}

PRO ®

TOOLS
OVERDRIVE!

Q Q Q
Matt Donner
 ®

PRO TOOLS
OVERDRIVE!
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 This book is dedicated to my wife, Kimberly, and our son,
Marcus Abraham. Without your support, love, and understanding,
I’d never have had the time to put this together.
To my family, who has supported me through all the Ramen Noodle
years, and to my business partner, Greg, who has always let me
express my vision with passion and more importantly, patience.
Lastly, to all my students and clients, through whom I have
been able to earn this knowledge and sharpen my skills
for presenting it here!
Acknowledgments
I’ve bent the ears of the greatest Pro Tools gurus I know—guys who have helped me cover as
much territory as I can for you, the reader. These are my mouse-armed heroes and they
deserve listing here:
Q Sig Knapstad, my mentor, and all the gang at Cutting Edge Audio (http://www.ceag.com)
Q Leff Lefferts, also of Cutting Edge, for providing excellent technical editing (in other words,
fixing my goofs)
Q Ken Walden, former Digi product specialist and consultant to the stars
(http://www.secretsofthepros.com)
Q Dave Anderson, sales manager at Digidesign, for always supporting me and the never-ending
hookups
Q Andy Cook, Digidesign education coordinator, for letting Pyramind be one of the first Digi
schools ever
Q Andre Zweers from Skywalker Sound, for his time and insights into the real world of film-score
orchestration and surround sound
Q Gene Radzik and John Loose from Dolby Labs, for being two extremely knowledgeable,
accessible, and personable guys and also for sharing their hard-won knowledge and tips
Q Hideki Yamashita, for figuring out almost every technical Rubik’s cube I’ve thrown at him
Q Steve Heithecker, for all the graphics help
Q Dave Nelson, for being the hardest-working man in independent film (no exaggeration)
Q Greg Gordon, for believing in my vision for Pyramind and letting me grab the ball and run with it
Q Cathleen Snyder, for all her copy editing and patience in getting this book finished
Q My wife, Kimberly, and our families, for their tireless support and love
Q My son, Marcus, for nine months of inspiration and smiles
Let me take one last moment to thank the vets in Digi’s tech pool who have bailed me out of
one or two impending disasters over the past 12 years. Digi screens their techs hard and they
don’t hire dummies. Those guys are sharp, experienced, and give great service, and it’s not
their fault if you broke your system—so when you call them next time for help, be nice! I bet
they’ll bail you out too.

About the Author

Matt Donner began using Pro Tools prior to when Digidesign first owned it. Over the course
of his career, Donner has witnessed Pro Tools develop into what it is today. He has had the
opportunity to use it on Sundance feature films as well as hundreds of records. Currently
one of the only Certified Pro Tools instructors in San Francisco, Donner teaches hundreds of
students annually at the school he co-created, Pyramind (www.pyramind.com). He released
a solo album in 2002 called Donner, Party of One (www.cdbaby.com/donner).
 }
TABLE OF Contents
CHAPTER 1 Setup and Maintenance of the Mac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1
Keeping the Dock Out of the Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
Customizing the Dock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Setting Up Exposé . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Locating Data Quickly Using the List View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Locating Data Quickly Using the Columns View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Locating Data Quickly Using Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Organizing Drive Media Data on the Sidebar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
Taking a Quick View at Drive Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Maximizing Drive Performance with Single-Drive Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Creating System Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
Saving a Crashing Drive Using Disk Permissions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Saving Your Drive by Booting as FireWire Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Keeping Unwanted Visitors Out! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
Deciding Which Format to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
Deciding Which Sampling Rate to Use: Gene Radzik,
Dolby Labs and Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Calibrating the I/O (TDM): Gene Radzik, Dolby Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Using Template I/O Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Keeping Organized with the Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
What to Do about Those Missing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
Organizing Your Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
Resetting Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
Don’t Lose Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Where Does It Record, Anyway? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32
Adding a Second Interface (Mix and Mix Plus Users) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
Managing Your Memory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
What Do I Do about Shortcuts on My Laptop? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
Control Focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .36
vi Contents
QQQ

CHAPTER 2 Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

New Track Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
Naming Track Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
Signal Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Talkback Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
Monitoring with the Mbox . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes (Single Artist) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes (Multiple Artists) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Creating Mix-Minus Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
Switching Songs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Switching Takes: Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
The MO-ME Mix (Turn Me Up!) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Recording the Audio with Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Recording with Hardware Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Selection Recording (Punching In) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Recording with Pre- and Post-Roll . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .58
Using Markers during Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
Setting a Temporary Effect for the Artist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Stereo or Dual Mono? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Loop Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Using Destructive Record to Avoid Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .62

CHAPTER 3 Importing, Exporting, and Managing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

The Many Ways to Import Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Direct Importing to the Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Importing to Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Importing Session Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .67
Importing from CD (Option 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Importing from CD (Option 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Batch Importing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Importing Standard MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Contents vii
QQQ

Creating Standard MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Verifying Path Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Fixing Bad Path Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Exporting Definitions and Importing Regions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Exporting as Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Batch Naming and Exporting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Preparing Sessions for Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Cleaning the Audio Bin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
Duplicating the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Compacting the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .85
Importing OMFs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .86
Creating OMF Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

CHAPTER 4 Editing, Arranging, and Navigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Zero-Crossing Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .92
Editing Safely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Locating Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93
Locating and Selecting Loops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Creating Loops on the Fly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Looping throughout the Song . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95
Loops off the One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .96
Relative Grid and Loops off the One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
Sync Points and Loops off the One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .98
Loops and the TCE Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99
Creating Loops with the Tab-to-Transient Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Stripping Vocals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Crisper Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Adding and Fixing Syllables (Words) That Don’t Fit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Room Tone Fixes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Lyrics in the Regions: Ken Walden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Version 1: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Version 2: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Version 3: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Switching between Multiple Takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
viii Contents
QQQ

Composite Edits with Multiple Takes (Comping Tracks) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113

Multiple Tracks and Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Multiple Tracks with the Same Voice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
Multiple Takes on Playlists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115
Zoom Presets: Edit Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .117
Zoom Presets: Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Lift-Cuts with the Separation Grabber (TDM Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Finding Your Way through the Universe (TDM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
Moving around Quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Where Did My Cursor Go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Listening away from the Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
Faster Working with Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124
Section Arrangements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Erasing with the Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Batch Fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Faster Fades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Repositioning Moved Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Aligning Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Dragging Regions to Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Using the Scrubber to Select and Trim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
Stutter Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
TCE Smear Edits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Exact Beat Slicing Using the Beat Detective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Troubled Trimming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140

CHAPTER 5 Composing with MIDI and ReWire Applications . . . . . .141

The AMS and Setting Up the MIDI Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Patch Names in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Using Program Changes to Save Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
Monitoring Your Hardware Synths . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Monitoring and Recording Virtual Synthesizers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Setting Default Thru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Using Loops to Create a Tempo Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
ReWiring into Pro Tools with Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Contents ix
QQQ

Printing the Reason Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154

Exporting Loops to Pro Tools from Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .155
Sending Your Loop to the Dr. Rex Player in Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .157
Exporting MIDI Files to Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .161
Thickening the Dr. Rex Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Thickening Other MIDI Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
Sampling Pro Tools Regions with Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Effects, ReWire, and DSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
MIDI Beat Clock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
Using Reason as the Click . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Triggering MIDI from Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Quick Chord Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
Quick Chord Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .172
Splitting Hands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
When Reason Loses the First Hit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Some Quantizing Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Loop Recording with MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
MIDI Offsets and Bad Timing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Automating Reason from Pro Tools: Hideki Yamashita, Pyramind . . . . . . . . . .179
Tempo Shifts from Live to Pro Tools: Greg Gordon, Pyramind . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Cut Time MIDI Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
Difficult MIDI Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
Meter and Tempo Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .187
Dealing with Audio and Tempo Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .189

CHAPTER 6 Inserts, Sends, and Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .191

Hitting the Wall and Getting Stuck (TDM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
What Do You Do When You Run Out of Plug-In Power?
(Hitting the Wall—TDM and LE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193
Multi-Mono versus Multi-Channel Inserts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .194
The AM Radio Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .195
Offsets as Chorus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Offsets as Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Side-Chaining . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .198
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I/O Labeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .199

Sub-Grouping Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
Faster Plug-In (and Send) Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201
Storing and Recalling Your Favorite Insert Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .203
Old-School 808s . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
Reverb-Only Setups (Instant Distant) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Shaving DSP in TDM Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
Chaining Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
Clipping the Plug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
Storing Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Dealing with Plug-In Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
A-B Tests with Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
Solo Safe with Reverbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
Delay Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .217
Tempo Shifts and Delays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .219

CHAPTER 7 Mixing and Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221

A Word on Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222
Levels, Bandwidth, and the Master Fader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
When to Use the Various Automation Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
Keeping Organized by Colors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
Keeping the Edit and Mix Windows Linked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
Creating Drum Punctuations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
Keeping Automation Curves Clean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231
De-Breathing Naturally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232
Auto-Pan (the Reincarnation of the Pan Scan) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
DJ Filtering without a DJ Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Fast Synth Automation (or Any Plug-In) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236
The John Bonham Special . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
Reggae Reverb Explosions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238
Automating the Whole Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Exit Stage Left . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
Fast Session Merging . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
Contents xi
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CHAPTER 8 Working with Picture and Surround . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243

Setting Up the Picture Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
Working with Sound Effects Libraries and Catalogs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .247
Movies Playing out to TVs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
Working with Music and VO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .249
Helpful Hints for Final Cut Pro Users: Scott Hirsch, Pyramind . . . . . . . . . . . . .250
Pro Tools and Film Mixing: Dave Nelson, Outpost/Pyramind . . . . . . . . . . . . .251
Quick Spotting Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .253
Tempo Shifts in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .255
5.1 Surround in Pro Tools (TDM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257
Choosing Your 5.1 Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .257
Setting Up for 5.1 (I/O Configurations) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .258
5.1-to-Stereo Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .262
ReWiring in 5.1: John Loose, Dolby Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .265
Mixing Pitfalls in 5.1: John Loose, Dolby Labs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .266

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271
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} Introduction
Unless your studio is under a rock, you are well aware of the pervasive
presence of Pro Tools. From a simple two-channel editor called Sound
Designer to the 128-plus tracks, 192k mother ship HD, Pro Tools has
grown into the leader and the standard in digital audio workstations.
We’ll let the conversation about whether it’s the best stay between you
and your friends over beer. We’ll just say that it’s everywhere, and if
you want to work in this business, knowing Pro Tools cold is your career-
building buddy.
I know this because my career was built on Pro Tools. My first step
out of the coffee-making role of intern was due to my proficiency with
Sound Designer, the Mac, and subsequently Pro Tools. I cut my first
professional recordings to Pro Tools and continue that tradition today.
I train about 50 Pro Tools engineers annually and I still learn new tricks
every class; it’s that deep.
It’s so deep that Thomson has three books on the subject, each one
catering to deeper levels of knowledge. This one is all about the tips and
tricks for running Pro Tools in the studio with the client breathing heavily
down your neck. I don’t care how seasoned you are, there is always
something new to learn in the heat of battle from another Pro Tools user.
In interviewing some topflight Pro Tools users in the Bay Area, I learned
a number of new tricks myself, and I’m glad to share them with you.
I present this material to you with the hope that there are some sweet
nuggets of trickery in here for you. Some of this is common knowledge
amongst well-seasoned vets, and some of this is brand-spanking-new to
those same vets.

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xiv Introduction
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Folks in the audio world often gravitate toward a single process in production, be it tracking,
mixing, mastering, editing, sound design, post-production, or simple voice recording. For the
single-use user, Pro Tools has two or three ways to do the same thing. Once you’ve got one
job down one way, you tend to stay with that methodology because it works—and if it ain’t
broke, don’t break it! You might not have any clue that you’re doing it the long, slow, and
stupid way, or you might already know this but don’t have the time to learn a new trick
(you old dog). That’s why this book is for you.
I have broken the book down into several different phases of the production process and tried
to pull out some of my favorite moves for you. I have always tried to deliver the client my
best work in the fastest way possible. I tend to work faster than others because I know some
shortcuts (more than just key commands) and some techniques that have proven very valuable
over time. I am sharing some of those with you here, including several from much heavier
hitters than I.
This is by no means an exhaustive book. It couldn’t be. I’d have to be working on the design
team at Digidesign, actually writing the code, to be that on top of everything. Those guys are
the deepest. This book is meant to approach each of the various types of jobs I’ve done over
the years and the slick moves I’ve learned from doing them.
If you are a single-use Pro Tools engineer, then jump right into the chapter that will help you
the most and start there. When you find yourself working in other areas (or if you know
you’re about to take on a different type of job), then read the chapter that fits and try out
some of these techniques. If they fit you well, you can give them a trial run on your new client,
saving the client time and money and earning yourself a new revenue stream!
If you already do everything (as many of us do!), then start at the beginning and go forward.
Hopefully by the time you get to the end, you will have learned plenty of new chops and
maybe even have found a few on your own along the way! Just be sure that when you’re
finished with the book and you’ve packed your skill set, you consider charging more for your
time—you’re now officially worth it!
So, where shall we begin?
}
1 Setup and
Maintenance of the Mac
Before any good pilot hits the throttle and takes off,
there is a long and detailed flight check that occurs to
ensure that all gauges are correct and all settings are
optimal for a safe flight. Operating Pro Tools and the
computer should be no exception. This chapter will dig
into various “preflight” checks that should be performed
regularly (if not every session) to ensure a trouble-free
session for you, your talent, and your producer!

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 2 CHAPTER 1}
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Keeping the Dock Out of the Way

The Dock defaults to being on the bottom of the screen, but it can interfere when you attempt
to drag the screen around in Pro Tools. Every time you reach to drag the horizontal locator in
Pro Tools (the blue horizontal bar at the bottom of the Edit window) to the left or right, the
Dock will present itself if you have set the Automatically Show and Hide option. You can
deactivate this setting, but then the Dock will always be present, taking up potentially useful
screen space. You can change the settings for the Dock quickly and get it out of the way
using the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of your screen, as seen in Figure 1.1.

Figure 1.1
Finding the Dock preferences and
locations from the Apple menu

The Dock’s preferences allow you to adjust the Dock size to make it bigger or smaller, as
seen in Figure 1.2. You can also adjust the size of any icon when the mouse rolls up and
down with the Magnification slider. Try to keep the Dock small enough to still recognize the
application icon and turn up the magnification so that scrolling through the list makes it easier
to see which icon (application) you want. In addition, try to keep the Dock on the right side of
the screen because you will be less likely to run into conflicts between Pro Tools and the Dock.
If you have a second monitor, this works best.

Figure 1.2
The Dock preferences within
the system preferences
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 3
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If you still run into problems, resize the Pro Tools Mix and Edit windows so the Dock will never
interfere with the Pro Tools screen. If you are using a single 17-inch monitor, you will find
quickly that screen real estate is valuable and hiding the Dock for that extra half-inch is really
important. See Figure 1.3 for a view of a single-monitor Dock solution.

Figure 1.3
Resizing the Edit window to fit the Dock on the right

You can achieve a similar effect in Windows as well: Right-

click the Taskbar, go to Properties, and check the Auto-Hide
the Taskbar option, as shown in Figure 1.4.
Figure 1.4
Auto-hiding the Taskbar
in Windows
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Customizing the Dock

You can drag any application you install to the Dock directly and you can remove items from
the Dock by simply dragging them off of it. You might want to bring folders you use often
here, such as your Pro Tools Sessions folder or your Applications folder, as seen in Figure 1.5.
I suggest you keep like applications together. For example, I often launch Reason (software)
and then ReCycle soon after, so I positioned them next to each other for quick location.
Similarly, I put Internet Explorer right next to Fetch when it’s time to FTP work to a client. That
way, the Dock is organized by application type. Notice that the My Sessions folder is separated
from the applications by a divider. All folders and documents live below the applications.

Figure 1.5
Adding the PT Sessions folder to the Dock

In Windows, you can drag any icon onto or off of the Taskbar
to make it a Quick Launch. Remember to check whether your
Taskbar can have icons on it by right-clicking the Taskbar,
selecting Toolbars, and making sure Quick Launch is checked.
(The difference between the Taskbar and a Toolbar is that
a Toolbar is a subdivision of the Taskbar.) Also, make sure the
Taskbar is not locked by right-clicking on it and making sure
the Lock the Taskbar option is not checked (see Figure 1.6).

Figure 1.6
Quick Launch in the Taskbar
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 5
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Setting Up Exposé
One of the cooler gadgets that OS X provides is something called Exposé. It is a hot-key
switching function that allows you to jump between applications, which comes in handy
when you are running Pro Tools with other applications, such as Reason or Live. It can also be
confusing when you try to choose the Pencil tool and your windows go crazy. To deactivate
Exposé (or to set any other key commands to activate it) choose System Preferences > Exposé
and deselect the function keys in the bottom half of the window. Figures 1.7 and 1.8 show the
Exposé preferences and Exposé in action.

Figure 1.7
The Exposé preferences with no
hot keys enabled (–)

Figure 1.8
Exposé in action, with all open documents visible
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Locating Data Quickly Using the List View

When opening a drive, be it the internal hard drive or any mounted volume, you will always
be presented with all the content stored on that drive, but in no particular order. I recommend
using the List view, with which you should already be familiar from older operating systems.
The advantage to using the List view is that you have the ability to order the data by the
metadata columns. Clicking on the Name column header will order the data alphabetically
(which is generally the default).
Note that the direction of the black arrow in the column header will determine whether the
data is listed in increasing or decreasing order. Looking for the Z session will be faster if you
click the Name header twice—once to sort alphanumerically and once to invert the order,
bringing the Z to the top of the list, as seen in Figure 1.9.
However, looking for that recording you did last week (called Audio 1-01, of course) will be
easier if you order the data by date, as shown in Figure 1.10.

Figure 1.9
Macintosh file
hierarchy, sorted
by name in
reverse

To back up your current folder location, you can use some handy shortcuts to save time. To
go up a level, use the CMD+Up (arrow) combination. You can also click the Back button
located in the upper-left corner of the window. This will keep the window open and replace
the data with the data from the level above. CMD+Down (arrow) works the opposite way
and goes only as far as you have already been. Once you try to navigate to new data, this
shortcut will stop working. In addition, you can always click the letter of the folder you are
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 7
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Figure 1.10
Macintosh file
hierarchy, sorted
by date

looking for to quickly navigate there. Clicking G will take you to the folders beginning with
the letter G. If you prefer to open the folders at the same level without replacing windows,
you can navigate to the folder you want and use CMD+Left (arrow) or CMD+Right (arrow)
to open or close the folder directly.
When viewing files and folders in Windows Explorer (not to be confused with Internet Explorer),
you can click View and select Details, as shown in Figure 1.11. Also, you can add metadata
columns either by choosing View > Choose Details or by right-clicking a column and checking
the metadata field you want as a column.

Figure 1.11
Selecting the Details view in Windows
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Locating Data Quickly Using the Columns View

A challenge to the List view is that you are unable to see within a folder at any other level.
This requires you to open the folder in another window (which clutters the screen) or open
it on the same level (which eliminates your ability to letter-click and locate particular data).
The biggest advantage of the Columns view is that it gives you the ability to see deeper
(and shallower) levels of information at the same time, as shown in Figure 1.12. You can
see at once whether the folder you are inspecting has the data you want directly within it
or whether it is buried in subfolders.

Figure 1.12
Macintosh file hierarchy—the Columns view

Note: You can use either the Columns view or the List view when you are saving in Pro Tools
by choosing a view preference in the upper-left corner of the Save dialog box.
Simply toggle left or right with the arrows, and you’ll go forward or backward through the
Columns view. It’s much faster to navigate this way but you have no hierarchy options, so
searching by metadata other than the name is simply impossible.
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 9
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Locating Data Quickly Using Colors

When you are using either the List or Columns view, it is a good idea to organize your data
by color. Coloring the folders makes them “pop” visually, and you can use the colors to mean
different things related to how you run your studio.
You can name the colors to your liking (they default to simply color names) by going to the
Finder level, clicking Finder > Preferences, then selecting the Labels tab. Here you’ll see
the colors that are available; you can rename them to whatever you want. In my studio, red
means the session is live and not backed up, orange means it’s an internal project not associ-
ated with any particular client, and green means it has been backed up and could be thrown
out if space were needed. A customized color view is shown in Figure 1.13.

Figure 1.13
Color-coded labels

You can colorize the folders by highlighting them and clicking the Gear icon (also called the
Action menu) located next to the Columns/List view selector or by Control-clicking the folder
and choosing your color. The folder will then hold its color in both the List and Tiles views.
You can use this as a shortcut to color-code your folders as well, as seen in Figure 1.14.

Figure 1.14
Control-click labeling
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Organizing Drive Media Data on the Sidebar

It can cost you valuable time in a session to try to locate any data using the traditional List
or Columns view if you are not sure what drive holds the data. You can quickly navigate
between media by selecting the drive of choice in the top section of the left Sidebar when
the drive information is visible. (Double-click any drive, and a common Sidebar will appear
in the window.) You can quickly eject any media device that is not permanently mounted to
the system (or the boot drive) by clicking the Eject button next to the drive itself. For studios
working with a server that hosts a large sample library or backup station, the Network tab is
a quick shortcut to navigate across the network to a remote location.
The top of the Sidebar is not user-definable, but the bottom half is. The operating system
supplies some of the standard shortcuts, such as Applications, Music, and Desktop, in the
bottom of the Sidebar but you can add or remove items at will, as shown in Figure 1.15.

Figure 1.15
The Left Drive view customized

Be careful of the folder called Music; it is not where you want to save your Pro Tools recordings.
This folder is buried deep in your personal settings folder within the internal hard drive, and
it will most likely not perform as well as another drive on the system. Even if you are running
Pro Tools LE and you have no other drive, don’t use this folder. If you are in this position,
check out the tip on “Maximizing Drive Performance with Single-Drive Systems” later in this
chapter.
I suggest you remove folders you don’t care about by simply dragging them off the window.
Then you can drag the folders to which you do want to have quick access right onto this
window. That way, you will have quick access to folders you always need without navigating
through the folder hierarchy.
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 11
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Taking a Quick View at Drive Size

When you look at the Finder level, you can see how much space is being used on the drive
and how much is left before you start your session. That way, you can deal with backups and
making room before your vocalist gets warmed up and starts to deliver the perfect take
(which you can’t record because you have no room left on the drive).
At the Finder level, click View > Show View Options and check the box labeled Show Item
Info, as shown in Figure 1.16. Now, right on the desktop, you can determine whether you are
really ready to start your session, because every media drive will tell you how much room is
left. I recommend that you keep at least 2 Gigs free at all times. That’s usually enough to
handle a decent-sized last-minute session without worrying too much about having the room
to perform for your client. If you do run out of room during the session, your client will be
more understanding when you explain that you need to make room for the remainder of the
session. If they look concerned, remind them that you didn’t have time to back up other work
because they are last-minute clients.

Figure 1.16
Showing item information on the desktop media

Maximizing Drive Performance with Single-Drive Systems

Laptop Pro Tools systems and many other Pro Tools LE systems often have the distinct disad-
vantage of operating with only a single hard drive—the internal system drive. This is particu-
larly bad for laptops, which are usually packed with low-performance drives. Remember that
in these single-drive systems, the drive now has to run the OS, as well as Pro Tools and the
session data. In this case, you can speed things up somewhat by partitioning the drive into
separate segments—one for the OS and applications and the other for Pro Tools sessions and
audio data. Although it is still the same drive serving the data, by separating the two halves
you can access the PT data quicker because there is less to search through to get at the audio.
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First, back up your data drive to some other location. (See the tip for “Creating System
Backups” later in this chapter.) While booting under an OS X 10.3.x version CD, choose
Disk Utility > Partition. This will give you the option to resize the drive upon formatting.
(All previous data will be lost.) I suggest you break it into a 70/30 ratio, reserving the
70 percent for the Pro Tools sessions, as shown in Figure 1.17.
To partition a drive in Windows, you have to get your hands dirty with DOS. DOS comes
with a utility called FDISK. To boot into DOS, you can boot from the Windows Installation
CD or the boot diskette, which you can create. Insert a 3.5” diskette into the drive, open
My Computer, right-click the A drive, and click Format. Check Create an MS-DOS Start-Up
Disk in the Format window. Restart your new startup disk and type FDISK at the prompt.
FDISK will now give you choices for what you want to do with the disk.

Figure 1.17
Two partitions

If you don’t have a floppy,

I strongly recommended
that you use a third-party
application, such as
Partition Magic (see
Figure 1.18) or Partition
Commander, because
these and other similar
programs have a much
more user-friendly inter-
face and many additional
cool features. If none of
these help, consult your
local Windows specialist
to get you through this
process.

Figure 1.18
Partitioning in
Windows with
Partition Magic
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 13
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Creating System Backups

It will happen. It will happen when you don’t want it to. It will happen at the worst possible
opportunity. Murphy guarantees it. Your system drive will crash and you’ll be down. Many a
studio has lost money and the confidence of a great client because of bad maintenance and
worse contingency plans. Do us all a big favor and back up your system.
These days it’s pretty easy to ghost a drive under OS X. You will need your friend Disk Utility,
and you will need to boot off another drive (or OS X CD) to ghost your system drive. Ghosting
will create a backup file (as large as your current system drive) and allow you to easily
restore that ghost to any repaired drive. It will keep everything, so back up semi-regularly
because your system will always be changing.
Once you are booted under another OS, open Disk Utility and choose the drive from the left
column. Then, create a new image and put it where you have room (see Figure 1.19). This
image will be exactly as big your system, so be ready to store a 30-GB or larger file. Restoring
is the opposite experience. Choose the image from the left column and click Restore.
Although this is theoretically good for the media drive too, it might be overkill if you have a
separate FireWire drive. Drives are affordable enough now that you can have a drive per
client and simply charge for the drive and store it on a shelf somewhere. If you want to make
a backup (which is still a very good idea), you can simply copy the data to another drive or
put it on multiple DVDs.

Figure 1.19
Ghosting the drive
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At Pyramind, we often perform redundant backups to DDS-4 DAT, which is slow and expen-
sive but a lot less expensive than losing a favorite client. A great idea is to sell the client a
drive (instead of 2” tape) and let him or her take it. Offer the client a copy (backup) drive in
house; this will not only make you more money, it will also save the client’s butt when his or
her assistant accidentally crashes the drive he or she takes.
Backing up data in Windows is easy. Right-click the file, folder, or drive and select Properties.
Under the Tools tab, click Backup Now, as shown in Figure 1.20. The Backup Utility wizard
will guide you through saving your butt.

Figure 1.20
Backing up a volume in Windows

Saving a Crashing Drive Using Disk Permissions

Sometimes you get lucky and you know your drive is about to crash. When this lucky day
comes, try booting with the OS X CD and going back to Disk Utility. When you select the nor-
mal boot drive, you can both verify and repair the disk, as shown in Figure 1.21. This process
will hunt through the OS and fix broken links and broken OS data. It’s simple, useful, and
good to do this once a month. I also recommend you run this process on the media drive to
keep things neat and organized.
If your drive isn’t crashing, but it exhibits slow and erratic behavior, you should consider back-
ing up and reformatting the drive. Some people like to defragment their hard drive to clean
up the data, which requires a separate software, such as Disk Warrior.
Keeping your drive in good condition is a key to high performance and reliability. In Windows,
right-click the target drive you want to optimize, and then click the Tools tab (see Figure 1.22).
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 15
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Here you’ll find an option to error-check and defragment your hard drive. It’s a good idea to
defragment your drive once a month or so; remember to dedicate some time because it might
take a while, depending on the size of the drive. It is possible to create an automated mainte-
nance schedule by going into the Control Panel and opening Scheduled Tasks. Click All
Scheduled Tasks, and the wizard will guide you through the process. It’s a good idea to
schedule maintenance tasks when the computer is idle, such as at the end of a long Saturday
night session.

Figure 1.21
Repairing disk permissions

Figure 1.22
Defragmenting in Windows
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Saving Your Drive by Booting as FireWire Target

I was recently the victim of a dead internal hard drive on my G4 laptop. The CD-ROM tray
was also dead, so I was unable to restore the image or verify permissions. There was no way
in. I was the Helen Keller of laptop owners.
OS X and the new Mac series of computers let you boot the computer itself as a FireWire
drive, allowing another computer to serve as the boot drive and your computer to serve as the
dummy drive. Turn off both computers and connect them to each other via FireWire. Fire up
the healthy computer and wait for it to boot completely. Hold down the T key on the second
Mac, and then fire up that Mac. After a few seconds, you’ll see the blue screen with the dancing
FireWire emblem, and your second computer will show up on the desktop of the first one,
allowing you to image the drive, repair permissions, reformat, and start all over, if necessary.

Keeping Unwanted Visitors Out!

For that pesky intern/roommate/significant other who you don’t want to have access to your
system or your settings, OS X provides user-definitions, permissions, and administrative powers
to the owner of the computer. Separate user accounts allow you to maintain privacy and set
restrictions for other users on the system. This is particularly useful for schools because it
prevents the student populace from changing the desktop to display a favorite pet or copying
or deleting your applications. Different accounts can be created and managed in the System
Preferences, as seen in Figure 1.23.
Creating different users and setting their permissions is generally reserved for the System
Administrator (the owner of the machine), but technically anyone with an Admin ID and pass-
word can make these changes. Each ID gets its own library (one per user), complete with
applications, but may have limited ability to change the Control Panels, if desired. The System
Administrator has to administer the access granted to the secondary engineer and give every-
one passwords for their respective accounts.
To truly run PT under a non-admin user (first available with version 6.4), the System
Administrator not only has to turn on the various applications associated with PT, but he or
she also needs to do more work to get certain software peripherals to work. RTAS soft synths,
such as Native Instrument’s FM7, for example, require that their permissions be turned on in
both the system preferences and the application itself. Highlight the FM7 app (or whatever
synth is troublesome—recognizable by a DAE-7400 error) and Get Info (CMD+I). Click
Permissions and set it to all users and groups (see Figure 1.24). This should give you full
functionality in the non-admin world, allowing other computer users to operate PT while
locking them out from changing the configuration of the machine itself.
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Figure 1.23
Creating various users

Figure 1.24
Permissions for soft synths
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Deciding Which Format to Use

BWF? AIFF? SDII? 16 or 24? 44.1, 48, or higher? From your very first new PT session, you
are always choosing different audio specifications, but which one is really right? You can
make potentially brutal mistakes if you use the wrong specs and get it wrong, because Pro
Tools won’t allow you to change formats after you’ve created a session.
A good idea is to check out what the Grammy Association (NARAS) has to say about the
matter. The P&E (Producers and Engineers) wing of NARAS has a document available at
http://www.grammy.com that recommends various different settings to ensure both compatibility
and quality. The formats you choose can depend on many factors, including what the client
demands and what the receiving party expects. It is a good idea to ask the client before
launching into your project. If the client doesn’t know, he or she will depend on you for the
answer. A background in digital audio may be necessary if you’re not sure of the differences
between formats.
Another intriguing question is which file format to choose: AIFF, SDII, or BWF. The most com-
mon file type is BWF; it is the de-facto PC standard, and there are many more PCs than Macs
out there. If your session is going to a PC at some point in the production process, then you
should choose BWF and select the Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility setting. If you mess this up
you can fix it later, but why not get it right the first time?
Note that once you choose a sample rate and a format type, you cannot change them within
the current session, so choose wisely in the New Session dialog box, shown in Figure 1.25.

Figure 1.25
New Session dialog box
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Deciding Which Sampling Rate to Use: Gene Radzik,

Dolby Labs and Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound
Andre Zweers is the Pro Tools operator for the legendary Leslie Ann Jones, and if it’s orches-
tral and recorded at Skywalker, Andre has recorded it. When I asked him about choosing
sampling rates, the answer he gave was surprisingly familiar: Ask the producer and supervising
sound editor. Although they sport a healthy Pro Tools 192 HD rig, Andre notes that often he’ll
record directly to 24, 44.1k as a matter of convenience. If a higher sampling rate is needed,
he’ll recommend 88.2 and not 192, because 88.2 divides into 44.1 more cleanly for CD.
(Although the computational power of a computer shouldn’t affect the audio quality, it does,
so choose wisely!) For really high sampling rates, he’ll use 176.4 for the same reason. But
whatever the sampling rate, he still bounces to disk to deliver roughs to the client on CD.
Gene Radzik has one of the greatest jobs there is. As senior Dolby Systems engineer, his func-
tion centers on setting up and calibrating music and post facilities everywhere for Dolby 5.1
compliance. He shows up, sets up, and then masters the final tapes for delivery. He concurs
with Andre and lays out the various sampling rates from which to choose as follows:
Q Video sessions should be started at some variety of 48k because this is the de-facto
standard. Higher sampling rates should be multiples of it, yielding 96k and 192k.
Because DVD video supports audio of only 48k, choose these sampling rates for
DVD-V as well.
Q Music sessions should be started at some variety of 44.1k for obvious compatibility
to CD. That yields 88.2k and 176.4k as primary high-sampling-rate alternatives.

In either case, both Andre and Gene suggest you reference the down-sampled mix against
the high-sample-rate mix to see whether your converter does a good job. In situations in
which your sample rate converter is lacking, consider purchasing an external clock and
converter that perform better.

Calibrating the I/O (TDM): Gene Radzik, Dolby Labs

Gene recommends something that is often overlooked in Pro Tools systems—calibration.
Without much extra equipment, a few minutes can make a big difference in final audio
quality. This section discusses how a calibration process might go.
Pro Tools comes with a plug-in called Signal Generator, which is used to generate audio
waves for calibration purposes. The level you choose to calibrate to will determine how loud
your studio plays and how well your mixes translate to other rooms. Set Signal Generator’s
output volume to 0 dB. For specific applications, it might be wise to choose a different level to
which to calibrate. This example will cover full signal (0 dB). For information regarding levels
and other calibration techniques, you might need to do other research in audio engineering
manuals or texts.
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Before anything else happens, activate Calibration mode by choosing Operations > Calibration
Mode, as seen in Figure 1.26. This puts Pro Tools into a mode in which you can measure
incoming signals and determine whether the inputs are over- or under-calibrated.

