Protools--vs--????, lost in the digi jungle----HELP!! Options

i am starting from the ground up with a home studio ....i definitly want a mac i have my own website and as well as being a musician/composer...im also an artist

what i need to know is basicaly this;;

what is the best and most cost efficant way to build a home studio that will be album quality and provide me with the warmth i enjoyed with 24 track 2'' tape --is this possible on a budget of a few grand or am i fooling myself??--------is protools the right way to go and what kind of mac is best 4 what im doing-----HELP PLEASE---

[Synthetic]

I personally... I think you can record an excellent album at home with less than $1500 investment. But... it really depends on the music you are recording and the sound you wish to acheive. If you are a punk band that seeks the garage sound... with good recording technigues and mixing... then should be no problem getting a good quality CD from home. But... a lot depends on the person responsible for the actual recording and mixing. If they don't have the ear for it... then it will never sound good. If you want the sound heard from artists like Steely Dan, Fleetwood Mac etc... then it will probably not happen in a modest home studio.

I think electronic musicians have a bit of the upper hand when it comes to recording good quality material. Most electronic musicians use the direct input approach with synths and samplers or use software based instruments and bypass the ever so tricky microphone recordings that depend on amplifiers and acoustics of the environent. I have more wuality recordings from indie electronic musicians than I have from indie rock bands for instance. The mix is another topic but the recordings are generally better.

Here is an example... MOBY...yes I know he makes tons of $$$ now days but he does all his recoding in his home studio (and I know his home studio is worth as much as some of our homes) but he does it all in his studio. He only relies on outside help with mastering of the finished product. He even creates the master disc using itunes on a g4. Now I have listened to his new CD a lot lately... it seems to have a bit more background noise in the recording than most studio releases but... the average consumer isn't going to realize that and it stills sells well.

I have reviewed a lot of music on broadjam.com and there are a lot of recordings I hear that aren't studio quality and probably done at home but the song itself was good enough that the cheaper recording didn't really bother so much. But on the other hand... I have heard some recordings that almost hurt my ears and quite honestly couldn't bare to listen to anymore. I think if you have good enough material to start with... and you make this material translate well on recording ... then quality sometimes doesn't have to be up to studio par. But, if the recording is so bad that it irritates the listener or they can't hear any detail or dynamics... then the material will never sell well no matter how well promoted.

If anyone is interested... there is a really interesting forum post happening at http://www.prosoundweb.com/ that is from a recording engineer know as Mixerman detailing his latest recording project. Its interesting to hear what really goes on in the big label studios.

Also, I will not that anyone interested in home recording should sign up for free subscription to TapeOp which is like an old school recording mag with some interesting reads about recording at home... studio or on location. You can find links to it at http://www.prosoundweb.com/ as well or I think you can go to www.tapeop.com

Just tossing in my 2 cents... ok... maybe it added up to 4 cents

ohh... i agree with T on the advertising thing... but lets not forget that a very small percentage of music being created would ever be accepted by the major labels for publishing and advertising... and those bigger labels are not always looking for the best music to sell... they want something that is going to sell NOW and make them profits and if your music doesn't fit into the current trend... your chances at getting a deal like that are slim to none no matter how good your music is. Lets also not forget that Joe Satriani sold his first CD's from trunk of his car. He was rejected at first but popularity soon grew and labels couldn't resist then.