hottsauce: what have you got against reading a book? You're asking questions all over the map without knowing how the pieces fit together, just get some basic gear and start using it . Thne you will learn a bit and know what piece of gear you need to add next.
90% of recording is just doing it, but you don't want to blow $3-4K without knowing what it all will get used for, and it really is impossible to know what your needs will be in a year from now, you might buy a shitload of stuff that you won't end up using because it won't serve your purpose.
BlueBear recommended a great book to you, and if you had read it you wouldn't be asking all these questions.
You seem to like hammering away at this BBS, and it is a great place to learn stuff, but it isn't organized in a start here---go there sort of way like a book is . Once you know the basics like that, then you come here to get into the nitty gritty of the individual pieces like pres, mics, comps, software, soundcards etc etc
Come on man, work a little: you don't seem to mind reading (like you say you do) because you have a post count of almost 60 already in all of 2-3 weeks.