Figure 1.26
Calibration mode active

Set up a single Aux track routed to Output 1 only, and insert the plug-in signal generator. Set
the tone to 1k and the level to –0 dB. (If your dB measurement is within 0.1 dB, it is acceptable.)
Measure the volume indicator on the Aux track to ensure that the track is indeed putting out
–0 dB. If you own a good meter (it should be calibrated from the factory), route the track
output into the meter and verify –0 dB. If the measurement is off, adjust the output trim pots
to be exactly –0 dB. Continue this process, switching the output of the track to each output of
the I/O to verify all your hardware outputs.
To verify the inputs, simply plug the outputs directly into the input of the next I/O and create
an Audio track with the input set to I/O 1. Record-enable the track and measure the input to
be –0.1 dB. If it’s off, adjust the trim pots to –0 dB. Repeat this process for each input and set
the Audio track to the next input until all I/O points are calibrated. Note that in Figure 1.27,
a reference tone of 0.1 was used to show that the output matches the input when the faders
are at 0 dB. This was for demonstration purposes only.
Once the calibration is done, you should save the session to revisit the calibration for every
big mix you do. In fact, recording the 1k tone for 30 seconds to another track and exporting
the file to the desktop is another great idea because you can bring the tone into every other
session and use it to gauge your mixes before you start!
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Figure 1.27
Track setup for calibration—out of cal

Using Template I/O Settings

When producing a band-recording session with Pro Tools, engineers often will become confused
about which mic is plugged into which mic pre. There is usually a collection of tape strips
to keep everything organized. But what about the preamps into the I/O—where should the
engineer paste the tape in Pro Tools? And how would he or she find that tape in the second
and third songs?
Because there is no way to mark the tracks in Pro Tools other than to use Comments (a good
idea, but only good for one song), the workaround is to label the I/O and export the settings
for use in other songs. Before the band lays down the first notes in your first song, customize
the I/O setup by clicking Setups > I/O Setups, and start with the Input tab at the top. You will
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see stereo pairs of inputs, which you can “fold” open so you can individually name the inputs
by clicking the gray arrows next to the pairs. Name all of the tracks the appropriate titles
(input 1>kick, input 2>snare top, and so on), and then click the Export Settings button, as in
Figure 1.28. This will create a unique I/O setup called Band X and put it in Applications >
Digidesign > Pro Tools > I/O Settings, as seen in Figure 1.29.
Create the next song and before you hit OK, look at the bottom-left corner and select the I/O
Settings button. Choose your last song, and then go right into the new song/session. You will
be able to quickly create and name the tracks necessary, and all of your settings will be avail-
able to shave some time off your process. For more on switching songs and settings quickly,
see “Switching Songs” in Chapter 2.

Figure 1.28
The I/O Setups
page
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 23
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Figure 1.29
Location of exported I/O
ready for importing into
new session

Figure 1.30
Stationery Pad

Another good idea is to use the Stationery Pad. All Pro Tools
documents have the ability to become Stationery Pads, in effect
locking the file. If you have a setup that is going to be used
repeatedly, you can turn a document into a Stationery Pad by
choosing CMD+I (Get Info) on the document itself and checking
the box labeled Stationery Pad, as seen in Figure 1.30. Now,
whenever you open the Stationery Pad Pro Tools document,
Pro Tools will ask you to create a new session from it (or edit
the current document). This prevents you from destroying the
document by saving over it. If you choose to edit the current
document, you will still be forced to save it as a unique session
later (because you can’t save over Stationery Pads).
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Keeping Organized with the Browsers

If you haven’t been using the Workspace and its various browsers, you’ve definitely been
doing things the hard way. The Workspace is a built-in database of everything on every drive
that Pro Tools can manage for you with ease—from locating files to direct imports, these data-
bases can help you keep it together. The three browsers are
Q The Workspace. This provides a representation of all the media and files mounted on
your desktop. You can define which drives are set for record (r), transfer (t), and play-
back (p) under the A V columns (audio and video, respectively), as seen in Figure 1.31.

Figure 1.31
The Workspace

Q The Volume Browser. This provides a detailed view of one of your drives (media)
mounted on the desktop, as shown in Figure 1.32.

Figure 1.32
The Volume
Browser
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Q The Project Browser. This provides a detailed view of your session and its
audio/fade/other folders, as shown in Figure 1.33.

Figure 1.33
The Project Browser

When working in new studios, I like to set up the Workspace as the first thing. That way, all
the information I will need is available at a glance, as shown in Figure 1.34. Press OPT+;
(semicolon) (or Alt+O in Windows), and the Workspace will appear. It should be an exact
copy of your desktop, in chart form with some columns that display metadata such as date
created, file type, and so on. You should customize at least one view, but PT gives you five
presets (similar to the zoom presets in the Edit window) for different views. I set up one view
for generic searches, one just for searching for files and sounds, and a third for auditions and
imports (see Figure 1.34).

Figure 1.34
A customized Workspace
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You can simply drag the columns back and forth between the panes to set up the columns as
you want. To clean up the window, put unwanted information in the right pane and fold it
closed using the Pane button on the bottom. After you’ve organized the columns how you
want, store the preset by CMD-clicking (or Control-clicking in Windows) the preset tab of
choice. Now, as you work with PT, you can call up the browsers and quickly navigate to the
collections of information you want. For example, when I need to import sounds, I call up the
browser and click the preset that shows the Name, Sample Rate, # Channels, File Type, Date
Created, and Waveform columns. To verify files in the session (for example, which take was
the right one), I show the Waveform and Date Created only in the Project Browser. For
searches, my preset looks like the Import preset, except that it also shows the Kind column
(to search for video, audio, sessions, and so on).
A common error in PT is the “That volume cannot be ejected because it is in use by another
application” error (see Figure 1.35). The volume may in fact not be used at all, but the
Digidesign Workspace may still be accessing it, forcing the OS to deliver the error. This can
be confusing when the client wants to know why he or she has to wait for his or her iPod or
CD back. To avoid this, call up the Workspace, select the media you want to unmount, and
select Unmount from the Workspace menu, which looks like a construction worker’s lunchbox
(see Figure 1.36). This will give your client back his or her iPod in time to plug in (and ignore
your awesome mix and listen to the Britney Spears rendition of the Lawrence Welk theme
song instead!) and tune out. You could also quit Pro Tools, but that might not be appropriate
if you are still working in the session and you can’t afford the time to save, quit, and relaunch
the program.

Figure 1.35
Drive in use and can’t be unmounted

Figure 1.36
Unmounting media from the Pro Tools Workspace
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What to Do about Those Missing Files

Either due to user error or drive amnesia, PT sometimes forgets where it puts the audio associ-
ated with a session—even though it’s sitting right where it should be. When this happens, the
files are said to be offline, which means PT can’t find them. It will maintain the regions with
light-blue boxes that approximate the edits until the audio is found. When the song opens, PT
will tell you about the missing files (see Figure 1.37) and ask what you want to do about
them—search manually (no fun), ignore (makes for a quiet session), or search automatically
(there’s an idea!). Most times, PT will find the files without a problem, but occasionally it won’t.

Figure 1.37
The Missing Files dialog box

A moment of panic may ensue that you don’t want to feel at the onset of the session. To fix
the problem, first visit the Task window (Opt+‘; see Figure 1.38) to get to the Relink window
shown. (In Windows, press Alt+.) Relinking is the process of reconnecting the audio in the bin
with the matching audio on the drive. The Task window will most likely be still searching or
will tell you that some files couldn’t be found. An alert will appear in the bottom of the window
when PT is done searching, telling you that certain files weren’t found. Double-click on the
alert, and the Relink window will appear with the offline files at the bottom. Select the offline
files (one at a time, unfortunately) and search using Find All Candidates, which will search for
any possible match for the file. When (if) your file comes up, select it and choose Commit Links.

Figure 1.38
Task window
with alert for
missing files
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If the system doesn’t find your files this way, or if you can’t spend the time to search one by
one, you can perform other types of searches and relinks. Select all missing files and click
Find Links. You will be presented with a search criteria box in which you can choose your
parameters, like the one in Figure 1.39. (The widest search will be by name only, even though
Pro Tools will tell you this is a bad idea.) This type of relink search bypasses the step of
searching for candidates and goes directly to searching for established links. Once your links
are found, choose Commit Links (see Figure 1.40), and your audio should come back online.

Figure 1.39
The Relink window
manually finding
links

Figure 1.40
Committing links
and relinking

A third way to accomplish this task is to go directly to the Project Browser and choose Relink
Offline from the menu. This will automatically select the offline regions and bring you to the
Relink window with every one highlighted, saving you a step or two.
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Organizing Your Screen

Although there are only the two main windows in PT, you can customize their look and feel
somewhat to your work. For the best results with the least eyestrain, set up your windows
before you get started. If you only have one monitor, this is even more important.
I first decide whether I’m spending more time in the Edit window or the Mix window, and I
start there. For tracking sessions, edit sessions, and post-production, I work mostly in the Edit
window, so that’s where to start. For Mix sessions, you might work entirely in the Mix window,
so set it up to taste.
First, decide whether you need groups or access to the Show/Hide window. For simple tracking,
you might not need either, so you should hide the bin with the chevrons in the bottom-left
corner. Next, do the same for the Audio and MIDI Bins. For edit sessions, you’ll likely need
these, but not for V/O (until the end). You should also decide about your column views (either
Display > Edit Window Shows, as shown in Figure 1.41, or with the data columns located
directly under the modes, as shown in Figure 1.42). For a mix session, choose Windows >
Mix Window Shows and activate the inserts, sends, I/O, and comments if desired. You will
now have access to all the information available in the Mix window.

Figure 1.41
Customizing the views in the
Edit and Mix windows

Figure 1.42
Customizing the
view in the Edit
window only
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For two monitors, you can resize the Edit window so the Audio Bin is just on the other side of
the first monitor, giving you access to the bin but also giving you the rest of the first monitor
for the Track view. This is shown in Figure 1.43. When you are deciding how to set up your
screen, simply decide what you will need priority access to and show it. Anything you don’t
need often should be hidden because you will want the maximum amount of screen real
estate available for the tracks themselves. This will minimize zoom time during the course
of the session and speed up your work.

Figure 1.43
Two-screen setup

Resetting Pro Tools

Nothing will slow down your session like a crash. There’s the obvious time lost due to having
to restart and the time to catch up on any lost work, but what do you do if you restart and PT
still won’t behave properly? Fortunately, your problem might not require tech support. The
answer might be as simple as “throw out your preferences and call me in the morning.”
Pro Tools has four main components of its software that get corrupted (due to normal wear
and tear) and need resetting. Each of them is responsible for a different set of user-defined
preferences, so the nature of the crash will determine with which one you need to deal.
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 31
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The preferences files are rebuilt either when PT relaunches or when the computer is restarted.
Within your system drive, you can reach them by choosing Users > Your User > Library >
Preferences. The hierarchy is shown in Figure 1.44. In order, they are com.digidesign.
protocols.plist, DAE preferences, Digisetup OS X, and Pro Tools preferences.

Figure 1.44
Hierarchy of the preferences

Q com.digidesign.protocols.plist. This preference is created by Pro Tools 6 when a

Navigation window (such as a New Session or Open Session window) is resized or
otherwise modified. Otherwise, it doesn’t exist, so throw it out at will…just in case.
Q DAE preferences. This folder contains all the settings for the preferences that relate to
DAE. DAE is responsible for managing your I/O, plug-ins, memory, and other back-
ground Pro Tools applications. If your system can’t remember how much RAM you
have or if it consistently tells you more RAM is needed (when there is plenty), it is likely
that your DAE preferences have gotten funny. Throw out the whole folder and re-
launch PT. You might be asked to reset certain preferences related to the Playback
Engine and Disk Allocation.
Q Digisetup OS X. This one controls your hardware settings and your hardware’s ability
to manage A-D/D-A conversion. If your audio is screwed up or won’t play, this prefer-
ence is corrupt. This can happen if there is an accidental power outage, your intern
accidentally powers off your interface, or your clock source is interrupted. This will
require a computer restart if you throw it out.
Q Pro Tools preferencess. Snafu is the best way to describe the feeling you get when the
PT preferences are corrupt. No matter how many times you tell the system to turn off
the Timeline Insertion Follows Playback preference, it keeps turning back on. That’s a
pretty good sign that your Pro Tools preference is corrupted.
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Don’t Lose Your Work

If the restaurant business is built on the phrase “location, location, location,” then the
Pro Tools production business should be built on the mantra “save, save, save.” However,
remembering to save while you’re in the middle of working is not always easy. Choose Setups
> Preferences > Operation and select the Enable Session File Auto Backup function, as shown
in Figure 1.45. I suggest you keep the last 10 to 15 versions and save every minute or two.
When you crash and want to go back to where you were, locate your session, locate the
Session Backups folder, and sort by date to find the most recent file. You can go back as far
as you like (depending on the Auto-Save settings) to retrace your steps. Launching a backup
file will force you to rename the session before you work.

Figure 1.45
Enable Session File Auto Backup

Where Does It Record, Anyway?

Normally, Pro Tools will set the recording location option to the Audio Files folder within your
session. However, you might want to set the Disk Allocation (the default location to which
each track will record its audio) to a unique place for quick organization. For example, if you
are working with an existing session and you want to record the dialogue in a new language,
you can create a new dialogue track (per actor) and assign its Disk Allocation to a folder
called Actor 1, as shown in Figure 1.46. The advantage to this is that when the session is over,
all the takes are in a single location, ready for transfer to the client drive, iPod, CD, DVD, or
FTP site.
You also can choose something called Round Robin if you have two record drives. Round
Robin will alternately set the Disk Allocation from one drive to the next as you create new
tracks. The advantage to this is that you split the amount of data that each drive is responsible
for, and you can sometimes get better performance from weaker drives. The disadvantage is
that you need to be aware of the second folder with the Session name on the second drive
when you attempt to give the client the work to go to another studio. In addition, there will be
a moment of panic when the client opens the session in the next studio and it tells him that 85
files are missing because they are in the other Audio Files folder.
Note: Round Robin will only spread the session across drives that are defined as record drives
in the Workspace. See the “Keeping Organized with the Browsers” tip earlier in this chapter.
Setup and Maintainance of the Mac 33
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Figure 1.46
Disk allocation

Adding a Second Interface (Mix and Mix Plus Users)

A common mistake when setting up a second interface on a Mix or Mix Plus TDM system is
knowing where you’ve installed and connected the interface (see Figure 1.47). To properly
configure a second interface, three things need to happen: You need to properly connect it to
a voice card, you need to properly connect the clock cables (we’ll assume you figured out the
audio cable portion), and you need to tell Pro Tools where you’ve connected the interface to
the voice card. Generally, you will connect the second interface to the second card (if you have
one), but you might choose to connect it to the first card as well via the proprietary Digidesign Y
cable. Often, when the former is used, the Pro Tools setup matches the latter. This won’t work.
Note: HD systems are self-recognizing, and you shouldn’t need to go through this process to
identify your interfaces.
When I connect a new I/O, I often toss the Digisetup OS X preference (see “Resetting Pro
Tools” earlier in this chapter), and then shut down the computer to attach the interface. After
the interface is connected and powered up, you should start the computer, and then start Pro
Tools. You can also set up the I/O by launching the Digi CoreAudio Driver (launched in
Figure 1.48), located in your Digidesign folder within your Applications folder. After you click
the HW Setup button, you will be presented with a dialog box looking for peripherals. In the
upper-left corner, you will see a list of peripheral connections (one for each card and port,
two per card).
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Figure 1.47
Multi-I/O setups
in the playback
engine

If you have connected the interface to the second card and not the Y cable, you need to skip
the second available peripheral on this dialog box. This is the stumbling block. Each interface
can only be connected to one card if there is no Y cable. Where there is no Y cable, interface 1
should connect to card 1 and interface 2 should connect to card 2. In the CoreAudio driver,
the second interface will actually show up on the third port shown, which is the A port on the
second card.
Note: The Digidesign CoreAudio Driver (version 6.4 and later) is now multi-client, which
means that multiple programs can access the Digidesign hardware at once. The DCAD will tell
you how many programs are logged in (connected clients). Previous versions forced the user
to manually add programs via the Supported Applications button.

Figure 1.48
Digidesign CoreAudio Driver
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Managing Your Memory

Memory can play a large part in how successful your Pro Tools system is when the session
starts getting large or you start working with other applications, such as Reason. To set
your memory requirements, choose Setups > Playback Engine, and you will see where
to set your memory requirements.
For single-processor machines, you can only set the CPU usage limit to 85 percent. This will
prevent you from asking too much of your computer and give it the breathing room it needs to
run the OS and Pro Tools. You will, however, run into difficulty when you try to do too much
with Pro Tools and another application, such as Reason. Dual-processor systems can set at
least one of them to 99 percent, as shown in Figure 1.49.

Figure 1.49
Memory requirements

More challenging than the CPU usage is the playback buffer size. Having a higher buffer will
allow Pro Tools to keep playing if the system starts to get “heavy” with processing. Pro Tools
will buffer playback by the amount of memory selected here. Although this is necessary for
PT to keep playing, it can adversely affect other functions. A high buffer setting will make
recordings potentially late and will certainly affect MIDI functions, as well as ReWire functions.
You might need to jockey this setting back and forth until you find a happy medium between
enough memory for playback and accurate timing on other functions. If none of this works,
either put more RAM in your machine or print some of your parts.

What Do I Do about Shortcuts on My Laptop?

The best part about using my laptop is being able to produce in Pro Tools while waiting for
my plane at Tokyo International Airport. The worst part is that I have to retrain my brain to
work quickly without my favorite shortcuts. Following are some equivalents that might help the
transition between your tower and your laptop.
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Q Zooming. Try using [ and ] to quickly zoom in and out. If you check the Command
Focus button (the A…Z under the modes), then you should be able to zoom using the
letters R and T as usual.
Q Switching modes/tools. You can still switch with the function keys, but you might run
into conflict with the OS system presets for some features, such as brightness, volume,
and Exposé. (See “Setting up Exposé” earlier in this chapter.) If you can’t get them
to work or you are bothered by the interference with the other functions, you can
switch modes using the Esc key and tools using the ~ (tilde) key (as well as CMD+1–6
for tools and OPT+1–4 for modes).
Q Numeric shortcuts. For whatever reason, the numbers across the top of the keyboard
never work as numeric shortcuts, both on laptop and standard keyboards. To quickly
call up windows (such as the Transport window) on your laptop, hold down the Fn
(function) key and hit your letter of choice (J=1, K=2, L=3, and so on).

Control Focus
Speed and accuracy with Pro Tools radically increase with the number of shortcuts you can
master. Some shortcuts are simply unattainable if you don’t activate the Control Focus key,
located in the upper-left corner, below the modes, as shown in Figure 1.50. After this key is
activated, several shortcuts become available via the keyboard. Some of most useful ones are

Q E. When regions are selected, hitting the letter E will zoom the selection to fill the
screen (large zoom).
Q R/T. These are two other shortcut keys for zooming horizontally, with R zooming out
and T zooming in.
Q N. This shortcut toggles the Timeline Insertion Follows Playback option, a useful prefer-
ence to set how the cursor behaves during playback. With this feature activated, the
cursor will follow playback and position itself at the point of play stoppage. Be careful
of the letter N because it is closely positioned near the spacebar. With Control Focus
activated, people accidentally hit the N key and deactivate (or reactivate) this option,
which can be very frustrating.
Q P/L/:/>. These keys shift the selection or cursor up, left, right, and down, respectively.

Figure 1.50
The Control Focus button
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2 Recording

This chapter will cover some best practices and shortcuts

for the recording process. The simple part is getting the
signal into Pro Tools, but here you’ll find ways to record
your sound while also sending it out to the artist in new
ways. There are also several shortcuts for making your
work with multiple artists go more quickly and effectively!

37
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New Track Shortcuts

Using the keyboard while creating new tracks can speed up the process of choosing and cre-
ating the tracks you need to record for your session. After hitting the Shift+CMD+N shortcut
(see Figure 2.1), try using the CMD+arrow combination to choose more quickly the types of
tracks you want. The left and right arrows (remember to hold CMD) will toggle between the
stereo and mono functions (including formats into surround sound; see Chapter 8), whereas
the up and down arrows will toggle between the Audio/Aux/MIDI/Master types of tracks.

Figure 2.1
Switch between types of tracks and stereo/mono using the CMD+arrows combination

New to version 6.7 is the ability to make multiple kinds of tracks at once (thank you, Digidesign!).
The shortcuts now include Shift+CMD+arrows (up or down) to create and remove new tracks,
respectively, as shown in Figure 2.2.

Figure 2.2
Multiple track types
and timescales in
version 6.7
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Naming Track Shortcuts

Many people waste time naming tracks one at a time by double-clicking on the track name
(Channel Select), hitting OK, and then moving on to the next track. The next time you name a
track, notice the Next and Previous buttons, which allow you to switch to the next track and
name it (see Figure 2.3).

Figure 2.3
The Track Name dialog box

For several tracks that share a name (Vocal Take 1, Vocal Take 2, and so on), try copying the
name without the number and pasting it into the next track, and then adding the number. You
can also switch tracks by hitting the CMD+arrow combination. (The up/down or left/right combi-
nations perform the same functions.) See the “New Track Shortcuts” tip earlier in this chapter.)
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Signal Checks
Following is a good checklist to run through before you record to a track. It will save you
headaches and save everyone in the room earaches from feedback.
Q Run through the default/custom I/O setup to make sure your inputs are named
appropriately. Much confusion can ensue if your labels match the room the session
was initiated in, instead of your room, as seen in Figure 2.4.

Figure 2.4
Custom I/O setup inputs

Q Check your hardware setup to ensure that all of your inputs are appropriately set
to the incoming signal. For incoming digital signals, be sure you have set your clock
source correctly. This will be particularly critical when you are using the ADAT light-
pipe connection because these signals require very strong clocks to avoid jitter
(see Figure 2.5).

Figure 2.5
The hardware setup with
digital clock from an ADAT
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Q Start your signal with no plug-ins on the chain. If you are using a plug-in and it happens
to have run out of its demo time, it will kill the signal on the track, and you’ll never know
why you can’t hear it.
Q Always mute the channel first! Many a session has gotten off on the wrong foot due to
screeching feedback on the record channel (see Figure 2.6). Perhaps your intern miked
up the playback speaker instead of the guitar cabinet, or perhaps your artist was warming
up his best “Good Morning, Vietnam!” impression when you record-enabled the channel.
In either case, you can be assured of an earful of fun if you don’t mute the channel first.

Figure 2.6
The muted record-ready channel with feedback

Q Verify the Disk Allocation for the record track, as seen in Figure 2.7. (For more on this,
see “Where Does It Record, Anyway?” in Chapter 1.) This will prevent you from having
to search for the “missing” file later.

Figure 2.7
The Disk Allocation
window
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Q Keep the monitor volume low until you have success. Even if the signal path is set up
well, you can scare your producer by randomly opening the channel with the speakers
on full blast.
Q Test the talkback system before you open the channel. This will not only verify that the
talent can hear you, it will serve as a good wakeup call to the talent to stop his or her
screeching so you can safely open the channel and begin work. Assure the talent that
it is appropriate not to hear himself or herself because he or she is muted while waiting
for the final signal check.
Q Name the track before you record. This will ensure that your Audio Bin isn’t full of files
all named Audio 01-xx. In answer to your next question: No, you can’t name the track
in the middle of recording and expect PT to “catch” the name…it won’t.

Talkback Options
Obviously, communication through the glass can be critical to the flow of recording. For the
artists, it’s easy; they have the mic in front of them. The challenge is usually in getting sound
to the artist. Most consoles come equipped with a talkback button, but it may or may not
allow you to send a combination of Pro Tools output pairs with the talkback signal. (See the
“Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes” tips later in this chapter.) Consoles such as Control 24
and the Pro Control make it easy, but others don’t.
A good workaround assumes you have no console at all. In this case, Pro Tools will be fed to
the artist (again, see “Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes”), and you need to get the talkback
mic to Pro Tools. Create a new mono Aux input channel and set its input to the I/O connected
to your talkback mic, as seen in Figure 2.8. That way, you speak into Pro Tools (without using
a track-voice), and both you and the mix make it to the artist. Try to keep the channel muted
when you’re not speaking so there isn’t any feedback or weird phase issues. When you do
open the channel, be careful what you say because the artist will hear everything!

Figure 2.8
Aux channel for the
engineer’s talkback
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A good idea to keep the two-way communication smooth in band situations is to set a mic in
the middle of the live room and simply leave it open the entire time. If you’ve ever recorded
a drummer and watched him lean over to yell into the snare mic to talk to you, you know this
is a good idea. I suggest either a decent mic set to OMNI (which listens everywhere around it
equally) or a PZM (pressure zone microphone). Route the channel to an Aux input within Pro
Tools for monitoring between takes, as seen in Figure 2.9. This will allow you to hear every-
thing that the band says at all times, allowing you to act quickly and keep the vibe flowing.

Figure 2.9
Aux channel for room talkback mic

You can choose to route the talkback mic to an Audio channel if you want to print the tone
anyway, as a poor man’s room mic. Sometimes it provides a certain dimension to drums with
a healthy amount of pleasing bleed from the bass and guitar, helping you tie the discrete
sounds together later. Other times, it provides terrible phase-shift that will destroy your stereo
image of the overhead mics and sound bad when referencing in mono.

Monitoring with the Mbox

The Mbox has made Pro Tools available to almost everyone by being both USB-powered and
so affordable. As you might have guessed, though, something had to give—you can’t get
everything for such an attractive price.
The biggest shortcoming is the Mbox’s ability to handle zero-latency monitoring—it can’t. It
comes close, though, with the Input vs. Playback knob, which allows you to blend between
the track and the input signal. In the Mbox’s defense, I should point out that no USB-powered
audio interface allows for full-duplex monitoring without a certain amount of latency (the delay
in time between the input of the signal and its return through the outputs of the interface). With
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the Mbox, as you turn the knob toward Playback, you get a stronger level of playback and a
weaker level of the input signal (no latency). Finding the right blend, however, may be impossi-
ble. As you turn the knob toward Input, you get a stronger input signal (no latency) but a
weaker playback signal. In either case, if you are also listening to the record track, you hear
both the input (no latency) and the playback of the same signal (latency). Although this is a
fun delay effect, it will destroy your concentration and the artist’s.
To properly monitor the playback and the input signal without latency, you will need more
hardware. Refer to Figure 2.10 for a potential zero-latency monitoring solution. I like the
Mackie 1202-VLZ Pro for this function because the signal is clean and quiet, and it provides
four decent mic preamps. Route Pro Tools to channels 1 and 2 (or any of the four stereo input
pairs at the end of the mixer, 5 through 12) and route the mic to any of the mic channels
(1 through 4). You will need to send the headphone mix to the artist from the Mackie itself.
Mute the channel to which you are recording in Pro Tools. You will have much more control
over the blend of the input and output of Pro Tools, without the delay of the latency throwing
you both off. Unmute the Pro Tools record channel when you are ready to monitor the
performance after the recording.

Figure 2.10
Diagram of Mbox
monitoring system
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Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes (Single Artist)

Invariably, your artist will want to hear the mix differently than you do. You will want to hear
it as it will be when it is done, but the artist will want to hear the “more me” mix. If you share
the same mix, one of you has to suffer (and we all know who that’ll be, don’t we?). This tech-
nique works for all systems except LE Mbox systems.
Create a send on all your channels to a pair of outputs on your hardware. I use 7–8
(as shown in Figure 2.11) as the default because they are out of the way of other potential
output pairs. You can then build the mix to the artist’s specifications track by track if required.
You should build his or her mix by plugging a pair of your own cans into the headphone amp
connected to 7–8 (assuming the amp supports more than one pair at a time). You can then
listen with the artist, hear what he or she hears, and build it that way. More sophisticated
setups allow you to connect the 7–8 output to both the talent and your monitors so you can
quickly switch back and forth to adjust them to taste.

Figure 2.11
Interface 7–8 as headphone out mix
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A quick way to share your mix with the artist is to copy the mix to the send and then tweak
it to taste. First, create a send to 7–8 on all channels (hold Option while you create the send).
Then, select all your tracks (hold Option while you channel select) and choose Edit > Copy to
Send, as seen in Figure 2.12. You will have the option to copy various parameters to the mix.
Ask your talent if she wants to hear that crazy pan in the middle or other automation clues to
determine whether she needs automation or only volume and pan.

Figure 2.12
Copy to Send to build a headphone mix from the faders

Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes (Multiple Artists)

Your drummer wants more bass and more kick, but your guitar player wants less bass and
more kick. Your bassist wants more kick and guitar, and your singer complains that he can’t
hear himself. Provided you have enough I/O, you should be able to create at least three dis-
crete mixes for the band and one for yourself. Using the technique discussed in the previous
tip (“Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes (Single Artist)”), send at least three different sends
to three different I/O pairs. For example, route aux send A to outputs 3–4, send B to outputs
5–6, and send C to outputs 7–8, as shown in Figure 2.13. Individually copy the mix to each
send pair. You can then adjust the mix for each artist. When you are adjusting the mixes, it
might make sense to view the sends as individual assignments (choose Display > Sends View
Shows), which will display faders instead of outputs.
In both this example and the previous one, I should point out that these discrete sends are
still susceptible to interference from you, the engineer. By adjusting any of the volume faders,
you have an impact on the send levels, thus messing with the mix to the artists. When you are
using sends in this capacity to create headphone mixes, you should always set them to pre-fader
by clicking on the P on the send itself, as shown in Figure 2.14. This will isolate the send volume
from the volume fader, allowing you to create your own mix while leaving theirs alone, even
while recording!
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Figure 2.13
Multiple headphone mixes from multiple output pairs

Figure 2.14
Sends set to pre-fader
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Creating Mix-Minus Sessions

A mix-minus session is one in which incoming signal is not fed back to the sender. A classic
case of this is a radio show in which the caller doesn’t get his or her signal back. Doing so
would cause an analog delay at best and feedback at worst. However, the caller needs to
hear the DJ, and the DJ needs to hear the caller. I recommend setting up the system and test-
ing with a cell phone in the control room before you go to air. There are several boxes on the
market to interface the phone to Pro Tools. Look for ones that have crosstalk control and a
pass through for a local phone unit.
You will need at least two tracks—one for the DJ and one for the caller—and each should have
its own discrete input source, as in Figure 2.15. On the DJ track, create a send to an unused
interface port (mono is preferred) and turn the signal up to 0 db. I use output 5 because it’s
nowhere near 1–2 and it’s not likely to be accidentally used. Call in to the system with a cell
phone and “answer” the call. Speak into the cell phone to test for signal at the caller track.
(The track should be record-ready and muted.) Have the DJ talk into the mic to test the signal
to the cell phone. (The track should be record-ready and unmuted.) After you’ve set the levels
for comfort, you can hang up the call and begin your session.

Figure 2.15
Two-way mix-minus setup with I/O 5 sent to caller
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Another situation in which this might come in handy is when a distant producer wants a
phone-patch session with a local talent. Suppose the client is in Texas, but her favorite voice
actor is in San Francisco. She wants to hear the voice talent on the phone clearly (without you
holding the phone to the speaker and screaming, “Isn’t that great?”). This is only slightly more
complex than the aforementioned situation because your talent is in the voiceover booth
speaking to the producer, but you might be nowhere in the conversation.
If your console and patch bay don’t support the built-in talkback going to the caller, then get
your own mic and plug it into a discrete input on Pro Tools (input 3 at this point—1 for V/O,
2 for caller, and 3 for you). Send your mic to an Aux track (if they don’t want slates; an Audio
track if they do) because the Aux track obviously won’t record. Create a send on your track
(labeled Engineer) to the caller send, as in Figure 2.16. (I use I/O number 5 because it has
nothing to do with any other outputs.) Now, when the client wants to talk to you, you can talk
back.
As before, remember to mute this track so the client doesn’t hear you comment to your intern
about how bad the talent sounds that day.

Figure 2.16
Three-way mix-minus setup with I/O 5 sent to caller
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Switching Songs
Nothing will slow down the recording process more than having to set up a new PT session
for every song without saving the settings. If you create a perfect headphone mix and record-
ing levels to disk on the first song, the odds are you won’t be able to recreate it from memory
for each song. Even if you could, it would take too long and the band would lose energy,
missing that perfect take. Following are three different ways to get around this.
Q Simply keep recording. Don’t bother to switch songs, just keep recording. You will be
left with one master session containing all the songs back to back, as in Figure 2.17.
The problem is that the sound files do not have differentiated names (such as kick song
1 versus kick song 2). The other problem is that trying to separate them afterward
(and trying to create unique mixes later) is challenging and requires extra work.
You’d have to open the master session, save it as Song 1, and then select and delete
the other sound files. Then, you’d have to reopen the original master session and
repeat the process for each other song. This would provide you with individual sessions
(albeit with shared audio folders) with only one song per session. Oh boy…fun, fun, fun!

Figure 2.17
Back-to-back songs in one session
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Q Create the first song and set all the levels the way you like them and in a way that works
well fo
or the band. Save the song before you record the first note. On the desktop, click
once on the session document (which selects the document but does not open it) and go
to Get Info (CMD+I). Check the box next to Stationery Pad (see Figure 2.18) and return
to Pro Tools. Now, for every new song, open the song’s Stationery Pad first. Pro Tools
will prompt you to create a new session (or edit the original, which I don’t recommend)
that you should call Song 2. You will quickly have everything set as desired, and you
will already have a unique session per song. The problem here is that you still run the
risk of sharing all your audio in the same Audio Files folder, so be sure to change your
disk allocation. (See the “Where Does It Record, Anyway?” tip in Chapter 1.)

Figure 2.18
Stationery Pad document

Q Create the perfect setup for song 1 and print the tune. Save the song as Song 1. Close
the session and create a new session in a new location called Song 2. When you create
this song, don’t forget to choose the I/O setup you exported from Song 1. (See the
“Using Template I/O Settings” tip in Chapter 1.) Immediately choose File > Import
Session Data and inspect the dialog box, as shown in Figure 2.19. You have several
options here, but for now simply Option-click the first track in the list and select Import
as New Track. Directly below this list (verify that all the tracks are set to Import as
New Tracks), you will find a drop-down menu asking what information you want to
import with the tracks. From the list, deselect Regions and Media, as well as anything
related to automation. (There shouldn’t be any automation, so it’s okay if you forget
this step.) Then, click Import. You will see all of your tracks as they were, complete
with sends for headphone mixes and inserts for compressors/EQs/verbs, and all inputs
preset. This is the smartest way to switch songs during the recording process because it
takes the same amount of time (or less) than the other options and it leaves you with
clean versions of each song with their own Audio Files folders.
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Figure 2.19
Importing the session
data without the media

Switching Takes: Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound

It’s no surprise that Andre would have a killer tip in this section because he records all day
long. This one is priceless!
Because Andre records large orchestras and is responsible for the quick operation of the system
(sometimes 256 people paid by the hour wait for him to press buttons…), he has found a great
way to quickly set up for fast punches and multiple takes.
The first half of this process is in identifying the groups (sections) that would conceivably need
punching, fixing, or overdubbing. After this is done (with the producer calling the shots, of
course), Andre groups the section tracks together by choosing File > Group Selected Tracks
(CMD+G), as seen in Figure 2.20. This includes the All group (created by default in every
Pro Tools session).
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Because the default playlist is actually called Playlist-00, Andre first activates the All group
and switches to a new playlist, as shown in Figure 2.21. That way, the first recording is actually
performed on Playlist-01, synchronizing with the takes performed (take 1 - playlist1, and so on).
Any section that needs to be replaced first gets the group activated (without the All group),
and then has its playlist switched for quick replacement.

