Great, that leaves you with 5 K for acoustic treatment which should get you somewhere.

Not necessarily more expensive, but better, please.

A few key elements to a great sound:
2 Great microphones, both with a different sonic character. I'd suggest one more focused on mid range (darker sound) and the other with more present in the upper range.
If you can only pick 1 go with a U87 since its the most all-round versatile mic and can be used for many applications.

Look into the conversion quality of your recording. Don't go with a cheap sound interface, look for example into UAD products.

Make sure to treat your room well so you won't be fooled by the sound of the room when you are recording/mixing.

Look into a good pair of monitors that can handle a lot of low-end so that you know what the lows are actually doing in your mix.
On many monitor speakers the lows are not defined so well which makes it really hard to mix them.

When it comes to the computer equipment, there is a reason the industry is mostly working with Apple. It is extremely reliable on a pro level and rarely causes problems, its all about stability, especially when working with a client you can't afford losing time over computer stuff that is failing.

DAW: endless possibilities these days with Ableton/Logic/Protools. Since you're into keyboards I'd probably go with Logic because of the many possibilities with midi and you can also properly mix in the software.

If you are going to make pop productions you will benefit a lot by subscribing to a platform where you can get endless amounts of samples such as splice, because sounds are the building blocks of music production and having access to them is a no-brainer when you're inspired. (Never be limited by your own sound database)

Hope its helpful!

Cheers

I made sound acoustic panels myself and literally saved about $1100 dollars by doing so compared to buying these from the store.

My curmudgeonly rant goes like this:

The two things that effect the quality of the sound recording experience most are the room it's recorded in and the room it's played back in. Since you can only control the former, it's really worthwhile to spend time and money getting it right....I'm not saying 'mastering room' right, but eliminate the things that will fool you that what your hearing is what's going to tape/drive when it's not. Room dimensions rule, everything else is fixes.

The next two important factors are the transducers, eg microphones and loudspeakers. Invest wisely here and they hold value (unlike plugins or boxes). Yes, you can select microphones achieve a certain sound, but pick your monitors for 'truth' not 'pleasure'.

FWIW, the general model for buildout (studios, kitchen remodel, software development) is twice the money and three times the time as originally planned ; )

Good Luck!

Mike
(geek who's retirement-home-studio-project is still a work in progress)

You know as far as DAWS are concerned - Reaper should be looked at for its low resource use and small footprint. It has finally reached #1 as top overall DAW on many ratings charts which bodes well for the future, With Reaper you can use a track for MIDI or Audio.The other nice thing is (I have Reaper Native Linux as my daily driver) but I also have Reaper Windoes at my disposal too which give me all the linux and windows plugins/programs. It can also use 32bit or 64 bit. There are many other perks with Reaper too. If you do some EDM, Reaper is often overlooked - it can do nice band pass sweeps. One other plus I (I use a lot) Is using an aiff file... if I am going to use some - I load it into Audacity (or similar) as an 'external editor' and just change the suffix from .aiff to .wav. And if I want to export specific .aiff files you can do it in reverse. It is nice to be able to work across Linux/Windows/Apple files.The other upside is there are thousands of free programs and thousands of free soundbanks fro samples

I know picking a DAW is more of a personal choice - workflow etc, But it is well worth a look see - its customizability is unmatched.

i think it is good to start with the idea of building evenly (i.e. spending evenly). if you are lopsided in one spending area, consider re-balancing so your spend is more even and does not neglect any critical area.

the stuff that will make the most difference is the sound of your tracking/mixing environment, your microphones, and your monitors.

so i would start out at $5000 x 3 for each of those as a baseline spending reference. come in a little under budget in each of the three critical categories, and put the money left over to the non-critical stuff. that way you lead with what is most important, and subordinate items of lesser importance to the remainder budget.

Mics:
matched pair of Schoeps small diaphragm cardioids (these mics are top of their game): $3125
warm audio wa-47 multipattern large diaphragm tube condenser mic: $900
sm-57 for guitar cabinets: $100.
that puts you at $4125 on mics. $200 for cabling and stands puts you at $4325

Monitors:
There are plenty of quality monitor companies that would be happy to help you part with $5000. But maybe something like:
ADAM Audio A7X with matching Sub10 subwoofer: $2500
Avantone CLA10 powered NS10 remakes: $1000
Avantone powered mixcube: $260
three-way monitor switching system: $350
that puts you just over $4000. so maybe $4400 with stands and cabling.
you could just stack it all in a single pair of awesome speakers. but then you don't have the sub, and don't have other speakers to check against. that's a judgement call. monitors are so personal that I wouldn't commit until you know what you want.

