you want an audio interface to get the audio from your mic into your computer. this will function as your computer's soundcard.

keep in mind what you want to record and how much you will need to record at once.
for drums you will probably want to record more than one mic.

You need an digital audio interface. They start in the $100 range, and I use one all the time - Alesis iO2 - that cost me that much. It's decent quality (96kHz, 24bit I think) and even has phantom power. Two mic ins, two line outs and a headphone jack (1/4"). It talks to your computer through USB.

Something like that will get sound into your computer, but for drums I'd say you need a minimum of three mics, so you would need something bigger.

Three mics I'd use would be: L and R small diaphragm condenser overhead, and an SM57 or similar dynamic on the snare.

You could play tricks with the room, placement of the drums and so forth to thicken up your kick drum with that sort of arrangement, but really I would suggest a fourth mic on the kick.

Place the snare mic on a stand pointed at the place where the drummer strikes the drum head (should be a visible, shiny, roughed-up spot). Lay the other mic on a pillow, or stick it backwards into a shoe, pointing outwards from inside the kick drum AWAY from the drum kit (to pick up the out-of-phase THUMP of the kick, which the overheads will lack.)

With drum mics the more the merrier, but then of course you need more inputs, and the cost and complexity goes up.

Start with a traditional setup like I explained earlier with three or four mics on the drums. That's how they did it back in the 50's on, like, Country and Western records and so forth. Early Rock 'n Roll and Blues, etc.

Get good at that and focus on getting yourself some good microphones. That would be more important at this point than, say, spending $600 on a really high-end interface.

I got an M-Audio Delta 1010LT on Ebay for $74. Guy dragged his heels shipping it, too, because he was PISSED!!! Still, time to pay the piper. I won the auction and got an awesome little card for cheap.

I would recommend looking for one of those. It'll get you started and then later on when you do get a better (more professional) interface, just use the M-Audio card for Home Theater! (Edit - Actually should note that only has 2 XLR mic inputs, but 8 ins total just to be fair and give you complete info!)

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(GREAT card for home theater!)

I recommend that you get the PRESONUS Fire Studio, FireWire audio interface device. Something that has 8 simultaneous XLR inputs. You don't have a FireWire input on your computer you may want to look into a unit that still has at least 8 XLR inputs but has a USB 2.0 output not USB 1.1. Then you should also have at least 4 SHURE SM57/58's and a couple of RODE SDC's for overheads. Total investment around the $1000 mark.

Now for the interface that you choose, they all come bundled with some kind of multitrack software package. You want to look into what kind of software is packaged, download a trial version to help you make your purchasing decisions to keep your costs down. So that's what you do before you purchase any audio interface when budget is a prime concern. This will yield truly professional results and no, you don't want to plug anything into the computer's own little red microphone input piece of crap unless you want to be truly disappointed. All that's good for is a $7 multimedia headset so you can talk to your friends on Skype and nothing more.

You want to be considered a professional don't you?
Mx. Remy Ann David