Are there real jobs in the studio recording?

Can someone please explain the basic stuff for recording?

• Okay so I started a rap group and we started recording with no money. What we have is a rockband 2 mic/turtle beach ear force bravo headset for microphones (yeah I know) a pair of dre beats studio headphones, a pair of Earpollusion CS-40 headphones, and a ghetto homemade pop filter made out of nylon and a coat hanger. Imagine that in a big open bonus room space with a desktop computer. That's our "studio". We'd love to record in a smaller space that is sound isolated but we need to find a laptop to use. Now here's where my question(S) come in. We noticed our first recording (recorded on Audacity) sounded very raw. We took the instrumental and put it in audacity and then recorded our vocals independently. All together it sounds like our flat out voices on a beat. I don't know how they make people voices sound so... "professional" and "album quality". So question #1 is, what is my weakest link? What makes the recording so raw?? The room, the mic, the recording software, or am I missing something (I.e a soundcard/mixer whatever)? Since we are so tight on a budget (two teens without jobs) I need to know what to buy first. We can probably save up about 200 bucks now, but then after that we would need to save for a while to collect oh, 300. So for my next question, what are the must-haves? What things do ALL decent recordings need? Next, on to the hard part for me, I need the BASICS of the equipment. What ARE the following things (in English please) and what do they DO that fixes not having them?: an expensive mic (as opposed to a cheap one), a mixer, a soundcard, a preamp, a consensor mic (what's the difference between regular ones) and studio monitors. Also, if I get one of those soundcards that everyone says is essential, do I switch it with the soundcard in my computer or is it plugged in somewhere? Sorry about all the questions I have, it's just everyone starts out at first but I'm really confused. Whenever I look up the "basics" they talk about stuff I don't even know. Please help, the best explained answer gets best answer (duh lol) and extra points if you suggest some cheap starting equipment. Thanks for the help! TL;DR: if you're too lazy to read this you're too lazy to answer it.

• Answer:

  I think you basically answered your own question...the first thing is to make sure you are recording in a room that has lots of furniture, carpet, drapes, etc, etc. All those things "soften" the echo in the room and will give the recording a warmer sound. A big open room with not much in it is the worst place for recording unless you are going for that effect. A better mic will help too. You can get started with a simple USB condenser mic like this: http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audio/cad-u37-usb-condenser-microphone?source=3WWRWXMB Despite what anyone will tell you, you really don't need all that other stuff to get started. If you have a good USB mic and a room with decent acoustics, you can get good results.