now if you mean budget home equipment then it gets trickier. and also depends on the sound you want from your music, but i think for a few grand you can put together a home studio that could fool all but the most ear educated.
oh and just thinking you can make a demo and send it to a record company and they will just invite you in and pay for you to make a pro recording. well sure that happens but its pretty rare and you have to be pretty damn awesome.
options would be
1. hope you are that damn awesome and the record company are so impressed with a demo they want you to record on their label
2. spend a few k and record your own stuff,
3. spend a few k and pay for space and time in a pro studio.
