At a minimum your friend will need a microphone, a mic preamp and a computer interface supporting analog, digital and MIDI I/O. The computer/software can handle the recording/mixing/editing functions. The computer he uses should have at least two hard drives with one dedicated for recording tracks, a fast CPU and plenty of memory. The type of computer, Wintel or Mac, depends entirely upon the software he wants to work with.
For hardware he might consider either a Tascam US122, a Digidesign MBox, a Tascam US428, or a MOTU 828MkII. I've listed them in ascending price order with the US122 at around $200 and the MOTU at $750. Mackie, Lexicon, M-Audio, Aardvark and RME also make similar products in this price range.
For hardware he might consider either a Tascam US122, a Digidesign MBox, a Tascam US428, or a MOTU 828MkII. I've listed them in ascending price order with the US122 at around $200 and the MOTU at $750. Mackie, Lexicon, M-Audio, Aardvark and RME also make similar products in this price range.