I am trying to set up my studio with a pretty good budget. What equipment should I use? What is recommended for my studio?

You will receive the best, most thorough information by obtaining books on the subject from a bookstore or library.

A few of the basic elements are as follows:

You need to consider the acoustical environment if you will be recording any live performance. This means you will need to look into acoustical room treatments. (See the Master Handbook of Acoustics by F. Alton Everest for more info.)

AC power conditioners such as Furman Sound and others will be helpful.

An assortment of vocal and instrument microphones along with mic preamps. Don’t scrimp on the quality of any vocal microphones you may purchase.

A (dedicated) personal computer (Windows XP, Linux, or Apple) for use as a digital audio workstation. (See Carillon Audio Systems.) The computer should be an extremely low-noise design constructed and optimized for DAW use. Should be equipped with high-performance DVD-R/W and/or CD-R/W drives and perhaps a DAT drive.

An external (FireWire-based) digital audio interface such as Mark of the Unicorn (MOTU), M-Audio, etc. – avoid USB interfaces.

Multi-track music production software (digital audio sequencer) from companies such as Steinberg, Emagic, Cakewalk, etc.

Audio editing software (such as Sonic Foundry.)

Outboard (hardware) signal/effects processors and/or plug-ins (instruments, effects, sounds, etc.,) for music production software.

Outboard sound modules with MIDI interface.

Hardware and/or software based music sampler(s).

Multi-track digital mixing console.

MIDI keyboard/controller with pitch and modulation control.

Near-field monitor loudspeakers (such as Mackie HR824) and high-performance headphones (Sony, Sennheiser, Shure, or Ultimate Ears.)

High quality cabling to hook everything together; use digital connections whenever possible and use balanced (XLR) connections for analog audio connections when possible.