1500$ 3/4 professional quality

With 1400$ you can have some pretty **** good home recordings.

I'd suggest going with computer based recording. IMO it is the more flexible approach. Specially if you have a laptop. The quality from the gear I will list below will be superior to the all in one studio toys you can buy from tascam , yamaha , roland and those other companies.

Hopefully you have a decent/good computer/laptop that's up to date because with the software you'll be recording huge wav files.

So we say, you have a good computer, now what? well you need good mics. For tracking guitar, get the Shure sm57- this is a dynamic mic, it can take lots of sound pressure so you can put them real close to the cabinet. Next up is the Sennheiser md421, this one is pretty expensive, but it add lots of natural bottom end and has an open and airy sound to it. This might be over your budget so you might want to go with the Sennheiser e609

But what will you be using to recording those mics you ask? I suggest the Presonus firestudio or firepod. The firestudio has 8 class A mic preamps, the firepod is a lamer version of the firestudio. If you don't need all those preamps, then you can get the firebox. it's has 2 inputs.

Now you'll need software, don't worry, pretty much any mic pre interface you get comes with some form of software.

To hear everything you'll need studio monitors, you'll want these so you can hear a true representation of your mix. For now i suggest active monitors ( these are powered monitors so you don't need to get a poweramp ) a good pair in the 4-500$ should do, go used, so you can more quality for your buck.

Also You might be recording in the same room with your cab, so you might want to skip the monitors for now and get a good pair of headphones, check out the AKG 141 , they retail for about 100$

To sum everything up. I suggest


MIC PREAMPS/INTERFACE



Presonus Firestudio - 700$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/PreSonus-Firestudio-26x26-Firewire-Recording-System?sku=241848

Presonus Firepod - 400$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/PreSonus-FP10-FireWire-Interface-with-Cubase-LE?sku=184131

Presonus Firebox - 300$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/PreSonus-FIREBOX-24bit96kHz-FireWire-Recording-System?sku=184133


MICS


Sennheiser md421 - 350$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-MD421-MKII-U4-Microphone?sku=270820

Sennheiser e609 - 110$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-E609-Silver-Dynamic-Guitar-Microphone?sku=276668

Shure sm57 - 100$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-SM57-InstrumentVocal-Mic?sku=270102


Monitors

Alesis M-II active monitors - 350$
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Alesis-Monitor-1-Active-MKII-Powered-Monitors?sku=603203



Conclusion

for 1500$ which is 100$ over your budget you can get the firestudio, md421 and sm57 and alesis m II. Keep in mind if you buy these things on ebay you can stay in your budget, but if you don't like used then you can go for .. also you can subsitute the monitors for closed back headphones because you'll probably be recording in the same room as your monitors and will need them while your tracking.

the presonus firestudio , e609 , sm57 and alesis m II for $1260

If you don't need all those inputs, you can get high quality firewire for about the 500$ range just check www.musiciansfriend.com for TC electronics, Motu and M audio

Can I play too?

This is what I'd do with $1500 to end up with the best CD. This is using your personal computer. You should also buy a second hard drive for your audio files. Lots of stuff about setting up your computer for audio out there on dar intraweb.

Condenser Stereo Pair. MXL 993 in this case - $129

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/MXL-993-Condenser-Microphones-Stereo-Pair?sku=273171


Vocal/Amp/Misc Mic Nady Ribbon Mic $99

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Nady-RSM4-Ribbon-Studio-Microphone?sku=277107


SM57. - $99 I like the e609 too and you can sub it if you'd like, for $10 more. You should really have a pair, or buy one of each.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Shure-SM57-InstrumentVocal-Mic?sku=270102


Kick/Bass Mic. CAD (I like these guys) KBM412 - $49

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/CAD-KBM412-Bass-Kick-Drum-Microphone?sku=270774


Recording interface If this New 4 input Alesis works out it's a steal at $299. Comes with Cubase LE recording software.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/prod...-14-Input-FireWire-Audio-Interface?sku=246030


Good Headphones Sennheiser HD-280. $99

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Sennheiser-HD280-Pro-ClosedBack-Headphones?sku=242411

So thats:
$129
$99
$99
$49
$299
$99
-------
$775

Spend the rest on the best, professional mastering you can afford. If you can provide a halfway decent mix, there's nothing better than a pro working some magic on it. The best money you can spend.

I just bought a yamaha AW4416 for $570 shipped and it comes with 2 expansion cards (2 ADAT cards). I think that is a bit better option when it comes to computer based recording because most people use their personal computers for everything (especially downloading viruses and trojans).

I can't comment on the AW4416 yet as it is on it's way but reading about it gets me pretty excited (limiter on each channel, 2 effects procs, uncompressed recording at 16 bit 44.1 khz or 24 bit 48 khz, motorized faders, etc) and from the reviews I've read it seems like a very Pro piece of gear (it was $3799 new 7 years ago!).

I like knobs and faders (not to mention motorized ones!).

For me the price breakdown goes like this:

Yamaha AW4416 - 570 shipped
SM57 - 99
Mic cable - 20
HD-280 cans - 99

monitors - haven't decided yet but probably go in the $1k range to get a quality pair of powered monitors

So i am at around $800 for a complete recording package minus monitors.

The laptop option doesn't exist for me because i have a crumby laptop issued by the US Gov for school work (i am lucky the **** thing came with a DVD rom).

I can't imagine mixing with a mouse.


Greg

Mixing with a mouse is great! I couldnt imagine mixing any other way.
And i keep my pc blazingly fast.. AMD x2 3800 dual core . 2 gigs of ram. stock it runs 2.0ghz I have it overclocked to 2.9ghz .. It doesnt bog down at all.. Not even when recording 12 tracks at a time at 96khz .


Recording interfaces 3 m-audio delta 44's. ( $150 each )
1 ART TPS II preamps two channel pre ( $179 ) used for kick/snare/vocals/guitar/bass and for mastering
1 nady 8 channel preamp ( $99 for the money its great ) used for toms and overheads
Crown CE 1000 for my Boston monitors ( optional $489 )
ART headphone amp/ 4pair akg headphones ( package deal $129 )
Carvin 100 ft 16 channel snake ( $279 couldnt imagine life without it)
AKG C2000b ( $199 )
MXL 990 ( used $50 )
AKG D112 ( used $50 )
2x sm57 ( used pair $80 )
2xsm58 ( used pair $100 )
7 piece audix drum mic's ( used $300 )
ebay and craigslist are the best for finding used gear. All bought local to me to.
Behringer 12 channel mixer/for headphone mixes ( $249 )

But the thing that blows this out of the water of me is my Waves Platinum Bundle which runs around $1300 by itself.

I have been adding to this for about 4 years now, one piece at a time.
check out some of my work http://myspace.com/burnstudios