Gosh Cathie, All that music theory locked inside for all that time. I'm glad you now have the opportunity to seek your passion.

I lucked up. I received the Band-in-a-Box ProPAK as a gift. Receiving the smallest content package forced me to concentrate on learning how to use the capabilities of Band-in-a-Box and RealBand. It took me two years to save up the money to advance to the UltraPAK; by then I had a better than average understanding of both programs.

Every now and then you'll come across a forum post by a user with an older version of the programs. Generally speaking follow the links in their signature and listen to songs they've posted and I think you'll agree the tools they have they've learned to use well.

One part of audio has drastically changed over the years; that is the transition from analog to digital. You also need to spend time learning how digital audio works; it differs significantly from audio.

+++ Home Recording for Dummies +++ does an EXCELLENT job of presenting the basic building blocks of digital audio and home recording. One reason I suggest this book for beginners is it has been constantly updated. Edition six was released November, 2020.

Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home