Chris. Take it from guys who do this every day and make a living at it. It's not the software. You have to learn the basics of audio recording, how to set levels, how an eq works, etc to get the sound you want. This is not an accessibility issue at all. The only thing you need from an accessibility standpoint is how to read the meter and reset it, which we went over a few days ago. Now, once you get into editing and other tasks that rely heavily on vo, then it becomes an accessibility issue and that's what we're here for as a list. What you're asking is not specifically related to Pro Tools. You'd have the same issues with this hardware on a sonar rig. I mentioned this a few days ago. What you need to do is record everything flat. Don't boost or cut anything on your board. Then, you bring up an EQ and compressor and taylor the sound that way. Understand that that $70 multimix has an elementary EQ in it. It's not going to solve any of your problems. Also, it's not the best pre in the world, so you need to back way off of it. because it can't take a ton of input. I recommend about -10 DB. That's where your meter should be sitting at. Once it's in that range when you've sung your loudest point of the tune, Leave it. Later, you can crank it up in a compressor and shape the tone with an eq and cut or boost at will. I recommend cutting squelchy midrange. Everything is done subtly. It's all about nuance. Again I say. There is no silver bullet. Trust me on this. You've got to learn the basics of recording. Join the midimag list. Those guys will be able to help you suss out all the basics that you need to know. This list is designed for helping people with Pro Tools itself, which has nothing to do with your current situations. The midi maggers can go all day long on how to set gain, compression, etc. They'll tell you the same thing I'm telling you here. You've got to work it. Malcolm Gladwell wrote a book called Outliers. It's all about what makes people successful and how folks get good at what they do. His premise is to get really good at something, you've got to put 10000 hours in. Everyone he sites as being successful has put in the time. Those of us who do this full time, or have done it for several years can probably safely say that they're well on their way to their 10000 hours, or they've already put that in and then some. We never arrive where everything we do is absolutely flawless and we're 100 percent happy with it all the time. We all still learn and grow. Part of recording is enjoying the journey of learning how it's done and how you can make it work. I can't stress this any other way. You've got to just put in the time. A ton of folks have given you some awesome advice already. Take that and build on it. We're all learning from each other. Start keeping a record of emails you get with advice that works for you and start building up your arsenal of knowledge. That's all I can advise. That's the only way this will work whether you're in Sonar, Soundforge, Pro Tools, Garage Band, Studio recorder, Windows Sound Recorder, whatever.
Kevin
