I want to do some recording...

Yeah, I want to record some of my pieces, but I'm not sure what to get, soft/hardware-wise. I would like to get the best sound quality, for the cheapest $$$ if possible. Can someone suggest a good mic, software, etc....??? Thanks. :D

depends on your soundcard really. So...

software: Audacity: Free Audio Editor and Recorder (free)

REAPER | About (shareware, unlimited, very cheap price for license)

The rest are more pricey and you don't really need something better than that.

soundcard: If your soundcard has a "mic in" connection you could do well, no matter the jack that it takes. If not then you need a new soundcard, plainly. Any USB and Firewire (preferably) will do really, so you can get away with a $150-$200 soundcard that has a normal mic in, and maybe preamp as well.

microphone: No idea really. Just start asking further questions.

The one thing that will be of use is some plug-ins from cockos. There you can find good EQ and good denoiser even, and it's all free again.

Also, you will need to find a way to quiten down your computer, because otherwise chances are that the microphone might be picking up noise from the CPU.

If you decide to spend more, the options change dramatically, but I don't really see the reason, myself...

Very informative nikolas, thanks!

what instrument(s) are you recording?

Flute and Piano.

a stereo omni pair gives by far the best results for piano imo.

haven't really dealt with flute in the past before so can't really help you there.

oh thank you so much nikolas. I am going to try it out