When talking even about budget gear, the 1st thing is to ask what your need is...
Is it for ?
1. Acoustic Setup (Mainly acoustic songs)
2. Electric Setup (Mainly electric rock songs)
3. Piano setup (Mainly piano love songs)
4. ouch , too many!!!!!!!!!
The minimum differs for different needs...
If just an acoustic setup would be simpler to start with, but really not easy to end with. Get a good sound acoustic guitar is no.1, and this doesn't mean getting the most pricey one. For wooden guitars, each piece sounds different, and sometimes you find really good cheap ones...
Miking would be largely important for acoustic, but it kills 2 birds with 1 stone. Get a good large diaphragm vocal condenser, this same one can be used for acoustic and vocal recording.
Preamp doesn't make as much difference, people have great misconception with preamps, thinking they have to buy pricey ones. Brands like Art and Presonus stock models at roughly $350 which would be enuff, other alternative is to get a Mackie mixer (known for it's good preamps).
And interface is necessary, but for simple setup, get Maudio, Tascam, Presonus or Yamaha. Just roughly $300-$400 would be enuff. Don't get Echo unless you are really computer savvy. And pls no Creative unless you want to play games...
Get a good sound studio headphones for mixing, roughly $240. You need it bad unless you want to spend days after days troubleshooting your mix. Remember time is money...
So, for minimum acoustic setup would be Acoustic Guitar($300-$400), Interface ($300-$400), Headphone ($240), Preamp(Optional) ($350).
For less than $1500 would be enuff for minimum setup...
I won't mention about the other setups cos there's too much to talk about...
Many people really think they can setup a studio and hit the button and get good production immediately... I noe it's actually cheaper than a car to set up a studio nowadays, but people tend to forget one thing else, that is "GOLDEN EARS"...
It takes many years or experience to be able to mix and tweak the sound well, and even if you have the good gears doesn't mean you can end up with a commercial standard production. That's why people pay for studio time and look for producers and sound engineers to do the job...
Remember, time is money!!!!! If you are just a musician or hobbyist, i recommend you pay for studio time rather than sit round all day tweaking, unless you don't want to see yourself performing anymore..
The other alternative is if you want to be that star artist/producer/musician then go ahead!!!!
