In April 2001, I was given "Master Handbook of Acoustics". Within a month I had read the book cover to cover and began designing a new recording studio for the front bedroom in my house. Then in August 2001, I began construction. By October, I had finished building it, completely by myself. My friend and I painted it, and the studio was once again open. Having put so much time, effort, and money into the studio, I wanted to make sure to not forget the recording side. Over the next few months I upgraded to a Rode NT1000 microphone, an Echo Mona 4 channel/24 bit soundcard, running on an Athlon XP 1800+ with a striped raid configuration.