Getting Restarted, Rig Serious Songwriting Demo Studio Options

[jpschmader]

I'm a songwriter and musician looking to simplify my current setup--I need to make radio/demo-quality recordings: vocal, guitar certainly; but it would be nice to have the room to add more. Want it portable. Really I want the ease and simplicity of pushing the rec/play buttons on a handheld cassette recorder at my kitchen table.

Currently, I use a Digidesign Digi 002, ProTools LE 6.2.2, a Glyph Technology 40-GB external firewire drive, a Sony CDR-W33, an Audio Technology and Research Dual MP two-channel mic pre, a Marantz CDR300 portable recorder, and a PowerMac G4 dual processor 867-Mhz computer with 2 GB of RAM.

My thinking keeps coming to a PowerBook 15.2-inch, 1.25 GHz, max'd out with 2 GB of RAM and an Mbox, an FMR Audio 8380 Really Nice Preamp, Mackie HR824 active monitors, and maybe a Mackie 1402-VLZ compact mixer to have even more XLR input than I would get with the addition of the FMR RNP.

This is sort of the project studio equivalent of "layering" for foul, cold weather--you know, where you can remove or add items of clothing as you need to. I want the basic setup to record demo/radio quality when I sit down to write, yet if I want to take the song farther, well, I can.

Here's the hang-up: USB vs firewire. Should I be hung up, given my limited-yet-expandable needs? I really do want ProTools portability as the de facto industry standard. That said, well, damn the Mackie Spike with Tracktion looks interesting. M-Audio's 410 and MOTU and Metric Halo all have firewire units, and the Metric Halo unit gets such fine, high-end remarks.

If one of you, with professional-quality demo needs (including recording industry portability) were designing a flexible system for a musician and songwriter who is not spooked by technology, and that system was to be built off a Mac PowerBook platform, what would it look like?

Or do I need to build a recording rig for songwriters and musicians--it's interesting: as fine as the hardware and software is that exists, there still seems to be a hole in the market where high-end, industry-standard quality meets "rec/play" button ease of use.

Many thanks for any experience your can share and guidance you can give.