Figure 2.20
Groups for each section

Figure 2.21
New Playlists menu

The MO-ME Mix (Turn Me Up!)

There is a headphone box out there called the MO-ME, which is an appropriate name for
almost every singer out there. We always need to hear more of ourselves than we hear any-
one else. It is a function of the instrument that we need strong monitor mixes to determine our
relative pitch and dynamic (and strength of ego!).
It may come to pass that the vocal track’s fader is already at +6 (+12 if you checked the
option on session start), and it’s not enough for the artist. In this case, a quick move to give
the artist more when no more exists is to simply lower everybody else and turn up the overall
volume. The quick way to do this without destroying your mix is to select every channel
except the vocal and group them as a Mix group called Instruments by choosing File > Group
Selected Tracks (or CMD+G), as seen in Figures 2.22 and 2.23.
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Figure 2.22
The Group Selected Tracks menu option

Figure 2.23
The New Group dialog box

For more on grouping, see the “Faster Working with Groups” tip in Chapter 4.
Clicking any track fader will allow you to trim the faders of the rest of the mix (relative to
every other fader) and keep the vocal fader high. Then, tell the artist to turn it up at her box.
If you have complex routing to processors in your session, it might adversely affect your mix,
at which point you have three choices:
Q You could print the music to a stereo mix as is and import it into another session to
record the vocals against. This way, you simply turn down the music track and tell the
singer to turn up her headphones.
Q You could add processing to the vocal track to make it louder. A limiter or compressor
can achieve this effect easily.
Q You could route every track other than the vocals to a single Aux input and turn them
down, trimming the volume of the music only.
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If automation occurs on the other tracks, these won’t really work unless you do the following:
Q Option-click any track’s automation button to temporarily set the automation mode to
Auto-Off for all tracks. You can always reactivate the automation after the recording
and get your mix back.

Recording the Audio with Effects

As a guitar player, I tend to play to the sound of the guitar. If the tone is bluesy, I’ll play
bluesy. If the tone is ‘70s rock, I’ll play with more Zeppelin flavor (sloppy and beautiful).
With Pro Tools, one of the great tools available is the amplifier simulator. With dozens of
classic amps to choose from and good tone amongst them all (insert your favorite here
__________), it’s easy to whip up a decent tone quickly. You can even change your mind
later if you no longer like it.
However, because I play to the tone, switching the tone later can make the performance suffer
because I didn’t play to that tone and it might not fit. I often print my guitar tracks with the
simulator tone permanently, committing both the tone and the performance with inspiration.
If it doesn’t work later, I can always re-play it. (I hate when that happens!) Besides, this is
how guitars have been recorded for decades, even back when we didn’t have simulators.

Figure 2.24
Aux track with effect routed to Audio track
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To do this in Pro Tools, you will need two tracks—one for the plug-in and one for the recording.
The first should be a Mono Aux input and it should have its output routed on a mono bus to
the input of the Audio track (for guitar tracks, because the guitar is generally mono…but the
bus can be stereo if the sound is stereo). Set the input of the Audio track to the same bus as
the output of the Aux track, as seen in Figure 2.24. On the Aux track, insert your favorite
amp simulator (or EQ, or whatever you want to print with), and you will be recording to the
Audio track with the plug-in active, creating a track with the effect printed permanently. It is a
good idea to mark the amp and settings in the comments or to save a preset of the tone in the
Session Plug-In Settings folder. (See the “Storing Presets” tip in Chapter 6.) Remember that
this take is permanent, so play well!

Recording with Hardware Inserts

If you own hardware processing and you want to employ it with Pro Tools during recording,
here are a few ways to integrate your hardware during recording.
Q Insert an analog I/O on your record channel, as shown in Figure 2.25. Connect the
output of that I/O to the input of your processor and the output of your processor back
to the input of the same I/O port. Keep in mind that your insert I/O needs to be a
discrete connection that is not otherwise being used in your session, such as the main
output pair 1–2. You might experience a delay in the signal because of this procedure
(although users of HD TDM with version 6.7 should not experience this), due to the
time necessary for the signal to leave Pro Tools (digital-analog conversion) and re-enter
after processing (analog-digital conversion). If this is the case, you might need to monitor
the signal before printing to Pro Tools, effectively ruining the purpose of performing
the I/O insert in the first place. In that case, try the following tactics.

Figure 2.25
A hardware I/O
plug-in on Aux
input for recording

Q Connect the hardware before you connect Pro Tools. This will process the signal perma-
nently. You will not have the option to tweak the settings later; it will happen in real
time, but it will not adversely affect your monitoring of the signal.
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Q For Mbox users, connect the processor to the back of the unit at the connection labeled
Insert using a standard TRS send-return cable. You might need to create a cable to suit
your needs because these standard cables don’t always have the appropriate connectors
for your processor. Monitoring won’t be affected (other than the standard monitoring
latency in the Mbox). See the “Monitoring with the Mbox” tip earlier in this chapter.

Selection Recording (Punching In)

After the initial take is printed, there might be imperfect moments in the performance, but
perhaps the rest of the performance is great. Using the Selector tool, highlight the region that
needs re-recording, and Pro Tools will record over only that section. This is standard procedure
for production. Following are some good practices to use when recording selections like this.
1. Zoom in closely on both the beginning (in) and end (out) of the selection to ensure that
you have highlighted the audio at a zero-crossing point, as shown in Figure 2.26. This
will prevent you from generating any unnecessary pops and clicks in the recording.
(See the “Zero-Crossing Edits” tip in Chapter 4.)

Figure 2.26
Zero-crossing
point at the in
of the punch
selection

2. Be sure to deselect either Destructive Record or QuickPunch because they can be detri-
mental to your recording process. Destructive Record will permanently erase whatever
it records over, and neither will show the waveform during recording.
3. Try to select a length of time that begins and ends slightly earlier and later than what
you need (maybe a word or two for vocals and a note/phrase or two for music). This
will give you the option to trim and cross-fade the selection to perfection later. Without
recording extra time, you might not be able to cross-fade at all after the recording, as
seen in Figure 2.27. (See the “Faster Fades” and “Batch Fading” tips in Chapter 4.)
4. Drag the arrows (red) earlier and later to adjust the selection. The arrows refer to the
In and Out markers for the recording.
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Figure 2.27
A cross-fade over the in
of the punch

Recording with Pre- and Post-Roll

Activate pre-roll and post-roll to get a head start and to hear how well the punch-in dovetails
into the next section. (Use CMD+K or activate pre- and post-roll in the Transport window.)
You can adjust the amount of pre- and post-roll by moving the green flags before (pre-roll)
and after (post-roll) the selection. Try to begin the pre-roll at the beginning of the previous
phrase or two so it doesn’t start awkwardly, as seen in Figure 2.28.

After you’ve punched in, you can audition the in and out separately without losing the selection!
Hold CMD+Option+right arrow to listen to the punch-out with pre-roll and post-roll. This will
allow you to play up to the end of the punch and into the next section to determine whether
the take was correct. Similarly, press CMD+Option+left arrow to audition the punch-in the
same way. If the end is good but the beginning is not (or vice versa), you can select a smaller
section to fix and leave the good punch alone. Repeat this procedure until the entire section
meets your expectations.

Figure 2.28
Pre-roll on the Transport window and the Ruler
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Using Markers during Recording

Memory location points, or markers, are wonderful things that are often underused. You can
use markers during the recording process to either point out mistakes as they happen (see
Figure 2.29) or to set the song pointers, such as the verse, chorus, and so on, if you’ve never
heard the song before (for example, on the first take of the first song of a new client’s band).

Figure 2.29
The New Memory Location dialog box

While recording (or playing, for that matter), hit the Enter key. The New Memory Location
dialog box will appear. Name the section (intro, verse 1, and so on) and hit Enter again to
create the marker. You should also show the markers along the Ruler (Display > Ruler Shows
> Markers). Then, you can use the markers to select sections that require punching in by
Shift-clicking the two markers that define the region to be replaced. If the selection is imperfect,
click and drag the markers to the exact locations desired, and then reselect the region.
If you find that there is not enough time to name the marker during the recording process, you
can choose to auto-name the markers in the Memory Location menu, as seen in Figure 2.30.
You can name the markers after the recording by double-clicking the marker along the Ruler.

Figure 2.30
Auto-Name selected on the
Memory Location drop-down
menu
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Setting a Temporary Effect for the Artist

Almost every artist (it’s usually the singer) likes to record with some effects—mainly reverb.
To do this without committing to the effect, create an aux send and an Aux input track.
Insert the artist’s effect of choice on the Aux input and set the Aux input to any available bus.
(Use pairs for stereo effects.) Create an aux send on the channel to which you are recording,
and set its output to the same bus as the input of the Aux track, as shown in Figure 2.31.

Be sure that you are sending the effect signal to the headphone mix as well, and turn up the
send level (to the phones) to your taste. (See the “Creating Discrete Headphone Mixes” tips
earlier in this chapter.) If you are recording through an Aux input to print with effects, make
sure you create the temporary effect send on the record track and not the Aux input with the
printable effect. (See the “Recording the Audio with Effects” tip earlier in this chapter.) If you
don’t set the effect send on the record track, then when you play back the take, your take will
play without the temporary effect.

Figure 2.31
A temporary
effect

Stereo or Dual Mono?

Few things get confused more than the concept of stereo versus dual mono. I want to take a
moment to define the two.
Q Stereo. This refers to a recording of one source by two microphones in some stereo
technique. The two mics can and should be panned left and right to recreate the stereo
image of the performance. An example would be recording a piano with two mics
over the soundboard, with one facing the low strings (left) and one facing the high
strings (right). An acoustic guitar, percussion, sections of instruments, and drums are
other good examples.
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Q Dual mono. This refers to two recordings of a source performed at different times,
generally overdubbed. One mic is often used to record the artist doubling the part
and then panning take 1 left and take 2 right. Vocals are usually done this way, as
are rock guitars.

You can switch between the two types by creating both a stereo track and two mono tracks.
When you record guitars, you might record take 1 to track 1 (mono) and take 2 to track 2.
When you are satisfied with the performances, select them both (use CMD+A to ensure
you’ve highlighted them all) and drag the two onto the stereo track. You have “stereoized”
the two, but you have not created a true stereo part. This is still dual mono; it’s simply housed
on a stereo track. Look at Figure 2.32 to see the two mono tracks and the “stereoized” track
with both of them.

Figure 2.32
Two files
brought
together
on a stereo
track

Loop Recording
Inevitably, there will be parts that an artist will want to record over and over again until he or she
has performed them to perfection. Loop recording will do this easily, but what happens to the
takes after the loop record is complete, and the artist says, “I think there’s a good one in there?”
After loop recording, highlight the looped section and switch to the Selector tool. Then,
CMD–click on the highlighted section, and you will be shown the “takes list,” as in Figure 2.33.
However, it might also show much more than you expected.
If you first look under Preferences > Editing, you notice that the section labeled Matching
Start Time Includes gives you the indication that the section you’ve looped will also show you
regions that match the start time (see Figure 2.34). This might give you too many choices, so
I suggest you also check the boxes for track name and length. (At least choose the matching
name.) That way, the takes list will only present the takes that fit your loop recordings. Note that
all the takes will be numbered sequentially.
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Figure 2.33
The takes list

You should only hit stop after the artist tells you she is done and the
loop goes back to the beginning for yet another loop. That way, if the
last take had any good stuff in it, it will show up under the takes list.
If you cut the loop short, the length won’t match and it won’t even
show in your takes list (if you’ve activated the length option under the
preferences). It will still be in the bin, however, and you can still drag
it onto the track for auditioning if necessary.

Figure 2.34
The matching start time preference

Using Destructive Record to Avoid Editing

When performing large V/O (voiceover) recordings, the client will usually want to walk away
with a single audio file matching a script. Other times, the client will want to walk with many
files. Obviously editing is a part of this process, but the editing can often take longer than the
recording, making a longer session for you and a higher bill for your client. Even after editing,
there is still the process of merging all the edited clips into single files for delivery, presenting
you with the time-consuming task of either bouncing (which takes a really long time) or consol-
idating (which doubles your hard-drive requirements) after editing.
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When presented with this scenario, try using destructive record and pre-roll to create a single
clip without having to edit later.
1. Record the talent’s read until there is a mistake. A professional should be able to go
fairly far before goofing and should be able to be interrupted and resume the take
without a problem.
2. Stop the talent and drop the cursor at the farthest zero-crossing point before the mistake
(see Figure 2.35). This is usually the end of the last word before the mistake. That way,
if the talent comes in earlier than before, you will catch the first word in its entirety.
3. Activate pre-roll and set it to a point that makes sense for the talent, usually a sentence
before the goof.
4. Activate destructive record and record from the insertion point. (You will notice a D in
the record button on the Transport indicating destructive record.) This will allow the tal-
ent to hear the pace and energy of the previous read and pick up at the mistake point
while making it seem like a seamless read. You will be presented with a continuance
of the same file that you were recording, leaving no need to edit afterwards.

Figure 2.35
The zero-crossing of the mistake
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3 Importing, Exporting,
and Managing
Recording isn’t the only way to get audio into Pro Tools.
In fact, you’ll probably spend enough time importing and
exporting audio, MIDI, and sessions that these topics
deserve their own chapters! From the simplest Import
Audio command to more complex preparations of
sessions for traveling clients, this chapter covers some
known and unknown ways to make the job easy…or at
least less painful!

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The Many Ways to Import Audio

Audio will exist in many places on your drive, and you need to be able to bring that audio
into your session at any time. The following tips provide various options for importing audio
from the various sources.

Direct Importing to the Bin

Choose Audio Bin > Import Audio, and you will be presented with an Import Audio dialog
box, shown in Figure 3.1, giving you the option to audition the file (with independent volume
control), and then either add, copy, or convert it depending on its sample rate and bit depth.
After the file is in the Import box in the lower-right portion of the dialog box, you can hit
Done to bring the file into your session.

Figure 3.1
The Import Audio
dialog box
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I am a firm believer in always copying or converting the file! If you choose to simply add the
file, Pro Tools will leave the file in its original location and not bring it or a copy into your
current session’s Audio Files folder. This means if you delete the folder with the original Audio
Files folder, you will no longer have that audio in your current session. The media will be
considered offline, and you will not be able to hear it again. Ever.
If you copy the file, Pro Tools will make a copy and put it in your current Audio Files folder,
ensuring that the clip will never go offline. If the file has a different bit depth or is of a different
file type, the only option available is to convert the audio on import, which is just as good as
copying. Although copying doubles the hard drive requirements (because audio is now in two
places instead of one), it is a small price to pay when you consider the alternative of potentially
losing audio.

Importing to Track
As the name implies, this option (choose File > Import Audio to Track, as seen in Figure 3.2)
will not only import the audio, but it will create an appropriate track for it, name it, and bring
it into the session on that new track. All the rules from the previous tip still apply. This is useful
in situations in which you know you will use all the files and you want a track for each one.
The drawback is that this option always puts the audio at the beginning of the session, which
can be a drag when you are working on a 90-minute feature and you are trying to grab the
file to play at 01:15:32.26.

Figure 3.2
Import Audio to Track

Importing Session Data

Suppose the producer wants to try something weird
and borrow the main vocal from one song and use it as
a background for the current song. However, the other
song’s main vocal was compiled from seven takes and
consists of 23 regions, making importing the raw audio
impossible. You could close this song and open the
other, soloing the vocal and its respective effect channels,
and bounce out a complete vocal (which takes time),
but you’d get stuck with the effects and inserts on the
channel at the time, as well as any editing mistakes. You
could bypass the effects and bounce the file dry (which
takes more time), but then you’d have to de-bypass the
effects and be sure not to save your song to avoid
changing its performance. You’d then have to open the
current song again and import the vocal, at which point
the producer might realize she wants to revisit some of
the other takes instead. Oh boy.
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As you saw in the “Switching Songs” tip in Chapter 2, it is easy to import the data from other
sessions and not bring in the audio. In this scenario, you should do the opposite to save time
and hassle. Choose File > Import Session Data and select the session from the other song in
question. In the Import Session Data dialog box, shown in Figure 3.3, you can choose to
remap the timing to your current song timing (avoiding the part showing up an hour past the
end of the song) as well as select only the main vocal for importing. From the Playlist drop-
down menu, deselect everything you don’t want (including the insert effects, if desired), but
be sure to check Regions and Media to import the track and its audio as is.

Figure 3.3
The Import Session Data
dialog box

In the upper-left corner of the Import Session Data dialog box, choose Copy Media to ensure
that any imported tracks and audio get moved into the current session’s Audio Files folder.
Depending on which playlist option you choose, the imported track might show up as a new
track or it might overwrite another playlist. It is always safer to import as a new track to avoid
losing something important.
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Importing from CD (Option 1)

As of version 6.0, Pro Tools now imports red book audio directly from CD without you needing
QuickTime to bridge the gap. When a CD is in the CD-ROM tray and mounted on the desktop,
choose a method of importing audio (either Import Audio or Import Audio to Track). Navigate
to the CD in question and select the track of choice. In this case, because the audio lives on a
different drive than your session, you will be forced to either copy or convert the audio upon
import.
When you are choosing the track from the CD, you can skip to later sections in the song by
dragging the horizontal time bar below the stop and play buttons in the Import Audio dialog
box. When you are sure that this is the track, you can select it for import by bringing it into
the right side of the dialog box (Convert or Copy Audio), as seen in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4
The Import Audio dialog
box for importing CDs

Importing from CD (Option 2)

When you want to import audio from a CD, you can save time by importing directly through
the Workspace. Open your Workspace by selecting Windows > Show Workspace (Option+;).
From there, double-click the CD mounted on your Workspace, opening the Volume Browser.
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You should see the tracks listed in the order of the CD tracks. If you do not see the waveform
next to the file, be sure you are seeing the waveform column in the view. Select the files by
clicking CMD+A, and go to the Browser menu and select Calculate Overviews.

Figure 3.5
Importing CDs through the Workspace

You can now listen to the file by clicking and holding the speaker icon next to the waveform.
The file will audition (in summed mono) as long as you hold the mouse. To skip ahead, click
and hold later on the waveform.
After you have verified your file, simply drag it onto a blank section of the session (or onto a
newly created track to house it), as seen in Figure 3.5. Again, because the track is on a sepa-
rate drive from your current session (as well as being stereo interleaved, which Pro Tools will
de-interleave anyway), Pro Tools will copy the file to your Audio Files folder, ensuring that it
will stay online throughout your session.

Batch Importing
When you are designing sound for post-production, you generally need many sounds to create
the scene. For example, you might need four different types of gunshots to match four actors
carrying four guns. You might not know which sound will match which gun until you import
the audio. In this case, it makes more sense to directly import instead of using the Import
Audio to Track function because you might not even use half of what you import.
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In this case, a batch import will be most useful. There is no menu option called Batch Import—
simply perform the standard Import Audio function and fill the Import Bin with any sound that
might even be close to what you need, as shown in Figure 3.6. Audition and fill the bin until
you’ve exhausted all the possibilities, and then hit the Done key. This fills the bin with the gun-
shots, allowing you to build the gun tracks sound by sound and actor by actor, matching the
gun sound to the screen gun perfectly and quickly.

Figure 3.6
Multiple audio files pre-
pared for batch importing

Importing MIDI Files

Like the Audio Bin, the MIDI Bin has a drop-down menu that allows you to import MIDI files
directly into the bin. This method, like importing audio directly, brings the MIDI file into the
bin but not onto any track. Choose MIDI Bin > Import MIDI, shown in Figure 3.7, to begin the
import. Unlike the audio import, there is no audition option because you can’t audition MIDI
without a sound source (which is unavailable during import). After the file is in the bin, you
can drag it to any MIDI track, and it will get its tempo from the song tempo and play in time
with the tempo.
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Figure 3.7
The Import MIDI drop-down menu

If you want to bring the MIDI file directly into a track, choose File > Import MIDI to Track
(seen in Figure 3.8). As with audio, a track will be created for the MIDI, and the part will
arrive at the beginning of the session. As with direct MIDI imports, the part will play at the
tempo of the song because MIDI is played on a relative timescale based on the tempo.

Figure 3.8
Import MIDI to Track

Importing Standard MIDI Files

The standard MIDI file is one way to transfer song data between different applications. If, for
example, your client works in a different sequencer program, you can still import the file track
by track as MIDI if you have the client save the song as an SMF. The process is usually simple;
the option to do so is usually found in the File menu of the host application.
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In Pro Tools, choose either method to import the SMF. If this is a new song imported into a
new session, as seen in Figure 3.9, I suggest you use the Import MIDI to Track method, which
will bring in the song track by track at the session tempo. Now, you can re-voice each MIDI
track to the synth of your choosing contained in your studio.

Figure 3.9
A standard MIDI file imported
to track and re-voiced

Creating Standard MIDI Files

When the MIDI song has been started in Pro Tools and needs to go to another studio for more
tracks or finishing, and the other studio is running another sequencer, you must export the
SMF for delivery. You should keep in mind that the SMF will only transfer the MIDI data, so
any audio must either be sent alongside it (see the “Exporting as Files” tip later in this chapter)
or bounced out separately and delivered alongside the SMF. (See the “Bouncing the Mix” tip
in Chapter 7.) The third option is to export an OMF. (See the “Creating OMF Documents”
tip later in this chapter.)
Select all the tracks (Option-click the Channel Select of one track) and choose File > Export
MIDI. You will be presented with the SMF Export dialog box, shown in Figure 3.10. Choose
the format expected by your client and hit Export. If you’ve also selected Audio tracks, it
doesn’t matter; Pro Tools will only export the MIDI parts for your SMF.
When you are exporting SMFs, be sure the client exports as a type 1 SMF. This type will retain
all the MIDI data as separate tracks, allowing you to easily import the SMF and re-voice the
MIDI. If you choose a type 0 SMF, all MIDI tracks will be merged into one track.
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Figure 3.10
Exporting SMF

Verifying Path Names

No matter how diligent you are about importing audio and copying the files to your Audio
Files folder, it is a good idea to verify the path names of your session every once in a while
to ensure that all your files are in the local Audio Files folder.
Click on the Audio drop-down menu and choose Show All. Stretch your Audio Bin to its
largest available size by dragging the vertical divider to the left, because the information runs
long when you show the full path names. From the Audio drop-down menu, choose Show Full
Pathnames (as seen in Figure 3.11). Scroll slowly down the list and verify that the files all live
in the Audio Files folder of this session. When you are satisfied, deselect the Show Full
Pathnames option and resize the bin to a more appropriate view size.

Figure 3.11
Show Full Pathnames from the Audio menu
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Fixing Bad Path Names

Following are three different ways to fix audio that has been improperly imported into the
session.
Q In the case of a file that accidentally was added to your session and not copied, there is
still hope of bringing the file to your Audio Files folder. (Figure 3.12 illustrates a session
with a Disk Allocation of Matt Donner's iPod. One of the two files shown was incorrectly
added to the session. It is located in The Vault, not Matt Donner's iPod.) Obviously, you
can re-import the file (if you remember where it was) and choose Copy this time. If
you’ve forgotten where it lives, show full path names and mark where it lives, and then
re-import it. If the file is a region of a larger file, be prepared to re-edit the file to
match your session if it has already been edited.

Figure 3.12
Full path name of
incorrectly imported file

Q Another solution is to create a new file from the bad one in the correct location.
Choose Setups > Disk Allocation to verify that all tracks are pointing to the Audio Files
folder of this session. Then choose Setups > Preferences > Editing and make sure that
the Track Selection Follows Region List Selection and the Region List Selection Follows
Track Selection options are both selected, as shown in Figure 3.13. When these two
preferences are selected, highlighting on the track will highlight the same region in the
bin and vice versa. It’s a good idea to leave these preferences on because they “link”
the tracks and the bin.
Then, highlight the region/file with the bad path name in the bin, also selecting the
region on the track. Choose Edit > Consolidate Selection (Shift+Option+3), as in
Figure 3.14, to create a new file from the old region, which will live in the Audio Files
folder. You also can select Audiosuite > Duplicate to perform a similar function.
By doing this, you create new files from the original regions, which are then stored in
the current session’s Audio Files folder. These new files have no “handles” anymore, so
the option of using the Trimmer to extend them to their original size no longer exists. If
you think you might need some handles before consolidating, you should trim the region
out to its original form (or at least as large as you might need it) before consolidating.
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Figure 3.13
Edit Selection preferences

Figure 3.14
Consolidate Selection

Q Find the region that had a bad path name. Locate its parent file (it will be in bold in the
Audio Bin because it is the parent file) and choose Export Selected as Files from
the Audio drop-down menu. (See the “Exporting as Files” tip later in this chapter.)
Choose the Audio Files folder for this session, and then choose the appropriate file
type and bit depth (which should match your current session). Then, re-import the file and,
if necessary, re-edit it to taste and location. You then can clear the incorrect file from
the bin.
Note: For sessions with more than one file with a bad path name, see “Preparing
Sessions for Delivery” as an alternative to fixing bad path names.
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Exporting Definitions and Importing Regions

As you’ve seen in the Import Audio dialog box, Pro Tools will import any audio file on the
system. But how do you import only the region edited in that other session?
1. Close the current session and open the session that contains the region in question.
When you’ve located it, select it and choose Export Selected as Files, as shown in
Figure 3.15. (See the “Exporting as Files” tip in this chapter.) Then, you can reopen the
new session and import the file. Because the region has become a new file, any por-
tions of the original file outside the edit boundaries no longer exist. Therefore, it is
imperative that the region selected in the original file is enough to satisfy your needs.
Also, keep in mind that if you need several regions from the original session, you
should export them all at once to avoid wasting time going back and forth.

Figure 3.15
Export Selected as Files

2. As mentioned earlier, close the current session and open the original session containing
the sought-after region. Find it and select it, but this time choose Export Region
Definitions. Region definitions are what Pro Tools remembers when audio is edited, so
by exporting the region definitions, Pro Tools is effectively exporting the edit points,
which can be reapplied to the original file, recreating all the regions as well.

Figure 3.16
Export Region Definitions
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After you export the definitions, Pro Tools will show you a dialog box telling you that it normally
saves the region definitions to the session document, but now it will attach the definitions to
the audio itself, as in Figure 3.16. When this is completed, you can reopen the current session
and choose Import Audio. When you point to the Audio Files folder of the original session,
find the parent file that created the sought-after region. Now, when you search the files in the
Audio Files folder, each file will also show you all the regions defined by editing in the original
session (and exported by you), as seen in Figure 3.17.

Figure 3.17
The Import Audio
dialog box with
regions

If this is something you will do often, get in the habit of exporting the region definitions for
all the audio in the session. That way, you will know that you have access to every region of
every audio file from that session.
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Exporting as Files
As mentioned earlier, it is very common to export regions from one session into others. The
most common method is to use the Export Selected as Files feature, found in the Audio drop-
down menu. When the region in question is selected, choosing Export Selected as Files will
allow you to create an entirely new parent file from the region. However, the new file will
have no handles and no ability to trim back to its original size.
In voiceover sessions, it is very common to record and edit 300 individual files or more for
delivery. In situations like this, exporting as files is the perfect solution. After the files are
recorded and edited to taste, select them all and export them for delivery. When you are
presented with the Export as Files dialog box (seen in Figure 3.18), choose the file type and
bit depth required in the top section. In the middle section, click the Choose button. This will
tell Pro Tools where to export the files. I suggest you create a new folder at the same level as
the session and the Audio Files folder, and call it Exports. Then, you can simply deliver to the
client the Exports folder and all the edited files contained therein.

Figure 3.18
The Export Selected dialog box
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Batch Naming and Exporting

In the situation previously described, in which the voiceover session and client require files to
be exported for delivery, we assume that the files are perfect and ready for exporting.
However, because these sessions usually happen extremely fast, stopping to name each file
after editing (or even during editing) can be a waste of time. In the scenario in which the files
take sequential names (such as Clip 01, Clip 02, and so on), Pro Tools can save a lot of time
for you and the client.
This is, however, a multi-stepped process utilizing a function of Pro Tools called the Timestamp.
This bit of information is a timing reference that is stamped onto all files and regions. There is the
Original Timestamp (which refers to the timeline position of the file as it was created/recorded)
and the User Timestamp (which refers to a timeline position of the user’s preference).
After your takes are edited, you will usually (but optionally) line them next to each other
according to time and naming conventions. For example, VO take 24, which is the third final
region, will eventually be called VO_3, so its Timestamp will be the third latest. When files
are moved, their Timestamps do not change, so simply moving the files into order and expecting
them to get stamped at their new positions and be ordered chronologically doesn’t work, as
seen in Figure 3.19. (Notice that the files are named sequentially on the track, but they do not
follow the same convention in the bin!)

Figure 3.19
Files named in order, sorted by out-of-order Timestamp

By duplicating the region (Audiosuite > Duplicate), you create a new region with a Timestamp
that matches the current position, allowing you to line them up in the bin for renaming. You
could also use Edit > Consolidate Selection (Shift+Option+3) to do the same thing. Be sure to
select the Create Individual Files option if you use Duplicate so your individual clips are
retained.
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Perform the following sequence of moves to prepare and rename your files in numeric order.
1. Select all the files on the track after editing.
2. Choose Audiosuite > Other > Duplicate to duplicate the files in position, recreating the
Timestamp at the current location, as seen in Figure 3.20.

Figure 3.20
Duplicate

3. With the files selected, sort by Timestamp by choosing that option from the Audio drop-
down menu (see Figure 3.21). This will order the files in the bin by their Timestamps
and align them in the same order as they are on the track.

Figure 3.21
Sort by Timestamp

4. Choose Auto Rename Selected from the drop-down menu. You’ll be presented with a
dialog box (see Figure 3.22) that will allow you to give the file name (VO Clip, in this
case) and the naming protocol (01, 1, 001, and so on), as well as dictate any exten-
sion to the file (such as .wav). If you are creating .wav files, you don’t have to name
the extension here; you can choose to add the extension when exporting the files.
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Another good idea is to start with Number 1 (the default is 0) because your clips
will all be offset by one number, driving your producer crazy (along with her Web
programmer), which means no repeat business for you!

Figure 3.22
The Rename Selected Regions dialog box

5. When you have renamed the files to your liking, you should use the Export Selected as
Files option and direct them to a new folder you create for your client, called VO Clips.
If your client wants the files tagged with the extension, you can choose this option in
the Rename dialog box, but Pro Tools will generally do this on export, which will make
your .wav files VO Clip 01.wav.wav… which I think is from the Department of
Redundancy Department….

Preparing Sessions for Delivery

It is common for artists to want to work with several producers and engineers on a project,
and sometimes on a single song. Usually, the artist will travel with a portable drive containing
the session so all the work is intact, but occasionally the session will start at a studio without
the traveling drive and will need to be prepared to travel on another medium, such as CD or
DVD. The following tips present a few ways to prepare the session for traveling and ensure
that it arrives without a problem.

Cleaning the Audio Bin

By the sheer nature of working and recording in Pro Tools, you will have many unused audio
files and regions. When the song has reached a level of acceptability at which the artist or
producer says it’s finished, it becomes a good idea to clean out the Audio Bin to make the
session as efficient as possible for traveling.
1. Choose Select Unused Regions from the Audio drop-down menu, highlighting any files
(or regions) that are not used on any playlist. You could also choose Select Unused
Files Except Whole Files, which will do the same thing minus the parent files, as shown
in Figure 3.23.
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Figure 3.23
Selecting unused files

2. Choose Clear Selected from the drop-down menu. You will be presented with the Clear
Audio dialog box (see Figure 3.24). If the regions selected are whole files and not just
regions, you will be presented with two possibilities: Remove or Delete.

Figure 3.24
Clearing the selected files

Q Remove. This option will take the files and regions out of the Audio Bin, but will
retain the parent files in the Audio Files folder. If you make a mistake, you’ll be
happy you did this because you can re-import the parent files and recreate the
edits if necessary.
Q Delete. This option will remove the files from the session and the hard drive.
This is preferable if you are preparing for travel on a smaller medium, such as
CD, because it could shrink your session size in half.

Although clearing the bin is a good idea, be sure you’ve told the producer that you
will permanently be removing files and that he or she should be sure this is okay. After
she says “Okay,” ask again and explain that this will permanently remove files—and
also ask if she wants to hear it one last time to be sure. She might get annoyed, but at
least you will be covered when she panics and realizes that means you tossed the
alternate vocal that she also wanted (but never bothered to actually tell you)!

Duplicating the Session

When you clean the Audio Bin to prepare for delivery, you run the risk of deleting files that
were important, even if the producer said it was okay. A safer way to prepare the session is
to make a copy of it as is.
1. Choose File > Save Session Copy In (see Figure 3.25). You will be presented with the
Save dialog box (see Figure 3.26).
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Figure 3.25
Save Session Copy In menu option

Figure 3.26
The Save dialog
box

2. Point the file to save to a unique place on either your drive or the artist’s drive. This
will avoid the possibility of confusing the original session with the copy.
3. At the bottom of the dialog box, check the Items to Copy box and select all options. If you
don’t do this, you will copy the session only, leaving all the audio on the original drive.
This is a big problem, especially if the artist is traveling far, to someplace like Europe.
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4. You can also select not to copy over fade files. If you are troubled by many corrupt
fade files that always show up as missing when you open your session, this is a handy
workaround because the new session will try to recreate the fades when you open it
after the copy.
5. Choose BWF for the file type and check the Enforce Mac/PC Compatibility box. I
recommend this to all clients—it is the most common form of Pro Tools session, because
you never know when this will end up at a PC studio. If you don’t do this, you could
put your client in a very bad position if the next stop is a PC studio.

