New here! Little help

[ChristianCline]

Wanting to get into audio engineering/producing/recording. I've got Macbook Pro, and I just downloaded Pro Tools free trail for 30 days to kinda get my foot in the door. If anybody can give me some tips to get going and start up some things while i've got Pro Tools!

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hey there, and welcome.
Can't really give any tips without more info about what you own and want to do, but please fill us in. We're a helpful bunch.

Protools is fantastic software. I've used it for years and love it, but I'll be the first to say shop around.
PT is a money pit!
I'm one of those who hates change, but If I had the patience I'd definitely jump ship to the very capable REAPER software suite.
Something to think about.

BTW, do you need an ilok 2 for that trial?

 

[ChristianCline]

Hey there, and welcome.
Can't really give any tips without more info about what you own and want to do, but please fill us in. We're a helpful bunch.

Protools is fantastic software. I've used it for years and love it, but I'll be the first to say shop around.
PT is a money pit!
I'm one of those who hates change, but If I had the patience I'd definitely jump ship to the very capable REAPER software suite.
Something to think about.

BTW, do you need an ilok 2 for that trial?

It just required me to make a ilok account and enter the username I used for it. To be honest, I don't own anything but a guitar and lap top. I'm just a kid looking to get started in my dreams! I love all types of music, and have read all around that Pro Tools is a great software to get to know things with...

 

[Steenamaroo]

Alright cool. Well, you're still testing the waters but just know that Protools is one of the more expensive options, and you don't necessarily always get what you pay for.

So...What do you want to do?
What genre of music? What will you contribute?
Will there be simultaneous recordings (live group), or taking things one at a time?

What will your mixes consist of? What instruments, in full.
Drums? If so, real acoustic drums or programmed?


What's the final goal in terms of quality? Are you looking for a sellable/radio playable product, or something to learn from?
Maybe just something reasonable to let your friends hear?
That kind of thing. As detailed as possible.

And most importantly........What is your budget?

 

[ChristianCline]

Alright cool. Well, you're still testing the waters but just know that Protools is one of the more expensive options, and you don't necessarily always get what you pay for.

So...What do you want to do?
What genre of music? What will you contribute?
Will there be simultaneous recordings (live group), or taking things one at a time?

What will your mixes consist of? Drums? If so, real acoustic drums or programmed?

What's the final goal in terms of quality? Are you looking for a sellable/radio playable product, or something to learn from?
Maybe just something reasonable to let your friends hear?


That kind of thing. As detailed as possible.

Honestly, I'm not sure of what I want my main goal to be, honestly. I just wanna get to know the world of mixing, mastering, recording, and producing. Rock music is my main thing... But I've got a side that would like to make hip-hop beats too. But mostly rock. I just wanna learn you know, the basics. Then get to know the rest that comes along...

 

[Steenamaroo]

Hmm. Ok.
Well, the most basic thing you'll need is a quality means of listening to your work.
Ideally that'd be a treated room and good monitor speakers.

Headphones can be good for tracking and editing work, but they're rarely recommended for mixing and critical decision making.

You can run powered monitors straight from your computers line/headphone output, but it's less than ideal.
Ideally you'd pick up a USB or Firewire audio interface with main line outputs.

Which one you get will depend on what you hope to do in the future because your audio interface will have all your analog input channels.
If you think you're going to record live drum kits some day, get one with 8 mic input channels, for example.

Other than that, there's a "Mix This" forum in here where people submit their raw tracks for your mixing pleasure.
It's not a competition and there's no compulsion to share. Just download the wav files and get practicing.

There's also an "MP3 mixing clinic" where you can submit mixes for friendly (or not so) criticism.
It's not a written rule, but people generally expect a bit of give and take, so don't be afraid to get involved and offer your own opinions.


Best of luck.

 

[ChristianCline]

Hmm. Ok.
Well, the most basic thing you'll need is a quality means of listening to your work.
Ideally that'd be a treated room and good monitor speakers.

Headphones can be good for tracking and editing work, but they're rarely recommended for mixing and critical decision making.

You can run powered monitors straight from your computers line/headphone output, but it's less than ideal.
Ideally you'd pick up a USB or Firewire audio interface with main line outputs.

Which one you get will depend on what you hope to do in the future because your audio interface will have all your analog input channels.
If you think you're going to record live drum kits some day, get one with 8 mic input channels, for example.

Other than that, there's a "Mix This" forum in here where people submit their raw tracks for your mixing pleasure.
It's not a competition and there's no compulsion to share. Just download the wav files and get practicing.

There's also an "MP3 mixing clinic" where you can submit mixes for friendly (or not so) criticism.
It's not a written rule, but people generally expect a bit of give and take, so don't be afraid to get involved and offer your own opinions.


Best of luck.

Thanks! All I've got with to get started is a Macbook Pro, a guitar, and a pair of Beats Headphones. I'll try my best, and do with what I've got! Appreciate the help!

 

[Steenamaroo]

No problem.
At some point everyone has to make do with what they have, and I'm not criticising that, but don't underestimate the impact your monitoring chain has on everything.

To some extent you'll be learning the names of colours with sunshades on.


Also, you'll find stacks of short tutorials on youtube covering common techniques. Those can be really handy.
Some of avid's stock plugins are fantastic visually. The visual readouts on the compressors and gates are great for for learning and understanding what's going on.

Unfortunately the eq's don't have a realtime display like the ones in logic, but eq is much easier to grasp.