I've been recording stuff for so many years using any means available (here's a page of numerous, really old recordings to show you what I mean. Some real "cheeziness" here!) So my approach is less using the technology than abusing it.
That is to say, I won't go into details about hardware or technical stuff anything like that, but instead outline a general usage for something and just bang away at it all the while with the intent of achieving an auditory vision and/or some "thing you hear in your head" such that "you'll know it when you hear it" sort of a thing.
Talk is cheap, so listen to the first song, "Gimme", which has been used as fodder for this venture, or watch the first video here. Enjoy!