I use a Windows XP desktop computer from a major computer vendor. There is nothing custom or fancy about it, although it is fairly well equipped with hardware. I'm certain that this gives me a better quality recording and editing experience, having done this with the same software on lesser boxes. Not only do you get a better quality recording more often, but you can have more tracks going and have more things open like tracks and effects.

The hardware I'm having the best experience with is:

• Dual 2 Gigahertz Intel Xeon processors
• 2 Gigabytes of memory
• 500 Mhz FSB
• SCSI 360/mb/s host adapter
• USB 2.0

For recording, I chose to go the route of a software and an external USB audio interface. I chose this so that I could play with the laptop as well as do serious recording on the desktop. I use the Cakewalk Power Studio 250 package, which comes bundled with a Cakewalk branded audio interface (2 universal inputs), and Sonar 5 Studio Edition. For the most part this package is incredible, delivering ease of use, quality sound, tons of features and effects, and effortless setup. You can hear the results for yourself on my recording samples from the basement.

The only compliant I have at all with this package is that one of the 3 soft-synths it comes with, Roland GrooveSynth, just becomes non-functional (all by itself) after a period of a few weeks. I'm not the only one this has happened to, and after about 3 weeks of back and forth with Cakewalk technical support the suggested that I just reinstall it and try again (how ridiculous is that!). I was also kind of insulted by their tech support, who through it all, pretended like they had never heard of such a thing (even though there are countless entries on their own blogs about this!).

One unique quality of Sonar 5 is that it allows you utilize an external mp3 encoder. This is a great feature that allows you the flexibility of choosing a quality encoder. I'm using the LAME mp3 encoder to create all of the files I'm posting on the website.

To get sound out of the recording package (other than through the head phones) you need to run the output to an amplifier. I chose a 400W QSC power amp to drive two stage floor monitors. This is great to be able to play along with yourself or parts that you've written or sampled, or just to practice. However, this not an ideal setup for judging the sound for mastering your final output. I don't have a set of studio speakers yet, but that would be ideal for producing a well balanced and equalized end product.

On my first recording, I used a Jazz drum kit and a finger picked Jazz bass that comes with the Cakewalk softsyth. I just step-wrote the parts and copied them to where they needed to go in the song. For the some of the tricky high-hat stuff, I used the brush tool (in the cakewalk editor) to paint a canned high-hat pattern that was similar to what I wanted. As for the guitar, I plugged directly into the Cakewalk audio interface to record my guitar parts. I added the guitar modeling sounds (using Amplitube, comes with Power Studio 250) afterward to make it sound like an amplified guitar. For some of the parts, to get a little extra feel, I actually echoed myself back out through the audio system while I was recording. You definitely have a different attitude when your bending a note and it is screaming than when you are just hearing a clean bend. This is especially handy when improvising.