Depends what and where you're recording, and what you're recording WITH.
For example, are you recording things that can be easily transported or brought to your computer where your mic is? If you are, I can recommend a few mics, but then consider this...
What if you want to record something outdoors? Or something large like.. an acoustic piano in another part of the house, or if you want to travel somewhere to record, etc.
There's a lot of options, but it all depends on what you're trying to record.
1. A decent, battery powered microphone. This would be if you want to do things on a budget. For most microphones, they need phantom power to operate. Battery powered mics aren't the best quality, but they'll do the job without the need to buy a mixing board or phantom power supply. A word of caution: microphones generally need some kind of pre-amplification to raise their signal to a usable volume. Either you find a very cheap pre-amp ($60 minimum) or deal with some hissing. Either way, it's going to be difficult to get a good clean recording with a microphone alone. Which leads me to the 2nd option.
2. Portable audio recorder. A lot of audio companies make very decent portable recording solutions these days. Your cheapest options here will be about $200 for either a Zoom H2, Tascam DR07, or a Yamaha Pocketrak 2G. $200 seems like a bit much, but when you break it down, this could be good or bad.
- You'll spend a little more out of the box, but have a fully portable and ready to go recorder that will give fairly good quality.
Cost: $200- You could go the other route, by buying an entry level mic ($60-80), and a cheap preamp ($60).
Cost: $150 (approx.)The problem with choosing the cheaper option is that your quality levels won't be as high, and nowhere near as versatile as a portable recorder. On the other hand, if you plan on doing *lots* of recording, it might be wise to invest in a GOOD mic, a basic preamp and possibly even a mixing board. Buying good quality equipment with this route will actually end up costing you more in the long run (I spent approx. $800 on my current recording setup) but offer greater quality.
TLDR: It's not going to be cheap either way, but for the best bang for your buck I would start out with one of those $200 portable recorders. That's how I started, and they'll give you a very good, clean sound without virtually any hissing. When you start looking at physical microphones, there's a lot of gear that has to go with it, like mixing boards, pre-amps, and so on. It will cost a lot more for good quality equipment and you'll be limited to wherever your computer is, but at least you can always upgrade.
So, yeah. Sorry about the huge rant but I basically compiled all the things I wish I had known when I started with audio recording :p good luck...
More resources:
http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22835http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22169http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=21683