I finally delved into podcasting for Hackaday. I wanted to do it for a while, but I'm a bit techno-retentive
I spent years doing sound and lighting in theaters, and I've never liked the sound quality from tiny condenser mics.

I picked up a MXL 1006 and an Art Amp Studio V3 to get some decent sound quality. The amp provides gain control and some tube style smoothing as well as 48v phantom power for the mic. To monitor recording and do my editing, I whipped out my Etymotic ER6i headphones. The separation provided buy the earplugs was helpful.

For production, I used my powerbook and pulled down Audacity for editing and installed LAMElib to export to mp3 format.
I'll probably poke around for a nicer editor, audacity works, but I had to fight it a little bit.
Whatever editor I settle on, I'll set up my Contour ShuttleXpress to get my jogwheel action back. It's great for video, and I missed it for the audio edits.

Software

Levelator normalized levels - untested
Audacityfree editor