Room treatment:
This is highly dependent on what you are starting with. But figure on $2500 on diffusors and absorbers, $2000 on whatever else you need (including perhaps spending money on a room test measurement mic and room tuning software). That puts you at $4500

That puts you close to $2000 left over for everything else. But what else do you really need? A decent computer, a decent interface, a talkback system, some decent plugins, daw software, a desk and chair? You should be able to put that together for $2000.

There are a lot of different ways you can do this. But I think if you try to start at $5000 in each of the three primary categories and work downward from there, you will end up buying quality items in the areas that matter most.

There is a simple principle that if so often ignored - especially if it is a hobby (to whatever degree of seriousness you want to take it) - you should be ENJOYING your time, and spending your time in your hobby space. You should also be proud of the product that you produce. So following those principles...

1) Do not consider emulation (Hackintosh/Boostrap) software - it WILL be painful - do you really want to spend your time putzing around with that? No. Choose a platform. If you consider it important to game on the same computer you do music on, get a PC. Otherwise, I would get a Mac - or two. Strongly consider a dedicated computer for your room. One of the new MacMini's is a great price/performance ratio - you most certainly do NOT need the top of the line one, upgrade the RAM yourself. And yes some external SSD storage - The Samsung T3/5's are awesome little beasts and they are portable and cheap. Get a lighter weight Air to do mobile stuff with. You can get both for your allotted budget and easily work on the same files - cloud store them.

2) Get a good Mic. Not 3,000 good, an Advanced Audio (type) 87 good. Half a grand, versatile, well worth it.

3) Buy a good mic stand. It is a small luxury that pays massive dividends in the weekly annoyance factor of flimsy wobbly stands. You don't need a Latch Lake, but a good stand with counter weight and the heavy base/wheels is about $200 - you will thank me later.

4) Apollo's are good. Decent preamps, good conversion, the free plugins they come with are very usable. On that topic...

5) Don't go down ANY plugin rabbit hole. It is a massive waste of time, energy, money.

If you go down the Mac route, Logic's plug-ins are fantastic. For third party - Tokyo Dawn Labs makes free EQs/Compressors/Limiters that are insanely good. I would highly recommend that you - very purposely - limit plug ins and instead, get really familiar with what you have - learn how to use them well. The vast majority of plug-ins have subtle differences in the final results they potentially produce. How they are used is far more important until we get to true pro levels of phase coherence and/or larger complicated mixes. For primarily electronically produced music, you will be more than fine.

Remember that a lot of what you are reading here on GS is coming from pro's that do this for a living - and keep in mind that the reason they are using such a wide myriad of plug-ins revolves around THEIR preferred workflow, the demands placed upon them, and how they need to get the sound they are thinking about out of their head in the quickest most effective way possible. Then of course there is taste and very subtle nuances that they may prefer. So you can take advice/lessons from this, but with a large grain of salt.

6) Instrument libraries/players are another story, but similar. Do you need Omnisphere, Trillion, every Atruria, Massive, Kontact library? Or would Logic's built in Alchemy, and ES libraries be just fine with a few additions? That's up to how you want to spend your time. I would apply the same rules here - learn how to use the instruments you have really well before going and getting a zillion other options. Unless of course you just happen to love xxxx, then by all means.

7) Headphones - depends on your need. For tracking, HD280's are good closed backs - or - get a few Monoprice DJ pros. They are very good, comfortable and for 20 odd bucks you won't cry when you sit on them. For mixing/mastering - its a taste thing. I like Senn 650's.

8) Cables - you will only need a few - get good ones (including the computer/interface connections). There are bunch of good companies and usually a local guy or two that can build some good Canare/Mogami's for you for a reasonable price - but think about your room setup first to determine proper lengths. Which leads to the most important part of the discussion that you have not addressed...

