havent bought anything...YET

[mel]

so. this question has probably been asked 100 times here already. or maybe as 100 seperate questions. but...here it goes. i am looking into buying a mac based protools recording setup. up to this point i have only done stuff on a roland 880ex. but i am seeing and hearing the limitations of that. so a 15" mac probook is what i am leaning towards.
next, i have heard that for protools, the Mbox2 pro is a good interface to go with. but, i am worried (for some reason) that at some point i might want to do some multi input recording (like say miking drums) and the 2 xlr's on the mbox wont cut it. after talking to some people they say the obvious answer to this is the digidesign 003 factory bundle. of course, this is almost 3 times as expensive as the Mbox2. worth it? or is this unnecessary for now? maybe not for someone starting out is what i am leaning towards. am i wrong? that is one of my MAIN questions. im thinking if i go with the Mbox that gives me some extra loot for my next item/question...
being a fan of the older recordings of the 60s and 70s, i am afraid that once all is said and done, im not going to be blown away by the ****th of the sound. so i am thinking i need a good tube channel strip. someone suggested the universal audio LA610. again, a relatively pricey item by my standards. they do offer the solo610 which is about half the price with no compressor. will i hear a noticeable difference with either of these? or is this a luxury item that my newby ears wont catch from the getgo? how necessary is the compressor? on a budget should i just go with the solo610?
the final touch would have to be the monitors...which i am the least informed on. what are some good options for a setup like what i have talked about above?
summing up...i am trying to get the ball rolling here and i want to spend around $4000 to have some kind of working system. i will gladly listen to anyone that has something to say on the matter. thanks for the patience in reading this admittingly loooong post. cheers, mel

[brandondrury]

This thread must be cursed. I've written out TWO replies to this just to have them losted into oblivion. Oh well. 3rd times a charm.

i have heard that for protools, the Mbox2 pro is a good interface to go with.

It's a good route, but you are paying extra for the name.

digidesign 003 factory bundle. of course, this is almost 3 times as expensive as the Mbox2. worth it? or is this unnecessary for now

I'd go other routes. Only you can decide if the Digidesign 003 is worth the extra price.

Are you dead set on Pro Tools? If you are willing to go with other software, you can save quite a bit of cash.

being a fan of the older recordings of the 60s and 70s, i am afraid that once all is said and done, im not going to be blown away by the ****th of the sound.

The gear didn't change much from 1970 to 1995. Yet, the recordings changed drastically. Why? The music changed and the techniques to capture that music changed. In the beginning stages, your biggest problem won't be capturing the old sound. Your biggest problem will be capturing a sound that doesn't totally suck. Unless you are an incredible engineer, I wouldn't worry much about that right not.

so i am thinking i need a good tube channel strip. someone suggested the universal audio LA610. again, a relatively pricey item by my standards. they do offer the solo610 which is about half the price with no compressor. will i hear a noticeable difference with either of these? or is this a luxury item that my newby ears wont catch from the getgo?

Is this a luxury? I think so, but I'll let you decide. Check out the preamp shootouts in my member's only area. The API and Great River as top notch pres that pros drool over. The Mackie is a pre that pros laugh at. Can you hear the difference? I'd expect the UA610 to be similar to the API and Great River.

the final touch would have to be the monitors...

If the guy who recommended the UA 610 knew that you considered monitoring the "final touch" he wouldn't have recommended the UA 610. Heavy an extremely accurate studio monitoring system is the most important piece of the entire recording chain other than the song and the musicians.

I can definitely help you with this, but I would take all that money for Pro Tools and put it into room acoustics and studio monitors.

I don't know all of your needs, but I'd lean in the direction of this for the audio interface and use Cubase LE until I outgrew it (upgrading LE is half price on the Steinberg site) and then studio monitors like this. That puts you at $1400 for a rig that is just as good as any Pro Tools rig and leaves you $2600 for room acoustics, mics, plugins, etc.

Brandon