Installing Audacity

After a few weeks of false starts, I'm putting together a Linux box that I will use for audio production, as I want something to replace my Tascam 444, which has bit the dust and is basically unrepairable. What I want to do is to create a box I can use for multi-channel recording with playback-during-record; basically a Linux based hard-disk multichannel recorder.

At the moment, I am trying to install Audacity, a popular Linux recording app. I go to install it. And it wants dependencies! I lost track of 'em all, but so far here is what I've got.
atk-1.8.0 gtk+-2.4.14 libmad-0.15.1b
audacity-src-1.2.3 lame-3.96.1 madplay-0.15.2b
glib-2.4.8 libid3tag-0.15.1b pango-1.4.1
It is late. Time for bed. No, now I remember. I need to install wxGTK. I tried the X11 version, but no go.  I tried wxGTK, and it laughed at me, cuz I didn't have GTK! Well, I went to get GTK, and it's not really one thingie, it's four! So I install the four thingies (atk, glib, gtk+, pango), and now to try wxGTK again...
 And ./configure dies. It says I don't have GTK
I just INSTALLED IT! Argh.
So I do a "locate -u" and then "locate gtk-config" No such file. Didn't I just install GTK??? I thought I did.
It is later. More time for bed. I'm pondering how this is supposed to be better than WinXP, and am not about to become one of the "Windows BAD!" Nazis.
Okay, I should have gone to sleep. I'm trying to install wxGTK-2.4.2 and it just will not go! I have already installed the GTK stuff, and I have gone over the INSTALL.txt file in the wxGTK dir, and have tried the variations. It is as if I never installed GTK.
Fine, it's bedtime. I'm powering down the box and powering down my head.