Compacting the Session

If the producer says the piece is finished and he is absolutely sure it is, the most efficient way
to pack the session for delivery is to compact it. Compacting removes all the unused edits
from the parent files, deletes the parent files, and creates new parent files from the regions
left on the playlists, which is more efficient than selecting and deleting unused regions.
1. Select all audio in the bin by choosing Select All from the drop-down menu. The short-
cut is Shift+Apple+A.
2. Select Compact Selected from the drop-down menu. You will be presented with the
Compact Selected dialog box (see Figure 3.27). This dialog box describes the process
of compacting in greater detail and gives you only one option—padding (handle size).
3. Choose the handle size you like and hit Compact. Handle size is the amount of space
left at the beginning and end of the new parent files in case some last-minute trimming
is in order. I suggest a handle size of at least 1000 ms (1 second) because any editing
should be much closer than that by now, right? If not, then increase this to 5000 ms.

Figure 3.27
The Compact Selected dialog box
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Importing OMFs
The Open Media Format allows multiple programs and platforms, such as Avid and Final Cut
Pro, to send files to each other while maintaining the integrity of all the audio and the edits.
OMFs come in two flavors—one with the audio embedded into the document (which is pre-
ferred) and another with an OMF document and a folder full of the audio files to which it
refers.
To import the OMF, you must also have DigiTranslator, a separately sold software component
that is built into Pro Tools. (It is unlocked only when a valid authorization is recognized on
your iLok.) Owning this software unlocks Pro Tools’ ability to both import and create OMFs
for working with other platforms.
To import the OMF and create a new Pro Tools session, first create a blank document to
which to import. Open the Workspace and navigate to the OMF file. Simply drag the OMF
onto the blank Edit window, and you will be presented with the Import OMF dialog box, as
seen in Figure 3.28, which is really just the Import Session Data dialog box, now used for an
OMF document.

Figure 3.28
The Import OMF dialog box
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Depending on your circumstances, there are several decisions to make during this OMF import.
Following, you’ll find all the options and what they mean.
Left top of screen:
Q Audio Media Options. Here you tell Pro Tools whether to simply refer to the audio with
the OMF, copy the audio to the new session’s Audio Files folder (preferred), or consoli-
date from the original OMF. Consolidating is similar to copying except that it won’t
necessarily keep your handles (the extra audio underneath the trimmed region boundary).
This means that copying the audio is more a flexible option.
Q Video Media Options. These are the same as the Audio Media Options, except for
video files.

Right top of screen:

Q Timecode Mapping Options. Generally reserved for OMFs from video-editing platforms,
such as Avid systems or Final Cut Pro, this option will allow you to shift the start time
of the incoming sequence to any Timecode location by choosing the Map Incoming
Timecode option. You can choose Maintain Absolute Values to keep the incoming
audio at the Timecode position originally held in the video-editing system or choose
Maintain Relative Values to keep everything in position but shift it to the beginning of
the session. You can change this later if you want.
This is particularly important in video OMFs. Generally, the OMF will come with a pre-
determined start time (determined by the video editor), and you should not mess with
it. You can throw the entire mix out of time with the video, or do even worse with other
processes you are not involved with. A quick confirmation call can avoid serious issues,
but generally, if there is already Timecode information in this window, choose the
Maintain Absolute Timecode option, and your session will open at the beginning of
the Pro Tools document in perfect time.

Bottom of screen:
Q Operation/D Destination Track. This gives you the option to either ignore the track
(Do Not Import) or import the track. This is similar to importing session data. (See the
“Switching Songs” tip in Chapter 2.) The fast move here (assuming you are importing
the OMF as a fresh session) is to Option-click any track and set the Import as New
Playlist option, which will set all the tracks to import to new playlists.
Q Session Data to Import. Again, this is similar to importing session data.
Q Track Playlist Options. These options only kick in when you are importing OMFs into
existing sessions in which the incoming tracks are sent to destinations already in play
by other tracks. For example, you can choose to import a kick track from the OMF to
the kick of the existing session, and then decide what happens to the audio on the
existing kick track.
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Q Ignore Rendered Audio Effects. In video systems, this means that each audio file (clip)
can have independent volume controls (automation) permanently mapped to the file.
This is a destructive process, rendering certain sounds useless. I always suggest you
activate the Ignore button and choose Convert Clip-Based Gain to Automation, which
will bring the mix over exactly as the editor left it, giving you a sense of what he or she
heard and liked as a starting point.
Q Pan Odd/Even Tracks Left/Right. The name says it all. This should tell you that stereo
tracks don’t come over as stereo tracks, but as mono left/right tracks panned accord-
ingly. You should “stereoize” these tracks by dragging them onto new stereo tracks.
(See the “Stereo or Dual Mono?” tip in Chapter 2.)

Creating OMF Documents

If you have a Pro Tools session that needs to travel to another studio that doesn’t run Pro Tools,
you can pack the session as an OMF for delivery. The OMF format will retain almost all
of your session (it won’t port over markers) that can be unpacked by other software, such as
Avid (Xpress, Mojo, or others), Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro, and others. If you own DigiTranslator,
you can access the OMF Creation menu option by choosing File > Export OMF/AAF.
The OMF will pack any selected tracks, so be sure to Option-click (selects all the tracks)
before you pack the OMF to ensure that you are packing everything! Also remember that
you will need to export a separate SMF (standard MIDI file) if your session has MIDI in it,
because the OMF won’t carry that information.

Figure 3.29
The Export to OMF dialog box
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You will be presented with the Export to OMF dialog box, shown in Figure 3.29, which presents
several options to you during the OMF packing process. In most cases, you will leave things
alone, but occasionally you’ll need to adjust things. First, choose between OMF and AAF. Ask
the receiving studio which they prefer and make your decision accordingly. The same goes for
enforcing Avid compatibility. The frame rate will come up as it is in your session (probably 30,
but maybe 29.97 for video jobs)—if you don’t know, ask. I would stay away from quantizing
edits to frame boundaries unless you know the receiving studio can’t handle audio at the
sample level. Older video systems might suffer from this so again, ask. If you’re not sure, ask.
If they don’t know, have them ask someone there. If they don’t know whom to ask, then leave
it unchecked for safety. If they complain later, your butt is well covered.
Generally, I suggest you create an OMF with consolidated audio (choose Consolidate from
Source Media in the drop-down menu) because there will be less confusion later. This will
create a large OMF document, and all the audio will be embedded within it. You can only get
to the audio through OMF unpacking, which presents a problem for some clients. For those
clients, create the OMF document and a separate folder (Copy from Source Media) to house
the audio. That way, in a pinch, you can at least access the files and recreate some of your
edits by hand, if necessary. It’s not pretty, and it defeats the purpose of the OMF, but at least
there is some recourse this way.
Remember that most of the work with OMFs occurs at the unpacking stage. (See the previous
“Importing OMFs” tip.) For those of you working with Final Cut Pro, be sure to read the
“Helpful Hints for Final Cut Pro Users” tip in Chapter 8.
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}
4 Editing, Arranging,
and Navigation
Most Pro Tools users already know how to edit audio
and are generally pretty good at getting around too.
However, no matter how fast you are and how cleanly
you edit, there’s always a faster way to get it done.
For anyone working with music and audio for clients
(who are charged by the hour), this chapter will shave
hours off your session time, saving your clients money
and keeping them coming back to you!
Simple editing tips can be lifesavers when a client asks
you to backtrack and you can’t. Creating quick loops
that hold up over time will prevent having to do it over
and over again. Chopping words together for the
perfect vocal performance can help sell the product for
the client, and following the vocal part with the lyrics
attached to the waveform will help speed the punch-in
process and keep the session flowing smoothly.
This chapter covers these and many more power tips,
so buckle up and get ready to go very, very quickly!

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Zero-Crossing Edits
When editing audio with Pro Tools or any other DAW, the most important cut decision you
can make is where to make the cut. All cuts should be made at zero-crossing points. Period.
Audio is effectively an AC electrical signal that has both positive and negative energy. The
wave will cross the zero-voltage line several million times throughout the session, as shown in
Figures 4.1 (zoomed way in) and 4.2 (zoomed slightly in), giving you plenty of opportunity to
find places to make the cut. If audio is cut at a point on the wave where the energy is either
positive or negative, there will be an audible click when it is played, known as a Fourier Click
(pronounced four-yay).

Figure 4.1
Zero-crossing point for editing, zoom 1

Figure 4.2
Zero-crossing point for
editing, zoom 2
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Editing Safely
Nothing is worse than performing hours of editing (including some destructive edits), only to
have the producer say, “I changed my mind. Put it back to how it was at the beginning, and
let’s start over.” Not only did you waste your time, it is often very difficult to recreate the track.
Before you begin an editing session, start by copying the entire track (or tracks) to a new
playlist. Hit CMD+A or choose Edit > Select All. When the track(s) are highlighted, copy the
audio (CMD+C or Edit > Copy). Click the arrow to the right of the track name (the Playlist tab)
and select New, as shown in Figure 4.3. Name the track Safety Edit 1, and then paste the
audio (CMD+V or Edit > Paste).

Figure 4.3
The Playlist menu

You can skip some of this process by selecting Duplicate from the Playlist drop-down menu.
However, you don’t get the option of naming the playlist during this process; you must name
it afterward.

Locating Positions
If you are constantly trying to find your way through the session and you are always clicking
in random locations, you are used to positioning the cursor slightly off the desired location.
A more accurate way of locating the cursor to any position is by clicking directly in the Main
Time Indicator and typing the location, as shown in Figure 4.4. You must hit the Enter key to
jump to the typed-in location. The shortcut is to hit the * key on the number pad. For laptops
without number pads, hit Function+P (Fn+P).

Figure 4.4
Main Time Indicator highlighted
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Locating and Selecting Loops

When the producer asks you to loop from measure 33 through 48, most operators will use
the mouse and get as close as they can, creating awkward loops that require adjustments,
frustrating the producer, and making things harder for themselves. You can avoid this by
being in Grid mode, but this still requires some finesse and sometimes some squinting to see
the screen well enough. It is fastest and most accurate to type the loop into the
Start/End/Length Indicators.
Hit the / key (the division key on the number pad, or Fn+0 (zero) on laptops) to highlight the
Start field in the Start/End/Length Indicators, located to the right of the Main Time Indicator,
as in Figure 4.5. If you continue to hit the / key, you will cycle through the Start/End/Length
dialog box. When the Start field is highlighted in the dialog box, use the arrows to move the
selection to the right, making more accurate selection positions.

Figure 4.5
Start/End/Length Indicator highlighted

Creating Loops on the Fly

When you want to create a loop to play or create a region, using the Start/End/Length
Indicators will create a region based on the grid, but there is no guarantee that the loop will
actually match the audio. To create the loop while listening, use the arrow keys during play-
back. Position the cursor somewhere a few seconds before the desired loop or activate pre-
roll. During playback, hit the down arrow to mark the beginning of the loop (the In) and the
up arrow to mark the end of the loop (the Out). You will notice that the arrows represent the
loop across the Ruler as well, as shown in Figure 4.6. You can adjust the In and Out to taste
by dragging the blue arrows earlier or later.

Figure 4.6
Blue arrows indicating the In and Out of the new selection

Note: Adjusting loop size will only update the playback if you adjust the blue
arrows during play!
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Looping throughout the Song

When you are working with loops, it is easy to make mistakes when you are copying the loop
throughout the song. A familiar comment might be something like, “The loop sounds great for
the first eight bars, and then it starts to drift from the click track.”
In this situation, pay attention to the Start/End/Length section across the top of the Edit window.
What usually happens is that the loop is selected, sounds great, and works well with the click
track while you are looping playback. However, without paying attention to the Start/End/Length
section, you won’t notice that the loop selected is either slightly shorter or longer than the bars
needed for a clean loop, such as the one in Figure 4.7.

Figure 4.7
A good-sounding loop slightly off the grid

Before you create the loop or region, adjust the selection slightly (use Slip mode for fine
adjustments) until the Length Indicator shows you an exact bar length that matches, such as
the one in Figure 4.8. (If you want a two-bar loop, adjust until you read 2|0|0, and so on.)
Now you can copy and paste the loop as many times as necessary, and it will fit your click
track perfectly. You can use Duplicate or Repeat from the Edit menu for multiple repeats to
save time. For situations in which the loop has no click or where the click needs to conform to
the loop, see the “Using Loops to Create a Tempo Map” tip in Chapter 5.

Figure 4.8
The same loop over-
selected to
match the grid
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Loops off the One

Creating loops that start and end on beat 1 (on the “one”) is easy, but how do you deal with
loops that start before beat 1? In Latin music, for example, the beat is usually started before
beat 1 on pickup notes. For loops like this, the same rules as discussed in the previous tip
apply. You still need to select a loop that has a length of 2|0|0 (a two-bar loop).
However, in this case, the loop won’t start on 1|1|0; it will start at something like 1|4|000
(a quarter-note early). Adjust your selection (again, using Slip mode) until both the start and
end have the same 4|000 and the length is a 2|0|0 loop, such as the one in Figure 4.9.
You can now successfully copy (repeat) the loop, and it will fit your click. You should notice
that all the copied loops will start and end with |480. For situations in which the loop has no
click, see the “Using Loops to Create a Tempo Map” tip in Chapter 5.

Figure 4.9
A two-bar loop off the one
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Relative Grid and Loops off the One

Another way to deal with loops that don’t start or end on the one is to use Relative Grid
mode, as shown in Figure 4.10. Select the loop (verify this in the Start/End/Length Indicator
box when the length is on the bar), and then switch to Relative Grid mode. Pro Tools will then
operate as if the grid is on, but it will retain the integrity of the beginning time of your loop
relative to the grid.

Figure 4.10
Relative Grid mode

In other words, if your loop is exactly two bars and it matches your click but starts on 4|4|234,
Relative Grid mode will allow you to Option-drag (making a copy) the region to 6|4|234,
retaining the loop relative to the grid (see Figure 4.11).

Figure 4.11
A loop drag-copied to the next location with Relative Grid mode
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Sync Points and Loops off the One

In situations in which the loop starts and ends before the one, another handy shortcut similar
to Relative Grid mode is the use of Sync Points. A Sync Point is a marker placed within a
region, marking a point of interest (importance) within the region. In this case, it would be
the one, which occurs after the start of the region itself.
Position the cursor at the one and choose Edit > Create Sync Point (CMD+,). After the Sync
Point is marked, you can snap the Sync Point to the “one” of the grid using the standard Grid
mode (shown in Figure 4.12) and still maintain the integrity of the preceding upbeat.

Figure 4.12
Using Sync Points to mark the
one within a region
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Loops and the TCE Trim Tool

Sometimes the right loop just doesn’t fit. Whether you start it earlier or later, there’s just no
fitting it to the click and the rest of the song. You could adjust the click to match the loop
(see the “Using Loops to Create a Tempo Map” tip in Chapter 5), but what if you’ve already
recorded parts and you can’t adjust the click to the loop?
Select the loop, switch to Grid mode, and choose the TCE Trim tool, as shown in Figure 4.13.
Align the loop’s start to the nearest bar line and click-drag the end to the most appropriate
bar line. This means that if the loop is supposed to be two bars, drag the end to the grid that
represents two bars later than the start. The region will time compress (or time expand) to fit
the grid, as shown in Figure 4.14. Verify that the loop is now the proper length by both listening
and looking at the Start/End/Length Indicator. This method works for quick, non-critical time
adjustments, but you might hear unacceptable audio artifacts. In these situations, either select
a different loop or see the “Exact Beat Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip later in this chapter.
For other tools that perform similar functions, see Digidesign’s Web site for a list of development
partners and their respective tools.

Figure 4.13
The TCE Trim tool

Figure 4.14
The loop before and after
applying the TCE Trim tool
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You can accomplish the same function by using the Audiosuite TCE tool. In this case, choose
Audiosuite > Time Compression Expansion and type in the desired length and check the
Constant Pitch box. Pro Tools will stretch (or shrink) the region to fit the grid.
If the performance is great but a single hit is simply too early (or late), try the TCE tool on
only the bad note. This works well for monophonic sounds, such as bass or kick drums. If the
hit is early, move to Slip mode and position the cursor at the zero-crossing just before the
early note. Cut there and also at the end of the note. Switch to the TCE Trim tool in Grid
mode and TCE the hit to the grid. You can do the same for the last note before the early one
to stretch it to fill the gap left by shrinking the early hit (see Figures 4.15 and 4.16).

Figure 4.15
TCE used on a single hit with a gap left over

Figure 4.16
TCE to fix early hits and gaps

Note that this last technique only works when the sound is close to the grid, but not exactly
on it. In addition, none of the TCE tool maneuvers guarantee that the stretched sound will fit
the feel of the song—just that the length will fit the click. To make a loop fit the feel and the
click, see the “Exact Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip later in this chapter.)
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Creating Loops with the Tab-to-Transient Function

When you create loops, using the arrow keys or the Start/End/Length Indicators or simply
selecting by ear and eye sometimes takes too long to get it exactly right. When time is of the
essence, activate the Tab-to-Transient function (see Figure 4.17). Tab-to-Transient seeks strong
attacks (sharp volume increases, such as in drums or other percussive sounds) and positions
the cursor at the nearest zero-crossing point for quick editing.

Figure 4.17
The Tab-to-Transient function

First, position the cursor slightly before the downbeat of the loop and tab the cursor to the
beginning of the hit. Separate the audio by hitting CMD+E, B (assuming the Command Focus
is on) or by choosing Edit > Separate Region. Then, tab continually until the cursor lands after
the end of the desired loop and separate the audio again. You have separated the region
quickly based on the performance (attacks), creating a very usable loop very quickly.

Stripping Vocals
One annoying byproduct of vocal recordings, either spoken or sung, is the sound of breaths
between words and phrases. Most producers request the removal of these noises, and in VO
sessions, it is a mandatory process. You could edit by hand, but this could take a few hours
for two hours of dialogue, resulting in a high bill for the client and a mind-numbing editorial
experience for you. When you are presented with a vocal requiring de-breathing, there are
two ways to shave time effectively; you can use Tab-to-Transient or Strip Silence.
The advantage to using Tab-to-Transient is the accuracy of Pro Tools’ ability to find the zero-
crossing points. The biggest disadvantage is Pro Tools’ inability to find the breaths themselves.
The system doesn’t know whether the next attack is a word or a breath. In recordings in
which compression was overused, this is worse. You will spend extra time auditioning
envelopes to determine whether the sound is intentional or an unwanted breath.
With Strip Silence, Pro Tools allows you to set the volume parameters at which breaths and
silence are determined. The four parameters let you determine what is silence and unwanted
sound based on volume and time. Anything below the threshold (minimum of 48 dB) and of
fitting length is removed, leaving only the regions desired. Strip Silence will show you where it
interprets the noise and audio to be before actually stripping. You can sometimes visually tell
whether the settings you have will work.
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Following is some good advice when you are recording vocals for these situations:
Q Use little compression when recording. This will help ensure that the vocal is louder
than the breaths and silence, making Strip Silence more effective.
Q If compression is requested, set the threshold and the ratio high. This will add compres-
sion to the loudest sounds without affecting the breaths of lower volume.
Q For VO, make sure the talent is presenting the information in the most even delivery
possible. This will prevent volume fluctuations that can be confused with unwanted
breaths.

Assuming the vocal was recorded well, open Strip Silence by selecting Windows > Strip
Silence. You’ll be presented with the Strip Silence window. In order, slide the threshold
upward until you start to see the potential cuts show up over the wave, as shown in Figure
4.18. I suggest you separate one breath first so you can see how appropriate the settings are
on the breaths. When the volume looks appropriate, set the length until the tiny slivers of
silence between the words are no longer set to separated. Then, adjust the Start and End
Pads until Strip Silence adjusts the beginning and end cut points to accommodate for extra
audio at the ends of the region.

Figure 4.18
Strip Silence with preview over track

The biggest disadvantage to Strip Silence is that the settings for one breath might not work for
all the breaths. Although 80 to 90 percent of the breaths will work well (saving you time you
would have spent tabbing through the breaths), you will need to perform a QC test and listen
to each edit to ensure the quality of the strip and repeat the process until all the breaths are
gone, as in Figure 4.19. If the edit is abrupt, use the Standard Trim tool to extend or retract
the region to better quality.
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Figure 4.19
A well-stripped VO

Crisper Words
Suppose a VO recording was perfectly recorded, stripped, and all edits were cleaned. Then,
the producer noticed that some words were missing the final, punctuating syllable needed for
proper intelligibility. Situations like this are usually discovered about two minutes after the
talent has left for that flight to New Zealand.
In these situations, it is possible and even encouraged to perform some micro-edits to help the
situation. If the last syllable is a T, for example, yet it sounds like a D, you can edit a T from a
crisper performance and paste it onto the end of the softer syllable. Find the best T, P, S, and
K, and keep them as stored regions in the bin. Be sure to capture the regions and not separate
them. When the syllable is required, simply drag it onto the appropriate word to fix the per-
formance, as shown in Figure 4.20. You might need to find short versions for words in the
middle of the read and long versions for the close of the word.

Figure 4.20
Micro-edit
fixing the
punctuation
of the word
at the end
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Adding and Fixing Syllables (Words) That Don’t Fit

In VO situations in which the words aren’t recorded or pronounced properly, you can some-
times edit ending syllables or even complete words (such as and, but, or, and so on) from
other words and fix the performances. However, in some situations, the syllable can only be
found on words that were pronounced with different intensities and speeds.
For this pronunciation plastic surgery, following are three tools that can help smooth over the
graft-edit.
Q Pitch shift. Often the replacement syllable will come from a word said with much
greater (or less) intensity than the desired one. Most times, a simple pitch shift will
allow the editor to adjust the pitch and format of the replacement syllable to fit it into
place. Use the Audiosuite pitch shift (see Figure 4.21) because it gives you the ability
to audition the tone to see whether your settings will make the sound work.

Figure 4.21
Audiosuite Pitch Shift window

Q Time stretch. In other situations, the intensity fits but the pace does not. For these situa-
tions, try time stretching (or compressing) the syllable so it fits the pacing of the overall
delivery. Although the TCE Trim tool (see Figure 4.22) in Pro Tools can produce
unwanted artifacts, it might be perfectly acceptable for small syllables or words.
Q Cross-fade. You already know the cross-fade can smooth over awkward edits and can
be particularly useful in this micro-grafting of language. For syllables that are grafted
onto the ends of words, try using a very short cross-fade at the head of the edit with a
very sharp slope, as shown in Figure 4.23. This will trick the ear into thinking that the
two were pronounced more naturally together than a long cross-fade with a shallow
slope will.
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Figure 4.22
TCE Trim tool

Figure 4.23
Cross-fade window with custom slopes
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Room Tone Fixes

Although most VO is recorded in quiet rooms, location recordings almost never have good,
dry vocal sound. When you are editing these parts later, there might be awkward gaps
when the talking stops and the room sound dies, as shown in Figure 4.24, leaving the track
unnaturally dry. Generally, the recordist will capture 30 seconds of room tone, which is the
ambience of the room without anyone making noise.

Figure 4.24
VO edited with gap in room tone

When you attempt to edit dialogue recorded in the field, keep the room tone handy on a nearby
track. When you perform an edit that needs filling with room tone, measure the length of the
“hole” and cut that length of time from the room tone. (Refer to the Start/End/Length Indicator to
tell you whether you have enough.) Paste it to fit the hole and trim out the ends to taste. A cross-
fade usually smoothes this edit to a natural delivery, as shown in Figure 4.25. Be sure to capture
room tone from the middle of the file, because you will need some handles from which to trim!

Figure 4.25
Grafted and cross-faded room tone

Another way is to loop the room tone throughout the track, ignoring the holes, as shown in
Figure 4.26. Although this works technically, keep in mind that you now have twice the energy
of the room tone throughout the track—once on the room tone track and once throughout the
VO while speaking. This can make your overall mix noisy, but sometimes if time is really short,
you can get away with it.
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Figure 4.26
Room tone track
with looped tone
region

Also be careful of the loop points of the room tone. Even though room tone has no distinctive
sounds within it, the loop points might be very noticeable if left exposed. Verify that the tone
loops well before you commit to this technique.

In situations in which the recorder did not provide you with room tone, you might need to edit
small sections from other short silences (between the words) and paste them to fit. These, of
course, never really fit. What used to be the standard and is now simply a cool trick is taking
the short region of the room tone and repeating it until you fill the space. You might notice
that the edits are audible, cyclical, and unacceptable. Move the regions over each other until
they overlap significantly and cross-fade them until the edits blur. If they are still noticeable,
try reversing some of the room tones and cross-fade those together until they are gone, as
shown in Figure 4.27.

Figure 4.27
Tiny room regions
reversed and
cross-faded
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Lyrics in the Regions: Ken Walden

Ken Walden was the product specialist for Digidesign for seven years. He had a bird’s-eye
view of Pro Tools during its greatest era of expansion, and he now runs a company called
Secrets of the Pros, producing DVDs that showcase some of the best tips he’s culled over the
years. He shared with me one of his favorite little-known nuggets of wisdom for music sessions
in Pro Tools—Lyrics tracks.
Unfortunately, there is no method of adding lyrics to Pro Tools session to keep track of where
each vocal line exists. However, here are some cool techniques for creating your own lyric
sheets within the song:

Version 1:
1. Section the main Vocal track into regions matching certain lines or phrases.
2. Name each region with the lyric of the section or a phrase that tells you what is being
sung, as shown in Figure 4.28.

Figure 4.28
Lyrics named on the regions of the Lead Vocal track

Version 2:
1. Create an Audio track either above or below the main vocal.
2. Listen to the vocals and create regions on the Lead Vocal track in a fashion that works
for the song, either line by line or section by section.
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3. Select the region corresponding to the first phrase and move the selection down
(or up) to the new Audio track.
4. Hold Shift+Option+3 (consolidate selection) to create regions of empty space that
match the regions created on the Lead Vocal track.
5. Name the empty region with the lyrics of the section, as shown in Figure 4.29.

Figure 4.29
Lyrics named on empty spaces above the Lead Vocal track

6. Repeat throughout the song.

7. Choose Edit > Heal Separation while highlighting the original Lead Vocal to reconnect
the regions if desired.

Version 3:
1. Create a new MIDI track either above or below the main vocal.
2. Listen to the vocals and create regions in a fashion that works for the song, either line
by line or section by section.
3. Select the region corresponding to the first phrase and move the selection down (or up)
to the new Audio track.
4. View the track as notes and pencil-draw a single note for the length of this selection.
5. Switch the track to Regions view. You should see regions that match the lyric regions
from your main vocal.
6. Name the empty region with the lyrics of the selection, as shown in Figure 4.30.
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Figure 4.30
MIDI track with lyrics in the regions

7. Repeat throughout the song.

Switching between Multiple Takes

The take is done and it’s perfect, and now your artist wants to redo it in three new ways. This
is standard operating procedure for most vocalists. Following are a few ways to handle the
request without going crazy.
1. Create three or more new Audio tracks and mute the ones that you are not working
with. You should name them Intense Vocal or Softer Vocal to match the style of delivery
(see Figure 4.31). This will use three other voices as well, which might be a problem if
you are close to or at your voice limitation. You can immediately switch between takes
by muting and un-muting the tracks you want to switch from and to, respectively. You
also will need to recreate any inserts and sends to match the tone between takes,
which might be overly taxing for your processor.

2. Follow Step 1, but set all four tracks to the same voice, as shown in Figure 4.32. That
way, you can keep your voice usage to a single voice. Select the Mute Frees Assigned
Voice option (TDM only—shown in Figure 4.33) to switch between the four tracks quickly.
(If this option isn’t available, you will need to choose the Make Selected Tracks Inactive
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option (File > Make Selected Tracks Inactive, as shown in Figure 4.34) to hear the next
track.) When you mute one track, its voice is freed for use by the next track in priority
(the one directly below it). There might be a delay in switching, so you might want to
stop playback before switching. You will need to recreate any inserts and sends to
match the tone between takes, which might be overly taxing for your processor as well.

Figure 4.31
Four tracks with four
setups and voices

Figure 4.32
Four tracks with the
same voices
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Figure 4.33
Mute Frees Assigned Voice

Figure 4.34
Make Selected Tracks Inactive

3. Create a separate playlist for each take by clicking on the Playlist tab, just to the right
of the Channel Select. Name each playlist Vocal Soft or Vocal Intense so that when PT
shortens the name, it still starts with VOC. You can switch between tracks by switching
playlists, as shown in Figure 4.35, but you might also experience a slight delay in
switching. You should stop playback before switching to avoid this. However, all
playlists will retain the insert chain and send chain so they will sound the same without
using up extra processing.
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Figure 4.35
List of vocal playlists

Composite Edits with Multiple Takes (Comping Tracks)

When recording and punching-in, or when performing multiple takes, you will eventually be
presented with the task of compiling (compositing) the various good sections into one master
take. Depending on the technique of your takes, you will want to proceed differently for each
method. In this section, you’ll take a look at the different methods and some good techniques
for each.

Multiple Tracks and Voices

1. When you have multiple tracks, you should start with the best overall track and delete
any regions that aren’t good. When you are finished, you will be left with holes that
require recorded parts from other takes, as shown in Figure 4.36. Move this track to
the top of the multiple takes and mute the others.

Figure 4.36
Great take with sections missing

2. Put the cursor at the beginning of the first hole and Shift+Tab to the end, selecting the
entire hole.
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3. Move the selection to the next track, highlighting the same length of time on the second
take. If the waveform looks like the start and end are not lining up properly (perhaps
the talent came in early or went too long on that take), then move on to the next avail-
able track.
4. After you find a selection that looks like it fits, I recommend you use the Separation
Grabber to pull this region onto the first track, filling the space. (You can hold the
Option key to leave the take intact and drag a copy to the hole.) You can also perform
a reverse edit. Remove the audio that matches the keeper audio from the first track,
leaving the possible sections to fill the holes on track 2, as shown in Figure 4.37, and
then drag them into position on the keeper track.

Figure 4.37
Sections taken from second take

5. Activate both pre- and post-roll (one or two bars), and then audition the comp. If it
works, then move to the next bad section and repeat these steps. When you are
finished, you should have composited all the good sections into one master take.

Multiple Tracks with the Same Voice

1. Put the track with the best overall take at the top of the multiple takes and cut holes for
the bad sections, as shown in Figure 4.38.
2. Because the first hole is the first section that requires replacing, the beginnings of all
other takes are unnecessary. I suggest cropping them all (Shift+Standard Trim tool-
click) so they all start at the beginning of the first hole. With Command Focus active,
you can hit A to trim them to the cursor location, which should be the beginning of the
first hole. Do this by putting the cursor at the beginning of the first hole and moving
down each track. Press Option+Shift+Tab to select to the beginning of that take, and
then delete it.
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Figure 4.38
Multiple takes with good sections trimmed out on same voice

3. Tab back to the beginning of the hole. Because all the tracks share the same voice, the
second track will play as soon as the first one hits the hole, allowing you to audition
the comp.
4. Activate both pre- and post-roll (one or two bars), and then audition the comp. If it
works, move to the next bad section and repeat these steps. When you are finished,
you should have composited all the good sections into one master take.

Multiple Takes on Playlists

1. When you have multiple takes on different playlists, it is more difficult to determine
quickly which regions will become good hole-fillers. There is a handy preference that
might help you here. Select Preferences > Editing and look at the section labeled
Matching Start Time Takes List Includes, as shown in Figure 4.39. There, you can
activate the Separate Region Operates on All Related Takes option.
2. Instead of creating holes, you only need to make separations at the points of the holes.
This will also cut all of the other playlists at the same location.
3. Delete the first bad section, creating your first hole.
4. Shift+Tab from the beginning of the hole to the end, selecting the hole itself, as shown
in Figure 4.40.
5. Switch to the first playlist and copy the audio in the same selection time as the hole, as
shown in Figure 4.41. If the waveform looks like the start and end are not lining up
properly (perhaps the talent came in early or went too long on that take), then move
on to the next available track and copy and paste it into place.
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Figure 4.39
Separate Region Operates
on All Related Takes

Figure 4.40
Removed section highlighted

Figure 4.41
Same highlighted section on second playlist
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6. Activate both pre- and post-roll (one or two bars), and then audition the comp. If it
works, then move to the next bad section and repeat these steps. When you are fin-
ished, you should have composited all the good sections into one master take, as
shown in Figure 4.42.

Figure 4.42
Comped track from multiple playlists

Zoom Presets: Edit Window

Because you probably spend more time zooming in and out than anything else, the ability to
jump right to a zoom setting can save you a lot of time. In the Edit window, five zoom presets
are user-definable to your favorite horizontal zoom settings, as shown in Figure 4.43. Although
there are already five presets, you will most likely set up a few for your favorite settings.
For example, you might want to set up preset 1 to be the length of the full song, whereas
preset 5 might be set to the sample level for detailed zero-crossing edits. I recommend you
start with a small, medium, large approach (as shown in Figure 4.44), with the small being
the sample level (preset 5), the large being the full song (preset 1), and the medium some-
where in between (preset 3). To set the presets, zoom in to the level desired, and then
CMD-click the zoom preset number. After the zoom is set, you can save time by simply hitting
the zoom preset of choice or using the key command, such as Control+1, Control+2, and so
on to Control+5.

