Hello
I thought i may have some good pointers for people looking to set up a decent recording set up without breaking the bank.

first of all i run a pretty powerfull Windows XP based PC with 2 gig of ram and 2.4gig proccessor, and a 200 gig Harddrive
and the essential is a add on Good quality soundcard, i use a Soundblaster Audigy (which i keep the drivers up dated on) on which i run a prog called Audio Cleaning Lab (cheap and easy to use) ideal for remixing and editing purposes.the line out on the souncard is connected to an audio line in on my Sony amp.

Externally i run everything through a large Sony Hifi amplifier with lots of inputs and two lots of record outputs.
to which i attatch a good quality record player with a good quality cartridge and needle, (esential to keep those LP recordings in tip top condition and quality), also connected is a Technics HX pro cassete deck (again to reccord cassettes to Wave files)
also connected to the amp and the computer is the heart of my set up aBoss BR900 CD connected to the amp by the highest quality audio cables i could afford and the computer via a USB cable.

The Amp is connected via a record line out to the computer line in and the whole lot is monitered by a set of Sony studio monitors connected to the amp.

with this set up i have easy access to everything i need to do via the amp...i can monitor and record onto my PC hard drive very easily using AC lab(the prog) i mentioned earlier for instance:

if i wanted to to record an LP record or cassette...i simply make sure that ACLab is running on my computer, and then by selecting the input source on the amp i can choose top monitor the record(i am recording) or the inputed sound throught the computer...all i have to do is adjust the record levels in the software, hit record and away i go recording in real time,

once recorded, i can then split and name tracks, enhance the recording in many diffrent ways, also fade in and out if so desired, and lastly i save the finished recording in seperate tracks as Wave files in a folder which i name the same as the recorded album.
nextly i use a small free bit of software to convert album of wave files into high quality MP3 recordings so i can listen to them on my MP3 player.

I use a red audio studio condenser mike with a XLR connection for recording directly to my Boss digital 8 track, it gives a lovely natural sound to flamenco and classical guitar...i always use the highest quality settings possible on the 8 track, i can then follow a similar procces to that which i described for recording the LP record...to record my created music into wave, wma or MP3 recordings..i then usually save them on my hard drive in a folder and i burn them onto CD using my PC's CD/DVD burner.
I also have an Epson Photo stylus R220 on which i can create CD label images when using inkjet recordable CD's, i have succesfully created High quality Demo CD's with disc art and cover, all from scratch and all for a fraction of the cost of studio time, and i get a reall BUzz out of creating something from Sratch and seeing it right throught the creative process