[Mikael Kern]

How big is the stage?
How big is the audience?
Ceiling height?
Camera sensitivity and what f-stop do you need?
Building new or installing in existing?

Those and other questions need answers before you can plan lighting. Without a floorplan I think its difficult to budget for this. A small place I´d say 15-25000$, and what about audio/PA?

You could visit a club with a stage for entertainment/music and ask how much they have spent on lighting and sound.

[Mikael Kern]

I have done this many times:

Record audio mix out on channel 1 and TC on channel 2 on any kind of stereo audio recorder. Then ship the audio tape to someone who wants to transcript or get startet with editing quickly.

It used to be mostly on cassette deck, but today I do it on my iPod. Then I email or upload the MP3 file.

If its an interview you don