buy the most expensive monitors, merely that they are at least as important as any other piece of gear in the chain.

Also, I meant that monitors and pre's should be bought at the same time. I agree that if you buy great monitors and no/bad mic pre's you are in trouble, but from the question it seemed apparent that both are being considered.

just my humble opinion.

Chris

1. Sell all your gear.

2. Have you room professionally acoustically analyzed and treated.

3. Record nothing.

:wink:

The most important thing in any audio set up is the transducers ... the things that transfer air pressure into electrical signals and electrical signals into air pressure ... (mics and speakers).

When you are talking the most improvment in performance, then I say it's mic pres. A great mic pre can make even a lowly SM57 sound better ... but you stilll need to hear what you are doing or it's poke and hope ..

So I vote for mics, pres and monitors ... all at the same time.