I'm in my high school's freshmen music club.<br>We do performances at local senior centers for service hours. We have both Instrumental and Vocal performers and ensembles. Classical, Pop, Asian, New Age are all covered.

Anyway, we're thinking about doing recordings of future performances and I need some help figuring out how I should set this up both on hardware and software side.<br>The next concert is largely vocal with quite a number of duets.

I am currently using an ASUS ZENBook Ultrabook(i7 mobile&nbsp; model with 256gb ssd) It doesn't have a microphone jack so I'll need to get a USB sound card. The budget for that is currently around max $60-100 with hovering around 75 being the max reasonable amount though the rest is possible.

I have a Behringer XENYX 1002FX small form factor mixer http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/1002FX.aspx
I only have 1/4 cables and no xlr cables.

I have a Shure Beta58 microphone. Its a vocal mic but I think it will work fine for our instrumental groups.
I also have some other mics that aren't as good but the budget is shifted toward the sound card for the time being.

Speakers I have Polk Hitmaster Loudspeakers.

On the Software and setting up side I'm a bit confused.
Someone told me to use Audacity - which I already do - but more clarification would be helpful.

On the setup side, I'm think it would be something along these line(may vary based on the sound card I get)but I'm not sure since most of of the equipment are my dads.
Diagram:http://db.tt/MaFmupfS

Any help would be appreciated.

Try using Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Notebook Wireless Soundcard(Cost around US$90), it records 24bits Stereo.
[Might wanna google this card, my region and yours is different]

Considering that you didnt state how many channels you are going to have, I will just assume that all your mics, preamps and mixers are rigged for a 3.5mm port (Usually they are 1/4" jacks and needs converter to merge the left and right to a single 2-band cable).

Software wise, Audacity does fine (Though I use ACID and Cubase). Any good audio editing softwares will do (DO NOT use NCH wavepad, it gives a lot of digital noise, this is by experience). Use a 1/4" Y-splitter and a 1/4" to 3.5mm converter [Make sure they are good ones, gold-plated would be best] to convert the output of the mixer to electric sound signals and then plug the 3.5mm jack of the converter to the soundcard. Then, rig your laptop for a digital recording (I presume you already know this process)

PS: For mics, avoid using vocal mics for lower instruments, the mics are not designed for lower frequencies but rather for the frequency range of the human voice. Place pop-filters on the actual vocal mics when recording. I suggest looking at the specification graph of the mics to see the frequency vs SPL, it should be a nice flat plateau on the top. Look at the lower threshold frequency and the upper threshold frequency of the graph where the SPL level drops.

If your referring to these, the laptop doesnt have a slot for the,
http://us.store.creative.com/Creative-Sound-Blaster-XFi-Notebook-Transmitter/M/B001BS3A3E.htm

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Soundblaster-Surround-System-SB1095/dp/B0044DEDCA
This one is $54 USD and looks pretty nice.

You will need the wireless adapter to connect to your computer wirelessly (Yea I know, "sold seperately" T_T).

For the one you showed me, I might as well recommend a cheap one like this one: http://us.store.creative.com/Creative-Sound-Blaster-XFi-Go-Pro/M/B0044DEDC0.htm
Cheap and portable, unless you are very picky about the sound quality which you want (Which I usually do), this would do fine for your laptop. Its also quite small so your Asus Zen can accomodate it easily (I know, the laptop is very thin, I saw it in ASUS Computex)

Hmmm....
I think I'll go with the 5.1 USB Soundcard, though I might get the small pro if I decide to get instrumental mics.

I also want to record Video.
I have an average Canon Camera. Is there a way to sync it to my laptop audio recording or will I have to do that manually?

For Video recording, use a video editing software (Usually I use ACID and Cubase for audio video sync and Photoshop for video editing) to edit both sound and video to sync. Your camera should be able to record only the video images (Provided you turned your camera mic off). Unless your camera is able to do live streaming to your computer, I think you will need to do this separately.

I have FL Studio but I'm not really sure how to use it.

I've never used FL Studio before so you might want to consult someone who used it before

Is there a way to record video directly onto the computer using my canon camera?

You have to see the camera specifications and features. Look out for "video streaming" in the camera or something of this sort, however, I cannot guarantee that you will be able to record directly because not all cameras have this function. Furthermore, you are recording audio separately, which is even more likely that you will have to audioswap the camera's recording with your own (Unless your camera has the mixer 2-band output plugged into the mic port).