Figure 4.43
Zoom presets
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Figure 4.44
Three shots of three
preset zooms

Zoom Presets: Memory Locations

Because Pro Tools gives you 200 memory locations, you might as well use them. A lot of Pro
Tools engineers use the first 10 or so memory locations for the first 10 or so sections of a
piece, but nothing beyond that. Because memory locations can store zoom presets and track
heights, try using them as zoom presets.
After you’ve marked the first 10 or so memory locations, you can continue to create dummy
ones until your next memory location is number 21 (or the nearest number that’s easy to
remember). Remember to set them to None (not Markers) to ensure that the Markers Ruler
doesn’t get crowded with dummies, as shown in Figure 4.45. Set the cursor to the location of
the first memory location (probably the song start). Before you create memory location 21,
set the track heights to mini and the zoom setting to fill the screen with all the tracks, and
position the cursor at the beginning of the song. We’ll call this “All full At head,” as shown in
Figure 4.46. Now create memory location 21 and set the following: none (not marker), track
heights, and zoom settings. Now, whenever you recall memory location 21, you will return to
“All Full At head.”
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Figure 4.45
Dummy markers up to number 21

Figure 4.46
Twenty memory locations, with number 21
called “All Full At head”

Repeat this process with various tracks set to track heights at different settings. For example,
you could make number 22 “All Full” with the Lead Vocal track set to large (see Figure 4.47),
and number 23 with the drums all set to medium, and so on. Once you’ve filled the 20s, you
can do similar functions with the 30s. For example, you could make the 20s “All Full” at the
different song locations (21 at marker 1, 22 at marker 2, and so on), and then use the 30s
to do the same with the Lead Vocal set to large (31 at marker 1 with lead vox large, 32 at
marker 2 with lead vox large, and so on).
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Figure 4.47
Memory location 22 all full at marker 1
with Lead Vocal set to large

Lift-Cuts with the Separation Grabber (TDM Only)

A very common move is to select a word from one performance (or phrase, note, and so on)
and copy it to another location to fix the second occurrence. Normally, you would simply
select the part, copy it, move it to the new location, and paste it in (four moves). Perhaps
you’d select the region, use the Capture Region or Separate Region function, name it, and
then move to the new location and drag the region to the location from the bin, adjusting it
into place (six moves).
The fastest way to do this is to select the region, and then Option-drag the region to its new
location (two moves). The Separation Grabber, as shown in Figure 4.48, allows you to lift-cut
any selection without having to go through the Separate Region or Capture Region commands.
The Option key tells Pro Tools to copy the region, leaving the part intact in its current location;
an Option-dragged region with the Separation Grabber is shown in Figure 4.49. This method
is very fast.

Figure 4.48
The Separation Grabber
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Figure 4.49
Separation Grabber lift-cut (and copy) to a new location

Finding Your Way through the Universe (TDM)

In extremely long sections, the process of finding sections without knowing the time location
is a big waste of time. It would be easy to find the love scene if you knew it happened at
01:27:24.05, but without that information, you’d just have to guess or scroll until something
looked familiar. Both processes can waste serious time.
One method around this is by using the Universe window (TDM only; see Figure 4.50). The
Universe window provides a graphical representation of the entire session, laid out horizontally
with all tracks shown. If you are looking for a section of a movie that is obvious (such as the
love scene), it might be noticeable by the section with only one track active—the music. You
can simply click on that position in the Universe window, and Pro Tools will locate the section.
You should, of course, have markers set for these scenes, but that’s another matter.

Figure 4.50
The Universe
window
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Moving around Quickly

Most of us find ourselves grabbing the blue locator along the bottom and right (vertical) side
of Pro Tools to drag the screen up and down and left to right, searching for various sections
and regions. The faster way to scroll around the screen is to use handy key commands. To
navigate up and down (bank selecting vertically), press the Page Up and Page Down keys
on the keyboard. Option+Page Up (and Page Down) will navigate the screen left and right,
making track searches and time searches much faster.

Where Did My Cursor Go?

Some people like to work with screen scrolling active during playback, while others prefer it
to be active after playback (options shown in Figure 4.51). And, some simply turn it off. I
can’t stand either active scroll, but my partner can’t seem to work without one of the two
active. It drives me crazy. If I start to work on the system after he’s been on it, I hit play and
listen to the piece, and then hit stop when I hear the first problem. The screen then jumps to
the stopped location, and I lose the cursor on the screen. AAARRRRGGHHH!

Figure 4.51
Scroll After Playback active

In this situation, the Main Time Indicator tells you that the cursor is at the beginning of play-
back (not necessarily the beginning of the song or session), but it isn’t in the screen view. If
you have a selection, then hitting Return or typing a location in the Main Time Indicator will
cause you to lose that selection. Dragging the blue bar around is annoying, and Option+Page
Up/Down might not be exact enough for you.
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You will notice in these situations (and in any situation in which the cursor is outside of the
visual field) that there is a small blue arrow in the top-right (or top-left) corners of the ruler,
indicating where the cursor is, as shown in Figure 4.52. This will at least tell you which direction
to scroll to find it, but that is not enough. When the cursor is off the field and you want to
bring it to the beginning of the screen without losing any selections, hit the left arrow on the
keyboard. This will bring the cursor into view and maintain the selection…even if someone left
scrolling on before you got there!

Figure 4.52
Small blue cursor location indicator

Listening away from the Selection

It’s a rare situation, but occasionally it is handy to select one thing but listen to another.
Consider the following situation….
While selecting a loop for possible copying and pasting, the producer has been meticulous
about the starting and ending points. After 10 minutes, he feels satisfied but wants to hear the
first verse version before committing to this second verse selection (that you just spent 10 min-
utes highlighting). Do you create a region to hold your locations and then move to the first
verse to listen? What if the producer changes his mind about the region you’ve just created?
Do you move back to the original location, reselect the loop, and tell yourself it won’t take 10
minutes this time?
The answer is no. If you’ve spent time selecting something but you are not ready to commit to
it, try deselecting the Link Timeline and Selection button (see Figure 4.53). This will cause the
Ruler to no longer follow the selection on any track. In the fussy producer scenario, this tactic is
very handy because you can keep your selection, then deselect the Link Timeline and Selection
button, and then click anywhere on the Ruler to play that location. Pro Tools will keep the selec-
tion and allow you to click on any location and play from there. Reselecting the button will tell
the Ruler to re-sync to the selection, putting you right back where you started. Nice!

Figure 4.53
The Link Timeline and Selection button
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Faster Working with Groups

Grouping is a great way to keep tracks together and treat them as if they were on the same
track. However, groups can slow you down when you seek to maneuver one of the group
members without the others. This is true in both Mix and Edit groups. (The options are shown
in Figure 4.54.) Mix groups group the tracks together with regard to certain mixing functions,
such as volume, mute, solo, and automation. Edit groups group tracks together with regard to
certain editing functions, such as cutting, copying, selecting, and pasting.

Figure 4.54
The New Group dialog box

I only use Mix and Edit groups because I never know what I want to do to the group before-
hand. If I need to perform a cut on a group member but not the whole group, I can easily
suspend groups temporarily by choosing Group > Suspend All Groups from the Group menu
bar, as shown in Figure 4.55. Then, I can make my cut and reactivate the groups using the
same command (Shift+CMD+G). I also could simply click on the group name in the Group
Bin to suspend only that group.

Figure 4.55
Suspend groups

An even better move is to hold down the Control key when you are adjusting certain mix func-
tions, such as volume, to suspend the group only for the length of time the Control key is held
down. This is a very handy way of working without having to remember (or check constantly)
for active groups during the session.
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Section Arrangements
So the song is perfect and ready to print until the vocalist walks in and wants you to change
the ending. She never liked the hard end (see Figure 4.56) and she wants you to duplicate the
chorus and fade the song. After dropping this bomb, she capriciously walks out of the room,
laughing too loudly on her new cell phone. I love this business!

Figure 4.56
Song with hard end

Figure 4.57
The All Group option active

Never fear; it’s only a key click away, really. To copy, paste, or simply delete entire sections,
All Group is your best friend. Activate the All Group option, as shown in Figure 4.57, and
select the section to copy (or delete). In this case, you’ll select a full round of the outro chorus
(before the big end) with the All Group option active, and then copy the section. Switch to
Shuffle mode and paste repeatedly. When you confirm that the sections flow smoothly (you
may need to polish automation curves to help accomplish this), create your fade on the
Master Fader, as shown in Figure 4.58, and call that pesky singer back in to approve it!
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Figure 4.58
Song with copied, faded outro chorus

Erasing with the Pencil Tool

Are nasty pops and clicks randomly destroying your session? Couldn’t get the drummer to
stop hitting the mic? Did your vocal talent forget the pop filter again? These are common
recording no-nos, but they happen anyway. Sometimes you can remove pops and clicks from
vinyl recordings (or even add them) by using certain plug-ins (which is nice for heavy, pop-laden
material), but for the once-in-a-while pop it’s overkill.
When you are zoomed in to the sample level at the moment of the pop, the Pencil tool becomes
active with several drawing options available from its drop-down menu. Select the freehand
Pencil tool and try drawing a smooth curve where there is currently a spike, as shown in
Figure 4.59. This can radically reduce the sound of the pop (and further experimentation can
remove it completely) without cutting the file and potentially shifting things out of whack
(Shuffle mode) or leaving a funny silent hole (Slip mode). If this doesn’t work, you might need
to cut the spike out and fill the space with another performance. (See the “Adding and Fixing
Syllables (Words) That Don’t Fit” and “Room Tone Fixes” tips earlier in this chapter.)
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Figure 4.59
The Pencil tool rewriting a spiked wave

Batch Fading
I hate the sound of toms ringing sympathetically to the rest of the drum set. Every time the
snare is hit, the toms make a tonal ringing that just takes up frequency space and makes the
overall set sound muddy. Gating can fix this, but some hits are soft and don’t make it past the
gate. Others are long and get cut off by the gate. Editing by hand is sometimes the only way
to fly. However, each end edit can require serious attention due to bleed from the hi-hat and
the snare. A fade out would be nice, but you might need to create many of them. Because
you just edited by hand, it would be really nice not to have to fade by hand, too.
After you edit the track to taste, you can save a little time by fading all the parts at once.
Select the entire track (CMD+A or triple-click the track) and choose Edit > Batch Fades
(CMD+F). When multiple regions are selected, the Fade option naturally becomes the Batch
Fades option, as shown in Figure 4.60. With toms, the beginning edit is usually right at the hit,
requiring no fade in (just a fade out). In these situations, choose the No Fade In option, which
looks like the top-left corner of a square, as shown in Figure 4.61. (You will need to deselect
any Link option.) Choose a fast slope out-fade so the tom will ring naturally but get quiet
before the next snare or hi-hat hit that would bleed in. This is fast and sounds great for this
situation. For other situations in which two regions are cross-faded, choose a length of time
that seems fair. The default is 25 milliseconds, but you might need to adjust this to taste.
A range from 25 to 150 is good territory for experimentation.
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Figure 4.60
The Batch Fades dialog box

Figure 4.61
The No Fade In and Fade Out Tom batch fade
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Faster Fades
When you are editing VOs, awkward room tone can be an unfortunate byproduct. VO
recorded in even slightly live rooms ends abruptly when simply edited out. Using fade ins and
fade outs can fix the problem, but they become time suckers if every fade performed needs to
be readjusted to a non-default shape.
For situations like this, in which a fade other than the standard fade is needed for the out-cut,
set Pro Tools’ default fade to the shape desired by choosing Setups > Preferences > Editing >
Default Fade, as shown in Figure 4.62, and choosing the fade that works best for the VO.

Figure 4.62
The Default Fade
preferences
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Repositioning Moved Files

So the bass is just slightly too early and the producer wants you to play with moving it later to
get the feel right. After about 45 microscopic moves, you both agree that it was better off where
it was originally. Of course, you’ve gone way beyond your 32 levels of Undo, so you find that
you simply can’t get back there from here. Reverting to a saved version won’t work because you
have been working for hours and you never saved. Recalling a backup won’t work because you
forgot to read the “Don’t Lose Your Work” tip in Chapter 1 and you never activated Auto-Save.
What do you do now? (Hint: See the “Editing Safely” tip earlier in this chapter.)
Luckily, Pro Tools automatically timestamps every file recorded (including MIDI files) so the
part always has its original timing attached to the file. Switch to Spot mode and click on
the file/region with the Grabber tool. Note that this will only work if the Auto-Spot Region is
inactive (Display > Auto-Spot Regions). When the Spot Dialog box appears, as shown in
Figure 4.63, notice the two fields at the bottom. One is for the original timestamp and the
other is for a user timestamp.

Figure 4.63
Spot Dialog box with original timestamp

If you are repositioning to the recorded timing, click the

arrow next to the original timestamp, and that timecode
(or bars and beats, if selected) will enter into the start of the
region. Then, you can hit OK, and the region will be spotted
to that location. To use the user timestamp, you must first
timestamp the region. Do this by clicking on the file and
choosing Time Stamp Selected from the Audio drop-down
menu, as shown in Figure 4.64. Now you can reposition the
file to this location any time using the same process.

Figure 4.64
The Time Stamp Selected
option from the Audio
drop-down menu
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Aligning Tracks
There are a few ways to align tracks so they have the same start or end location. If you want
to do this by hand (which is slow), you should zoom in and simply line them up manually.
Expect a lot of trial and error and potential phase problems. Here are a few other faster and
more exact methods:
Q Zoom in to each region and trim the beginning to a recognizable zero-crossing point.
After you have trimmed each region to the desired start point, zoom out. Using the
Grabber tool, click on the first region, setting the cursor to the desired start point (the
beginning of the first region). Then, Control-click on the second region (while you are
in Slip mode) and watch it snap to the exact location of the first region!
Q Zoom in to each region and trim the beginning to a recognizable zero-crossing point.
After you have trimmed each region to the desired start point, zoom out. Using Spot
mode, click on the region with the Grabber tool and copy the start time from the Spot
Dialog box, as shown in Figure 4.65. (You could simply copy the numbers from the
Main Time Indicator as well.) Because you can’t highlight all the start time numbers
using the standard Copy and Paste commands, simply write the information down and
then type it into the second file’s start time in its Spot Dialog box. Then, click on the
second region and paste the timing into the start time of the second region. Hit OK.

Figure 4.65
Spot Dialog box with start time highlighted

Q Zoom in to each region and trim the beginning to a recognizable zero-crossing point.
Create a Sync Point at the start location of each file. Then, you can transfer the Sync Point
time information from the Spot Dialog box (see Figure 4.66) of the first file to the second.

Figure 4.66
Spot Dialog box with Sync Point highlighted
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Q Zoom in to each region and trim the beginning to a recognizable zero-crossing point.
Create a Sync Point at the start location of each file, as shown in Figure 4.67. Position
the cursor at the Sync Point of the first region, and then align the Sync Points by
Shift+Control-clicking on the second file.

Figure 4.67
Sync Point in a region

Q Align the ends of the regions by trimming the ends of the files, not the beginnings.
Then, CMD+Control-click the second file. (Do this after you position the cursor at the
first region’s end point. You can tab to the end to set the cursor at the end.) This will
align the ends of the regions.

Dragging Regions to Locations

When you are trying to drag (or Option-drag for a copy) regions to a particular location,
exactness can be difficult to achieve. One helpful tip is to look at the cursor location indicator
when you are dragging, as shown in Figure 4.68. This will tell you the location of your cursor
before you let go, committing the file to that location.

Figure 4.68
The cursor indicator section of the Edit window

If you are dragging the file from the Audio Bin, first position the cursor at the desired location,
and then hold the Control key while you are dragging the file to the track. This will position
the file to the cursor location, and only that location. A third method is to switch to Spot mode
and drag the file to any location on the track. You will be presented the Spot Dialog box;
simply type in the start time, and the file will snap to that location.
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Using the Scrubber to Select and Trim

Most of us are comfortable with making selections by eye rather than by ear. This might pro-
duce misleading and poor results because the eye might not line up with what the ear wants
to hear. To make selections (and move the cursor) by ear, use the Scrubber tool, as shown in
Figure 4.69.

Figure 4.69
The Scrubber tool

First, make sure you set your preferences correctly. Choose Setups > Preferences > Operation
and activate the Timeline Insertion Follows Scrub/Shuttle option. This will allow you to scrub
(or shuttle) the cursor to any location, and the cursor will “park” at the end of your scrubbing.
For example, to find the start of a kick drum, switch to the Scrubber tool and activate the
preference, and then scrub the cursor back and forth across the visual start of the drum.
When your ear is satisfied, let go of the mouse, and the cursor will be positioned at the
beginning of the kick.
The Trim tool can be changed to the Scrub Trimmer (see Figure 4.70), which accomplishes
two jobs at once. It allows you to scrub the audio to audition it at slower speeds and trim the
region to the position where the mouse was let go. This is a quick way to find the beginning
of a file/region and trim it at the same time, while using your ear to make the determination.

Figure 4.70
Scrub Trimmer

Stutter Edits
If you listen to much IDM or other dance music, you’ll recognize the use of Stutter Edits as
creative sound design tools. A Stutter Edit is a small piece of audio that is repeated to give
the impression that the artist or instrument was st-st-st-st-st-st-stuttering. This is easy to accom-
plish with Pro Tools (or any DAW, for that matter).
In a musical situation, stutters can be quarter notes, eighth notes, or sixteenth notes, but they
are most often thirty-second notes or sixty-fourth notes. Switch to Grid mode and set the grid
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resolution to the desired stutter length. Start with sixteenth notes to see whether you need
shorter or longer sections, because the sixteenth note is in the middle.
Using the Selector tool, highlight a single sixteenth note of audio, as shown in Figure 4.71.
You should change the grid resolution to sixteenth notes to ensure that you capture exactly a
sixteenth note in Grid mode (see Figure 4.72). You can choose to capture, separate, or simply
copy the region to perform the stutter. Then, paste, duplicate, or repeat the part as many times
as desired. Try filling a half note with the sixteenth note repeated eight times to see whether
that works, as shown in Figure 4.73.
You can repeat this procedure selecting thirty-second notes or sixty-fourth notes by changing
the grid resolution and selecting smaller sections to stutter. You can also switch to Shuffle mode
to paste the part in and shuffle the rest of the track later, but you might alter the timing of other
regions on that track accidentally. I recommend you work in Grid or Slip mode for this action.

Figure 4.71
A small selection of audio
to be used as a stutter

Figure 4.72
The grid resolution set to sixteenth notes
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Figure 4.73
The sixteenth note
repeated to fill a half
note (eight repeats)

TCE Smear Edits

The TCE Trim tool (see Figure 4.74) allows you to time compress/expand (TCE) any region to
any length by trimming the start or end of any region to any new location. Instead of trim-
ming the extra audio to play, this resizes the region, stretching the audio to fit the new length.
This is useful for elastic-sounding audio, but it can produce some nasty artifacts. Figure 4.75
shows a before-and-after TCE Trimming view.

Figure 4.74
The TCE Trim tool

To create a smear effect, use the opposite approach to the Stutter Edit. Select a small section
of audio (a syllable or a note, for example), and then separate the region. This will create the
small audio as its own region, allowing you to use the TCE Trim tool. In Slip mode, switch to
the TCE Trim tool and click and drag the region to the desired length. (You can use Shuffle or
Grid mode too, but you will be constrained by the functions of that mode.) Pro Tools will cre-
ate a new audio file with the file extension .tcex. Listen and hear how this process stretched
the selection over a longer duration, making it sound elastic.
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Figure 4.75
A region before (left)
and after TCE (right)

For more dramatic effects, use the TCE Trim tool on the entire word (or phrase) to make it
twice as long (or longer) as its normal length. This will make the word play as if the vocalist
were on eeeeeeeettttttthhhhhhhhhheeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrr (ether). You should recognize this effect
from the first Matrix movie, when Neo takes the red pill and the quicksilver liquid falls down
his throat. Listen for an old modem sound, stretched for liquid (elastic) effect!

Exact Beat Slicing Using the Beat Detective

For loops and performances that don’t quite fit the click or grid, TCE stretching may not adjust
the loop properly and might yield audible and unacceptable audio artifacts. With version 6.7,
LE users now have access to the same power that TDM users have had for years—Beat
Detective (see Figure 4.76).

Figure 4.76
The Beat Detective window
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Beat Detective has five different functions: Bar|Beat Marker Generation, Groove Template
Extraction, Region Separation, Region Conforming, and Edit Smoothing. I’ll take them one at
a time.
Q Bar|Beat Marker Generation. In this mode, Beat Detective will analyze a selection of
audio (generally a two-, four-, or eight-bar loop) and determine the tempo of the
region based on the user-defined resolution. Similar to Identify Beat (see the “Using
Loops to Create a Tempo Map” tip in Chapter 5), this mode will extract the tempo and
assign it to the Tempo Ruler as tempo markers.
1. Type the desired beginning and ending loop locations in the Selection section and
tell Beat Detective the meter and note resolution (eighth, sixteenth, and so on). I
usually stay with quarter notes for 4|4 time and let Beat Detective figure out
everything else on its own.
2. Choose your emphasis, which will tell Pro Tools whether the material is focused
around high- or low-frequency material.
3. Click the Analyze button, creating vertical lines on the selection matching the
resolution chosen. When you are doing this for drums, it works best when all the
drum tracks are selected. That way, Pro Tools makes an average determination of
the timing of the drums to give the best overall feel analysis. If the kick is chosen
exclusively, any timing problems on the kick will translate to every other track!
4. Adjust the Sensitivity bar until the lines on the screen match the basic beat of the
song at your desired resolution (eighth, sixteenth, and so on). Figure 4.77 shows
the selection of the drums—analyzed, emphasized, and sensitized.

Figure 4.77
Selection of drums—analyzed, emphasized, and sensitized
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5. When you are satisfied, click the Generate button, and the tempo will be extracted
from the selected loop (at quarter-note resolution or eighth-note resolution, and so
on) and tempo markers will be placed across the Tempo Ruler for the length of
the selection (see Figure 4.78).

Figure 4.78
Tempo map generated across the Tempo Ruler

At this point, it would be a good idea to create a click track and audition it against the
tempo you’ve extracted from the selection. It should be perfect, reflecting slight feel
adjustments from the performance in the click.
Note: If the desired effect is to make the recorded drums match a preexisting tempo
map, do not go through the Bar|Beat Marker Generation, because you will only
destroy the existing tempo map and replace it with the one extracted from the record-
ed drums! Skip to Region Separation and Region Conform.
Q Groove Template Extraction. After you have analyzed and mapped the tempo to the
Tempo Ruler, you can take things a step further by creating a groove from the newly
developed click. If a loop has swing, the Groove Extraction feature will allow you to
create a user groove, which can be saved and made available to any song you create
in Pro Tools (see Figure 4.79).

Figure 4.79
The Groove Extraction
window
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Q Region Separation. This is the part that works like ReCycle. (See the “Sending Your Loop
to the Dr. Rex Player in Reason” tip in Chapter 5.) Pro Tools and Beat Detective can
analyze the beat and separate the selection hit by hit, allowing you to “gridify” the
sections to perfect quantization with the rest of the performance (see Figure 4.80).
Make the bass player hit exactly as the drummer and vice versa!

Figure 4.80
The Region Separation window

Q Region Conform. After the regions are separated, you should conform them to the tempo
and click (see Figure 4.81). Remember that if the goal is to make the performance match
another, you should generate the tempo from the best performance (Bar|Beat Generation)
and then region-separate and region-conform the weaker performance to match.

Figure 4.81
The Region Conform window

Q Edit Smoothing. When regions are conformed to the better performance’s timing, there
will usually be gaps left over from shifting the parts around slightly. You can quickly
tame and clean this up by clicking Fill and Crossfade and Fill Gaps (see Figure 4.82).
As the name implies, gaps are filled by cross-fades, which removes any clicks or
unwanted silences.
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Figure 4.82
The Edit Smoothing window

Troubled Trimming
There will be occasions when trimming a region back to its original form is impossible, even
though you know that there is more audio beyond where Pro Tools stopped trimming. No
matter how you stretch the audio back, the cursor simply stops short.
In this case, you’re not crazy and there’s nothing wrong; it’s simply bad editing. In the process
of cutting and pasting, there are often orphans that are simply not visible. If you have difficulty
stretching audio, try zooming in to the fullest view possible.
You may recognize a small sliver of audio, such as the one in Figure 4.83, stuck at either the
head or the tail of your region. This sliver is stopping you from trimming the region back to
full size. Delete the sliver and try again.

Figure 4.83
Zoomed in all the way with a sliver of audio left over
}
5 Composing with MIDI
and ReWire Applications
Pro Tools has always been an engineer’s tool. During the
late ‘80s and the ‘90s, Pro Tools dominated the digital
audio world while other applications competed for
dominance in the MIDI world. Today, MIDI applications
are equally powerful in the digital audio world and Pro
Tools has matured in the MIDI world. There are still a
few distinctions between Pro Tools and MIDI-centric apps,
but the line between them has blurred significantly.
Pro Tools now ships with a few different programs to
allow you to compose using MIDI and software synthe-
sizers that are all in the package. The most popular of
these is Reason, from Propellerheads. Reason is so pervasive
that this chapter covers almost as much territory in Reason
as it does in Pro Tools and general MIDI concepts. The
tips listed here cover simple and complex structures with
MIDI and composing in general. A background in MIDI
is helpful here, as is a background in music theory.
Although such background is not entirely necessary,
some of the power behind Pro Tools’ new MIDI engine
will be lost on you without this knowledge.
Do yourself a favor—take piano lessons!

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The AMS and Setting Up the MIDI Environment

The AMS (Audio MIDI Setup) is Apple’s MIDI and audio utility that organizes how software
recognizes the MIDI interfaces and the audio interface through the OS itself. This must be
configured properly for Pro Tools to see any incoming MIDI, including MIDI timecode.
From Pro Tools, choose Setups > Edit MIDI Studio Setup, as shown in Figure 5.1, and Pro Tools
will launch AMS (as shown in Figure 5.2). AMS lives on the hard drive at the following hierarchy
(in case you need to find it outside of Pro Tools): Applications > Utilities > AMS, as shown in
Figure 5.3. It is a good idea to drag this utility to the Dock so you can quickly navigate to it.
(See the “Keeping the Dock out of the Way” tip in Chapter 1.)

Figure 5.1
Getting to the AMS from Pro Tools

Figure 5.2
The AMS
showing the
MIDI setup
screen
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Figure 5.3
AMS from the Utilities window

Click the MIDI tab at the top to see the MIDI configuration. This should be familiar to anyone
who has experience with OMS or FreeMIDI. If not, you should see some familiar faces
already, such as your MIDI interface, shown in Figure 5.4. (If you don’t see your MIDI inter-
face, you might need to reinstall the driver for it.) You should create a new configuration for
your current MIDI setup. Then, add devices to reflect any MIDI device found in your hardware
rack. If there is only a keyboard (or a combination keyboard/interface, such as Oxygen from
M-Audio), then it should show up as the interface.
When you create new devices, you can choose from a list of preset instruments that might
match what’s in your rack. This is very important because you will only be able to get your
patch names into Pro Tools if there is an exact match to the .MIDNAM file. (See the “Patch
Names in Pro Tools” tip that follows.) After you configure your AMS properly, you can return
to Pro Tools, and any MIDI track will show the input and output devices from your AMS con-
figuration, as shown in Figure 5.5.
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Figure 5.4
The AMS with an auto-recognized 1×1 interface

Figure 5.5
Pro Tools MIDI track
with outputs set to
AMS devices

Note: For the audio side of AMS, you can specify the default output device to be the Pro
Tools hardware, and other applications (such as iTunes) will play out of the Digi device. You
should also look to the Digi CoreAudio Driver (which can be downloaded from Digidesign’s
site) to be installed first for AMS to see it at all.
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The CoreAudio Driver is key (version 6.4 or higher) because it can allow multiple clients
(applications) to use the driver at the same time. Launch the Digi CoreAudio Driver, and it will
tell you how many clients are attached to the driver at once to tell you how busy the driver is.
You can globally set the memory buffer setting, the clock source, and the sampling rate. Once
installed and set up for your Digi hardware, you can access the hardware from other software,
such as iTunes, by configuring the Audio side of the AMS for the Digi hardware, as shown in
Figure 5.6.

Figure 5.6
The Digi
CoreAudio
Driver seen in
the audio side
of AMS

Patch Names in Pro Tools

Unfortunately, when Pro Tools and Mac switched to OS X, so did the technology behind the
patch names. Now, patch name files are in XML format, which makes them no fun to edit or
create. Pro Tools will recognize the patch name of any synth in your AMS, but it must have
exactly the same name in the .MIDNAM file as in the AMS document. The location of these
files is shown in Figure 5.7.
Finding the .MIDNAM files can be traumatic, but they are out there on the Web. I found a
facility in New Jersey that charges $13 per synth (a small price to pay for the hard work
behind the file), and they came across quite well. Download the file and place it in the correct
folder, and then verify the title of the file to the AMS document. Did I mention that the file
needs to match exactly the name in the AMS?
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Figure 5.7
The hierarchy of the .MIDNAM files

Create a MIDI track and set the output to the desired synth. Click the Patch Name Settings
box under the track information, and the Conform Names box will appear. In the lower-left
corner, click the Change box and direct Pro Tools to the matching .MIDNAM file. The patch
numbers that were there should become the patch names on the synth, as seen in Figure 5.8.
A quick spot check will verify the quality of the .MIDNAM file.
Expect to be frustrated with this process. If the names are not perfect, you can try editing the
file itself with a program such as TextEdit or sue the creator of the file for your $13 back. I’m
not sure which is worse.

Figure 5.8
Conforming the
synth to the
.MIDNAM file
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Using Program Changes to Save Voices

As a Pro Tools composer working with a single synth, you will quickly realize the limitation of
16 MIDI channels. It is very common to write a piece involving more than 16 sounds, which
forces the composer to either record certain parts or buy more gear.
Pro Tools supports the use of program changes on MIDI tracks, allowing the composer to
switch sounds on a single MIDI track and a single MIDI channel during the song. This allows
certain channels to double up and stretch the effectiveness of the synth. For example, if the
verse calls for a piano but the chorus calls for an organ, create a program change to switch
from one to the other on the same MIDI track using the same MIDI channel.
Once you have created your patch names in Pro Tools, simply switch the MIDI track to view
program changes under the Automation Playlist tab, as shown in Figure 5.9. Switch to the
Pencil tool and click on any location on the track; the Program Change dialog box will
appear. Choose the patch of choice, and it will appear on the Program Change playlist at the
desired location, as shown in Figure 5.10. Play the song through this section and listen to the
sound change at the chorus!

Figure 5.9
The Program Change option

You can access program changes below the

Automation Playlist tab on any MIDI track. This is a
fast way to audition the sound before setting down
to compose. Click the Program Change option, and
the Patch Name list will appear. Play your MIDI
keyboard and audition the first sound on the list.
Use the arrow keys to navigate between the sounds
to find the one that works best for this track.

Figure 5.10
Program change
data on the
MIDI track
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Monitoring Your Hardware Synths

After you’ve configured AMS and sorted out your patch names, you’ll want to start working
and writing music. You’ll always need two tracks to work with MIDI in Pro Tools—one for the
MIDI information (MIDI track) and one for the synth (hardware or software).
I suggest you get used to creating a MIDI track and an Aux track when you are working with
MIDI, such as the setup in Figure 5.11. Luckily, the new PT v6.7 gives you the ability to make
several kinds of tracks at once, as shown in Figure 5.12. (See the “New Track Shortcuts” tip in
Chapter 2.) You should use the Aux input for your synth monitoring because the Aux inputs
allow you to hear the synth without using a voice, as with Audio tracks.

Figure 5.11
Basic two-track MIDI setup

Figure 5.12
Creating a MIDI and
an Aux track in v6.7

If the MIDI track has its output routed to the synth, put the track into Record Ready and play
your keyboard input device. You should see the meter spike with each MIDI note played if
MIDI Thru is activated. (Choose MIDI > MIDI Thru.) Set the output of the MIDI track to your
synth and the MIDI channel desired, and MIDI will route through to the synth. Verify that
the synth is receiving MIDI on both the MIDI interface and the synth’s MIDI input indicator.
Route the audio output of the synth to two inputs on the Pro Tools interface (a patch bay might
be useful in your studio if you do a lot of this) and set the inputs of the Aux track to the same
inputs used for the synth outputs. (It is wise to label your I/O setup inputs so you recognize the
synth output as the title of the I/O interface inputs. In other words, inputs 1/2 become Roland
JV-5080, and so on.)
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Monitoring and Recording Virtual Synthesizers

Working with software (virtual) synths is much like working with hardware synths in that two
tracks are needed—one MIDI for the notes (the control track) and one for the synth itself
(again, Aux tracks work best here because they require no voice allocation). However, the
common question is, why don’t my software synths appear in my MIDI output assignment box
(demonstrated in Figure 5.13)?

Figure 5.13
MIDI track with no synth available

Software synths are inserted like any other plug-in, and they are always available via the
Insert tab. They do not appear in the AMS, ever. They are not seen by the OS because they
are plug-ins specific to Pro Tools. Depending on the type of synth, they might also be available
to other DAWs as well. To see them in the MIDI track’s Output Assign tab, you must first insert
them on the Aux (monitor) track. Only then will they be available as output on the MIDI track,
shown in Figure 5.14. Prior to version 6.7, any RTAS synths could only be inserted on Audio
tracks (TDM) so you would have needed to create a MIDI and Audio track—not an Aux.

Figure 5.14
MIDI track with synth output
assign next to Aux with synth

If you intend to print this synth, you might think it is simpler to create an Audio track and simply
plug in the synth there, and then place the track in Record Ready and hit record to print it.
This doesn’t work.
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Plug-ins are pre-fader on Audio tracks and Aux tracks, but they are post-input, which means
that the second you place the track in Record Ready, the synth is killed in deference to the
analog input signal (or lack thereof) at the hardware I/O. So hitting record will record silence
and not play the synth. To print the synth, you will need a third track (an Audio track) to
which to record.
After your MIDI and Aux tracks are created and music has been composed, create an Audio
track to which to record the part. Mono synths should be printed to mono tracks to save voices
and keep phase issues to a minimum. Route the output of the Aux to a bus (or a pair, for stereo)
and set the Audio track’s input to the same bus. This will create the proper signal chain to
print the synth: MIDI to Aux and synth, and then out the bus to the Audio track for recording,
as shown in Figure 5.15.

Figure 5.15
Three-track software synth print chain

Setting Default Thru

Sometimes inspiration comes before the time needed to create tracks and set up the sound to
perform. The artist simply wants to hear a C before she sings. Should you tell her to hold on
while you create some tracks for that, and then create a MIDI track and an Aux track and
insert a plug-in, and then load the sound—all while she waits?
If you don’t have any hardware synths, then the answer is yes, because there is no other way
to get MIDI to play a note. If you have hardware synths, you can activate Default Thru and
set it to your favorite piano sound, as shown in Figure 5.16. Provided your synth is patched
through to the monitors (it should be normalled if you do this often), simply playing the key-
board will route MIDI to the synth and give you an instant C on the piano. Instant gratification!
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Choose Setups > Preferences > MIDI and set the synth and channel to play as default. If you
don’t have hardware synths, then you will need to create an Aux with a synth plug-in first to
set the Default Thru to play a sound.

