How can a n00b best learn Pro Tools?

Just bought Pro Tools and the Mbox 2. Total beginner. Need to learn how to use it. Now what?

I finally, finally decided to get myself a good recording setup, after all these years with Garageband and my little Tascam interface. I got a great deal on Pro Tools* and the Mbox 2, and now I am looking for the best way to learn how to use it, at the least a working knowledge of it so I can start recording and experimenting myself. Online classes? Books? The manual? How did you learn to use it? I am willing to put in a lot of time and energy to learn.

If you have recommendations, it's best to assume that I know next to nothing about recording (which isn't totally true, but is pretty close) and am starting from square one. I looked into classes, but all I could find (in the SF Bay Area) was substantially out of my price range. I don't need any sort of certificate, also.

Bonus question: recommend the best microphone for under $400 (could go up to $500 for a kickass mic). For use mainly on acoustic instruments and vocals.

*PS - I know some folks hate Pro Tools and would recommend a different program... but I've bought it already and have decided, after much research and consultations, to go with it.

posted by ORthey (5 comments total)

One helpful comment and one rather less helpful.

First up - the mic. There seems to be, in the UK at least, a price crash on the AKG C414B XLS. I picked one up recently for just shy of £500. Sounds a lot, but given that this is a truly legendary mic which retailed for £800+ a couple of years back it's an absolute steal at that price. Fantastic mic for acoustic instruments and may be precisely what you're after. On the day I got it I used it to mic a 12-string guitar on this - haven't had it long enough to use on anything else of note. Some say the C414 - XLII is better for vocals (slight presence boost) but it's a matter of taste - that variant is a good £200 more and the boost can be done from the desk anyway. Alternative is the Rode K2 - about £350 in UK. Tube mic, absolutely brilliant for vocals. Good for acoustics as well.

Less helpful comment - I too would like to find out about Pro Tools. I'm pushing the limits of my current DAW (Yam AW2400) and am beginning to consider alternatives.
posted by MajorDundee at 3:56 PM on February 5, 2010

Thanks for all the helpful mic stuff! I'm willing to break the bank a bit if the right one comes along. I'll look into the AKG C414B XLS and the others.
posted by ORthey at 5:18 PM on February 5, 2010

The Musician's Guide to Pro Tools is a good starting point, I think. I still reference it. It also comes with a CD of sound files and the book has exercises on using the files and the software. I've never actually used it because I'm too impatient and would rather record my own stuff, but I know a few people who have said it helped them out.

Also, I found it extremely helpful to talk to/watch someone record with PT. I don't know if that's a situation that you can find yourself in, though. Maybe if you had to, just find a studio that records with it (or a friend that has it) and ask if you can sit in and watch.

For me, it was a little tougher to record with PT just because I was used to other software and recording analog, so it might be better for you to not have that experience.
posted by sleepy pete at 12:57 AM on February 6, 2010

Sorry I can't help as I've recently been considering buy a copy of pro-tools myself. - I just use Cubase SX now which I just slowly learnt how to use more and more off over the years.

for a few things I've found that you can find tutorials on youTube for free that will show you how to do particular things.
posted by mary8nne at 8:14 AM on February 12, 2010

I think, apart from googling the things I had problems with, one of the things that helped me with the fiddly tasks in Pro Tools was a bunch of the videos on the Digidesign site. It's a bit of a nightmare to navigate the site to find tutorial type stuffs, and they seem to change it every time I tried to find it, but there were some things on there which taught me how to do the things I was really struggling to comprehend for a while.
But between Youtube, random google searching (last answer I needed I got from a google books preview page - and would have taken an age to find any other way) and learning from others has seemed the best way to me.
I can be mefi mailed with any problems if it would help. I'm not bad with it having used it for a few years.

Some of the small bits of advice I'd give would be to:

Set up a default session. I have one set on 48khz, 24bit, with four tracks already setup on the right inputs. Just makes starting on new tracks and ideas infinitely quicker and easier. I then use Save Copy In to save it as though it were a new file, making sure to select to copy any audio files and the plugin statuses with it (asks you on the Save dialog).

Use a Master channel. It's the only way in Pro Tools to get a feeling for the actual levels when presented in stereo. Also, grabbing the free RTAS Inspector plugin is handy, as it gives you a view of dynamic range and levels you don't get in Pro Tools.

OK, that's all I can think of, everything else is fiddly...
posted by opsin at 10:33 AM on February 13, 2010