Your questions are so very basic that it difficult to know where to start. Overall, I'd say you answered your own question in the thread title: "Beginner using Cool Edit Pro LE 1.2 help". The 'help' part, I mean. If you've got the program, spend time in the 'Help' section of it until you get familiar with the tool.
But a beginning: you select and record one track at a time. If you don't like it, you can just re-record over top of it. But if you like some of the track but not all of it, you have a couple of choices. You either record a second track, or you can punch in on the first track.
* Recording a second (or third, or fourth) track enables you later on to choose the parts of each track you like best, and then you make a mixdown of all the best parts into a new, single track. To do this, you need to know how to do two things. You need to know how to record new tracks. Save the first track you recorded and de-select 'record' for that track. Now, arm a new track by selecting 'record'. Then record the new track. Next, to select the part(s) of each track you want to keep, you need to learn how to draw volume envelopes on the track, which also means learning how to use the zoom function. Use Cool Edit Help to teach yourself this.
* Punching in works this way: you highlight the section of the track you want to re-do. (Learn how to highlight stuff in Help.) Then you hit record and record over what you did before, just the highlighted area. When you get something you like finally, save the track. (BTW, the Help feature shows you how to do the punching in procedure.)
I don't punch in. I record multiple tracks. It gives more options.
Good luck with it.
