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Start with Marshall McGee: He's one of the Sound Designer who worked on Just Cause 4 among other things, and he makes a lot of bite-sized, info-rich videos that are just fantastic.

Then of course, you should read the works of some of the professionals in this field: The Sound Design Bible by Ric Viers and Sound Design by David Sonnenschein would both be good places to start.

Obviously, you should also get out there and record, as soon as possible :) You'll need a portable recorder, and one or two mics. Obviously, it's entirely possible to do sound design using nothing but samples, but you'll be skipping one of the key steps of making great sounds. Great sound design begins by great sound recording, and knowing how to get your very own, unique, high quality sounds is not only a key step in this process, it's also a lot of fun. I started with a Zoom F4 for my recorder, and it works like a charm for its price. For microphones, you'll want either a shotgun microphone (particularly if you're doing Foley), or a pair of mics capable of handling various tasks. My first microphones ever were a pair of Oktava mk-012, and they're great, reliable microphones.

For DAWs, as always, there is no right answer, and whichever DAW you're comfortable using is the right DAW. I'd recommend Reaper, as it's dirt cheap and is just as good if not better than many, more expensive "studio standards" like ProTools, but, again, whichever DAW you're comfortable with is the right DAW.

And finally, welcome ! It's always nice to see new people interested in Sound Design.

I would highly recommend getting the sound as best you can on location and try to avoid and ADR. While there are some actors who are great at ADR a lot of the time it turns out to be a pain in the ass.
Getting the production sound right not only saves you a ton of time in post but it preserves the performance of the actors.
Now the easiest way to get good production sound is hiring a production sound mixer. Given that this is your first film I'm guessing that's not in the budget so at the absolute most basic you'll want to look at a shotgun mic, boom pole, and a mixer or recorder depending on if you're running single or duel system.
Single system is running the sound directly into the camera duel is recording the audio separately and syncing the sound to picture in post.
We use a lot of different types of mics in production sound for different settings but if you can only have one you'll want to look for a shotgun mic. These are directional mics that help limit the BG noise.
That mic goes on the end of a boom pole and then you want to get it as close to the actors as you can without being in frame like so.
There's a lot more to production sound but the biggest thing I can say for someone in your position is pay attention to how your locations sound when scouting. All the specialty mics in the world aren't going to save your dialog if you're shooting in a noisy environment.
Instead of me just throwing a bunch of scattered info at you I would suggest doing more research into sound for picture. There are a ton great resources online these days that should be able to get you started.
Here's an article that should give you a good overview of movie sound without getting too specific
For production sound check out JW Sound and read everything along with The Location Sound Bible.
It's not everything you'll ever need to know but it's a great start.
SoundWorks Collection is also a great site with videos diving into the sound of various films.
Like I said there are a ton of resources out there and Google is your friend with that but if it's your first film and really you'll just learn as you go.
tldr; get good sound on set.

Andy Farnell - Designing Sound

Uses Pure Data, which is similar to Max but free. The many practical examples are fantastic; they tackle many non-musical sources and they combine careful physical-modeling considerations with pragmatic corner-cutting (and try to help you understand when it is OK to simplify). Farnell seems to be a leading thinker on procedural SFX generation for videogames.

It's a different focus than the Cipriani-Giri books, I think, which are also good but more aimed at understanding traditional audio-DSP functions in depth (filters, reverb, etc.).

Yes, a great book! Even better if you happen to be working in Max or Pd and can try his models out.

Although less practical I also recommend reading the short Spectromorphology: Explaining Sound Shapes by Dennis Smalley. A kind of taxonomy of sound - taking its cue from Pierre Shaeffer's original ideas about Musique Concrète. Its densely packed but an invaluable reference for sound designers.

Also Audio Vision by Michel Chion. This is more about the relationship between image and sound but still incredibly insightful and fascinating. Foreword by Walter Murch..

Looks like it could be an external sound card for PC. I think X-fi is a technology from Creative? There should be a model number or something on the back. If not, plug it into your PC and hope it's not some terrible hacked device that will blow up your computer.
Seriously though, I'm like 90% sure it's something similar to this.

I actually just bought "Designing Sound" by Andy Farnell today. It was the textbook for a class I took in college focused on basic sound synthesis. Can't recommend it enough, though I will say it focuses on Pure Data (which is a lot like Max/MSP). It's great for learning a basic understanding of sound synthesis. I've also heard the Foley Grail and the Sound Effects Bible are good for film/game sound design.

Edit: link: Designing Sound (MIT Press) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262014416/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_M-PzzbV1H1721

The Sound Effects Bible is really well put together, it has a lot of great references to the most used sound effects and how to make them, as well as home studio tips and other equipment guides.

I would pick about a 5 minute clip of a video (with little to no words) and strip the audio and make it yourself. You'll have plenty to do. There are some great animations on youtube and vimeo.

I recommend this portable recorder at about $110.

Yes, you need a multi-channel audio interface, then you can map the channels within any DAW.

Here's a cheap 8 channel mixer that I've used in the past: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MIXF200

I use Reaper for the latter.

If you are at a university, then the music department should have an 8 channel mixer you can use. There should be a tech guy who knows how to do this.

Actually, Steve Goodman (Dubstep artist named Kode9) wrote a book called Sonic Warfare!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sonic-Warfare-Ecology-Technologies-Abstraction/dp/0262517957

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Worth a read, he's a sound art/design lecturer, written well.

http://www.amazon.com/Sound-Design-Expressive-Effects-Cinema/dp/0941188264/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

One technique tends to catch and release the sound. The other technique tends to crush it.

https://www.amazon.com/Designing-Sound-Press-Andy-Farnell/dp/0262014416

Looks like your post got pulled by mods. I can continue to advise, but heres my reply to your last msg fwiw:

>Can I bypass a mixer and go direct to amps?

Kinda. You can plug direct into your "main" amplifier (as if it were Left-Right), but you may experience pops and more noises if you connect/disconnect anything while the amps are on, since you cant mute. You also remove any EQ or fader control when you remove the mixer, so you would be dependent on the playback device controls.

From there you can use the "through" outputs on the back of said amp, to jump signal to the next amp and so on.
This is "daisy changing" the signal that feeds the amps, but is obviously dependent on the amp connections. Youll probably need a handful of adapters as well.

Jumping speakers together can be tricky, because they need to have similar power and resistance requirements. Unless you understand OHM loads, cable gauges, and peak vs RMS wattages, I wouldn't recommend "daisy chaining" speakers. That's one of the most common mistakes that can cause bad sound or damage if done incorrectly. This stuff is why sound engineering is a job that takes years to master.

Get something like the Yamaha MG06 or this Behringer or this Pyle.

Sound/build quality are pretty much the same under about $300. Which is another way to say on the cheap side.
Even if you bought a $12,000 console, its all for not if your PA isnt set up correctly.

Purchasing a cheap submixer would leave over $100 left in your budget. Thats plenty to pay someone to show you how to set it up, and youll probably have beer money left over.