Hey guys,

This is my first post on your fine forum. I must confess i only discovered it a few days ago but was impressed with the community here in terms of knowledge, but primarily in experience.

Im not sure eexactly which forum to put this post in (it seems to fit the bill for a few) - so mods, please move it if you think it belongs elsewhere.

First, a bit about myself. Im primarily a live sound engineer - i mix medium and large scale events here in the UK - a lot of my work is in Christian events but i also do secular events aswell. Im typically mixing 4-8 piece soft rock, jazz and indie bands for audiences around 800-2000 - my biggest gigs are in the 3000-10000 range. So in the live world, i have a fair bit of exprience and spend most of my time mixing fairly large rigs. However, i have always recorded my mixes (just 2 track) for reference and nostalgia purposes, but have never got the opportunity to remix them properly for home listening. Additionally, my work in the live world has introduced me to some great musos who i'd like to do some recording for.

What I'm after is a portable rig - one which i will pair with my laptop to both multitrack larger gigs (16-24 channels, line inputs) and record some smaller acts in a studio environment (2-8 channels simultaneously - with 2-4 pres for vocals and guitars). I want a firewire based interface.

So I'm a bit at a loss of what to get - i'd basically like something along the lines of a MOTU 828, Digi 002R, RME fireface 800, M-Audio 1814, Saffire pro etc.. Compactness is definitely a priority. Id probably then get my extra inputs for larger tracking jobs via something like an Alesis AI3 (8 channel A/D converter, ADAT based). Monitors wise - maybe some KRK rp6's Tapco S5, Event TR5, etc.. - definitely nearfield. Maybe oneday id get a Liquidmix or a Powercore to handle realtime EQing and compression

Budget is limited - I'm looking at spending as little as possible (obviously) but somewhere around £500-£1000 (US$1000-$2000).

So i guess my questions are:
1) do i go Pro Tools or not? (you seem to pay a premium for this)
2) What interfaces would you recommend? - the MOTU 828 mk II seems good value to me - the fireface looks like the best though.
3) For vocal recording, whats a good budget vocal mic?
4) What software and/or plugins would you recommend for such work? (good EQ's and compressors - maybe some nice reverb/delay/chorus)
5) Any other suggestions on monitors?

Cheers

Chris