...all i have is a laptop
When you're ready to buy stuff, I recommend Sweetwater based on customer service alone. Their prices are competitive, but there's lots of places to aquire gear.
www.sweetwater.com
+1 on Sweetwater, i buy about 90% of my stuff from there, they are highly trained, and most of them work in a class A recording studio.
there prices are competitive, and they carry gear that they stand by.
Musicians friend and others like Zzounds are places i point most people starting out cause they carry pretty much everything out there on the market.
for some one who starts out there thread
"OK i have no clue how to start"
and all i have is a spare room and a laptop. I would not start talking about
sound reinforcement lets crawl before we run.
don't get me wrong sound reinforcement is extremely crucial to someone who knows how to run an audio program, knows about mic placement and mic pre selection.
Again i agree with
Chili on reading as much material as you can. And remember.
"Every Long Trip Starts With the First Step"
Do not get overwhelmed by the physics (it is in there) just have fun and learn as you go.