Audacity is free, and can be used both on Mac and PC computers. Audio can be recorded in a few clicks - selecting Record, speaking into the microphone, and selecting Stop.
The program can handle multiple tracks, but is best used for simple audio projects.
Audacity is a free, cross-platform audio editing program available online, as well as available on all of the computers in the Weigle Information Commons. Audacity facilitates audio imports, recording, editing, working with multiple tracks, and exporting.
Download the program for free. Be sure to download the LAME encoder located there as well, which allows export to the familiar .mp3 format.
Get the desired signal as loud as possible (without clipping) into the microphone. This allows you to reduce the gain, which will also reduce the low-level noise. The further a microphone is away from the source, the more you have to amplify the mic's input signal to get to a usable level. But, boosting the gain amplifies everything, including background sounds and even the internal electrical noise of the amplifier. Ideally, the microphone should be right on top of the source, with the gain no higher than necessary to get peaks around -3dB. If you are doing multi-track recording, record each individual track as loud as possible. Set the final volume of each track during post-production mixdown.