Welcome, Ben

You certainly have enough gear there to get started. The only possible problem I see is that it seems you are storing your audio on the same hard drive as your recording program. This slows things down since one bus has to do two jobs. My first recommended upgrade would be a second hard drive.

Other than that, you should just jump in and get started. Hold yourself back from buying more gear as long as you can. It's tempting, but forcing yourself to make do with what you have and learn to use it in the best way possible will pay off down the road. In particular, don't let gear distract you from learning to use your software really well.

What kind of things have you done so far?

Thank you for the reply, So do you recommend I grab a USB External HD, or should I go with another internal HD. I know at Fry's they are running some great promotions and I could pick one up pretty cheap right now... I also have a Sony Vaio laptop I could use .... its not the greatest performance..... Intel Core 2 Duo, 160GB, 1 GB RAM.... Im not sure how much that would pay off.

So far I havent done anything with the new equipment I have.
In the past I played with Sonar 3 Producer, just recording right into my sound card directly and using the drum map manager. I covered "Even the Losers" - Petty. It came out ok. I had some trouboles with Latency... wasnt a great computer or anything.

Like I said that was just using a normal soundcard Soundblaster Audigy. But now I want to get a little bit deeper and have better recordings.

Any starter info would be greatly appreciated.

BobRogers wrote: Welcome, Ben

You certainly have enough gear there to get started. The only possible problem I see is that it seems you are storing your audio on the same hard drive as your recording program. This slows things down since one bus has to do two jobs. My first recommended upgrade would be a second hard drive.

Other than that, you should just jump in and get started. Hold yourself back from buying more gear as long as you can. It's tempting, but forcing yourself to make do with what you have and learn to use it in the best way possible will pay off down the road. In particular, don't let gear distract you from learning to use your software really well.

What kind of things have you done so far?

The first thing I would do is hook up the interface, hook the monitors to its outputs and the mic and an electric guitar into the respective inputs. Figure out how to record and play back.

Would headphones be a good idea now?

Space wrote: Would headphones be a good idea now?

I do have Studio Headphones as well

Good stuff. Right direction. But really, you need a few Shure SM57/58's. Not an option but a necessity. Many huge & extremely successful recordings are actually made mostly with these cheap microphones. You can never have too many. I love them on everything. But not on my toothbrush.

Don't use ketchup on your microphones
Ms. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD wrote: Good stuff. Right direction. But really, you need a few Shure SM57/58's. Not an option but a necessity. Many huge & extremely successful recordings are actually made mostly with these cheap microphones. You can never have too many. I love them on everything. But not on my toothbrush.

Don't use ketchup on your microphones
Ms. Remy Ann David

Cool , I have been looking to snipe some out on ebay.. Im hoping to get some soon.

I bought the Shure Mic Pack, which is really just a solid purchase that will shave some money off of buying multiple 57's AND get you a decent bass drum mic and a case for it all.

http://www.guitarcenter.com/Shure-Drum-Mic-Package-101161255-i1126540.gc

So yeah, that's 3 SM57's, and a single B52. Besides overheads, it works to completely mic a drum set for low end studio work or home stuff.

But you have an electric kit. :(
This whole post was kinda a waste then. But consider it, I guess.