absolute beginner

[catapult]

I'm new to home recording, so if I sound ignorant, it's because I am. I'm unfamiliar with a lot of recording terms and totally gear-ignorant. I've spent many years playing guitar and writing and performing music and never felt that i had the time to devote to the art of recording. I was afraid that i would spend too much time in the 'recording world' and as a result my music would suffer. I'm now ready to jump into the recording world. I know what i want to do, but I don't know how to do it or what I need to do it. I currently have a lap top computer, a couple of microphones and a focusrite saffire pro26 i/o. I'm not very computer smart, and the only thing I've done with the saffire pro 26 is take it out of the box. I'm really overwhelmed.. I want to start very simply. I want to be able to record my solo fingerstyle guitar instrumentals one verse at a time and then edit them together. (I plan to get into the multi-tracking later).My first question is this..Can I edit parts together with the saffire pro26 or do i need seperate recording software of some kind? I know that the saffire has the plug-ins, but I don't know if it has editing capabilities. I would appreciate any help anyone can give me. Is there a step by step tutorial available for beginners like me? Thanks

[garageband]

I saw this book at BN the other day, "Home Recording for Dummies." It looked pretty good. I think it was even being remaindered.

[shackman]

WELCOME!! Don't be afraid that you don't know gear and such - no-one will bite your head off!

I don't know the saffire at all, but the function it will perform is getting your mic'd guitar playing into the pc.

Laptops and recording worry me, but many here manage fine and it must, therefore, be very possible.

The real point is that it comes bundled with software which will do what you need, Cubade LE as I understand.

Basically, load the software, plug the Saffire into your laptop, find and hit the record button on Cubase and play the first bit you want to record on one track.

then do the same on another track. Then you can cut, paste, get the tracks to start in the exact right places etc.

Check out the Cubase thread for help on that - I don't use Cubase either.

And remember 1 thing!! HAVE FUN!!! Recording / music is a pleasure, not a pain

John

[garageband]

Do get a book and read up. This is very complicated, not unlike driving an automobile. You'll certainly have some good questions once you put some study and work in.

[catapult]

Thanks for your help gentlemen! I feel a bit more confident now. I will check out cubase and dig around for some tutorials.