hello everyone, ive lurked here for a bit and read threads that caught my eye, but i havent seen any questions like mine.

I'm 20 years old and ever since i got into music ive tried my hardest to immerse myself in all aspects reguarding and relating to it. haha, basically ive tried to live.

so here is my deal, i am extremely interested in recording music. my goal in life is to own a small recording studio that makes enough money for me to get by without having to stress about things.

my problem is I'm finding it hard to get IN to things.

ive downloaded a couple of different programs; cool edit, adobe audition, cubase, but other then understanding the most basic basics of it all; pluginstument in, record, mess with eq for some sound quality, i am at a total loss! there are many different plugins to use and I'm not sure what more then half of them do and not sure how to use most of them properly.
(p.s. before you get mad that i downloaded these programs for free, let me explain its just untill i find a program i like and can use correctly that I'm not paying money for it.)

if someone could point me towards some books or websites that are intended for people with the passion to learn, but, for the momment, complete idiots about it.

just so you know, I'm more of a hands on type of learner (an internship in a studio would be great for me but right now I'm not able to find the time :( )but i can still learn well enough by just reading things and experimenting for myself to get it right because i care enough about it.

thank you all for any help!