Newbie to Mixing, yeah i know this is always asked Options

[spuncan]

K heres what i have, first gen. G3 powermac (getting G5 when they come out), Yamaha keyboard w/ midi in + out, Protools LE. What id like to be able to do is Mix and Remix songs. So my question is what else do i need to connect all of this and and what other hardware do i need (please keep prices down). My past experience is keyboarding, percussion, and audio cleaning (basic just running stuff through a peak demo for a friend.
Thanks for any help you can give.

[kaboombahchuck]

Hi spuncan. I rarly use just midi. Most of my stuff is done in real time audio. Having said that here goes. First off, I have every thing running through a behringer 16 track mixer. I use this to get the best sound I can, without the hiss and other junk. Behringer makes the best mixer for the price, you can check their goodies out at www.behringer.com . So after I get a nice clean sound recorded, I normalize it to 100%. This gives me the loudest possible recording I can get, without messing up the sound. At this point I save my work, so I won't screw up my work. Then I add effects (if needed). I continue doing this untill i get all the tracks to the song completed. Having done all of this, I basically have a master with all of the sounds at their peak. Then I do my mixing, using the mixing part of my program. See, now that I made the piont of making my masters, and saving them, I can go back and remix all I want. Having nice clean sounds in my masters I can even go back and add different dffects for a completly different sound. The possibilities are limitless!!

[spuncan]

thanks kaboom... but what you didn't mention was what audio software you use for all this. If you could mentionm this it would be helpful because id like to try all the popular audio apps to find one thats best for me.

[kaboombahchuck]

Hi spuncan. I use metro 5 by cakewalk. Most people laugh when I tell them this. I feel it is the most user friendly program on the market. It does every thing I want and more!

[Synthetic]

It sounds like you already have the audio app you need. ProTools LE is great app for home audio production. My question is... do you have a Digi001 interface? You should have some type of Digidesign interface if you have PT 5 LE unless you got the other version which is PT FREE. If you have the Digi001... no mixer needed. In fact, you can use the Digi001 as a mixer if you ever needed.

In my home studio... I use Digi001 with ProTools 5.1.1 LE, along with Bias Peak 2.04 and T-Racks 24. i have some other audio apps but those are the heart and soul of my audio editing and recording needs. I use PT for everything including midi sequencing (which some people claim to be inadequate), audio sequencing, and recording. I use Bias Peak for 2 track editing once in a while and use the T-Racks for mastering tracks.

As long as you have and audio interface for your G3 that allows enough inputs and outputs to meet your needs... a mixer is only and optional item and not really a necessity. I have a 8-track mixer that hardly gets used except to send signals to my keyboard amp and bass amp for jamming. I would recommend a good mic preamp though. I recently acquired a Presonus Blue Tube Preamp and Blue Max Compressor and love the way they add more life to my synth and bass recordings.