Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Need recommendation for decent inexpensive mic ...

I have the Rode NT1-A mic, it's really good for the price. You'll need an audio interface with phantom power, though.

The audio software I use is Reason by Propellerheads. They have an audio interface, Balance (it does phantom power), that comes with an "Essentials"-only version of their software. That version doesn't have all the features, but it does record audio tracks just fine.