[jim1960]

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

I’m an older guy who plays acoustic and electric guitar. Having just moved into a house, I have a dedicated practice room aka fledgling studio. It is climate controlled and the walls are insulated and the ‘clap in the corner’ test sounds pretty ‘dead’ and non-echo-ey to me.

The biggest mistake most beginners make when they first venture down this road is avoiding the investment in room treatment. It's unlikely your room is dead and you start to hear that in your recordings, you should address the problem (and that's a whole other area of research). Something you didn't tell us are the dimensions of the room and that's important information.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

...I’d rather do it right the 1st time and be done. Cry once makes sense to me.

Whether you'll have done it right the first time will depend upon a bunch of things you don't really know yet, including whether the setup you buy produces results that match your expectations. None of us can get inside your head to know those things, so you'll have to see how things shape up for you as you move forward.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

GOALS: I want to make recordings for my granddaughter. I would like to be able to do the audio stuff for the videos I take with my digital SLR. Nothing fancy, just some basic stuff (I assume it’s basic) like add narration, background music or edit stuff. I would like to make quality recordings.

That's a lovely goal. And keep in mind that your granddaughter isn't going to critique the quality of the audio; she's simply going to love that she'll have these memories of you to look back on.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

I have iRig stuff, and iPad and Garage Band. I’ve been told by someone with a week’s more experience than me, that upgrading now will better suit my long term goal of quality and ‘cry once’ on gear since I want to add the video soundtrack factor to the equation.

I'm not sure how much you'll be limited if you're using an ipad. Others can probably weigh in on that.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

Current nominees for gear are:
1. Audient Audio Interface iD22
2. Ultimate Support JS-MS70 Jam Stands Series Studio Monitor Stands

I don't know anything about the quality of the preamps in the Audient. At that price point, they're probably not great but they may be usable if they're not too noisy.
Whether you need stands depends upon the size of the monitors, the size of the room, and how you plan to layout your gear.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

3. Studio monitors being considered are:
a. KRK V8 G4 with Kevlar
b. KRK RP8
c. Yamaha HS8S
d. ADAM Audio A7X
The reason I’m going with 8 inch versions is what I read that I won’t need a sub-woofer with 8 inch speakers. Remember the part where I said “based on my vast experience”? Well, feel free to laugh if that’s a silly reason for 8 inch speakers.

I've never heard anyone tell me they really love their KRK monitors. I'm sure there are some people out there who do but I haven't run into any. The Yamaha monitors are pretty popular for a couple of reasons. First, the price is friendly. Second, they're not very forgiving. What I mean by that is if you get something sounding nice on the Yamahas, it usually transfers well to other listening devices. The downside is that they can be a bit fatiguing on the ears. The Adam monitors have a great rep and are the opposite of fatiguing.

But here's the thing about monitors... they're a very personal choice. And no matter what monitors you choose, you'll have to learn them. By that I mean you'll have to listen to things you mix on the monitors in other places to uncover how your monitors are lying to your ears. For example, an untreated room tends to have a bit of bass rumble going on. You might mix something in your room and it sounds fine, then listen in your car and it sounds thin because all that bass buildup you're hearing in your room isn't present in the car.

And speaking of bass, if all you're recording is acoustic guitar, there's no real need for a subwoofer. The lowest note on the acoustic guitar is about 83Hz. Even the 5" Yamahas will be enough to hear that. If you went with a quality pair of smaller nearfield monitors, you could put them on your mixing desk and use something like the Isoacoustic stands instead of the monitor stands on your list.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

Which software to use is a difficult choice. What I read indicated that ProTools was the industry standard and had a steep learning curve. I’m OK with that and the cost is not much, if any, of a factor. I don’t know if that is a smart move or not.

Part of me says "screw it, stick with the iRig and Garage Band" and part of me does want to get a year down the road and starting over on new gear and new software because it's time to upgrade. Maybe trying to get gear to 'grow into' is dumb, or maybe it's a good idea. Obviously this is a question I'd like to discuss.

I think you're being smart in recognizing that investing a year or two in one DAW and then changing is not the best use of your time. I've only ever used Pro Tools so I can't offer any comparisons but I'm sure others can. If you're limited to using the iPad, that may hinder your options though.

Originally Posted by FlyWilde

Feel free to provide recommendations of who you think I should talk with.

A bit more information would help. As I said earlier, knowing your room dimensions would help, as would having some idea about how you're going to lay out your gear (in a corner, middle of the room, up against a wall, etc). Also, we know what your short terms goals but what are your long term goals? What would you like to eventually be able to produce other than memories for your granddaughter?