Chapter 1: Discovering What You Need

In This Chapter

check.png Understanding the components of a home studio

check.png Discovering how each component contributes to the final sound

Whether you use a PC- or Mac-based system for your Pro Tools studio, your home recording system of choice employs much of the same basic technology. In fact, your simple Pro Tools studio consists of the same basic components as a typical, million-dollar, professional studio complex.

In this chapter, you discover the purpose of each component of a home recording studio, and you also discover how each of these components relates to the quality of sound you ultimately get from your studio. This knowledge will help you to spend the right amount of money on the right stuff. (See Book II, Chapter 1 for more on purchasing gear.)

Eyeing the Big Picture

In spite of what you may surmise from this chapter — with its long list of equipment — you need only a few things to do multitrack recording with Pro Tools. This simple list comprises instruments and microphones (called input devices), a computer, an Avid or M-Audio audio interface or any other compatible, third-party audio interface, Pro Tools software, and monitors (speakers, to you home stereo enthusiasts). No matter how complicated your system becomes and how many pieces of gear ...

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