Hello, let me introduce this message by thanking the moderators of this site, and its countless active members, you have all answered more of my questions than any other site I have visited, and the past three days this site has been my bible.

Now that I *think* I know enough to talk about my desires, here are my questions.

I have a laptop (mobile P4 1.6GHz (recognized as a 1.2 in most programs), 512RAM, cheap 16 meg vid card setup, a USB 2.0 PCMCIA card with two 7200 RPM harddrives in caddies (not SATA, just regular EIDE), 80 gig and 160 gig, a Yamaha 16 track mixer, BBE Sound Maximizer (Still not too sure what this does), a Yamaha SPX80 Vocal Effects Processor, Peavey CS800 power amp, two EQ's, (3) sm58's, (1) sm57, $2500.00, and a strong desire to record my band using the aforementioned equipment. Now, being on a budget doesn't even apply here - I have saved up this money and this equipment for 10 years (I am 28), it is my life savings pretty much, so this is pretty much the most important decision I think I can make. Now, the Questions.

1 - Is this even posssible?
(some items I have researched are the Hercules 12/16, MOTU 828mkII, the Dakota PCI card setup (but that would require another desktop, blah), and some Soundscape card that made no sense...Think about $7-800 for budget on this)

2 - What mics should I get (The more opinions the better, please. My band is a metal band, and I am the drummer, lot of double bass, tight marching style snare)? Obviously overhead mics are where to spend the duckets, but what can I get for $700-1000 on these? Sacrificing Ssftware costs, since that is where the rest of the $2500 goes to, plus whatever odds and ends I may need?

Thank you for any help ahead of time, I've waited long enough, but I think I am there. If I have to save more, damnit... but I hope I can get at least SOMETHING to start.

- Dave, _NW_Chaos_