extremely green and clueless, needs advice

[matti b]

i've been playing guitar in bands for about 10 years, just been getting interested in doing some home recording, got some gear, haven't got the faintest idea where to start, the dealer i got it from has been promising to fax me some 'getting started' info but so far hasn't given me squat,(i'm not dissing him, cos i'm sure he's really busy but i'd really like to get cracking as soon as possible).

the hardware/software i have is as follows

fxpansion bfd v1.5
m-audio audiophile2496 soundcard
cakewalk sonar5 producer edition (still having real trouble registering that one)
amplitube live
behringer eurorack ub1204-pro/ub1204fx-pro
focusrite trakmaster pro
pair of alesis monitors
the dealer also sent me all the appropriate leads he thought i needed

all the software is installed, (hopefully correctly) and so is the soundcard
but as i said i'm clueless as to where to go now, i don't want to start plugging stuff in left right and centre and ballsing it all up.

i've tried reading through the manuals but it's all double dutch.

i figure if i can just get a bit of help to get started, the rest i can work out.

hopefully there's someone out there who'll give me some advice out of the goodness of their heart!

 

[peopleperson]

Well, hmm. You could plug the outputs of the Behringer mixer into the line in's on your soundcard. This will enable you to record guitars, mics and so on into Sonar (as much as possible, I'd use your Focusrite pre because it's guaranteed to sound bettter than the preamps in your Behringer mixer...you would just plug a mic for instance into the trackmaster's inputs, and plug the trackmaster's outputs into a line in jack on your Behringer mixer, from there, it obviously gets routed into your soundcard) BFD is a midi drum software module. It sounds incredible, but you need some kind of midi file or a midi controller to play it. It also will open under your host (sonar in this case) on it's own track of some kind. I'm not familiar with Amplitube live, you sure you don't mean Ableton Live?

I don't know exactly where you're at, and exactly what you want to do, but I hope at least some of this helps.

 

[matti b]

thanks

thanks for replying, much appriciated, i'm at the beginning, never done any type of recording like this on my own, (recorded in a pro studio, but obviously the producer did all of the work), i'm just looking at recording basic songs, 2 guitars, bass, vocals (haven't got a mike just yet), and drums (done by bfd), all done one at a time.

which outputs should i use from the trakmaster to the mixer?

which outputs should i use from the mixer to the soundcard?

what excactly is a midi file/controller?

amplitube live is guitar amp modelling software.

and yes, it helps!

 

[peopleperson]

The Trackmaster main out or line out should go into a line input on the mixer, and that particular track routed to the main outs of your mixer, which should then go into your soundcard. I'm not exactly sure what it's called on that particular pre, but you just need the basic analog line output.

The main outputs of your mixer should be routed to your line inputs of the soundcard (whatever style of main outputs the mixer has will have to be physically adapted to get into your soundcard...typically the sound card line input will be an 1/8th inch jack that accepts two channels...left and right). By doing this, anything you want to record into your software can be routed easily into your card.

A midi file is nothing more than data that will essentially tell a midi module what note to play, when, and how hard so to speak. The midi module (can be a piece of hardware or software as in the case of BFD) contains all the tones. It needs a midi file or real time control to tell it what to play. A controller can be a simple keyboard with a midi output. You can essentially use the controller for whatever module you want to play with it. The cool thing about working with midi is you can for example, keep the same drum pattern if you like, but go into BFD and change what snare drum is being hit for instance. You just have to dig in. Go straight to the basic midi stuff in your manual for Sonar. The best metaphor I have for midi is, have you ever looked inside a child's musicbox? You have a little metal wheel with notches for what notes to play and when. The notches play the little thing that makes the notes. The wheel in this case would be the midi file, and the "thing" (i don't know what else to call it) would be the midi module.