what do i need for my mic in my band?

[Best Not Broken]

I agree with Dante's answer and would like to expand on it a little bit.

I'd suggest a Shure SM-58 as a good vocal mic (as opposed to the 57 Dante named) because it's an omni-directional microphone, meaning you don't have to have your mouth dead-center over the grill to get the best sound. It'll pick up your vocals even if you're off center or, to some extent, if you're singing from a short distance away and off to the side. This is an advantage mainly in live performance situations; in a studio, it probably won't make much difference.

This also raises the question: are you asking what you need for live scenarios, or for making recordings? Because the gear you'll need will be different for each application.

Pardon me if I'm wrong, but I thought your question pertained to what you'd need to sing with a band in a live situation. (If you're looking for studio info, ignore my answer and go back to Dante's, he covered it perfectly.) To that end, while you CAN plug a microphone into an amplifier, this approach doesn't result in the clearest sound as that's not the signal instrument amps were made to reproduce. Instead, you should look into buying a powered PA (or public address) system, with a minimum of 2 speakers.

Your best bet with a PA is to buy each component (microphone, cables, mixer, power amp, speakers and maybe a subwoofer) separately. While more expensive, you can pick and choose higher quality components this way. But if you're on a budget, many companies make "all-in-one" PA packages that aren't great but will get you started quickly and easily without going bankrupt. Poke around the following page and you should start to get an idea of what I mean:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/live-sound

I hope this information helps! Good luck with your music.

-Nik
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