Oy. That's a lot of stuff. Congratulations on getting a big leg up in studio stuff.
Usually folks are really helpful around here, but that is WAAAAAAAY too big a mess to help you with via the internet. And the advice you are getting here is good, too, and well intentioned even if you might not think it is. You have a great opportunity to learn some cool stuff if you handle it right. You'll likely get frustrated and want to quit if you don't: all that stuff is more of a problem for a beginner than a help. Recording is a complex mix of art and science. You're young- you have a tremendous ability to learn much quicker than most of us crusty adults do, if you don't get so discouraged that you give up.
My best advice to at least get your family so they can move around in the house is to:
0) Completely put the idea of charging people for your services out of your mind. It will only get in your way. It may happen some day, but it shouldn't be your goal, ya know? The goal is learning how to make f*ckin great recordings! To do it so well people will beat down your door to record with you. And its YOU who will do it either well or poorly, not the equipment.
'Nough preachin. let's clean up that room.
1) Remove all the cables from the devices they are plugged into. Use masking tape to LABEL the cables so you know which device they go with. Chances are you only have to label a fraction of the cables, but if you don't know which ones are device specific you'd better label them all. If you do know, use your judgement.
2) Carefully coil the cables individually and use at least 2 zip ties or twisties to hold them in a coil. Do this as you remove them to avoid having to untangle them later. Tangles suck and stuff can easily get damaged.
3) Take all your cables and place them in boxes or bags and store them out of the way somewhere. Just removing cables from devices and/or packing them away neatly should greatly reduce the clutter.
4) Go through everything and make note of which ones you have manuals for and which you don't. You'll want to head to the websites to get what manuals you don't have, eventually. This is a good time to find your software installation CD's and authorization codes and make sure you know where it all is.
5) The core of your studio is going to be that Mac and the Pro Tools Mix 24 stuff that goes with it. That is all you NEED to have set up at first. Pack the rest of the stuff up. I'll stack rack stuff in boxes with blanket, towels, or clothes between each piece if I know I'm only moving the box within the house.
6) Figure out how to hook up your monitors to the Mix 24 system (which I hope is still in some kind of rack!) and set up just the Mac, the Mix 24 stuff and the monitors.
You are now ready to begin. God willing, the pro tools setup on the Mac is still configured properly and all you have to do is turn it on and boot up Pro Tools. While you're waiting for all those plugins to initialize, grab a coke or make some coffee, and pull out the manual for Pro Tools TDM (the software) and Digidesign Mix 24 (the hardware.) Start with the hardware manual's introduction and setup sections to start getting a sense for how it is hooked up to the computer and to outboard audio gear. Then start learning your way through the software- its pretty simple, but if you don't have much recording experience and don't know what you need to learn first, it can be quite complex.
Be careful not to spill that coke or coffee!
Hopefully, the Mac will still have some sessions on it that you can experiment with- if not, find the Pro Tools CD and see if it has a demo session. That's where you'll start.
At that point, you're on your own. I'd recommend getting comfortable playing back stuff in Pro Tools, learn how the mixer works, mute and solo buttongs, etc... then start recording something of your own- any thing, even burping the star spangled banner. That'll give you an opportunity to get your mixer, preamps, and microphones out to see how they work together and how they are different. I'd only get a few devices out at time (3 or 4, max), figure out how to hook them up, and play with them to see what they do. Then put them away to avoid confusion as you try a few others out.
I know that sounds painful, but I mean it. You'll save a lot of time in the long run by taking it in small bites. If you take none of my advice but this one piece, you'll still solve a lot of problems for yourself before they happen: forget about hooking it all up until you know what it all is and have some idea of how to use it.
Get that home recording book that DDev mentioned, or hit the Digidesign website (
www.digidesign.com) and find one specific to Pro Tools. It will REALLY help you get the recording process down.
And as you get into it, ask questions on the board here- the newbies, computer recording, mixing, and mic forums will be more helpful to you than this one. You'll find that the more specific your question (i.e. "How do I connect a preamp to a Mix 24 system?" instead of "How do I hook all this stuff up?") the more likely you are to get a specific answer. And read the forums a bit before posting- as I'm sure you've noticed, some adults can get easily offended and wigged out by how younger people say things- even if you didn't mean to be offensive or whatever. You'll get a sense pretty quickly (by reading how others ask questions and how they are answered) how to phrase the questions so that you get a useable answer.
Anyway, that's my book for tonight. If any of it was unclear or you have a question about it, please email me (my email button is right below my post) and I'll do my best. You can also post your question here, fi you like.
Good luck with all that stuff! I envy you and I'm worried about you at the same time. That's an incredible gift to have all that good stuff, but its going to get in your way at first if you aren't careful.
Take care,
Chris
oh well this is much more worth it....the stuff i just recieved and have no clue how to hook up>....
