[amyFB]

I think there might be two parts to the answer:

1. education to fill in the gaps of knowledge - for complex topics like this, (or statistics, or accounting, etc) I'm a big fan of the "Info for Dummies" series and also the "Idiot's guide to.....". Spend some time on YouTube - search a lot of videos and you're sure to find one that effectively communicates some of the things you need to know. Sometimes just hearing the unfamiliar words a few times takes the shine off the scare factor of the unknown.

^ ^ ^ this step 1 will almost surely make the next step a little easier.

2. equipment that is user friendly- there will be plenty of that advice from the recording gurus here.

--- now when you read the user manual, some of those new terms might make more sense.

good luck!