Figure 5.16
Setting Default Thru

Using Loops to Create a Tempo Map

How many hours have you spent trying to massage the tempo up and down to a hundredth of
a BPM just to get it to line up perfectly with the loop you’ve chosen to build the song around?
It never quite lines up, and you have to deal with it being either slightly shorter or slightly
longer than the grid. In either case, it’s no fun to have to deal with this for 156 bars.

Figure 5.17 shows a two-bar drum loop that doesn’t match the session tempo of 120 bpm. If
you know the meter and bar length of the loop (as we do here), Pro Tools can tell you what
the exact BPM is for the loop and set your Tempo track to match. You will need to have the
Conductor activated to use Identify Beat. (The Conductor is represented by the icon in the
Transport window that looks like a conductor waving a baton.) Select the loop and choose
Edit > Identify Beat to bring up the Bar|Beat Markers dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.18.
Enter the appropriate meter and start and end times, and Pro Tools will conform your Tempo
track to the exact tempo of the loop for that loop’s length, as shown in Figure 5.19.
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Figure 5.17
A loop needing
a tempo

Figure 5.18
The Bar|Beat Markers dialog
box as it stands at 120

Figure 5.19
The Bar|Beat Markers dialog
box after entering the proper info
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The trick is to type in the desired start and end length. For example, your loop might start at
1|4|325 and end at 4|1|021, making it longer than the two bars you know it to be according
to Pro Tools, which is currently operating at the default tempo of 120. In the Bar|Beat Markers
dialog box, you must tell the program that the desired start and end times are 2|1|000 and
4|1|000. Pro Tools will measure the length of the loop (in samples), and then determine
what tempo fills that amount of samples over the course of two bars. Now your tempo and
your click tracks will play with your loop!
Loops that start and end well with the newly identified beat but drift within the loop require
more work. For these situations, see the “Sending Your Loop to the Dr. Rex Player in Reason” tip
later in this chapter, as well as the “Exact Beat Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip in Chapter 4.

ReWiring into Pro Tools with Reason

Pro Tools now ships with Reason Adapted, a light version of Reason, giving all Pro Tools users
some software synths to play with right after purchase. One of the best features of Reason is
its ability to link MIDI, timing, and audio information to Pro Tools. Pro Tools can drive Reason,
and Reason can drive Pro Tools. MIDI in Pro Tools can drive the synths in Reason, making it a
dummy synth rack if desired. There are 64 channels of ReWire audio available in Reason, but
most people only use (or find, for that matter) the first two.
Within the Pro Tools session, create an Aux track to plug in Reason. TDM users prior to version
6.7 should use Audio tracks because RTAS plugs (which is how Reason shows up, as shown
in Figure 5.20) don’t work on Aux tracks. The plug-in, as shown in Figure 5.21, will open the
Reason application and the default document set within the Reason preferences. On the
plug-in, choose the ReWire channels desired and you’ve officially ReWired!

Figure 5.20
Reason as an RTAS
instrument plug-in

Figure 5.21
Reason, the plug-in
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Stereo tracks should insert the multichannel version of Reason to access the main 1–2 outputs
from Reason. To use stereo tracks going beyond the first two ReWire channels, use the Multi-
Mono version of the Reason plug-in (as shown in Figure 5.22) and set the left side to the odd
ReWire channel (in other words, 3 in the 3–4 pair) and the right side to the even ReWire
channel (in other words, 4 in the 3–4 pair). Don’t link the channels because you will only get
one-sided audio from the pair!

Figure 5.22
Using the Multi-Mono Reason plug-in

Printing the Reason Parts

One drawback to running Reason and Pro Tools together lies in the strength (or lack of
strength) of your system. Reason can be a CPU hog, especially with high track counts and
high effect counts. To free up CPU space, it is sometimes necessary to print the Reason parts
to audio and trade the available voices in Pro Tools for the CPU power on the computer.
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Much like printing virtual synths (see the “Monitoring and Recording Virtual Synthesizers” tip
earlier in this chapter), this process requires three tracks (or two if the MIDI is sequenced in
Reason, because you won’t need a MIDI track in Pro Tools). Assuming the MIDI is in Pro Tools
and triggering the sounds from Reason, there are two tracks—one MIDI for the data and one
Aux track for Reason. (In TDM systems before v6.7, this Aux track will be an Audio track
because TDM didn’t support RTAS plugs on Aux inputs.) Create a third Audio track (stereo,
if necessary) and assign its input to an unused bus (or pair, for stereo). Route the output of
the Reason return to the same bus. Record-enable the new audio track and record the part,
as shown in Figure 5.23.

Figure 5.23
The signal chain to
print Reason parts

You can then make the Reason return inactive to free up CPU usage in Pro Tools, and delete
or remove the part in Reason along with any synths that make that sound. The disadvantage
here is that now you won’t be able to make changes and you’ve committed to the part as it
stands. This is unfortunate, but sometimes a fact of life. You should consider upgrading your
RAM or CPU if this is common.

Exporting Loops to Pro Tools from Reason

When ReWiring, if you constantly hit the processing wall and run out of RAM or CPU power,
you might need to change how you work with these two tools. Try to sequence your parts in
Reason (such as in Figure 5.24) to completion (or at least the completion of the part). Stop
thinking about ReWiring and simply export the loop to Pro Tools right out of Reason from the
menu, as shown in Figure 5.25.

Because ReWire takes up more RAM and CPU, this method is simpler and more efficient than
trying to run the two together. Keep in mind that Reason does not give you the Export Loop
as Audio File function when ReWired. You will need to save your song and quit both Reason
and Pro Tools to export your loop from Reason. When you export each loop from Reason,
you end up creating the arrangement in Pro Tools with chunks of audio (which take up little
room), but you might notice a problem with tempo and sync.
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Figure 5.24
A simple loop in Reason

Figure 5.25
The Export options in Reason

Pro Tools has a MIDI clock that can handle tempos to a

resolution of a hundredth of a BPM, whereas Reason can go
up to a thousandth of a BPM. This means Reason, when not
ReWired to Pro Tools, will have a slight variation of tempo
interpretation from Pro Tools. Unfortunately, sometimes loops
come across slightly longer or shorter than a perfect one- or
two-bar grid region like the one shown in Figure 5.26. Be
sure to inspect every loop from Reason for perfection to the
tempo in Pro Tools.
You could avoid this by ReWiring the two together and only
creating a single stereo ReWire input to monitor (and print)
Reason. This will keep the two tempos locked more tightly
and should eliminate this anomaly. It does not, however, fix
the CPU issue that started it all in the first place.
Another dilemma with exporting loops from Reason into Pro Tools is the non-zero-crossing
click. Reason doesn’t necessarily create loops cut on the zero-crossing point, depending on
the timing of the MIDI track. If a note comes slightly early, the audio loop might come across
as if the part played but was cut off at the grid point. You can avoid this by ensuring that your
MIDI data in Reason has been quantized.
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Figure 5.26
Imported loop
from Reason off
the grid

Sending Your Loop to the Dr. Rex Player in Reason

Because Pro Tools LE users didn’t have access to Beat Detective prior to v6.7, the next best
things were Reason and ReCycle. Pro Tools LE comes with Reason Adapted (a very light version
of the popular software sequencer), but ReCycle is sold separately. Buy it. If you work with
loops and Reason, you should buy ReCycle. If you want audio parts you can quantize, buy it.
ReCycle, shown in Figure 5.27, allows you to import audio files, extract the tempo, and create
a MIDI file to play the file hit by hit. First, it creates slice points at every transient, and then it
measures the distance between the transients and creates a MIDI note timed at the same
distance. The MIDI notes are created chromatically, so the first note is C, then C#, and so on
until the file is notated. Each note is assigned a unique slice, allowing the loop to be recreated
in perfect time. This is great for replaying any loop at different tempos without having to get
into TCE or Beat Detective and mangling the sound. The file is then saved in the .REX format
for use in the Dr. Rex Player within Reason.
The Dr. Rex Player, shown in Figure 5.28, plays these .REX files at whatever tempo is set in
Reason (or the ReWire Host). As the tempo is increased, it plays the chromatic MIDI score
faster, making it seem as if the file has been time compressed. The sound is distinctly better than
that by TCE because there are no artifacts involved—only the same audio slices played faster.
For loops that set the tempo in Pro Tools and don’t quite fit the click, this is a great
workaround. Even if you’ve identified the beat, the loop itself might have a swing that will
never match the straight click in Pro Tools. “REXing” the loop is a great way to keep the
audio quality, get it straighter (quantized) to use with the click, and keep the door open to
speeding up or slowing down the song without having to resort to the damaging TCE Trim
tool later.
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Figure 5.27
The ReCycle window

Figure 5.28
The Dr. Rex
Player

Select the loop and export it to ReCycle by choosing Audio Bin > Export Selected as Files, as
shown in Figure 5.29. (See the “Exporting as Files” tip in Chapter 3.) I suggest you create a
separate folder next to the Audio Files folder called Recycle Exports because you might do
this again within the song. Switch to ReCycle by hitting CMD+Tab if ReCycle is already open.
If not, find it on the Dock and open it.
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Figure 5.29
Export loop as a
separate file to ReCycle

ReCycle won’t use the Digi hardware, so you should be prepared to either listen to the
computer speaker itself or wire the back of the Mac to your monitor system. Open the file in
ReCycle and hit Yes when the software asks you if you want to position the left locator to the
first slice point, as shown in Figure 5.30. This sets the first slice at the first transient.

Figure 5.30
The Left Slice dialog box in ReCycle

The most important button in ReCycle is the Preview Toggle button, as shown in Figure 5.31.
It allows ReCycle to determine the natural tempo of the loop after you’ve told it the bar length.
If you don’t click this button, this process will not work correctly!

Figure 5.31
The Preview Toggle button

Slide the Sensitivity bar, as shown in Figure 5.32, upward until a slice is drawn at every
significant transient, as shown in Figure 5.33. You can create missing ones with the Pencil tool,
move them with the mouse, delete extras, and audition each slice to ensure good slicing. At
this point, picture each slice with a MIDI note attached, with each slice getting a chromatically
higher note as the loop goes forward. Save the file in a separate folder called REXs, next to
the ReCycle Exports folder you created.
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Figure 5.32
The Sensitivity bar

Figure 5.33
The slices drawn at transient points

Now, simply open the .REX file in the Dr. Rex Player (shown in Figure 5.34 with the Browse
Loop button) and hit the Preview Loop button, as shown in Figure 5.35. If you’ve successfully
ReWired into Pro Tools, you should hear your loop at the Pro Tools tempo, which should be
the natural tempo of the loop derived from Identify Beat. You can quantize the beat in Reason
to some resolution that works and have the loop you want match your click in Pro Tools!

Figure 5.34
Browse Loop button Figure 5.35
The Preview Loop button on the Dr. Rex Player
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Exporting MIDI Files to Pro Tools

Some people complain about the lack of quantizing options within Reason. They feel that Pro
Tools gives them more options and more control over the MIDI data. If you’re one of these
people, you’ll be happier bringing your MIDI from Reason back into Pro Tools.
First, you exported the loop from Pro Tools to ReCycle, and then to the Dr. Rex Player (as a
.REX file). Now you send the MIDI file derived from ReCycle to Pro Tools again. Select the
length of time of the loop (two bars in the original example) and choose File > Export MIDI
File, as shown in Figure 5.36. Create a separate folder called MIDI Files next to the Audio
Files folder because you might do this a lot. In Pro Tools, choose MIDI Bin > Import MIDI (
see Figure 5.37) and grab the Reason file.

Figure 5.36
Exporting MIDI loops from Reason

If your bin fills with a lot of tracks, you will need to either find
the one labeled properly or individually drag them onto MIDI
tracks to inspect them. The .REX file will look like a diagonal line
from the lower-left to the upper-right, as shown in Figure 5.38,
because it is chromatic and forward in time. Set the MIDI track’s
output to the Dr. Rex Player in the Reason document and hit
play. Your .REX file will still play as before, but now you can
manipulate the MIDI data as you like using the increased MIDI
manipulation available in Pro Tools.
For more on this, check out the flattened performances section
of the “Some Quantizing Tips” section in this chapter.

Figure 5.37
Importing MIDI from the MIDI Bin
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Figure 5.38
A .REX file on the MIDI track in Pro Tools

Thickening the Dr. Rex Parts

Another common complaint about Reason in general (as well as the Dr. Rex Player) is the
sound quality. It is commonly held that the mixer engine in Reason is thin, and everything in
Reason sounds better when it is ReWired into another DAW host. However, the Dr. Rex Player
(at least the presets within Reason) doesn’t improve very much. Most of the presets available
are somewhat older-sounding and might not be useful by themselves.
A great way to thicken the Dr. Rex loop and maintain the feel involves time-intensive copying
of the MIDI data. You’ll basically recreate the performance and use the recreation to trigger
other sounds, keeping the groove but improving the sound.
First, create another Aux track and plug in your favorite drum module or sampler. Open your
favorite drum patch (or at least a patch with drums that match the song). Copy the MIDI data
from the Dr. Rex track to another MIDI track. Instead of feeding the second MIDI track to the
new drums, assign it to the Dr. Rex as well (a duplicated playlist could work too) to determine
the notation of the original drum part. This duplicated MIDI track setup is demonstrated in
Figure 5.39.
On the duplicate track or playlist, identify each MIDI note as kick, snare, hat, tom, or cymbal.
Clicking on the note will audition the Dr. Rex sound associated with it. Control-drag each
duplicated note to the same note as the first note that plays that part. For example, if the
first note (C) is the kick and the fifth note is also a kick (E), Control-drag the E to the C.
The Control-drag locks the note in place and allows vertical transposition, keeping the timing
and the feel of the part. Continue this until all the kicks are on one note (in this example, C).
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Figure 5.39
Two MIDI tracks with the same
MIDI data going to the Dr. Rex

Continue this process for all sounds on the track until you are presented with one MIDI note
for every instance of every sound, as shown in Figure 5.40. For simple loops, you’ll end up
with three notes—kick (C), snare (C#), and hat (D).

Figure 5.40
A consolidated Dr. Rex track
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Now, take this consolidated MIDI track and assign it to the new drum sounds, as shown in
Figure 5.41. You’ll find that the feel and timing of the Dr. Rex part is perfectly assigned to the
new sounds. Mix the two to keep the original tone of the Dr. Rex and the clarity and punch of
the new drums.

Figure 5.41
Two MIDI tracks to two drum machines

Thickening Other MIDI Parts

If the sound quality of Reason’s synth sounds is still suspect after ReWiring into Pro Tools, con-
sider doubling or thickening the parts with duplicate synths (see Figure 5.42).
One of the issues with the sound might be color. If you only use Reason as your sound module,
you are only working with one color—Reason. If you have another virtual (or hardware) synth,
use a similar sound for color variation. After the MIDI is sequenced, be sure to export it to Pro
Tools for importing into a fresh MIDI track. Assign the copied MIDI track to the second synth,
choose a sound that is similar to the first, and blend the two with the faders. You will maintain
the flavor of the part and the feel while borrowing another synth for a different color.
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Figure 5.42
A copied MIDI part for
thickening

Sampling Pro Tools Regions with Reason

Since the invention of the sampler, audio has been sampled and either triggered repeatedly
to create a stutter effect or played up and down the keyboard with interesting pitch and
tempo byproducts.
To use Reason’s samplers to play the region desired, first export the region from Pro Tools
by choosing Export Selected as Files from the Audio drop-down menu. Switch to Reason and
create a sampler of your choice (NN-10 or NN-XT). Click the Browse Sample button on the
sampler (see Figure 5.43) and position it to play all over the keyboard (or a certain range of
notes). You can now trigger the sample to stutter by playing in repeated notes at the root key
(usually C3) or create interesting effects by playing up and down the keyboard.

Figure 5.43
Loading samples in the NN-19

Consult your Reason manual for details about the sampling functions contained in Reason.

Effects, ReWire, and DSP

One of the benefits of ReWiring into Pro Tools is the access to the high-quality plug-ins available
within the Pro Tools environment. The delays and reverbs in Reason don’t always stand up to
the ones available in Pro Tools.
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Whenever possible, I recommend you use the effects in Pro Tools instead of those in Reason.
You will find more automation control and cleaner sound. However, there might be times
when you run out of DSP (as shown in Figure 5.44) and those plugs, and you’ll need to shave
off some DSP.
In this situation, you need to analyze the part that has run out of DSP and what is desired.
For example, if the lead vocal needs a delay line set up, you won’t be able to get one out of
Reason easily. You will need to inspect your ReWire parts to see whether there is an effect
being used on them that can be replaced from within Reason. If your drums have a fat reverb
on them in Pro Tools but the sounds come from Reason, you might choose to remove the reverb
from Pro Tools and create one in Reason (see Figure 5.45).

Figure 5.44
DAE - 7204 Not enough DSP

Figure 5.45
ReWiring the
drums from
Reason into
Pro Tools
(ReWire 3/4)
and ReWiring
the reverb from
Reason into
Pro Tools
(ReWire 5/6)
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Before you make this decision, you’ll need to balance the quality of the reverb on the drums
against the need to get a delay on the vocal. If you determine that it is worth it to switch the
reverb, I suggest you ReWire the reverb on the drums in Reason to its own track in Pro Tools
because you might need some EQ on it to make it come to life. This will take up more DSP, so
balance that too.
Now might be a good time to Save As and try the move to see whether it works.
You should make a similar decision with hardware synths. Whenever possible in this case,
I suggest the opposite. If your synth has an effect module on it, use it. The effect was built
with the synth in mind, so the sound should be good. In addition, you’ll get the sound right
out of the synth with everything needed, and it should sit in the track better. Only if the synth
has a poor-sounding effect module should you use the Pro Tools effects (or if the synth simply
doesn’t have the desired effect). This will save system resources.

MIDI Beat Clock

When the song speeds up, does your delay speed up too? What about your arpeggio synth line?
MIDI Beat Clock is an old but useful technology that allows multiple MIDI devices to work in
time with a common tempo. Beat Clock sends a MIDI message telling the device what the
tempo is, as well as tapping out the beat. This allows synths and effects to follow along and
keep musical with changing tempos.
Some of the built-in effects naturally default to keeping up with the tempo, such as the delays.
Reason allows most effects and LFOs to follow as well, by clicking their sync buttons. For
other synths, such as Native Instruments FM7, you will need to activate Beat Clock and send it
to that synth in particular, as shown in Figure 5.46. Now any tempo-based sound on the FM7
will tap along with your custom tempo. Unless you are going for that out-of-time effect, you
should send Beat Clock everywhere.

Figure 5.46
The FM7 getting Beat Clock
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Using Reason as the Click

Version 6.0 of Pro Tools brought a new tool—the built-in click insert, as shown in Figure 5.47.
With this plug-in, an activated click would naturally drive the sounds built into the plug-in.
However, the clicks in the preset list (see Figure 5.48) aren’t necessarily what your talent
wants to hear. Although the sounds are very percussive (they cut through a heavy mix), they
can be very sharp and potentially painful.

For those who are using Reason, any module there becomes a potential click sound. Use two
slices of the Dr. Rex or two slices of the Redrum as your click module, if you prefer those
sounds. You could also use a percussive synth sound if the song calls for it. Assign the click to
your module of choice in the Click/Countoff Options dialog box, as shown in Figure 5.49.
This should play during count-off as well.

Figure 5.47
The Click Instrument plug-in

Figure 5.48
The click options
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Figure 5.49
Click options with click
assigned to Dr. Rex

Keep in mind that you will need to choose the accented and unaccented sounds as C(1) and
C#(1) for the first two slices of the drum modules. Both the Dr. Rex and Redrum modules take
their first slices at C an octave below middle C, so try lower Cs if you can’t find the right
sound at middle C.

Triggering MIDI from Audio

There have been several attempts throughout the last decade to create an analysis program
to analyze audio and extract MIDI data, including pitch and velocity. They classically haven’t
worked very well because it is extremely difficult to analyze this data.
Using a combination of ReCycle, Pro Tools, and Reason (see “Sending Your Loop to the Dr. Rex
Player in Reason” earlier in this chapter), you can extract a MIDI track from the audio file and
reassign it to the same slices in the file to trigger the sounds directly. You can reassign those
MIDI tracks to repeated notes to thicken the Dr. Rex loops, making rhythms from one file assign-
able to other modules with exact timing. (See the “Thickening the Dr. Rex Parts” tip earlier in this
chapter.) What these don’t do is determine pitch. That needs to be done by hand…mostly.
Assuming a mono-phonic audio source (vocal, lead line, sax, and so on), a plug-in such as
Antares Auto-Tune can do a pretty good job of performing the pitch analysis. If you don’t
have a tool like this, you might need to decipher the note data by ear. From there, you can
apply the melodic notes to the timing in the audio file.
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Activate the Tab to Transient feature in the Edit window, as shown in Figure 5.50, and tab
through the audio file transient by transient (note by note), slicing the audio at each transient.
This performs a similar function to ReCycle. Create a MIDI track directly below the Audio
track. Return to the beginning of the audio file and tab into the first transient. Switch to the
Pencil tool and click on the cursor location to create a MIDI note at that location on the MIDI
track, as shown in Figure 5.51. You might need to trim the length of the note because the
Pencil will not guarantee a match between the original audio length and the created MIDI
note! Because the Pencil tool can also perform quick transpositions, position the cursor over
the note to switch it to the Grabber tool, and then drag the note to its appropriate pitch, as
shown in Figure 5.52.

Figure 5.50
Tab to Transient activated

Figure 5.51
A MIDI note drawn in at the slice point
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Figure 5.52
The same MIDI note transposed to match the slice pitch

Be prepared for this to take some time.

You can loop this slice and transpose at the same time to get the pitch right if you don’t own
any pitch-analysis software. For pitches between standard notes, you need to transpose the
synth itself by cents to fine-tune the MIDI performance to match the audio. Tab to the next
transient and repeat the process. When you are finished, you have a perfectly matched MIDI
track to the Audio track, creating a poor man’s pitch-to-MIDI converter!
Of course it’s probably faster (and better-sounding) to hire a piano player to copy the lick
played in the first place, but that would be cheating!

Quick Chord Creation

Let’s face it—not all of us play the piano very well. For some of us, creating chords is simply
not an option on the MIDI keyboard. If you know what notes you want to hear but you can’t
figure them out on the keyboard, try Option-dragging the notes upward (which copies the
notes) to make a chord, as shown in Figure 5.53.

If it’s a small section, set Pro Tools into Loop Playback (choose Operations > Loop Playback or
Shift+CMD+L) and Option-drag the note up or down to audition different chords until you get
what you want. You should be in Slip mode (or Relative Grid mode) because the note from
which you want to build the chord might not necessarily be on the grid. If it is (verify this by
selecting the note and inspecting the Start/End/Length Indicators), you should use Grid mode.
If you Option-drag the note once and make a copy of it, you can Control-drag it up and down
while locking it in place, ensuring the consistency of the timing of the note. Of course, you can
be slick and Control+Option-drag to both copy the note and lock its position at once!
If this hunt-and-peck method of chord creation is what you use, take some piano lessons.
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Figure 5.53
Option-dragging notes
to make a chord

Quick Chord Changes

Suppose somewhere in the middle of composing the song, the artist notices that the big note
in the chorus no longer sounds right. Some investigation determines that the big chord under
the big note is major but should be minor. You are now presented with the joy of finding the
major third in the chord (in every instance) and dragging it to the minor third (see Figure 5.54).

Figure 5.54
MIDI track of chords with
the major third highlighted

Shift+CMD-clicking the MIDI keyboard on the left of the track will select all the MIDI notes at
that pitch and allow you to globally transpose the note down a half-step to accomplish the
task; but surely the notes are right in some other chord, making this procedure somewhat
useless to you. A quick collection of steps can potentially save you some time over doing it
by hand, especially if the problem occurs often in some places but not in others.
Switch the view of your MIDI track to Regions and separate all the chords that need adjusting.
Choose the Object Grabber (TDM) and only select those chords. (Use the Shift key to select
multiple chords.) If you work with LE, you might need to separate the regions in question and
drag them to a unique track for this maneuver, as shown in Figure 5.55.
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Figure 5.55
Multiple regions selected
on a unique MIDI track

Copy the chords and paste them onto a new MIDI playlist. Switch back to Notes view and
CMD+Shift-click the bad note on the MIDI keyboard to select all the notes that need transposing.
With them all selected, drag the notes down a half-step (or whatever is appropriate), as
shown in Figure 5.56. Switch back to the Regions view and copy the regions again using the
Object Grabber (TDM; with LE systems, you should have the regions on a unique track or
playlist, so simply copy them and paste them back to the original track or playlist). Switch
back to the original playlist and paste them back into position. Your big chord under the big
note is now minor, and you’ve quickly made the artist smile…again!

Figure 5.56
The bad notes selected and
transposed in Notes view
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Splitting Hands
So you happened to be recording your MIDI track on the piano patch and you love what you
improvised. However, now you want to produce the song for real and you feel that the left-
hand part should play an upright bass and the right hand should play a jazz organ.
After you’ve determined your tempo and sufficiently quantized the performance, a quick way
to split hands is not as simple as you’d think. While viewing the notes on the MIDI track, if
you try to select the notes above the left-hand divider and copy-paste them onto another
MIDI track, you’ll find it doesn’t work. Unfortunately, you must perform the move somewhat
backwards.
First, Option-drag the MIDI regions to another MIDI track, and then position the cursor on the
first track. Select the right-hand notes by choosing MIDI > Select Notes, as shown in Figure
5.57, and select all the notes above where the right-hand starts (the low note). Delete these
notes, leaving just the left-hand notes. Assign this track to the synth’s MIDI channel that holds
your favorite upright bass. Then perform the opposite maneuver (select the left-hand notes
and delete them) on the second MIDI track, leaving just the right-hand notes. Assign this MIDI
track to the organ sound. Instant Dr. Lonnie Smith and Charlie Haden!

Figure 5.57
The Select Notes dialog box

When Reason Loses the First Hit

One of the greatest functions of Reason is the ease of loop creation. Through the Dr. Rex and
the pattern sequencers (on Redrum and the Matrix), loops are easy to create and play.
However, when you are ReWiring into Pro Tools, loops can get funny.
Unfortunately, when you set up a loop in Reason and then play the loop, such as the one in
Figure 5.58, sometimes the first hit of the Dr. Rex loop is cut off on each successive loop play.
(I found this to be a prevalent issue with the Mbox and 6.4 LE.) One fix (which is only useful
during loop playback because that’s where the problem manifests) is to massage the start
time of the first hit to slightly later, so it doesn’t hit exactly on the one in Reason, as shown in
Figure 5.59. This is a major problem for proper start-finish playing, but for temporary fixes
(and insanity management), it works okay.
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Figure 5.58
Four-bar loop in Reason
with a Dr. Rex part

Figure 5.59
Reason sequence with first hit off the grid

A better fix is to know this ahead of time and deal with the problem once and for all. For some
reason (ha!), a Pro Tools loop of the same MIDI information plays just fine. Set up your loop
in Reason and simply export the MIDI file for the track. Import the MIDI file into Pro Tools
and set the Track view to Regions. Trim the region to match the desired length and position it
to the Bar|Beat desired, then loop. You will find that the same Rex part plays (and loops) just
fine with the first beat quantized to perfection, as shown in Figure 5.60. You will need to
arrange the part throughout the song in Pro Tools now.

Figure 5.60
Same Rex sequence in Pro Tools looped just fine

Some Quantizing Tips

For electronic music, the quantization of notes can produce the timing that gives the song the
feel (or kills it). Quantizing is simply the mechanizing of the performance timing, velocity,
pitch, and duration that can even out the notes and lock them to a tempo grid. Although the
process is easy, there are several factors that can help give you the flavor and tightness desired.
I suggest you experiment to find which settings work best for you and your song, and I propose
the following as a list of good ideas.
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Q Flatten the performance (as shown in Figure 5.61) before you do any quantizing.
Because the process of quantizing takes you through several steps and settings, it’s
easy to get lost and it can be difficult to regain the original performance. Flattening the
performance will store the original timing of the part to the actual MIDI region, making
it simple to restore the performance. Select the region and choose MIDI > Flatten
Performance to lock in the original take.

Figure 5.61
The Flatten Performance dialog box

Q The Preserve Note Duration option should be active when you are quantizing if you
want to adjust the timing of the notes but not the lengths (see Figure 5.62). Deactivate
this option and activate the Releases function if you want all the notes to play exactly
the same length. This is useful when you are creating fast arpeggios or “techy” sounds
for which you don’t want a human feel. It is mostly useless if you are quantizing drums
because most drum samples only play as long as the sample anyway.

Figure 5.62
Preserve note duration and attacks

Q Truncated drum sounds are easily achievable when you quantize without the Preserve
Note Duration option selected. Even though it is mostly useless (drum sounds tend to
have a short attack and release anyway, so shortening the MIDI note usually doesn’t
affect the sound), if you select several MIDI notes that trigger snares, for example,
quantizing them to the same length makes them all even and highlighted. You can then
use the Standard Trim tool to resize the end length (in Slip mode) to shorten them all
simultaneously, creating truncated snare hits that are either unreal or tighter. This can
create an interesting drum effect or help the long snare sample get out of the way for
other sounds to play through.
Q Offset the grid by about 20 ticks to create a laziness in the timing. This can add back-
beat feel to a part that is too stiff and mechanized.
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Q Adjust the options at the bottom to get a mixture of quantized and human performances.
If you quantize the notes, excluding notes within, say, 20 percent, then notes that fall
within 20 percent of the nearest grid will not be quantized, keeping the feel of the
close notes and only quantizing the notes farther away from the grid. You should also
set the strength to 80 percent to match. That way, notes further away than 20 percent
will be quantized to within 20 percent of the grid, matching your original feel.

Loop Recording with MIDI

A common error when trying to loop record MIDI is to activate the Loop Record function by
choosing Operations > Loop Record. This works great for audio but is unnecessary for MIDI.
There are some potential advantages (see the “Loop Recording” tip in Chapter 2), but there
is another potentially cooler way to do it with MIDI.
For layered MIDI recording (for example, the first pass records the kick and the second
records the snare), activate the MIDI Merge button, as shown in Figure 5.63. Now you need
only activate the Loop Playback and record on the MIDI track. MIDI Merge will keep the
MIDI from the first pass and add the MIDI from the second pass. This is a fast and fun way to
layer the MIDI notes and loop-record them at the same time. Figures 5.64 through 5.66
demonstrate a MIDI track recorded one instrument at a time while looping in MIDI merge.

Figure 5.63
The MIDI Merge button

Figure 5.64
Pass one with the kick recorded
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Figure 5.65
Pass two with the snare recorded

Figure 5.66
Pass three with the hi-hat recorded

MIDI Offsets and Bad Timing

There is a little-known side window in Pro Tools that can seriously affect your timing of notes.
No matter how well you play them in or quantize them, they can still play late (or early) if
you don’t know where to look.
Choose Windows > MIDI Track Offsets, and you’ll be presented with the MIDI Track Offsets
window, as shown in Figure 5.67. This window allows you to program, either globally or track
by track, the amount of latency (or latency compensation) for each MIDI track. For example,
if your version of your favorite soft synth comes with 1,024 samples of latency (you can
sometimes see this in the synth’s control panel or preferences page), then you can program
the MIDI track feeding it to play 1,024 samples early. You can also measure by ear or eye in
milliseconds and adjust the latency by milliseconds.
Be careful with the window because the standard key commands don’t work with the window
open. For example, the spacebar (normally reserved for play and stop) erases the Global
Offset value and does not actually play.
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Figure 5.67
The MIDI Track Offsets window

Automating Reason from Pro Tools:

Hideki Yamashita, Pyramind
Hideki Yamashita—or Dex, as he’s known to most—is one of the most industrious hackers I
know. He can figure out almost anything related to music technology software, which is why
I hired him! Hideki serves as Pyramind’s assistant technical director and is responsible for the
proper upkeep of our multi-station lab and our two production studios. I set him to task on
figuring out this tip and as usual, he came up shining.
Because Pro Tools will be the main application when ReWired with Reason, it is reasonable
(ha!) to want to do everything from Pro Tools and relegate Reason to a sound bank library
only. However, one last frontier of control lies in real-time automation of everything in Reason
from Pro Tools.
The first step is to obtain the CC (controller change) numbers of the individual modules so
they can be mapped and controlled from PT. This information is contained in a document that
you can find within the Reason application folder. The reason for this (ha ha!) is that Pro Tools
unfortunately does not enable the user to use the Learn from MIDI function in Reason.
Suppose, for example, that you want to automate the Maelstrom’s Filter Frequency. If you
refer to the MIDI implementation chart, as shown in Figure 5.68, you will see that controller
#79 is assigned to that parameter of that synth. You should also ensure that no MIDI receive
function is active in Reason, both on the track (no MIDI icon to the left of the track name) and
in the prefs, as shown in Figures 5.69 and 5.70.
On the MIDI track assigned to play that Maelstrom, switch your view to the Controller Data
view and add controller #79 to the list of controllers to be shown and automated. You can
automate the parameter using either the Grabber or the Pencil tool if you want, drawing
curves that now apply to the Filter Frequency, as shown in Figure 5.71.
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Figure 5.68
Finding
the Reason
implementa-
tion chart

Figure 5.69
MIDI deactivated in Reason 1

Figure 5.70
MIDI deactivated in Reason 2

Figure 5.71
Controller data from Reason
Implementation chart, auto-
mated on the MIDI track
assigned to the Maelstrom
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If you want to twist knobs on a certain controller, you might need to refer to the manual for
that controller to assign a knob to a controller data value. For example, with most USB key-
boards you can easily assign a knob to be controller #79, allowing simple automation of the
Reason synth by twisting the knob, which will then be recorded into Pro Tools.

Tempo Shifts from Live to Pro Tools: Greg Gordon, Pyramind

Greg founded Pyramind in 1987, and he and I have worked together since 1996. He has
proven himself to be a cutting-edge producer who is versed in the latest electronic and elec-
tronica tools. He fell in love with Live about a year ago, and I asked him to figure out what’s
wrong with Live and Pro Tools and tell me how he would you fix it. Here is a doozy.
Another application that allows the connection of audio and MIDI into Pro Tools is Live by
Ableton. Live is a very powerful loop-based tool that allows for many forms of interactive per-
formance and is generally used, well, live. ReWiring between Live and Pro Tools is easy and
very similar to the same process within Reason (see Figure 5.72), with the exception of the
number of channels—only 16 stereo buses. On each Live channel, assign the output to a
ReWire bus, insert the RTAS plug in Pro Tools, and set the bus to the same as Live.

