Best audio gear to buy for adobe audition to make audiobook & podcast & elearning screencast ?

Question

what is the best audio gear to buy for adobe audition to make audiobook and podcast and screencast video tutorials?
I will work alone with one microphone only in my bedroom.
Thanks

Answer 1

I'll assume that initially you won't want to spend a fortune, but also, you won't want stuff that you will later regret purchasing. And to do this sensibly, you'll want to spend a bit more money on the microphone than on the external sound device.
For a microphone, you could do a lot worse than to get a Rode NT1-A complete vocal recording solution. With the kit, you get a mic cable, shockmount, pop shield, a bag for it - and also a tutorial DVD, but you can safely ignore that... The kits are generally available at quite a competitive price, and Rode microphones have a good value-for-money reputation. You'll still need some sort of a stand, either desk or floor mounting - but they're easy to find.
For a sound device, you could consider something like the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface. This has all the useful bits you'll need - like the ability to plug a pair of headphones into the front for direct monitoring. Focusrite kit has a good reputation, and isn't overly expensive for what it is. This is a basic solution that would actually let you use two mics if you wanted, so there's a little room for expansion if you need. If you want to spend less money there are options like the Tascam US-122 - but I'd personally spend just a little more on the Focusrite - they have better mic preamps.
Yes you'll need a pair of headphones, but here the choice is rather up to you, although I'd recommend that you look at Beyer and Sennheiser for clean consistent results, although they aren't the only ones. You need closed-back ones though if you use them near the mic - something like the Beyer DT-250 is a good choice, because they have replacable leads, and the feed is into one side of the headphone only - and they're comfortable.
Since I don't know where you are located, I don't know what this is actually going to cost you, but it's good basic kit that should last you for a while, and produce decent results without spending a fortune. Yes it's possible to spend a heck of a lot of money on stuff like this, but the law of diminishing returns sets in quite early, and you can get remarkably good results these days without spending a lot at all. There are a few brands that are generally better avoided, like Behringer. Nothing wrong with Behringer electronics, but they economise on their hardware, and invariably things like sockets stop working, and knobs fall off. Oh, and they use cheap level controls etc, and these become noisy quite fast. You get what you pay for - it's cheap but it won't last long before you experience trouble.