very cool... and welcome to the forum here.

Here's how I do this thing called music.

I have a computer that I built running the software I use.
Connected to the computer is a dedicated external audio/midi interface. The midi instruments as well as the mic and guitar processor input to the interface. On the flip side, I have my monitoring speakers connected to the interface outputs so I can hear what I'm doing and complete the mixing.

I use a decent condenser mic. (Rode NT-2A) and yes, it will pick up all the sounds in the neighborhood.... lawn mowers, dogs, trucks, the train, ....I have learned to deal with it. I either wait until the lawn guy is done cutting the neighbor yards, or I can also do some punch in recording where the dog happened to bark at an inopportune time.

ALL my mixing and recording is "IN THE BOX".... in other words, there's no mixer in this studio. It's software based. Starting on the left is my midi keyboard with papers piled up on it. Next is the left side Mackie monitor and not shown is the lava lamp. Computer under the desk.... video monitor on the desk with keyboard and to the right of the monitor is the interface I use. In the cubby hole to the right is my headphone amp, my POD2 guitar processor and one of the Mackie speakers I use for monitoring. Moving further to the right is a stack of amps and a sub. Out of the scene to the right is another guitar amp. In the center on the mic stand is the Rode.



As far as software goes.... The main things are Band In A Box which I use to compose my songs.....And Real Band (both are PG products) which I use to render many of the tracks.

The interface: Yes, you really do need to get one of these..... choose a model that suits your needs.... number of inputs, number of outputs, phantom power, midi, and pre-amps on the audio inputs..... be sure it has pre-amps...and that it can run ASIO. I have a max of 2 live inputs from my interface...and I rarely use them both together. I have my POD2 plugged into both but I'm recording only the left input.



I also use Sonar as my DAW software simply because I know how it works and like how it works. Real Band from PG will also do much of what Sonar does. It's in Sonar that I do my mixing and also add the live instruments that I play as well as record the vocals.

Unless you absolutely need to have a physical mixer in front of you.... don't buy one. Everything is moving in the direction of being "IN THE BOX".... The only reason I could see having a mixer is if you're recording multiple musicians in a live session. For the solo musician in a studio working on song demo's, a set up similar to what I have described above is all you will ever need.

ALL of the music on my web-site music page was recorded in the studio you see in the pics above.

Hope this helps, and if you have further questions or comments, feel free to respond.

You can find my music at:
www.herbhartley.com
Add nothing that adds nothing to the music.
You can make excuses or you can make progress but not both.

The magic you are looking for is in the work you are avoiding.