Figure 5.72
Live inserted in Pro Tools

A problem between the two exists with regard to workflow. If you create the song entirely in
Reason, you can export the audio, the MIDI, or both and recreate your move in Pro Tools.
This is not so with Live.
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With the ability to create a custom Master Tempo track in Live, digital audio files can gradually
change tempo over time without needing to be rendered to disc. However, with Live in
ReWire mode, Pro Tools will ignore the Tempo track in Live. If you have drawn in gradual
tempo changes in Live, you have two choices to recreate these tempo changes in Pro Tools.
Both involve rendering some of your Live set to audio for importing into Pro Tools.
1. Select the length of time in Live that represents the tempo change (slow down or speed
up) and render to disc, as shown in Figure 5.73. This creates a stereo (or mono) audio
file that has the tempo changes embedded in it. If you are currently ReWired, you’ll
need to reassign the outputs to Master to create an audio file that isn’t silence. If you
render without reassigning, nothing goes to the Master bus and nothing gets rendered.
It’s a good idea to ensure that the section you highlight has a solid transient every
quarter note (such as a kick or a click) so Pro Tools will read it well when you render it.

Figure 5.73
Render option in Live
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2. Import the rendered file to a track (File > Import to Track) in a brand-new Pro Tools
document. You now have two ways to recreate the tempo adjustment—Identify Beat or
Beat Detective.
Q Identify Beat. Separate the audio at every point at which the tempo changes,
leaving regions that are individually set to a single tempo. Then, region by region,
Identify Beat (Edit > Identify Beat) so the Tempo Ruler in Pro Tools has tempo
changes made at every region separation (see Figure 5.74). This is time consuming
and doesn’t account for tempo curves where the tempo changes unevenly.

Figure 5.74
Identify Beat performed on the exported Live file

Q Beat Detective. Using Beat Detective in Pro Tools, analyze the reference file and
set the threshold to quarter notes (or eighth notes as necessary). Upon analysis,
make sure that all the gridlines align themselves with transients placed on all your
downbeats. When you are satisfied with the alignment, output the new Tempo
track with the Bar|Beat Generation. (See the “Exact Slicing Using the Beat
Detective” tip in Chapter 4.) The new tempo track should now drive the Live ses-
sion just as the original one did (see Figure 5.75).

Figure 5.75
Beat Detective
on the exported
file
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Cut Time MIDI Parts

Prior to version 6.7, creating a Cut Time MIDI involved changing the master tempo to half of
its original BPM. This made all the MIDI parts play cut time, which might not have been the
desired effect. If you only want one MIDI part to play cut time (such as the drums), you can
simply use the TCE Trim tool.
1. Slice the MIDI region into the loop that needs to play cut time by switching to the
Regions view and separating the region.
2. It’s a good idea to quantize the parts to perfection because the TCE trimming will not
change the relative position of the notes. If the performance is slightly off, it will stay
off after TCE. This is particularly true if you are extending the region, not shortening it.
3. After the MIDI regions are separated, switch to the TCE Trim tool.
4. Switch to Grid mode and set the grid resolution to bars.
5. Click and drag the end of the region to the left to a position halfway between the start
and the previous end, making the region half as long as it was. It will regenerate itself
at half-time, and all MIDI notes will adjust relative to their current positions, keeping
their performance feeling. Figures 5.76 and 5.77 show a MIDI region before and after
TCE trimming to cut time.

Figure 5.76
MIDI region
before TCE

Figure 5.77
MIDI region
after TCE
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Difficult MIDI Parts

Let’s face it—you’re not a classically trained and practiced piano player. There is simply no way
you can play that thirty-second-note run in C# diminished at 155 BPM, right? Wrong. Here are
three different ways to pull it off: half-time recording, step record, and the Pencil tool.
Q Half-time recording. If you can’t play it at 155 BPM but you can play it at 77.5, then
record the part in at half speed.
1. Press Shift+CMD+spacebar to set Pro Tools to record at half speed and play the
part at the slower tempo. When you play back at normal speed, the part will also
play at normal speed, making it seem like you played it at twice the speed.
2. Quantize the part either before or after returning to normal speed. Just because
you can play it at half speed doesn’t mean you played it well!
Q Step recording. By choosing MIDI > Step Input, you’ll be presented with the Step Input
dialog box, shown in Figure 5.78. Here, you’ll be able to literally play the part in note
by note (step by step) at whatever resolution you choose. You can choose to step the
notes in at random lengths (or carefully chosen lengths if you know how you long you
want them to play) to give a certain human flavor to the part. Otherwise, all the notes
will be of even length and they might sound mechanical.

Figure 5.78
The Step Input dialog box
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Q Pencil tool. By choosing the Pencil tool, you can draw in the notes at any resolution
you desire.
1. Set your note resolution by setting the grid resolution to the desired note length,
as shown in Figure 5.79.

Figure 5.79
Grid resolution set to
thirty-second notes

2. Every time you click on the MIDI track, a note of the grid resolution length will
appear at the pitch clicked (see Figure 5.80).

Figure 5.80
The Pencil tool
creating MIDI notes

3. Repeat this process until all the notes are in place.

4. Select all the notes in this section and move the cursor (still the Pencil tool) to the
end of the note. The tool will switch to the Standard Trimmer and allow you to
adjust all the notes to the desired length. Select some of the notes to adjust only
those notes’ lengths.
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Meter and Tempo Changes

Some programming is required for songs that require alternate meters, multiple meters, or
multiple tempos. Pro Tools documents default to a meter of 4|4 and a tempo of 120 BPM.
This is visible in the Tempo and Meter Rulers (choose Display > Ruler View Shows > Tempo
and Meter). They are both displayed in Figure 5.81.

Figure 5.81
Meter and Tempo Rulers

Suppose the song needs all of the above—alternate meters, multiple meters, and multiple tempos.
It starts in 7|8 time at a BPM of 95 and switches to 6|4 time at 92 BPM for the chorus, and
then back to 95 7|8 for the verses. You will need to do the following:
1. Set the start to 7|8 time and the BPM to 95.
a. Position the cursor at the beginning of the song and choose MIDI > Change Meter.
b. Re-enter (if necessary) the position 1|1|000 and enter 7|8 for the meter, and
then hit Apply. You should notice that the Tempo and Meter Rulers both show the
change.
Choose MIDI > Change Tempo and re-enter (if necessary) the position 1|1|000,
and then type 95 in the BPM selection. Hit Apply. Figure 5.82 shows the result of
these steps.

Figure 5.82
Results of meter and
tempo changes
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2. Mark the chorus for the next change.

a. You have to know the song to do this ahead of time. If you already know that
between the intro, verse 1, and the pre-chorus you have 32 bars, great. If not,
you will need to play the song against a click at 7|8 and count the measures.
b. Choose MIDI > Change Meter and enter the bar|beat position of the chorus.
Change the meter to reflect 6|4, and then hit Apply.
Choose MIDI > Change Tempo and set the position of the chorus. Type in the new
tempo of 92 and hit Apply. Figure 5.83 shows the result of these maneuvers.

Figure 5.83
Results of chorus meter and tempo changes

For an idea of what this might sound like, check out “Carry Me Home” on my CD, Donner,
Party of One, available at http://www.cdbaby.com and http://www.itunes.com.
Enough shameless self-promotion; now go compose!
Note: For changing tempos in version 6.7 and for information regarding tempo changes over
time, see the “Tempo Shifts in Pro Tools” tip in Chapter 8.
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Dealing with Audio and Tempo Changes

So the song is tracked, all the parts are perfect, and it’s time for the vocalist to show up and
do her thing. Everybody’s waiting because they can’t wait to hear what she’s gonna do for
the song. Finally, she shows up and hears the tune, and everybody waits for her to get up,
get in the booth, and get down! Instead, she looks you squarely in the eye and says, “It’s
great, but it’s too fast. Slow it down about 15 BPM and let me do my thing.” At this point, all
the tension in the room now focuses on you, and you realize that you now have the dubious
honor of figuring out how on earth to slow down this all-audio song. Deep breath now—
there’s just a little pressure on you, but you can do it! It might just take a few hours….
If you have a TDM rig with a sync I/O, you can change the settings in the session to vary the
sample rate, slowing the song down. This also pitches the song down, so it might not work if
the vocalist feels funny about the new pitch.
Remember that audio’s timing is referenced to the Min:Sec count, not the tempo. This means if
you simply slow the tempo down 15 BPM, you do not slow down the audio, just the click and
the MIDI. If you did, you’d need to re-spot every region of audio and slice and re-spot all the
consolidated audio! Not true anymore with version 6.7!
Many producers create music by finding the sounds they want to use and grid-pasting them to
every quarter note (or eighth note, and so on). Figure 5.84 shows an example of this. This
means that for one tempo they play in perfect sync, but if the tempo shifts they stay in their
Min:Sec timing and do not adjust to the new tempo. For tracks like this, re-quantizing the
audio to a new tempo is easy. Switch the track to lock its timescale to ticks instead of samples
(as shown in Figure 5.85), and it will conform to the grid and not the Min:Sec. This means
when your vocalist asks you to switch the tempo, you need only switch tracks like this to ticks
and readjust your tempo at will. All regions will instantly reposition themselves to the new
tempo, and you’re finished! For an example of what happens when you change tempos with
some tracks set to ticks and others set to samples, see Figure 5.86.

Figure 5.84
A track with grid-repeated audio every quarter note
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Figure 5.85
Timescale set to ticks on kick track at 120 BPM

Figure 5.86
Tracks before and after tempo shift with one at ticks and one at samples

For tracks that are composed of other performances, such as guitars or live (or printed) drums,
you will need to use Beat Detective to separate the regions based on their performances.
To use Beat Detective, see the “Exact Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip in Chapter 4.
After the tracks are separated, switch each of the tracks to ticks, and your hits should readjust
to the new tempo. You could also re-quantize within Beat Detective. However, you’d need to
re-quantize every time you adjust the tempo. This is why ticks are much handier!
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6 Inserts, Sends,
and Effects
When it comes to fun with Pro Tools, this is where it
counts. Adding effects and making the sound great is
always the fun part, but most often it is done improperly.
In this chapter, I’ll cover the right way to work with
inserts and sends to create some standard (and creative)
sounds before and during the mix stage. Keep in mind
that the ideas presented here are meant to be a good
start but not all-inclusive. Use these techniques where
they fit your work and your style, and then develop your
own from there.

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Hitting the Wall and Getting Stuck (TDM)

It never fails. I always get the important frantic tech call at the worst possible time. A good
friend of mine called me in a panic from New York while I was home babysitting my seven-
month-old. Diapers were flying, the crying had just started, and I knew I was in trouble. I got
back to him an hour or so later, and he told me his saga, to which we all can relate.
In the middle of the session, he went to insert one last plug-in, but his system was already at
capacity. While trying to add the last plug-in, DAE began to deassign and then reassign the
plug-ins for efficiency, and it eventually got to a breaking point and froze repeatedly (see
Figure 6.1). My friend had hit the wall.

Figure 6.1
The DAE Re-Allocation taskbar

His best workaround in the heat of battle was to fire up the session in OS 9 (after about 45
minutes of head-meets-wall self-teching), and when the session came up without his newly
added troublesome plug-in, he resaved it as a new version and then went back into OS X to
press onward.
Normally, DAE will reallocate plug-ins according to efficiency. Mix Plus systems (such as his
system) offer three types of DSP chips—A, B, and C in decreasing-power order. When C plugs
are first inserted, they go to the A chips, only to get kicked out later when an A-only plug is
inserted—much like the guy who stole your seats on the floor because he didn’t want to sit in
his nosebleed seats. When DAE tries to reshuffle things, it often does a fine job. If there is no
room left, you should receive a DAE Error - 7204 indicating that the wall has been hit (see
Figure 6.2). In this case, DAE was out of room and couldn’t give my friend the last plug-in, but
instead of providing an error, it simply crashed. Subsequent attempts to reopen the session
kept giving him crashes, and there was simply no other way in.

Figure 6.2
DAE Error - 7204

Had my friend read the “Don’t Lose Your Work” tip in

Chapter 1, none of this would have happened. Always
activate the Auto-Save function by choosing Setups >
Preferences > Enable Session File Auto Backup and have
Pro Tools save every two minutes, keeping the last 10 to
20 sessions. In my friend’s case, he could have reopened
the Auto-Save from four minutes before and kept working.
He would have saved an hour and a half, as well as a
lot of skin on his forehead.
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What Do You Do When You Run Out of Plug-In Power?

(Hitting the Wall—TDM and LE)
You can guarantee that no matter how much plug-in power you have, you will eventually use
it all. The plug-in power you have won’t be enough (even though you are probably using
twice what you need), but at least you’ll know where the wall is!
Similarly to the “Printing the Reason Parts” tip in Chapter 5, you can (and should) print your
effects tracks to save DSP and allow yourself to go over the wall. Choose an expensive plug-in
or track with lots of plug-ins on it to print. It should be a track for which you’ve settled on the
sound and are comfortable moving beyond. You can tell which plug-ins are more expensive by
measuring how much DSP they use; do so by choosing Display > System Usage and seeing
which plugs use the entire chip. (TDM only; LE users can’t really tell which ones use up the most,
but you can start with reverbs and soft synths because they tend to be the biggest CPU hogs.)
When you’ve found a good candidate, create an Audio track of matching channels (mono or
stereo) right below it, and set the new track’s input to an unused bus (or pair). Set the output
of the source track to the same bus and record-enable the receiving track. Before you record,
you should name the track something like “Kick with Effects” or “Kick FX Print” so you know
what it is later. Record the track in its entirety, as shown in Figure 6.3.

Figure 6.3
Signal flow for printing the effects

Some people make a big mistake here. They delete the track after printing the effect to free
up DSP. This is fine if you are sure you’re never going back to those plug-ins and settings! This
is probably a delusion you’re having temporarily— it’s late and you’re not thinking clearly.

After you delete the track, you can never go back. Although you do get the DSP back, there
is a better way. Select the original track and choose File > Make Selected Tracks Inactive (see
Figure 6.4). Now you’ve reclaimed the voice, freed up DSP for more plug-in fun, and left
yourself the option to go back and tweak the settings!
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Figure 6.4
Make Selected Tracks Inactive menu option

Multi-Mono versus Multi-Channel Inserts

An often-overlooked facet to stereo plug-ins is the ability to create separate settings for left
and right plug-ins on a single plug-in. For example, if I record two guitar parts and choose to
merge them onto a single stereo track for screen ergonomics (see the “Stereo or Dual
Mono?” tip in Chapter 2), I might then process the two parts with two different EQs to give a
unique stereo image. One might think it wise to separate the two back into two mono tracks
(or simply keep them mono to begin with) and plug in two different EQs to achieve the effect.
However, this is wasteful because you will double the amount of DSP needed.
In this example, use a Multi-Mono plug-in, as shown in Figure 6.5. This gives you the ability to
set different settings for the left and right channels on a single plug-in. In the upper-right corner,
you’ll notice a small stereo indicator with two small black dots. This represents the stereo
selector. When it is set to L, the settings affect the left channel only. When it is set to R, the
settings affect the right channel only. When the Link button is engaged, one side or the other
will be the master, affecting both sides equally.

Figure 6.5
A Multi-Mono plug-in

If there are unique settings to both sides (after

de-linking), then the Link button is re-engaged
and Pro Tools will ask you which side should be
the new master and inform you that the other
settings will be lost, as shown in Figure 6.6.
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Figure 6.6
The Relink dialog box

The AM Radio Effect

The AM Radio effect is a very common request in post-production as well as music. This effec-
tively makes the audio sound really bad, as if it were on AM radio. (This is sometimes called
the Telephone effect.) The AM Radio effect effect has an extremely limited frequency band-
width and dynamic range, so a cheap way to get this effect is to plug in an EQ (make sure it
has at least filters and a parametric EQ) and either a compressor-, limiter-, or distortion-style
plug-in (such as something like Sans-Amp, Amp Farm, Chrome-Tone, Guitar-Rig, and so on).
You can use the stock Digidesign plug-ins if those are all you have, as shown in Figure 6.7.

Start with the EQ and roll off all bass below 400 Hz. Roll off the treble above 2k. This is
already pretty close, but not unique enough. I like to boost about 4 dB (at narrow bandwidth)
of 440 Hz, but you can sweep the frequency to find the band that works best for you. When
the tone is sufficiently horrid, add the compressor and set it heavy. Start with the threshold at
–20 and the ratio at 4:1, and adjust from there to taste. For that last bit of crunch, add the
distortion and set the crunch to medium-light. Different amps have different crunches, so play
around a little until you find your friend. I use Amp Farm and set it to my favorite amp—the
1959 Bassman, which has a particular “honkiness” that I like for this effect.

Figure 6.7
The plug-in chain of an AM Radio effect
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Offsets as Chorus
Although chorus effects are great for creating width in tracks, you can achieve similar effects
through editing alone if you don’t have a chorus effect or you are out of DSP. For example,
a track I worked on recently had a single lead and a single background (harmony) vocal
(see Figure 6.8). I found this to be boring because both wanted to be panned in center, but I
really wanted the background to be in stereo and panned wide. Instead of applying a chorus
effect, which can be unnatural, I used editing instead!

Figure 6.8
A single background voice

If the song is set to a click or conforms to Grid mode, set your Nudge Resolution to sixty-
fourth notes. Create a new track (for voice, choose mono) and Option-drag the single voice
onto the new track. This will exactly double the part, but panning wide will achieve no great
effect. (In fact, it will still sum to mono.) Highlight the copied track and nudge the track later
by one sixty-fourth. (You can nudge it earlier if you want, but it can be weird to hear it before
the beat. Experiment and see which you like better.) Press the + (plus) key on the number pad
to nudge it later, as shown in Figure 6.9. (Laptop users press Fn+Shift+?.) Use the – (minus) to
move the track earlier. (Laptop users press Fn+Shift+;.) Now, if the two tracks are panned
wide, you’ll have a natural chorus without any digital artifacts from your chorus plug-in!
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Figure 6.9
Copied, shifted, and panned wide

Offsets as Delay
Instead of using a Delay effect, try creating a similar effect with editing. Option-drag your track
to an empty track next to it and nudge it later by your desired delay resolution (fourth, eighth,
and so on). This will be a cleaner delay, but it will only repeat once. This effect is best used for
a particular word or phrase and will be tedious if applied across the whole song, as shown in
Figure 6.10. Use this on key phrases that demand a single tap (…single tap…) only (…only…).
If your song is not laid out to the grid, you can create one through Beat Detective (see the
“Exact Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip in Chapter 4) or you can guess and adjust it by
ear. If you use this technique, it is advisable to set your nudge resolution to 10 milliseconds
(set the Main Time Scale to Min:Sec) and nudge it into place.
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Figure 6.10
Copied and delayed track

Side-Chaining
An old trick in analog mixing is to side-chain certain effects together in such a way that the
sound of one track directly affects the effect of another. For example, you might want the kick
drum to control the compression on the bass, making the bass “tuck in” every time the kick
hits. This is useful in situations in which both the bass and kick share similar frequency content.
Not every plug has a side-chain input, but those that do get their chain signal through the
buses.
In the kick/bass example, start by compressing the bass to taste and trying to adjust the kick
volume so they start to elbow each other for space. Create an aux send on the kick and send
it to a mono bus. (Remember to label your I/O and buses; see the “I/O Labeling” tip that
follows this section.) Then, set the side-chain input to the same bus; it’s the button that looks
like a key, as shown in Figure 6.11.

Now whenever the kick hits, it sends a signal to the side-chain input of the bass, telling the
compressor to get its threshold level from the kick (when it hits) and not from the bass. When
there is no kick send, the bass is compressed normally.
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Figure 6.11
The side-chain set up with kick and bass

I/O Labeling
If you read the “Using the Template I/O” tip in Chapter 2, then you already know some of
the benefits of labeling your I/O. Choose Setups > I/O Labels, and you will be presented with
the I/O Setup dialog box, as shown in Figure 6.12.
When you are mixing or sound designing, it is a very good idea to label your I/O. That way,
as you use more and more buses for effects, you can easily see which bus goes to which
effect. This will save you lots of time. In addition, if you are not the final mixer or producer on
this session, it will make the next engineer very happy to know that he or she doesn’t have to
reinterpret your routings; he or she can simply pick up right where you left off. You’ll get pro-
fessionalism points for that one!
However, you will lose professionalism points if you name your buses Funky Delay or Tapper
City, as opposed to Snare 1/4 Delay. Assume the next person working on your song knows
nothing about you or your setup, and Keep It Simple, Stupid! A good idea is to use the lower-
numbered buses for effects, such as reverb and delay, and the higher-number buses for sub-
grouping sounds for group processing. (See the “Sub-Grouping Sounds” tip that follows.)
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Figure 6.12
The I/O Setup
dialog box

Sub-Grouping Sounds
So the producer wants you to put the newfangled compressor on the entire drum set, but you
only have enough DSP for one compressor and you need seven more. Should you put the
compressor on a track, print it, make it inactive, and put one more on the next track?
To save time and DSP, the best move here is to sub-group the tracks together, and then add
your compressor. To do so, route the output of all the drum tracks to a stereo bus labeled
Drum Sub-Group or something similar. Create a stereo Aux input and name it Drum Sub-Group
(creative, I know). Set its input to the bus Drum Sub-Group (hey, they all have the same name!),
and you’ve just routed all your drum tracks to the one Aux input, as seen in the Mix window in
Figure 6.13. You can now safely put that newfangled compressor on the Aux track, compressing
all the drums at once!
Note: When you do this, remember that the entire set will be compressed based on the mix of
the drums. This means if the kick is too hot, it might affect your mix strangely, so be prepared
to readjust your drum mix to suit the single compressor. Remember that the group drum com-
pression will sound different than compressing each part individually because the compres-
sion is now triggered by all the drums, not each one individually.
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Figure 6.13
Ten drum tracks
sub-grouped
with compressor

Faster Plug-In (and Send) Creation

For situations in which you will need to create several plug-ins or sends at once, following are
a few shortcuts to save time.
Q When you are creating inserts on all channels, hold the Option key before creation.
When you hold the Option key during most maneuvers (mute, Record Ready, solo,
assign, and so on), Pro Tools knows to do that maneuver to all tracks at once. This is
certainly true for plug-ins and sends (see Figure 6.14). Use this technique when you
create headphone mixes. (See the “Headphone Mixes for a Single Artist” and
“Headphone Mixes for Multiple Artists” tips in Chapter 2.)
Q When you create inserts or sends on selected channels, hold the Shift+Option keys
before creating the insert. Like Option, this will create the insert or send on all tracks,
but the Control key also tells Pro Tools to limit the creation to the selected channels
(see Figure 6.15). Select multiple channels by Shift-clicking the Channel Select buttons.
Q If two mono tracks share a sound and require similar (but not the same) treatments,
Option-drag the plug-in from one track to the next while Pro Tools is parked. This will
copy the plug-in from the one track to the next, keeping the same sound but allowing
different settings. This is useful for two mono guitar tracks in which the left one is EQed
bass heavy and the right one is EQed mid-range heavy. In this case, having the two
guitar parts on one stereo track could also work using a multi-mono plug-in, but
changes made to the EQ during automation can become unmanageable.
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Figure 6.14
The Mix window after Option-
insert and Option-send

Figure 6.15
Multiple channels
selected with inserts
created on only those selected
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Storing and Recalling Your Favorite Insert Chains

Over time, you’ll develop an arsenal of plug-ins and an array of favorite signal-processing
chains. Every rock drum set will get your favorite rock EQ/compression chain, and every hip-
hop loop will get its treatment too. You’ll also develop Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from mousing
every track and repeating this process setup for every song you work on.
When you are sold on your favorite signal chains, you should store a copy of the session in
some remote location on your hard drive for later recall. You can create a folder next to the
Pro Tools application called Signal Chain Sessions.
Suppose you’re working with drummer X and you love the drum set configuration like the one
in Figure 6.16. Choose File > Save As and direct it to your Signal Chain Sessions folder. After
it’s there, you can always refer to it to import your settings into another song. For example, if
a week later you find yourself working with drummer Y and you want the signal processing
from drummer X, choose File > Import Session Data and direct Pro Tools to your Signal Chain
Sessions folder and the session Drummer X. You can select to import the tracks corresponding
to the drums only (you remembered to name your tracks, right?) and only choose the Plug-In
Assignments and Plug-In Settings and Automation options from the Playlist Import drop-down
menu, as shown in Figure 6.17.
You can choose to direct these tracks to import on top of your existing tracks (kick to kick,
snare to snare, and so on) so your new session is still intact with the addition of only the
pre-existing signal chains and settings. You can tweak from there.

Figure 6.16
Drum set with
collections of inserts
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Figure 6.17
The Import Session Data
feature importing inserts
and settings only

Old-School 808s
Nothing busts a Jeep like a good ol’ 808 kick drum. If you don’t know this sound, listen for
the bass coming from the hip-hop track playing out of the Escalade next to you at a red light.
The rumble that makes you want to use the bathroom is probably the 808 kick, made famous
by the Roland drum machine of the same name (and Public Enemy). If you can’t find the sam-
ple (get out from under that rock, my friend!), then try to create your own, like we used to in
the old days!
The signal chain is simple; a kick-drum performance triggers the gate to open across an oscil-
lator generating a 60-cycle tone. Every time the kick plays, the 60-cycle tone plays and the
gate shuts after a certain (user-defined) amount of time. The following steps detail how it’s
done.
1. Create an Aux input next to the kick performance. You can create a discrete track with
a single kick hit (say every eight bars) that does the triggering. Otherwise, you will
need to determine when you want the 808 to play and create a track with audio hits
that plays that way. Insert Signal Generator (see Figure 6.18) on the Aux track and set
it to 60 Hz at 0 dB. You can adjust the frequency to match the pitch of your song later.
2. Insert a gate on the Signal Generator track. You will tweak the settings later, but
for now simply adjust the gate open to a high enough threshold to cut off the signal
completely.
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3. Route a send’s output of the trigger track to a bus labeled Side Chain (see the “I/O
Labeling” tip earlier in this chapter) and set the fader to 0 db.

Figure 6.18
Kick on second audio track with 60-Hz Signal Generator

4. Set the key input on the gate to Gate Trigger. Now whenever the trigger part plays,
the gate is triggered to open, generating a rumbling 60-Hz tone in sympathy with the
trigger part…semi-instant 808 (see Figure 6.19)!

Figure 6.19
Gate on Signal Generator with key from kick bus
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Reverb-Only Setups (Instant Distant)

Ever want to hear the sound as if it’s so far away that it’s been swallowed in the reverb?
When this is the desired effect, there are two ways to accomplish it, one better than the other.
Q Insert the reverb on the track in question, as shown in Figure 6.20. Pick your favorite
reverb and set its mix to 100% Wet. This will give you instant distant signal. However,
you will run out of control and options if you want the sound to change from all wet to
all dry because the only control you have is the Wet/Dry mix. Unfortunately, finding a
balance between wet and dry may land at 20% Wet and will be distinctly quieter than
if you set it up the right way.

Figure 6.20
Reverb directly inserted on the track

Q Create a send/return signal chain. This is the fundamental setup for any time-based
effect, such as reverb, delay, or chorus. You’ll need two tracks—the dry track and an
Aux input (return). Insert the reverb on the Aux track and set its input to a bus labeled
Reverb, as shown in Figure 6.21.
1. On the dry track, create an Aux send to the bus labeled Reverb and turn it up
to 0 dB.
2. Click the Pre-Fader Send option. This separates the send volume from the fader
volume, allowing you to turn the fader down to minus infinity and still send signal
to the reverb. You’ve now got instant distant! The advantage here is that if you
change balances, you can create a signal that is both 100% Wet and 100% Dry
by bringing the volume fader back to 0 dB. This is impossible in the first setup.
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Figure 6.21
Pre-fader send/return signal chain

Shaving DSP in TDM Systems

When you use TDM systems, the first thing you’ll notice is the quality of DSP available and
the dedicated chips for DSP (TDM Farms or Accel Farms). Having these dedicated chips to do
the heavy lifting is great, but it is not infinite—eventually you hit the DSP wall and run out of
processing power. (See the “Hitting the Wall and Getting Stuck (TDM)” and “What Do You
Do When You Run Out of Plug-In Power? (Hitting the Wall—TDM and LE)” tips in the begin-
ning of this chapter.) Instead of having to print your effects and burn voices, you can shave
DSP by switching some plugs around.
You’ll know you’ve hit the wall when you receive the DAE - 7204 error telling you you’ve just
hit the wall. It’s nice that Pro Tools tells you this because I know it can be hard to tell when
you’ve hit the wall—the bruises on your nose aren’t always enough. After you shake off the
sting from the impact, open the Plug-In Usage window by choosing Windows > DSP Usage,
and you’ll be presented with the list of plug-ins that are currently inserted, as shown in Figure
6.22. Look for the hogs (100% for one plug-in) and start shuffling from there.
If you run out of TDM DSP, try switching one or more plugs to RTAS (see Figure 6.23), lighten-
ing the load on the DSP chips and sending some of it to the Mac CPU. This will work only if the
TDM plug you switch is the first plug in the chain, because RTAS plugs can’t follow TDM plugs.
Keep in mind that if you use virtual synths often (most are RTAS style and already tax the
CPU), there might not be much room on the CPU left to switch to. It might be worth printing to
audio to free up CPU, and then switching TDM plugs to RTAS.
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Figure 6.22
The Plug-In Usage window

You might find yourself with a slower computer when you switch,
but at least you can get around the wall. You can keep doing this
until you run out of CPU, in which case your back will be truly,
well, against the wall.
You should look to print and deactivate some DSP tracks at this
point, or buy a beefier computer if one exists! If not, then learn to
get comfortable printing your tracks with DSP—or learn to mix with
fewer effects (yeah, right).

Figure 6.23
Switching to RTAS

Chaining Effects
If you don’t already know, the five insert points on any track are preconfigured to be in a
series. This means that insert point 1 flows into insert point 2, to 3, to 4, and then to 5. When
you create your chained plugs in this way, it is sometimes a good idea to set your first one to
insert point 2, leaving 1 open for the option of switching around.
Insert overload like this can happen often on the Master Fader when the mix is almost over.
Many producers pre-master on the Master Fader, and there are often several effects inserted
there, as shown in Figure 6.24. When you pre-master, it can do more harm than good in the
long run and it can be frustrating when you want to change only the first plug. You’ll need to
move each plug down individually, and then create the new plug at the top. If you start at insert
point 2, you can sneak in that different first plug with little problem, as shown in Figure 6.25.
The flip side to this argument says that if you start at insert point 2 and you need a fifth insert
after the other four, you still need to shuffle the plugs around to make room. It’s true. You just
can’t win sometimes. However, if you are chaining plugs on a track other than the Master
Fader, you can route to another channel and get five more plugs, as shown in Figure 6.26.
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Figure 6.24
Four chained inserts on a track

Figure 6.25
Shuffled plugs one at a time

Figure 6.26
Setup with more than five plugs
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If you route the output of a filled-up track to a bus labeled Five More Effects and create
another track named Five More, whose input is set to Five More Effects, you now have five
more insert effects available. Some might say you’ve over-processed the signal, but what do
they know? You love it!
Of course, you have just hit the wall again…ouch.

Clipping the Plug

Ever wondered why you keep seeing red clip indicators on your track no matter how low you
drop the fader? Check under Options > Pre-Fader Metering to see whether this option is
active, as shown in Figure 6.27. If so, your clip indicator is telling you that the clip is already
written on the file and you need to pencil it out. (See the “Erasing with the Pencil Tool” tip in
Chapter 4.) However, if there is no obvious clip on the file, then check your plugs—you might
be clipping the plug itself, as shown in Figure 6.28.

Figure 6.27
Pre-fader metering

Figure 6.28
Clipped plug-in
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When this happens, your channel will tell you you’ve clipped, but you can’t get the red clip
indicator to go away even after dropping the fader and turning off pre-fader metering. This is
a surefire indication that you’ve clipped the plug. This can add undesirable digital distortion
to your sound. In this case, adjust the input to the plug until there is no clip and turn up the
gain afterward if necessary.

Storing Presets
If you work with the same talent repeatedly, it’s probably because they feel comfortable with
you, your studio, and your sound. This might be due to the room, the mics, or your particular
plug-ins and settings. As a measure of customer service, if your talent needs to go elsewhere
to do a job, make sure they travel with their plug-in settings too.
When you determine that the settings you have on this plug work for this talent, be sure to
save the preset. When you hit the Save Settings button, Pro Tools defaults to saving the setting
in the Root Settings folder on your hard drive, but it is also wise to put it in the Session folder
so it lives right next to the session itself, as shown in Figure 6.29. Once there, it is easy to
burn the file to CD as well as save it to the talent’s hard drive.
After you’ve saved the session to the Session folder, it is available to anyone with that plug-in
and that session’s drive attached. Although the current session saves the setting within the Pro
Tools document, it does not make it immediately available to another session.

Figure 6.29
Changing the Save Settings default folder
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Dealing with Plug-In Delay

Users of Pro Tools TDM prior to version 6.7 (or HD users at 6.4 or higher) need to manage
the latency created by inserting plug-ins. Latency is a natural function of inserts, and it can be
measured by CMD-clicking twice on the volume indicator on the track itself, as shown in
Figure 6.30. Continuing to click there will cycle through volume readout, peak readout, and
sample delay readout.
Following are three ways to deal with sample delay.
Q Comments and nudging
1. First, you should determine which plug-ins you will be using on the track and plug
them in. When you are satisfied, measure the sample delay and mark it in the
Comments field, as shown in Figure 6.31. Your comment should read something
like, “Oxford EQ, BF 1176, Waves L1- 75 samples.”

