Setup advice for music portfolio.

[OZScott]

Hi,
my name's Scott and I'm an 18 year old singer/songwriter from Brisbane, Australia. I've been singing and writing for about 5 years now and I've been told by a few people (artists, teachers, performers) that my songs are good and I should record them. Well I am applying to do a course at a college and I need to make a portfolio or my stuff. Only about 5 songs total but I need some advice.

I wish to do the recording on my pc (P3-733, 384MB RAM) and have a Sound Blaster Vibra 128, a professional Hoontech DSP24 Value (http://www.hoontech.com/english/products/dsp24ve/index.html)
and a midi controller keyboard.

My problem is that I bought them with the understanding I could plug in a mic directly -- Not so !! For the vocals I understand I'll need a pre amp and a mic, but how about for guitar?? can I record acoustic straight into the mic (hoping to get a cheap condenser mic)??

Any help would be appreciated, Thanks

Scott

 

[AlChuck]

I suspect the SB at least has a Mic In for those cheap little stick-like PC mics, but it is garbage for recording music.

Condenser mics typically need phantom power from a mixer or preamp, though some have batteries.

A small mixer like the Mackie 1202 VLZ would give you decent preamps, phantom power, and enable you to combine the output of both soundcards.