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[Tarmack]

The microphone is the real kicker because no matter how much post-processing you do, a bad microphone won't sound good. Blue Snowball is good, so is Blue Yeti from what I hear. I use an Apex415 that I traded a concert mic to a friend for. You will also probably want a USB version because the XLR (standard mic cord) ones require another interface box before you can plug in to the computer.
Blue Snowball
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Microphones-Snowball-Microphone-White/dp/B000EOPQ7E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1339654526&sr=8-3
Blue Yeti
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Microphones-Omnidirectional-Biodirectional-Microphone/dp/B002VA464S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1339654526&sr=8-1

Other details... Audacity is a great choice for free audio editing.

Adobe Premiere Elements is less than $100 (I think I saw it for $64 on Amazon), but even better than that is you can download it from Adobe for a 30 day trial to poke around and see if it meets your needs.
http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/tdrc/index.cfm?product=photoshop_elements&loc=en_us
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Adobe-Premiere-Elements-10-Mac/dp/B005INJAXM/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1339654785&sr=1-1

In the case of all of these choices though, I would recommend you try before you buy or buy retail to test it out. If you pick up a Blue Snowball and do some recording and are happy with it that's great, but if you buy from amazon and don't like the sound quality, the hassle of returning is a bit higher. Actually... maybe a youtube search for reviews on that mic is in order.

 

[Mark_]

That's tremendous. What great help you guys have provided - now I feel that I am actually able to do this. Yes, USB is always the best bet, methinks!
I know I will fluff a lot of lines in my reading, but by the looks of it, Audacity lets you select and delete unwanted hiccups!!