You didn't mention what you are recording through and to... audio I/O, mic pre, recording platform, etc.

You didn't mention the style of what you'd be recording...

And why are you looking at putting foam, in your own words, "somewhere"? I'm just curious as to what you expect to gain by using it...

I was going to get a Avid Pro Tools Express with Mbox Mini Portable Audio Interface and as for style, rap.
As for the foam, I was going to make a U shaped tall box sorta thing, Ive seen them on youtube and stuff, I was going to put foam on the inside of that.

If you can swing $150 more, the mbox3 (and the mbox 3 pro) has better preamps than the mbox3 mini. But, please be warned that the preamps in the Avid interfaces are low on gain. They should be ok with the AT mics that you mentioned as long as you aren't trying to do very soft (low volume) instruments. Also the mbox3 mini has an awkward mix control to achieve low latency monitoring.....the mbox3 & mbox3pro both have real switched LLM. Here is a link that you may find to be useful.

Avid | Mbox Mini

Go down and click on the "compare mbox interfaces" link...for some reason I can't seem to paste it here.

I really believe that the mbox3, the mbox3 pro, or the eleven rack are significantly better than the mini.....if money is a problem, try ebay.

The bundled PT Express is actually a good place to start as it is free for now and is worth a significant discount later if you decide to upgrade. Since it is free, if you end up hating PT and go with something else, you haven't lost anything.

Those foam devices that are sold to go behind microphones may be nice for speech, but IMO they are terrible for music. Try your room without one before spending money on foam.

Also try not to put your microphone in a corner. In many rooms, about 1/3 of the distance on two of the dimensions works best. Be prepared to move it around a bit to find the best place.....I doubt that you will prefer a corner.

Good luck! I hope your recordings go well.

Small apartments are generally not all that good sounding with anybody's condenser microphones. I think you should go for a good dynamic microphone. A 58 with an additional foam pop filter is a total winner. Beta 58 if you want more of that condenser like sound out of a dynamic microphone. And these microphones will virtually ignore the highest and lowest frequencies that contribute nothing more than noise. So a microphone with a stated frequency response of 50-17,000 is really closer and will be better or sounding for your needs.

I also see all of you rap & hip-hop guys nearly swallowing the microphones whole. Or you're grabbing at the back of the metal ball, completely screwing up the directional pattern along with the sound. And you guys seem to do that because you see the other morons doing it. It don't sound good that way. Never has. Never will. And soon as you put on your headphones, you're never going to use your microphone low-frequency cut switch. It will take the balls out of your sound, through headphones. Then you can sound like a mud pie on speakers for everyone LOL. And where we all use high pass filtering to filter out that mud. And where guys like yourself get addicted to the way they sound through headphones without any low-frequency cut off.

Some people will recommend that you get a SHURE SM 7B, going for over $300 US. When all you really need is a 58 with an additional foam pop filter. And keeping yourself about a one fist distance from the pop filter. And then it'll sound like a 7 and save you over $200. Guaranteed. I won't completely discourage you from purchasing a decent large diaphragm condenser microphone. They're great! In the right rooms. On the right people. Under the right conditions. Otherwise they'll all sound like crap even at the $3000 + range. Nothing sounds like a real Neumann 47 other than a real 47. Though many come close to being very adequate. And feature model numbers that include the number 47 in their microphones. Most of those are just poor emulations of a real 47. The AT line of microphones offer quality performance at a reasonable price because they're made in Japan and not Germany. The Germans are into total quality while the Japanese are into total efficiency. And that's quite a different mindset. Most of the other boutique American stuff is all being imported from China. And no one really likes that Chinese sound except for the Chinese. I like their food better than American food. But it's hard to beat that thick juicy rare steak USDA prime, every once in a while. With beautiful fat marbling throughout that chunk of meat. Ain't no good without the fat. And the same holds true for audio. Which is why you should just get yourself an SM58 and be done with it. Beta if you want Better? Beta if you want that additional high-frequency octave? Beta if you want a dynamic that sounds more like a good condenser microphone over other condenser microphones. And all the benefits that come with that dynamic choice. I kid you not. And don't want a 58? OK, RE 20. SENNHEISER 441. A few bucks less? Sennheiser 421, Electro-Voice RE 16. When you take apart an SM-7 you find inside a 57 capsule. Same with the rarely seen today, SM-5. Take off the foam covering and you find a 57 capsule. And where perhaps the output transformer in the microphone might be a little larger? SHURE knows what they're doing and they don't vary far from what they know, especially when it comes to dynamic microphones. I simply love all of their condenser microphones by the way. So if you want a condenser microphone with a large diaphragm capsule, you might want to consider one of their KSM series large diaphragm condenser microphones? I'd go for one of those before I would go for anyone else's. Except perhaps a Neumann or a Sennheiser, AKG, one of those German or Austrian guys. Though I still think all of those would be problematic in your recording environment? You're going to get so much of the room even if you stick foam all over your face. And so does your razor have only a single blade, two blades, three blades or four blades? And which one you like better? Schick or Gillette, BIC? I don't like the Schick's. So don't give me no Schick. And I won't give you any lies.

I actually preferred the BIC's myself. Easier on the legs. Dammit the laser doesn't get rid of the blonde.
Mx. Remy Ann David

I'm sorry. I missed that you were doing rap. I agree with Remy, the Shure SM58 is a better choice than the AT microphones you are looking at.