one of the best ways to learn, but i know alot of the new guys into recording here will disagree.
get a simple portable studio either 4 track or 8 and learn how it all works, these are just sacled down versions of the big rigs, and alot of people still prefer them. Helmet have releasd albums on 8 track recorders and those albums are in peoples collections. it is best to learn from the start and limiting your self with tracks can be better than having unlimited tracks it will make you think more, you will have to plan more and in the end put more effort into your recordings. i have 32 tracks with protools and still treat alot of things like im using the old 4 track tascam, and it is good to learn the world of recording before the home pc digital audio workstation (DAW).