Ok, so here is the deal.

I am recording the voice for a companies Phone Messaging System, their phone company is telling me that the recording needs to be in CCITT u-law, 8.000khz, 8 Bit, Mono format. I am using Cubase 5 to record and i have tried this:

I have a little mixer called the Behringer Xenyx 1202 FX
 
What I would like to do is monitor my vocals with the effects from the mixer along with the output from my computer's sound card through the headphone Jack on the mixer.
But when recording, only record the dry vocals back into my computer. I have tried many things but nothing is really working.

Being primarily a solo artist I do my best singing while playing the Acoustic guitar. This creates a problem when I record as my Vocal track picks up artifacts from my guitar. In an effort to get as CLEAN a vocal track as possible I have tried Noise Gates, EQ and any other method I could think of to reduce the guitar in the vocal track.

So I recorded my first song recently back in December '10 and I did it at my buddies setup that he has at his church. I moved and I no longer have that available to me, so I was thinking that I should just buy my own equipment and learn how to record on my own instead of having to go over to someone elses place and whatnot.

I could not find local talent to record with, but lots of people are in other countries with talent and who want to record. This is just hip hop sort of recording.

Anyhow, there is one artist I'm interested in.. I would like to make a whole mixtape with her, but in her city it's expected she pay for studio time and we both can't afford that.

M-Audio ProFire610

*ALL I CURRENTLY HAVE BECAUSE I SOLD MY OLD SETUP*

Plan on purchasing the Universal Audio Solo/610 Microphone Preamp! As well as a mic in the price range of $600-$1200! The mic is the last thing I'll get due to me not knowing which one I actually want.

I play a lot of music from the death metal genre. Lots of chuggs, blast beats, and low growls. And to record vocals I've been using a Behringer XM1800S mic (cheap all-around dynamic mic) hooked up to a 30W bass amp, then miked with a Shure c606 all-around/vocal mic. And when listening back, I think it sounds pretty amazing, for a cheap home studio.

Hi Pros…

Help me optimize recording levels for vocals / speaches

My background:
I know just enough to do volunteer work at a religious institute. And I have been doing it for long time.

Work I do:
I record spiritual discourses. It’s always one speaker – male with a deep bass voice.

such as the sm57? got a friend coming in who insists on using the sm57 for recording his voice and i've never recorded vocals with it before. should i let him sing right on top of the mic with his lips touching the grill like he does at live shows? or should i try to get him to back off 6 inches or so like with condensers ? should i use a pop screen?

Man do I need help here. I've tried to get used to using keyboards for creating drum track and I can't stand how slow and lame it is. I have excellent sounds, but the whole keyboard midi drum creation sucks to me. I am by no means a novice at programming. I earned a serious living in the 80's programming drums using Linn and MPC 60's.