What is a good basic home recording setup?

I would like some tips on what i need for a good but not extremely EXSPENSIVE setup. What should i use to record what im playing?

Really, whatever you need to get a good tone and something to record that tone... Haha. No, but for real, I've spent enough time in plenty of studios to know that half that super expensive crap you see in studios is not needed. Sure, my old home studio cost more than a pretty penny. However, being that I am in Iraq I need to hook myself up with something super cheap and something that wouldn't piss off the neighbors.

Keep in mind, I'm sure you can find the same stuff I got for less money so shop around. But here is what I got: I was looking for cheap, quiet (i.e. Not pissing off the neighbors), good tone:

24 packs of strings - $71.98
2 Cables - $19.95
Virtual Guitar rig with hardware interface - $129.00
Virtual pedal rig - $99.00
Latest version of Cakewalk - $99.00
Studio Headphones - 99.95
Guitar - $279.00
Total: $797.88

You can hook yourself up for cheaper than that. It all just depends on what you are looking for.

Further to what GS said, if you're a bit of a computer geek and are comfortable with Linux operating systems, you can get professional quality studio recording software for nothing!

Ubuntu Linux Studio O.S http://ubuntustudio.org/

It has everything you'll ever need once you've mastered its quirkiness.

Thanks guys. I really appreciate your help.

um .. when i record its one of two ways...

1. guitar>amp>computer
what i mean by this is i play my guitar thru my amp and then from the headphone jack to my comps mic jack then i use my headphones from the head phone jack

2. guitar>amp>mic>computer
by this i mean i play my guitar thru my amp but use a mic instead for a live-er sound...

1. guitar>amp>computer

i think this is the best way to record

hamad

If you want a cleaner sound, the go with mista vincejonesiii 1st set up.
I personally like the grittier sound of the 2nd set up, using the microphone (I would cut almost all the bass in the mic signal on a mixer or the software if that's possible). But, that's just me. It's kinda like The Stroke's album, Is This It; very garage rock and ***ty sounding. But that's what makes it awesome for me.

Sorry, I forgot to censor myself there.

The one that works best for you.

RAWK!
Cs

I use the Line6 UX2. It cost me like 200$ i quite like it. I think for the price its pretty good. Got loads of steups and pedals integrated.

lol i have a line 6 spider III 75 watt amp:D

I am not a fan of vincejonesiii's 1st method, i find it takes all the depth outa my sound

thats why i have two methods to my madness man ;D

Here's my set up:

Guitar - FX - AMP - Computer...

the computer is where I spent the most $$...(I am forced to suffer a Squier Strat)...

Decent Computer with an M-Audio sound card with 4in/4out...

I use Ardour on the software side and dump everything into a WAV file and then clean it up with a friendlier program called audacious and then dump it into mp3...

This is very watered down so if you'd like a more detailed process for using Linux to record...PM me...

I've been talking with a guy of craigslist whos has one of the old school tascam 8track reel to reel setups. I'm a sucker for analog tape

Now THATS the oldschool man!!! :D... nice one.

If you want to talk 'old school' how about this. Back in the early '60's my dad had an old Grundig reel to reel mono tape recorder with something you don't see anymore. I'm talking about a little black 'matchstick' type button that was marked 'super-impose'. He used to have hours of fun singing songs and 'super-imposing' different parts over the original recording. I think it used to just kill the tape-wipe magnet as long as the button was depressed.
The old man didn't have a bad voice. He sounded quite like a barbershop quartet in one of his songs!
So there you go. Early multi tracking a la Buddy Holly!

It turned out one of the reels does not turn right. I'm not sure if that is something that can be fixed cheaply or not. Really kind of a cool relic