[Rick Shepherd]

A few years ago, I started on a quest to build a nice signal chain for recording, ended up with some pretty nice gear. It was a leap of faith as far as whether my recordings would reflect what I spent, but what I ended up discovering was that it did in fact make a big difference. You may ask, how big? Well, it still depends: It depends on all of the other things people here will tell you, because every aspect of your signal chain will play a significant part in the end result. Even your ability to hear a difference is something that takes time to develop. After all the gear was purchased, there were still other aspects of a nice quality recording that challenged me, like room treatment, my playing and singing ability, my guitar, and my knowledge of the equipment, the microphones, where to place them in relation to the source, etc. The small things became more critical and I found myself immersed in a world of all these seemingly small factors that all play an important part in the end result.

In order to get a good recording, I still have to practice, practice, practice, not only with the gear, but I have to be able to perform flawlessly, for the most part, or at least to a level I am comfortable with.

One problem with settling for less expensive gear is, you will always wonder how much better it would sound to you if you did. Remember, you can still make bad recordings with nice gear, but at least there is a greater potential for better results. As has been proven, one can also achieve great results with mid to low end gear.

It depends on what you want to spend and what you are ultimately shooting for. If you want nice gear, investing in a good dual channel preamp is a great idea! Like Rick said, it is as good a place to start as any.

As far as room treatment, start by getting something cheap and portable in the way of foam packing material and fiberglass panels to put up and take down easily. This will make the biggest difference for the least cost. I made the mistake of waiting too long to add room treatment, and it eliminated a boomy element which plagued my recordings.

Regards!