You have just about all the info you need here from the guys that have posted already. The only thing i might add is finding proper brace height takes a little getting used to.... if you don't have a recommended brace height from the bowyer, could you tell us what kind of bow you have? and the length?
you see.... recurve bows are more likely to have brace heights from 7.5" to 8.5" to the deepest part of your grip, and a lot of long bows shoot best starting at 6" to 6.5".
you can start out by just pulling the string back about an inch and letting it go and listen to it... if it's buzzing a bit or you are feeling vibration.... tighten it up till that stops buzzing first.... as you start shooting the bow the lower the brace you have the more energy it transfers to the shaft, but you will get more noise and vibration in the grip. you need to determine a happy medium for performance vs hand shock, and noise.... once you have it shooting good you can add string silencers to help quiet things down.
another thing that determines a good brace height is arrow weight... on a typical trad set up you should stay between 8-10 grains per pound of draw weight.... the lighter the arrow, the more noise you'll get out of it....
as you get more experience shooting these things, you'll get the hang of adjusting arrow length and tip weight to make your spine match your bow. i'd recommend starting with at least 9-10 gpp arrows. even going up to 12 gpp helps when you first get started. heavier arrows with 5 inch fletching are more forgiving to a poor release that lighter weight set ups with small fletching....
hope that helps some...
Kirk