Yes. One microphone = one signal = mono. Don't worry about when you actually bounce the signal down to a stereo mix. Your stereo mix will sum up your mono channel to equal left/right information, and give you a pseudo-stereo mix of your mono channel. All lead vocal tracks are in mono, panned right up the middle. Now if you take a voiceover and import it from a CD, it's stereo because it came from a CD, but only one of those channels is important, as both left/right information is exactly the same, which makes it mono.
In terms of recording at 192kHz, you must have a really good soundcard with this capability of 192 inside your computer (where you plug in to the back of your computer to mic input and soundcard line out). However, when I looked up your M-Audo Mobile Pre USB, the specs said that the highest sample rate this can perform is at 96kHz. USB is a slow connection, even 2.0 is slow compared to high-powered digital audio cables that one would use in the studio for a real 192 interface. Don't worry about dithering if you don't understand it. But try to read up about it.
Yes. Some audio cables, like Monster Cable, can cost up to $100 for a 20-foot XLR cable. There are other brands that I once thought were fine, but after I bought them they almost damaged my microphone because it wasn't grounded right. Inside the cable, you have a few leads and shielding, which could be varying in quality themselves. I don't know if that's the problem with the static, but it could be a possibility. Also, what could be a problem is that you're clipping your audio level, and it's too high. This would cause some funky unwanted sounds to come out. You could be clipping at any stage in the signal flow: At the microphone itself (if you're screaming at it or you put a kick drum on a condenser mic), at the pre amp input, at the pre amp output, in your audio software, post-fader if your level is too high in your software, and your soundcard output, your receiver, and then your speakers.
There is much for you to learn. I don't know who told you to get a 192kHz soundcard or told you to record at 48 or 96, but at your level (and trust me, I'm not talking down to you) you should only be messing with 16-bit, 44.1kHz recordings. If you go above that sample rate or bit depth, you could be causing yourself more problems if you don't know about it. But if you WANT to record at 48 or 96 (I would suggest 88.2 instead of 96 because you're converting back to 44.1 eventually) then read as MUCH AS YOU CAN about the process of recording. Most people don't have a clue what any of these numbers mean, aside from the fact that it's "better resolution of audio". But if you don't have the essentials down, like how frequency and amplitude (the only 2 factors in audio) are handled in the digital domain by applying sample rate and bit depth, then you won't get much out of a 96 or 192kHz recording.
I would suggest starting with Adobe Audition (Cool Edit Pro after Adobe bought it from Syntrillium) because it's pretty user-friendly, and everything you need is right in front of you. Check to see if Adobe Audition works with your USB Mic Pre (I'm sure it does), and read up!!!
Hope this helped.
Pce.
Hypno
