Oh, I can barely get a sentence straight without "um", and "well...."!

The way I did the tutorial was to write a script, get a stopwatch out to time the screen video, and then I edited the audio tracks together. I see very little sense when self-producing a tutorial video, to try to move the cursor and talk at the same time. Inevitably, it ruins the timing.

After owning it for around a year, I heartily endorse the Tascam DR-05 Portable Digital Recorder, about $100. Good stereo separation, records as WAV files, not compressed, degraded mp3 file format. Controls are about equivalent to navigating a video recorder or an iPod, the ring with the controls at 90, 180, 270, and 0. The only caveat is to watch for pops, but pop screens are common and inexpensive.

My other recommendation is the Blue Snowflake mic. Designed to clip to a monitor (or not), it has good frequency respond, but not as good as the TASCAM's built-in mics IMO, about $35 on Amazon, B&H photo, the regular suspects. USB into your computer, just like the TASCAM for downloads, Windows 7 immediately recognizes both devices, no handshake hassles!

Happy waveforms!

—Gary