shepo,
Recording audio on laptops is fun, but there are a few extra concerns.
All you need to record digital audio is, as you mentioned, decent mikes, a sound card, and a multitracking program.
You biggest liability with your laptop is your soundcard as they are usually impossible to upgrade. You are stuck with what you have. If it doesn't sound good you have only a few options for USB or PCMCIA sound devices that sound better.
Check to see if your computer has a microphone or line input. If so, you may be in lcuk. If your sound card has decent analog to digital convertors (D/A) you are off the hook. If you have no inputs or it doesn't sound good, we'll have to talk more about external sound options.
Next step: download a demo of a multitracking program that looks good to you. Make sure you check the system requirements of the program to be sure it will run on your system.
I have had really good results with a program called n-Track. Its demo version is almost completely functional (including saving ability) and it is easy to use. It can also convert your wave files to MP3. It is very full-featured and only costs $40 US to register. Absolutely fantstic value. And the free demo can help you test out your system.
Other programs are good too, I just don't know them as well.
While that is downloading, head on out to the store and get that decent mike, a cable, and an adapter that will fit the input on your computer. The program MIGHT be done downloading when you get back so you can give it a try.
You may have to fuss with setting input levels through your soundcard's "mixer." You generally find them somewhere near Start-Accessories-Multimedia. This is a common reason why recorded audio sounds bad or doesn't work.
Read the documentation that comes with (or is on the website of) your multitracking program and give it a shot. If it works and sounds Ok you are in business! If it doesn't sound good (and you exhaust all troubleshooting options), you'll have to think about how much money you can afford to spend on making it work. There are otions for laptops, but they aren't as nice as desktop hardware and are generally more expensive.
One of the neat things about hard disk recording is that you can edit your individiual wave files as well as your final mixes. A good wave editor will eventually rise up your list of needs. There are lots out there to chose from and most have demos so that you can start getting an idea of what you like.
Laptop recording isn't as flexible or powerful as setting up a desktop system and your options are limited, but...
Having said all that, I'm using a Toshiba Satellite 700Mgz Celeron with 192 Meg of Ram and a 6 Gig HD. I'm using
a Tascam US-428 USB mixing control surface with 4 D/A inputs (24 bit) and an Alesis Studio 24 mixer for mike preamps and phantom power. I splurged and bought
Cubase VST 5.0r4 for multitracking software. Its not a hot system by any means, but it relliably gives me about 16 audio tracks, decent MIDI tools, lots of DSP (digital signal processing- effects!), and I can put all the important pieces in a back pack and take with me wherever I go. I've even done some MIDI programming and rough mixing on a long plane fllight!
I'm pretty happy with it!
I hope yours works out, too.
Take care,
Chris
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