ah, i split this from the original thread because i felt like... i should be its own thread (derp.)
anyways!
yup, i use audacity too... (lol no budget for more professional stuff! ^^)
anyways, to remove the static-y stuff, go to effect > noise removal, and it gives you instructions there. essentially, you first select a little section with ONLY the background noise, use noise removal, and click "get noise profile. then select the whole track (or wherever you want to remove the noise from) and use noise removal again, either by doing crtl+r (which is "redo effect") or go back to noise removal and use the "remove noise."
now, there are 3 adjustable things on there. i don't quite know exactly how they work, but i'm currently using 15; 150; and 0.15. The most obvious one would be the first one, Noise Reduction (dB), if it starts to distort the recorded sound, then try to make it a bit less.
hope this helps! (: