Recording questions, mainly about cables. Options

Hi,
I'm a young musician, and looking to start recording some of my music, I do mainly vocals and electric Guitar. I'd be recording on a G4 400 mhz, 128 ram.
Anyway, I've been searching around and am wondering what sort of equipment I'd need to record to the sound card my computer came with until I can afford something more expensive, looking into soundblaster live.
What sort of mics should I get, and how do I hook them up to my computer, I assume the mics would have Midi cables on them, and those won't plug into my audio in slot obviously. Are their midi-to-normal audio in adapters availible? Can I hook up more than one mic to my audio In?

Any help would be great,
Everett

[abbie]

Assuming your mac has audio in/outputs, you will need a mixer - not a fancy one but preferably one that will allow you to monitor your recording without looping it back to the computer (you can typically do this with the auxiliary in/out while plugging your recording source into the mixer's standard inputs). If you aren't recording in stereo, you can plug your guitar into one channel and use another channel for monitoring. All this to say, that a 4 channel mixer with an effects (auxiliary) send should do.

I can't recommend any particular mic but I am sure that there are hundreds that will do, as long as the cable has the right plug for your mixer - usually a 1/4' jack. Next you will need a couple of cables to route between your mixer and computer. These cost a couple of bucks at your local stereo or computer store and usually have a 1/8' stereo plug on one end and two rca jacks on the other.

Not clear on what a mixer is for, does it send all the information from the mics into one of those tiny cables that plugs into my audio in slot? Or does it do the recording itself?

Thanks,
Everett

[abbie]

The mixer is for controlling the level of the sound going into your computer and can also be used for monitoring what you have already recorded. If you just plug a mic right into your computer, the signal will not likely be high enough to be recorded by whatever recording software you are using.
Sounds like you also need to think about what recording software to use in which case the answer is PRO/Tools/Free. I have never used it but I am sure that it is perfect for what you need.