Setting the pcm driver

[Yannack]

Hello all,
I am a newcomer both to this list and freebsd.
In my quest of installing FreeBSD 5.3 as a desktop properly, I would now 
like to setup the sound properly. I have the Vchans setup in 
sysctl.conf, it looks good. Now the only thing I have left is I'd like 
to set my microphone to default in stereo, 44100 Hz sampling. I think 
that the default is 8000Hz, mono which is not a value which works with 
my setup and causes Skype to produce the weirdest noises to my friends. 
As Skype doesn't let us toggle this setting, I am wondering if  the 
default can be changed? Or if anybody has a trick for at least setting 
it in Skype?
I read in the handbook I could use hints.pcm.0.vol to set the volume. 
Maybe there is a way to set other things with hints, like the stereo? If 
so what are the parameter names? Where can I find a list of these? I 
tried google, bsdforums.org, the man pages, and the handbook. No 
success... Any ideas? Thanks!
Yannack