Totally new to recording Vocals

[stephenpaulharper]

Greetings,

Yeah, I know there's a similar thread going on, but my situation is a bit different, and I didn't want to hijack his thread anyway. This is a "what do I need?" question and I'm a drummer (mostly), so be forewarned. I've been making instrumental music on computers for many years, but have never messed with audio input to any degree. I'm now in the position of recording vocals for the first time. I've got a little Eurorack 502 mixer - just to say I have one - but other than the occasional "real" guitar and drum part it mostly gathers dust. Seems to do OK with guitars and drums, but I've no idea if it's power capabilities are sufficient to handle - say a $300 vocal mic. It doesn't provide phantom power, I know that much.

I've got an RME HDSP 9632 interface - can I assume it has some sort of juice on the inputs? I really can't find much info on RME's website.

So I'm guessing I need:

a real vocal mic? - the akg c2000b was recommended. I have a few new SM57's and 58's setting around as well as a pair of nice MXL overheads, but I've only used them to record ethnic drum parts. Again, my present set-up worked fine. The singer will be a teenaged girl - made all-state chorus, but she'll be doing Folky/Celtic-y type stuff instead of art songs.

a hardware preamp? Recommendations? Please don't tell me I should get a better powered mixer - I really need only one XLR and three 1/4" ins, and I'm good.

I don't think I need a hardware compresser, I already have a few software favorites. I've never recorded vocals, but I am rather adept at processing raw vocal loops.

Guidance?

Thanks in advance.

Steve