Jan 10, 2011 05:23 pm Whatever you end up doing, I hope you come back and post the music you've recorded. I'm interested to hear what bands from your area sound like. This is a huge question and you'll have to do most of the legwork...
For monitors, a pair of Mackie HR824's should be easily attainable and they sound great to me.
Pro Tools is my daw of choice so expect a bias in that direction. If I were to start from scratch I might consider learning Logic. Using either DAW and considering your budget, I would buy a new Apple Mac Pro. The most recent version of Protools is native, so you can pair it with any recording interface.
Another equally nice ProTools/Logic solution would be a modular Apogee symphony I/O. You can decide how many inputs and outputs you require. Starting out, you may find that 16 inputs is more than enough. I can almost guarantee you'll feel restricted if you only get 8 inputs.
Next you'll have to pick out pre-amps and channel strips. There are so many options I'll list some brands...most of which I've never used, but they are in your price range and are some of the more respected brand names in audio. Great River, API, SSL, Grace, Massenburg, Focusrite, Earthworks.
Of course, you'll need to purchase mics to complement all this great gear. Right off the bat, I'd pick up 4x Sm57's, at least one Sm7b (for vocals/guitar), an AKG D112 (for kick drum), a Royer 121 (ribbon mic, sounds good on a lot of sound sources, so I heard), a pair of Rode NT5's perhaps (small diaphragm condensers for stereo tracking drum overheads or vocal groups). You'll also want to pick one or two nice large diaphragm condensers (for vocals and live room performances)
Lastly, software. Pro Tools doesn't come with the best EQ plugins, so you might want to purchase a better one. I just started working with the URS N Series 5 band EQ and would recommend that for a basic EQ. Pro Tools comes with a decent compressor called Bombfactory, I don't see a need to purchase a compressor right off the bat.
Of course, none of this is any good at all if you don't know how to use it. I went to a 12 week course online that helped me learn the basics of recording with Protools.
If I were you, I would study Ethan Winer's guide and set up your room acoustics accordingly. Your listening room acoustics are the most important part of getting a great sounding recording. www.ethanwiner.com/acoustics.html.
This probably went a little over your 20K budget, but you can take it from here I feel sure.
I'm curious, why don't you need to worry about shipping costs?