Discovered a program called Ardour which is not that new but was recently updated about 30 days ago. It's interface is very similar to Pro Tools and as a result it enables you to mix with relative ease if you're familiar with PT. You can also record it in as you can with PT and perform Automation. When I have some free time I'm going to record a screen capture of me testing it out.

But as others have said Audacity is the most noob friendly option if all you want to do is record and then export put a .wav. .mp3 is super compressed so I wouldn't recommend. I usually just attach files to emails ends use they're small enough or upload it with WeTrasnfer if it's alot of them.