[chrisutley]

I do some voiceover work, and was wondering what it would take to setup a recording studio at home that would be good enough to do professional quality work.

Can I use my Mac to record, edit, and save to whatever media is required?

[dlefebvre]

It all depemds on what you are willing to spend. For a microphone alone it can go from 50$ to a few thousands.

You will need something to hook your microhone to your Mac. I recomend the M-Audio MobilePre USB Audio Interface. It has XLR inputs.
http://www.m-audio.com

For software, you can use ProTools LE . Digidesing also offers many solutions (software and hardware) for different prices. They are the reference in the pro world.
http://www.digidesign.com/

[k_munic]

from my point of view, you have yourself to answer a few questions:

what "format" is the material you have to work on? do you get tapes (how do you get the tapes into your mac?)? what standard (a normal digi beta player alone costs you 30k$!)? doing voice overs means, you have to synchronize your voice to some pictures. there are dozends of possibilities to do that in a professional matter� most likely, you have to time-stamp your audio material with the video, because the final mixing is not done by yourself �? (or, you need some mixing tools�)

which leads to the next question: how is mixing done? to you "export" just the audio? ask your mixer, what standards he needs�-

talking of synching VO and video: e.g., FCE offers the possibilty to make a VO on some video material�-

talking of mic quality: as mentioned above, you can spend 1k of $s for a good mic

talking of pro recording: you can spend 10k of $s for a professional recording booth! in magazines for the pro musician you can find little "telephone booths", pre-installed, ready for recording, prize is � high! but you need it, if you use a pro mic and don't want any noises aside your voice�-

ah, btw: of course a mac is able to do professional recordings - most records in the industry are done on macs

i recommend: go to a big music shop (no, not cds, but instruments), most have a big dept for "home recording"�

[Spheric Harlot]

This is your microphone:

http://www.studioprojectsusa.com/c1.html
MSRP $299

These guys manufacture in China, but the quality is top-notch and *very* consistent.

Their stuff has been getting rave reviews *everywhere*, and a number of high-end studios have taken to replacing their Neumann U-87s with Studio Projects mics for a fraction of the price (only bringing out the Neumanns for big-money clients who want the name).

I own the C3, and a good friend owns one of the T-series. Marvellous mics, and absolutely *excellent* value for money.

-s*