New to the forum, and learning Pro Tools

[Don Mako]

Just wanted to say hi. My name is Don and I am relatively new to Pro Tools. While I have a lot of experience with songwriting and sound reinforcement, this is my first time getting seriously into recording with software. I sold an expensive guitar and took that money and invested in Pro Tools and an audio interface (Ozone USB/MIDI Keyboard) and some small extras (I sprung for the color-coded keyboard, some monitor speakers, external hard drive (250GB), some small tube preamps and large diaphram mics. I have been running it all on a Dell Inspiron 9100 WinXP Intel P4 2.8GHz 1GB RAM.

I have been working through a book called Pro Tools for Musicians and Songwriters a few nights per week and I'm actually getting fairly intuitive with the interface and have put together some decent recordings.

Right now I am only running the free plugins that came with the expansion pack (Amplitube LE, BFD-Lite, SampleTank 2 SE installed). I would like to get the full versions of some of these, but I spent all my money on the software and interface so far. Maybe this year sometime.

I have tons of newbie questions - especially with BFD-Lite - but I have been trying to work through the manuals and online resources first before I start asking. I have zero MIDI experience which might account for some of my difficulties there.

Drums (BFD-Lite) seem to be my weakness. I would love to be able to just put basic drum beats in and some small unimaginative fills at certain places y'know?

My goals are to get familiar enough with Pro Tools that I can (1) record all the songs I have written to date in a fairly clean demo-styled manner, (2) record others, (3) have my skillsets good enough that I can assist in a studio.

Anyways, that's all I have at the moment. Just wanted to say thanks for all the help I have got from this forum so far as a lurker, and I hope I don't get too annoying with my newbie question!

Thanks,

DM

[bassbuddy]

Welcome Don...!!!

Congrats on your new set-up. The whole Midi thing at 1st seems confusing + difficult, but after awhile it will be cream cheese. The guys over in the "midi" section on the DUC have been very helpful to me in the past, (and still help me).

You might want to check into the Tea Room + check us out....bunch of good guys just sharing knowledge. I hired a "real" Pro Tools engineer when I bought my rig, and he came to my place + helped me out alot....Have fun...!!!

Best,

Kenny