9) Your room.
As I mentioned at the top, you should enjoy your space, and in return, your space should provide you with enjoyment and good results. Make it comfortable and sound good. Treatments, lighting, air, temperature, furniture, are incredibly important. It does not have to be expensive - but rather, well planned and well thought out for your needs. Get good comfortable seating. Get a good desk. Plan power and audio cabling to be out of the way. Simple things. A nice drum throne/stool for when you play guitar. If you go the Mac route, get a cheap(er) iPad for a remote to your DAW and mount it near your guitar stuff so you don't have to fight with office chair arms or lean over and smack the headstock on your desk. Planning simple things like that go a very long way.

There is nothing more wasteful than fussing or fighting with your environment and gear. Plugging/unplugging, fixing, moving sht around - c'mon man. Spend the time upfront and enjoy it for years. I always find it amazing what people put up with in our industry - especially when it is a hobby. Can you imagine going fishing or playing baseball on the weekends and having to constantly compensate for poor equipment choices. Seriously, would you put up with disorganized, tangled fishing gear and go out on a boat that you can't start and spews fumes every weekend - all because you spent your money on a portable DVD player and a $1000 satellite powered fish finder that can distinguish 20 species of trout and takes fish-selfies?

That's how I would advise you start and plan your budget. Sit in the space you're going to be in and go through scenarios. Is it a dedicated room/multi purpose? Monitors or TV's for your DAW that will allow sports and gaming which would also require a couch or lounge chairs, coffee table and mini-fridge.

When your room is good, comfortable, proper sounding, you can then confidently make the next-step choices like more accurate monitors, preamp flavouring, etc.

That's my 2.5 cents.

I like your 2.5 cents.

ok. i'll play.

15k. recording vocals, keys, bass, guitar...no drum kit.

used macbook pro $1000
22" monitor $200
keyboard and trackball $100
protools perpetual $800
thunderbolt 1tb drive to record to $400

universal audio apollo twin $500
used universal audio la 610 tube preamp/eq/compressor $1000

yamaha hs5 powered monitors $400
yamaha hs8s powered subwoofer $400

audeze lcd2 headphones $700
direct sound isolation headphones $150

shure sm57 $100
Used Shure sm7 $350
used neuman u87 $2100
Used pair km184 $3000
Used Coles 4038 ribbon $1000

Figure another grand for some nice interconnects, mic cables and a few mic stands.

That’s about 13k and you have some higher end mics that won’t lose most of their value in the next 5 or 10 years like most gear. You can record pretty much anything with those 6 microphones. The mic preamp and compressor and di are great on the la610. I’d probably want to add another stereo preamp with a different flavor later. Maybe a daking. I think he makes a stereo preamp now.

You can do a lot with the ua apollo. Use the unison preamps and maybe put a grand toward some of the other ua plugins, neve, ua, helios so you have some other flavors. The basic free plugins that come with all the apollos can do a lot. You can always add a few other plugins for not very much.

Eventually if you wanted to track drums...add ua apollo 8p if you want to use the unison mic preamp plugins...or just get an audient or focusrite 8ch preamp with adat outs. You'll need some kind of kick mic, and maybe some other dynamics for toms. Use the km84 as overheads, sm57 snare, u87 as a front of kit/room mic. coles as a mono room mic. you'd spend probably another 700-2k depending on what you get.

also, i'd budget another grand for acoustic treatment for your room. you can build simple bass traps and absorbtion panels from simple 2x4 frames filled with owens 703 and covered with fabric. lots of sources on the internet for how to build them.

even just a few panels around your mix position, maybe a cloud above...and some bass trapping can make a basic home room sound much better.

Have you had any luck routing a recorded signal back to the portico ii channel for further de-essing, eq, and compressing? I couldn;t get the routing to work properly and all I got was a thin input coming back into the id44. the only thing I didn't touch was the audient software so I assume maybe the error I encountered had to with it.

I was able to properly do this with an MPCX instead, so I know my portico is working properly, which was a concern since I picked it up used.

Any light on this would be amazing.

Since I don’t know how you are routing things, I can’t really say. You need to be sure and use balanced cables and try as direct cabling as possible, from a line output to the line input of the RND, no patch bay need apply. See if that doesn’t help suss out the problem.