Figure 6.30 Figure 6.31

CMD-click the volume Comments field showing
indicator twice to plug-in chain and sample
determine the delay delay
caused by inserts
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2. Then, select all the regions on the track by either triple-clicking or choosing Edit >
Select All (CMD+A). Set your Nudge value to Samples and nudge the tracks earlier
by the sample delay amount. The theory is that the plugs make the track late, so
measure the delay and move the region earlier by the same amount, keeping the
track phase and sample accurate with the rest of the tracks.
Q Timeadjuster
1. Digidesign has a built-in plug-in that deals with plug-in delay called Timeadjuster.
This works counter-intuitively, by adding delay to the other tracks. It adds sample
delay itself, slightly defeating the purpose. First, measure the track’s sample delay.
2. Insert Timeadjuster on all the other tracks by Option-inserting it in the fifth insert
position, and then removing it from the track in question. Timeadjuster has a mini-
mum sample delay of four samples, so simply adding it adds four more samples
of delay! You can already see this is going to be fun.
3. Adjust Timeadjuster on the other tracks to delay them to the same level of delay as
the original track, basically making every one late to match. If your largest delay
is 72 samples, then adjust all other tracks by 72 samples, as shown in Figure 6.32.

Figure 6.32
Timeadjuster setup for managing sample delay
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Q Print and shift

1. Route the track with sample delay to a bus labeled Delay Print.
2. Create a new audio track with the input set to Delay Print.
3. Record the entire track from the beginning of the first region to the end of the last
region.
4. Because the delay of the insert chain doesn’t show up on the new track, you can
zoom in to the beginning of the original track and compare the beginning of it to
the beginning of the printed track, as shown in Figure 6.33.
5. Position the cursor at the beginning of the original track and switch to the
Grabber tool.
6. Control-click the printed track to align it to the same sample point as the original
track.
7. Deactivate the original track to free up DSP and keep the sound sample accurate.

Figure 6.33
Printed track after plug-in delay versus original track

A-B Tests with Plug-Ins

The Compare button on the plug-in will allow you to audition between the current preset and
a tweaked version of the plug-in. After you change from the default, the Compare button is
illuminated, telling you that you’ve left the preset and are now working with custom settings,
as shown in Figure 6.34. There will always be a decision process between the settings you
have currently (after tweaking the preset) and the settings you think will sound better with
more tweaking. To perform this A-B test, you need to do a little bit of setup first.
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Figure 6.34
EQ with custom settings tweaked from the factory default

Generally, you’ll insert a plug-in and adjust the settings from the factory default settings to
taste. If you like these but you want to experiment with another setting, you really have no
way of getting back to these settings unless you save them as a preset. After you save the
settings, you can tweak again until you think you’ve got it better. Then, you can click the
Compare button to go back and forth between the current settings and the saved ones.

Solo Safe with Reverbs

An organized Pro Tools session might be arranged with all the MIDI and audio tracks at the
top and all the Aux inputs at the bottom. The Aux inputs probably hold a synth or two and a
few reverbs and delays, like the one shown in Figure 6.35. This is great for organization, but
really annoying when you try to solo an Audio track with the reverb. You’ll need to solo the
track, and then navigate to the end to solo the reverb, and back and forth. The same goes for
MIDI tracks and synths. So how can you keep the synths playing while only soloing the MIDI
track and keeping your tracks organized?
Normally, when one track is soloed, all other tracks are muted. This is shown by the yellow
solo light on the soloed track and the grayed mute on all others, as shown in Figure 6.36.
You can activate Solo Safe by CMD-clicking on the Solo button, either on the Edit window or
the Mix window. By putting a track in Solo Safe, you can solo any other track and the Solo
Safe track will not mute, as shown in Figure 6.37. This is handy when you are auditioning
parts with their reverbs against other parts and their effects too. If you Solo Safe the vocal
reverb, you can solo just the vocal track and the vocal reverb will also play.
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Figure 6.35
Mix window organized by track type

Figure 6.36
Solo light and grayed mute
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Figure 6.37
A Reverb Aux input in Solo Safe

Delay Compensation
New to version 6.7 is Delay Compensation (introduced with 6.4 for HD users), which removes
any induced delay by inserting a plug-in. Remember from the “Dealing with Plug-In Delay” tip
earlier in this chapter that every plug-in induces a certain amount of sample delay on that
track. You also remember how annoying it is (was) to deal with that delay.
Now, you simply tell Pro Tools which level of compensation you require (Setups > Playback
Engine > Delay Compensation), and it will automatically absorb the delay until you go over
the limit, as shown in Figure 6.38. Because adding delay compensation steals DSP, start with
the smaller setting first. You can activate the compensation by choosing Operations > Use
Delay Compensation (see Figure 6.39).
Remember that sample delay only becomes audible on two tracks that normally play in sample-
accurate phase together (stereo overheads, kick mic against the snare mic with bleed through,
and so on). By inserting a delay on one track, you smear the phase of the two tracks played
together. It is a harsh, digital sound that starts to sound like a tunnel. Once you hear it, you’ll
know it forever.
If you’re not sure whether there’s delay affecting your sound, save your settings, de-insert the
plug-ins, and listen. Unfortunately, bypassing the plug doesn’t remove the delay. A neat trick
here is to CMD+Control-click the plug-in to deactivate it. This removes the DSP usage and the
insert delay and keeps your settings.
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Figure 6.38
Playback engine with Delay Compensation

Figure 6.39
Use Delay Compensation

In the case of a kick drum from a live drum set, it will most likely show up when soloed
against the overhead mics. Because the kick always bleeds into the overheads, any smearing
of phase would be readily apparent when the two play together.
Solo the kick and overheads and listen without plugs. Then, re-insert (or reactivate) your plugs
and listen. If the sound gets funny, revisit the “Dealing with Plug-In Delay” tip or upgrade your
software to use Delay Compensation!
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Tempo Shifts and Delays

When you compose music in Pro Tools, it’s likely that you’ll use more than one tempo and
meter—not for all music, but for some. In particular, if you extracted the tempo using Beat
Detective (see the “Exact Slicing Using the Beat Detective” tip in Chapter 4), then your tempo
probably changes every quarter note!
Usually this is no problem, but if you are using tempo-specific effects or tempo-specific LFOs
on your synths, then every time the tempo changes the effect or LFO won’t keep up! This can
sound like a freight-train wreck if the tempos shift drastically and the effect doesn’t keep up.
As you saw in the “MIDI Beat Clock” tip in Chapter 5, activating MBC and assigning it to
your synth (see Figure 6.40) is vital to keeping everything together. However, some effects
don’t require MBC to be turned on. If you are using Reason parts, Reason effects, and LFOs,
you only need to assign the effect or LFO in Reason to the note resolution (fourth, eighth, and
so on). Because Reason naturally gets its tempo from Pro Tools, it will naturally follow any
tempo changes you program.

Figure 6.40
MIDI Beat Clock

Synths created in Pro Tools, however, require MBC

to be activated so they stay in time. Keep in mind
that any delay created that emulates analog delay
will get funky whenever you change tempos. Delay
signals naturally pitch shift (radically) when the
delay time changes in the middle of audio running
through it, and emulated delays are no different.
If this happens to you, you should consider using
a different effect, printing the effect prior to the
tempo change, or killing the send to the delay as
the tempo changes. Every situation is different, so
trust your ears.
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7 Mixing and Automation

More an art than a science, the process of mixing is one

of the most fun and most challenging in all of audio. The
sounds created and recorded have to balance to create
an emotional response that works with the nature of the
piece and keeps the listener engaged from the first note
to the last.
The mixer has to take the elements as they are on
“tape” and blend them like a master chef creating the
perfect meal. Beyond the obvious list of plug-ins, the
mixer’s greatest tools are imagination and a good ear.
This chapter will cover a few ideas and techniques to
make your mixes (and voice productions) stand out.

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A Word on Automation
When you talk about mixing, one thing truly makes mixes stand up and get noticed—automation. It’s
the process by which vocals can stay loudest in the mix, make parts instantly disappear and then
reappear one word later, or change the entire song into an AM radio sound. More than EQ or
compression, automation can make a mix sparkle and it can smooth out any inconsistencies.
If you own a control surface, such as the Command 8, Control 24, Pro Control, or ICON,
automation through the Automation modes (see Figure 7.1) is the most fun you can have
during mixing because you can touch the faders, as well as control the movement of more
than just the faders—and best of all, you can move more than one fader at a time! If you don’t
own a control surface, you’ll need to use the mouse and the Automation Playlist curves to
draw in automation (see Figure 7.2).

Figure 7.1
The Automation modes

It should go without saying that everything in Pro Tools

can be automated. Some of what you’ll see in this chapter
involves automating functions you might not be used to, such
as EQs, sends, and reverbs, as well as shortcuts to making
your mixes unique and exciting.

Figure 7.2
Automation Playlist for volume
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Levels, Bandwidth, and the Master Fader

Depending on your level of hardware, you might experience disappointment when you hear
your mix on CD as opposed to hearing it right out of the mix. There are several functions at
play during the mix process, including your hardware, DA converters, your levels, and your
Master Fader processing. Although most of the discussion in this tip is true for all DAWs, you
should experiment with the methods listed here to determine which works best for you.
A common theme in record production is loudness—how loud can you make it without distor-
tion? This is not necessarily the best approach, but it might be appropriate for the style of
music with which you are working. No matter what you choose to do on the Master Fader,
you should pay attention to all your faders and meters.
Q Master Fader meters in 24-bit sessions. You never want to see a clip because it means
you are over-processing or you’ve over-recorded. This can lead to distortion and just
plain poor sound. Pay extra attention to the Master Fader to make sure your levels are
under clip. A good target is to make sure that the Master Fader reads between –6 and
0 dB. (Figure 7.3 shows a Master Fader with good level. Notice that the yellow break
lines at the top indicate that the mix hits between 0 dB and –6 dB for a moment, also
indicating a dynamic mix.) This way, you can be sure you’re using all 24 bits of your
mix and getting the most dynamic range (or the loudest signal, whichever is desired)
without distorting or introducing extra quantization errors.

Figure 7.3
Master Fader
with full level

It’s a good idea to have the Master Fader’s volume indicator measure the peak value,
as shown in Figure 7.4, for the track, telling you what the highest signal was to ensure
that you hit the 6-dB range (or that you don’t peak).
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Figure 7.4
Peak measurement on the Master Fader

Q Level of the Master Fader. When there are clips on the Master Fader, most people drop
the Master Fader until the peak goes away. This is not the best maneuver, however,
because you might be curing the symptom but not the problem. The problem when
you peak the Master Fader is generally that you have too much signal in your mix.
Put simply, the mix is overly hot and is filling the Master Bus to overflowing. When you
lower the Master Fader, you lower the capacity on the Master Bus, not the amount of
signal going to it. Eventually, you might go beyond the 6-dB range (you lose one bit
every time your volume falls below –6 dB), shrinking your bit count and reducing the
image width, clarity, and dynamic range of the mix.
Unfortunately, a better method is not so easy. You need to lower the faders for all the
channels before the Master Fader. If you have automation, this is even more painful.
If you are submixing channels, then there is even more to do.
Activate the All Group and switch any track to the volume curve. Because the vertical
size of the track determines the accuracy of volume automation trimming, switch any
track to Large view. Using the Grabber tool, create breakpoint automation at the
beginning and end of the song. These two automation breakpoints will indicate the
bookends of the volume automation. Select the entire song, including these two new
points, and switch to the Trimmer tool. (Note that the Trimmer tool only performs one
task when the track shows automation—trimming the automation curve up or down—so
don’t bother distinguishing between the various Trimmer tools.) Lower the Volume
Automation Playlist for any track, which will lower the volume curve on all tracks pro-
portionally, as shown in Figure 7.5. Use small amounts at first to see if this alleviates
your problem.
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Figure 7.5
All Group lowering
the volume curves

You will notice a quieter mix because you also lowered the Master Fader. Deactivate
the All Group setting and adjust the volume curve on the Master Fader to be at 0 dB
again, as shown in Figure 7.6. Your mix should get louder again, but you might also
notice that the levels have changed among your tracks. Any tracks that are subgrouped
together should have the Aux track’s volume curve readjusted as well. You will need to
go through this process repeatedly until your mix sounds right; your Master Fader is at
0 dB; and the meter doesn’t hit 0, doesn’t peak, and sits within the 6-dB range. Expect
this to take a little while. It is a good idea to save your mix before attempting to adjust
the levels to make sure you know what you liked before you recognized the problem.

Figure 7.6
The Master fader readjusted to 0 dB
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Q Plug-ins on the Master Fader. Most people put lots of stuff on the Master Fader before
they put the song on CD and call it done. Most mastering engineers will not thank you
for this because it is their job and they have better tools to do it. It might sound better
now in your less-than-perfect listening environment, but when you go to master, you will
hear the third degree from the mastering engineer (unless you are very light-handed
about it…and most people aren’t)!
However, if you have a good Dither plug-in, you should use it if you intend to bounce
to disk at 16 bits for CD. If you are not aware of dither, it is a process that helps you
convert your 24-bit song to 16 bits with better clarity. If you don’t own a good third-
party Dither plug-in, use POW-r (which comes with Pro Tools). The three different dither
settings are used for different material. Sparser material should be run through type 1
and denser material should be run through type 3, as shown in Figure 7.7.

Figure 7.7
Dithering with POW-r

Q Printing versus bouncing. One of the biggest questions and debates in digital audio
and especially with in-the-box production systems such as Pro Tools is about summing.
Some feel that when you try to sum (add) all the tracks together in digital systems, you
simply run out of room at the Master Bus, with the audible result being a lack of clarity,
dynamic, and image. The earlier bulleted item about the level of the Master Fader is
one workaround to this solution, but for some that’s simply not enough. If you are one
of those people, I suggest you look at performing your mix through analog summing
as opposed to bouncing or printing. Following are three methods of finishing your mix
with differences in quality and operation; try them and see for yourself which works
best for you.
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Q Bounce to disk (see Figure 7.8). By far the simplest method, bouncing the mix is
the process of playing the mix as a whole and concurrently creating a stereo (or
dual mono) file for CD burning or file transferring. The biggest advantage of this
move is speed. Although this occurs in real time, so it takes as long as your song,
in the options you can choose the Convert during Bounce option, which takes a
24-bit mix and converts it to 16 live. The same goes for sample rate conversion.
However, one problem is that if you bounce the file to 16 bit for CD, you have to
re-bounce it to 24 bit for mastering, doubling your workload. The biggest down-
side to this method is that the conversion, while real time, might introduce audible
artifacts and give you a smaller-sounding mix. Choose this method for convenience
and speed only.

Figure 7.8
The Bounce dialog box

Q Record to tracks. By bussing all the tracks to a single stereo audio track and
recording the mix (shown in Figure 7.9), you avoid any unwanted conversion
noise during bouncing and you simultaneously create your 24-bit file for mastering.
Keep in mind that the file is 24 bits but two tracks—left and right. You will need to
drag both out of your Audio Files folder to bring them to mastering. You can
export the file (Shift+CMD+K) to 16 bit for a reference CD, preserving the quality
of the 24 bit for the mastering engineer. This is preferable to bouncing to disk for
quality, but it can be a real hassle to set up and it doesn’t avoid the summing
issue. There simply might be too much information for the stereo bus and the mix
might sound crunched in the end anyway.
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Figure 7.9
Multiple tracks routed to a single stereo track

Q Analog summing. In this situation, you’ll need an analog line mixer with a clean
signal path. Several companies make them, and some of them are specifically
designed for this purpose. Instead of relying on Pro Tools and your hardware and
software limitations, route all your tracks out separate outputs to the line mixer
instead of the Master Bus. This removes the Master Bus logjam and can keep your
sound quality at its highest. If you can’t afford 24 to 48 tracks of console, a sim-
ple 8-channel mixer might suffice. In this case, subgroup your tracks into clusters
(rhythm sections, guitars and pianos, lead vox and effects, and so on). Re-route
the output of the mixer back into Pro Tools and record the mix to a stereo track.
You will then have a clean, analog-summed mix printed at 24 bits for mastering.
You will need to export the reference for CD, but you maintain the quality and
avoid artifacts generated by bouncing. However, you are performing two extra
conversions between the digital and analog domains, and this can also affect
your sound. You might notice a change (or lack) of color in your mix that may
prove to be unacceptable—or exceptional. The quality here depends on both your
Pro Tools interface (DA and AD conversion) and your line mixer.
As you can see, there are just as many decisions to make at the final stage of your mix as there
are during it. The best thing to do is experiment with the various options at the Master Fader to
determine which is best. Personally, I always keep my Master Fader meter between –6 and 0
dB, and I constantly adjust the channel faders to keep it there. I don’t usually put much on the
Master Fader—I leave that for the mastering engineer. I also don’t generally analog sum my
mixes, but occasionally I get requests to run the whole mix through a colorful compressor in
the analog world. More often than not, though, I print the mix and then export to CD.
Again, experiment to see which method works best for you.
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When to Use the Various Automation Modes

There are five automation modes (review Figure 7.1) that allow you to interact with the
parameters you want to automate and that give you different options for how you interact.
Q Auto-Off. When you turn the automation mode off, you temporarily bypass all
automation written to the track. This is by far the smartest way to audition the channel
at a different setting than is currently automated. For example, when the producer
wants to listen to the song without the lead vocal, but the lead is automated to always
play, temporarily set the lead vox to Auto-Off. Now, when you mute the track, it will
stay muted.
Q Auto-Read. This is the default mode for all tracks. It basically means that any automation
written to the track will play back. In fact, it will always play back the automation until
you choose a different mode.
Q Auto-Write. This mode is dangerous because it creates new automation on everything
that can be automated on the track from the moment you hit play to the moment you
hit stop. Don’t use this mode if you only want to adjust one parameter! Use this mode
when you want to write a blank-pass across the track from start to finish or you want to
erase automation parameters for sections of a song (or the whole thing).
Q Auto-Touch. Touch mode writes new automation from the moment the parameter is
touched (clicked on) until it is released. This is the best mode to use for quick updates,
such as increasing the volume for one word that got swallowed by the guitars.
Q Auto-Latch. Latch mode starts when you touch the parameter but keeps writing automa-
tion until you hit stop. This is great for adjusting the parameter for a section while keep-
ing your hands free to do another move. It is also good to let go of the parameter and
keep automating, removing the probability of writing a jittery curve (because you’d
have to hold the mouse to keep the automation writing with Auto-Touch). Of course, it
could just be the second cup of coffee kicking in.

Keeping Organized by Colors

New to version 6.7 is a color palette, as shown in Figure 7.10. You can now color-coordinate
tracks and groups (my wife likes that!) to visually help you tell what’s occurring. During the
mix stage, it is a good idea to determine which colors best represent which instruments and
label all related tracks and groups that color.

Figure 7.10
Color palette
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For example, you might start your mix with drums, a drum sub-mix, a drum reverb, and a
drum group. Within these, you might have groups such as toms, kick snare hat, and OH and
room. If your color is orange, then the drum tracks all get orange—the sub-mix gets dark
orange, the reverb gets light orange, and the groups all get dark orange. That way, if
they’re orange, you can tell that they’re drums.

Keeping the Edit and Mix Windows Linked

If you’re like me, you do most of your mixing in the Edit window with automation, but most of
your processing in the Mix window with inserts and sends. Constantly jumping back and forth
is fine (especially if you have two monitors), but with high track counts you might find it
annoying to be at the top of your Edit window on one screen and the bottom of the Mix
window on the other.
By Control-clicking the Channel Select in either the Mix or Edit window, you will link the two
together for that track (see Figure 7.11). That way, when you switch from the Edit window to
the Mix window, you will always have the linked track in your view.

Figure 7.11
The Mix and Edit
windows linked

Creating Drum Punctuations

Often it’s the kick, but it could be the snare. Maybe it’s the toms or maybe it’s the hi-hat, but
one thing is for sure: Somewhere in the song, one of your drum tracks will get buried at the
big hit moment, and you’ll want to punctuate the moment with a temporary increase in level.
If you’re going to use the mouse, simply select the kick hit (or snare, and so on) and switch
to the Volume Automation Playlist. Figure 7.12 shows a kick drum Volume Playlist that is flat
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throughout. Switch to the Trimmer and trim the volume slightly higher. The Trimmer increases
or decreases the volume curve across the entire track, between automation breakpoints, or
across the selected section only. Keep in mind that the Trimmer will change automation values
in different increments based on the vertical size of the track—the larger the track, the more
accurate the volume change. Figure 7.13 shows the first kick hit punctuated after trimming the
volume upward.
Note that holding CMD while trimming will allow you to change the curve by finer amounts.
Repeat this process wherever the sound requires a moment of punctuation.

Figure 7.12
Kick drum volume curve flat at the big hit

Keeping Automation Curves Clean

An unfortunate byproduct of trimming volume curves (or any curves) in sections is that the
volume curve is actually a square wave, as shown in Figure 7.13. There are vertical lines
representing the change in volume at the corners of the curve, but sound doesn’t work that
way; it needs time to “ramp up.” In synthesis terms, this is called the attack of the sound.
The audible byproduct of this square wave is usually an unacceptable click. The click will
only occur if the square wave occurs over actual audio, not between the audio. If the square
wave occurs over audio and you notice a click, you can remove the clicking by adjusting the
corners slightly inward, creating a slight angle to the square wave, as seen in Figure 7.14.
Even a sample’s indentation will remove the click; as long as there is some angle to the
square wave, there will be no clicking.
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Figure 7.13
Kick drum curve trimmed for the big hit using the Trimmer

Figure 7.14
The square wave after adjusting the corners

De-Breathing Naturally
As you saw in the “Stripping Vocals” tip in Chapter 4, you can edit vocals to provide a cleaner
vocal audio. But voice can be unnatural when all the breaths are removed this way. A better
way to de-breath vocals is to leave some of the breaths intact, but much quieter than the rest.
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For breaths between sentences, editing is fine because no one wants to hear the talent take a
deep breath before the next big sentence. However, no one believes that anyone can read
20 pages of copy without a single breath!
For the breaths in the middle of a sentence, try dropping the volume automation curve by
about –20 dB instead of editing. Using the Selector tool in Slip mode, select a breath and
switch to the volume curve. Switch to the Trimmer and drop the volume until the volume curve
reads –20db. You could accomplish the same thing with the Grabber tool by clicking the two
edges of the selection, and then dragging from between the two breakpoints down –20. If
you use the Trimmer, be sure to adjust the corners to create a slight angle to the curve to
remove the click potential, as shown in Figure 7.15.

Figure 7.15
The Vocal track with the breaths dropped –20 dB

Auto-Pan (the Reincarnation of the Pan Scan)

Back in the old days, there was a box called the Pan Scan, whose job it was to take a single
mono signal and pan it back and forth across stereo speakers at a set rate. It was kind of like
a Pong bar stuck in up-down cycle.
With Pro Tools, you can simply draw the Automation Playlist for pan in the shape you want,
and you have instant pan scan. I like the triangle curve because it keeps the cycling even.
Experiment with different shapes to get the panning effect you want.
For music set to the grid, switch to Grid mode and set your grid resolution to the desired pan
rate. Choose the pencil shape desired (see Figure 7.16 for the list of pencil shapes) and click-
drag to the right over the length of time where you desire panning. Dragging to the right will
extend the length of time and dragging up and down will extend the width of the pan, as
shown in Figure 7.17, after using the triangle pencil.
Note: You can use the Pencil tool in this manner for all kinds of different effects. Try using it
on volume with guitars to emulate a vibrato sound for blues!
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Figure 7.16
The various pencil shapes

Figure 7.17
The pan automated at quarter-note resolution with the triangle pencil

DJ Filtering without a DJ Mixer

Almost every DJ on the planet knows how to crank the EQ knob or filter knob on the mixer
and make the track sound super thin (removing all the bass) or super dark (removing all the
treble). The trick isn’t necessarily that simple in Pro Tools; however, it just requires a little
automation and the right plug-in.
Q Frequency only. Although it’s not pretty, Digidesign’s one-band EQ works, and it’s in
every Pro Tools system. If you simply need to make an idea for someone else to recreate
with a better EQ, this will do just fine. First, decide whether you are filtering out the
treble or the bass and choose the most appropriate filter. The high-pass and low-pass
filters are shown in Figures 7.18 (high-pass) and 7.19 (low-pass).
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Figure 7.18
High-pass filter

Figure 7.19
Low-pass filter

Set the frequency to be automated by choosing Auto from the plug-in itself. This presents
a list of parameters you can automate, as seen in Figure 7.20; you should add the filter
frequency. After you are finished, you will notice that you have an Automation Playlist
available for the frequency.
You can automate the filter move with the mouse using one of the automation modes
or you can draw the desired curve using the Pencil tool, as shown in Figure 7.21.
Keep in mind that you can make very accurate automation lines (or curves) by choosing
different-shaped lines with the Pencil tool, depending on the move desired.
Q Peak adjustment. The peak is similar to the resonance parameter found on almost every
synth. Automate the filter frequency as you did previously, but in addition, adjust the
peak upward to give more bite to the filter. The idea here is that the frequency deter-
mines the point of filtration called the cutoff frequency (all sounds above this point are
removed), and the peak adds more of the cutoff frequency. This really emphasizes the
effect of the filter sweep and “points” the sweep frequency for more distinct sounds.
Note: Any EQ or filter will work for this move as long as it has the filter frequency
(cutoff) and the peak adjustment.
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Figure 7.20
The Automation Enable
parameter list

Figure 7.21
The Automation Playlist for filter frequency with a curve drawn with the free pencil

Fast Synth Automation (or Any Plug-In)

I use the synth as the example here because classically, synths have more parameters to
automate than almost any other plug-in out there. Because there are so many to automate,
it’s nice to find a quick way to get to just the desired parameter for automation.
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Normally, you would have to hit the Auto button on the synth to bring up the Automation
Enable list and sort through the various parameters (see Figure 7.22) until you find what you
are looking for. This is a tedious and error-prone process. (You might accidentally add the
wrong parameter, have to remove it, and then have to search again for the right one.)

Figure 7.22
Access Virus Indigo’s
Automation Enable list (partial)

Position the cursor over the desired parameter and CMD+Option+Control-click the parameter.
You will see a short pop-up list allowing you to add this parameter to the Automation Enable
list, as seen in Figure 7.23. After you choose to enable automation for this parameter, the
same methods still apply—either write in the move with the mouse using an automation mode
or draw in the curve using the Pencil tool.

Figure 7.23
Virus Indigo shortcut to Automation Enable parameter

You can also choose to go to the full Automation Enable list, but why bother?

The John Bonham Special

The list of possible effects is probably infinite, but this particular example of automation is
very ear-catching and extremely cool (in one man’s opinion, of course). I call it “Phasers on
Stun” or “The John Bonham Effect”—it’s what happens when the drums run through a phaser
like the end of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir.”
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Insert your favorite phaser plug-in on the drum sub-mix Aux input and set the parameters to
your favorite ‘70s flavor. I strongly suggest you subgroup multiple drum tracks to a single
Aux track to pull this off. If you don’t, you run the risk of developing Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
or a mental breakdown by trying to insert and copy the automation move across multiple
tracks!
After the plug is inserted, set the mix to 100% Dry and adjust for any sample delay that exists.
Enable automation on the Mix parameter. (CMD+Option+Control-click the Mix parameter
knob.) When it’s time for the Bonham séance, automate the mix to increase to 100% Wet
over the desired length of time, as shown in Figure 7.24.

Figure 7.24
Automation of mix of drum
sub-mix on the Phaser effect

If you’ve set all your other parameters to the desired effect, then as you increase the mix,
you’ll get phased drums for the length of time at which the mix is 100% Wet. You’ll also get
the sneaking suspicion that your lava lamps need dusting and you’ll develop a desire to wear
orange and brown together with red sunglasses. Don’t do it! Unless it’s Halloween or ‘70s
night with your significant other….

Reggae Reverb Explosions

A favorite among reggae and dub producers is the occasional explosion of reverb on the
snare or timbale track. Delay works here too, so just replace reverb with delay as you
choose. (Use both for more dramatic effects.)
As you saw in the “Reverb-Only Setups (Instant Distant)” tip in Chapter 6, the best way to cre-
ate a reverb configuration is with the dry audio track and an Aux input that holds the Reverb
plug-in, as shown in Figure 7.25. Create an Aux input and insert your favorite reverb. Set the
input to a bus called “Reverb Explosions.” Create a send on the snare track that is assigned
to Reverb Explosions.
As the moments arise demanding the snare reverb explosion, automate the send to increase
to the desired level by either adjusting the send fader with the automation modes or drawing
the move in with the Pencil tool, as shown in Figure 7.26. It’s a good idea to ensure that there
are no vertical automation curves or that they occur slightly before the snare sound so there is
no clicking. Also, ensure that the send curve is drawn down to nothing before the next snare
hit to avoid accidentally getting too many snare explosions.
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Figure 7.25
Standard send-return configuration with snare and reverb

Figure 7.26
Automation of the send to the Reverb Explosions Aux input

Automating the Whole Mix

I get a lot of requests to make the entire song flow through an AM radio effect, as if the song
decided to find its way onto the other end of a phone call. It might not be obvious, but you
can bet that I’m not going to insert an EQ on every track and automate each one! You can
also bet that I’m not going to insert the EQ on every track and copy the move from track 1 to
track 2, and so on! What am I going to do, you ask? Simple—automate the Master Fader!
If you read “DJ Filtering without a DJ Mixer” earlier in this chapter and “The AM Radio
Effect” in Chapter 6, then you already have a sense of what to do. Insert your favorite EQ or
filter on the Master Fader. For a true AM radio effect, you might need a combination of filters
(high- and low-pass) and a parametric EQ. After you’ve set the AM radio effect to your liking,
you have two ways to create the automation: bypass or parameter automation.
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Q Bypass automation
1. Set the AM effect to your liking and enable automation for the bypass.
2. Automate the effect to be bypassed for the majority of the song, until the effect is
called for.
3. Display the Automation Playlist for the bypass, select the length of time desired,
and switch to the Trimmer.
4. Use the Trimmer to change the curve to reflect the deactivation of the bypass for
the selection (so the effect is now active), as shown in Figure 7.27, and then listen.
You should find the whole song switching to the AM radio sound for the desired
length of time. You might also find some audible clicks as the bypass activates
and deactivates. This is due to the vertical lines drawn when automating bypass,
which are unavoidable. If clicks occur, either adjust the timing of the automation
or try the parameter automation method that follows.

Figure 7.27
The Master Fader with EQ inserted and bypass automation for filters

Q Parameter automation
1. Because you might experience clicking using the bypass method, enable automa-
tion for the parameters required for the effect—probably filter frequency (high-
and low-pass) and the gain for the parametric EQ, as shown in Figure 7.28.

Figure 7.28
Three parameters
able to be
automated

2. When it’s time for the AM radio effect, draw in curves that reflect the parameters
shifting to the AM radio settings. Be sure to draw the curves steeply if you want
the effect to seem instantaneous. It might be wise to write down the settings, and
then draw in curves to those settings.
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Exit Stage Left

A fun way to end a song involves the piano drifting off into the ether, slowly getting farther
back and wetter as she goes. The move makes it sound as if the piano is being wheeled off
with the player still attached—I call it “Exit Stage Left.” It doesn’t have to be piano, though—
you could pull this move on any sound that you want to fade into the distance before the
song fades down.
The secret is to set up a similar chain to the one found in the “Reverb-Only Setups (Instant
Distant)” tip in Chapter 6.
1. Create an Aux input and insert the reverb on it. Set the input to a bus called “Reverb
Send.”
2. On the piano track, create a send set to Pre-Fader and assign it to the bus “Reverb
Send.”
3. Near the end of the song, as the song fades out leaving only the piano, slowly auto-
mate the piano fader down, as shown in Figure 7.29. This will drop the signal of the
dry piano, but leave the pre-fader send going to the reverb channel, making it seem
as if the piano fades into the distance.

Figure 7.29
Pre-fader reverb
configuration and
automation during
Exit Stage Left

4. Lastly, just as the sound gets to be reverb only, automate the pan to slide to the left.
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Fast Session Merging

You may have to explore many different mix ideas to satisfy the client. This can make life hard
if you keep working in one session, constantly saving and having to backtrack to choose a
different mix idea. If you turned on the Auto-Save function, you might be in luck, but you
might also find that you only have the last 20 minutes of work saved, not the last two hours.
You might want to save a few versions of the mix as you go. Instead of calling these versions
simply “#11” or “Thursday Afternoon,” keep the title in line with the quality of the mix, as
shown in Figure 7.30. For example, your first one should be called “Raw Track.” This should
tell you that you’ve done nothing to the song. If the producer ever wants to go back to the
dead beginning, this is it.
Another good idea is to save one called “Rough Levels” for the state with no inserts, but
good relative fader levels—a starting point. That way, instead of having to go all the way
back to the beginning, you can simply start from the point of first inspiration. If you take a
path that stops working, save the session as “Guitar Edit 1-DNU” (Do Not Use) so you know
what the idea was and that it didn’t work. That will keep the producer from going in circles.
As you go, you might like two different mix directions at once—beefier drum ideas mixed with
crisper vocal ideas. If they live on two different sessions, such as “Beefy Drums” and “Hot
Vox,” then you’ll want to merge them into one master session. Remember your Import Session
Data window? (See the “Switching Songs” tip in Chapter 2 and the “Importing Session Data”
tip from Chapter 3.) Create a new session called “Merged Drum and Vox Mix” and import
the session data—drums from “Beefy Drums” and everybody else from “Hot Vox.” You now
have a blend of two great mix ideas in one master session!
In this situation, while it is cleaner to import the tracks from one session on top of the tracks cur-
rently in the session, you can import the tracks to new playlists and simply mute the old tracks
to quickly A/B the two mixes to see which you really like better. It might be wise to group the
tracks (both original and newly imported), and then mute them as a group when you audition
mix idea 1 (original tracks active) versus mix idea 2 (newly imported tracks active).

Figure 7.30
A list of Pro Tools Mix titles
denoting the mix characteristics
}
8 Working with Picture
and Surround
As the price of digital production tools decreases, more
people have access to equipment that enables more
productions. However, access to the tools and knowing
the best way to use them are not always the same things!
Two high-end subjects, post-production (working with
picture) and 5.1 surround sound, are approached here
to give you a leg up when you are working in these two
fields.
Although both fields are generally best served with
TDM rigs, post can be approached with LE systems.
5.1 surround, however, is reserved for TDM rigs
because the LE systems simply don’t support it without
other hardware, such as 5.1 consoles. This chapter will
cover how to work more quickly and intelligently in these
two fields using Pro Tools, in the hope that you can avoid
some potentially damaging mistakes as well as provide
your clients with better work, faster!

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Setting Up the Picture Session

One of the most important steps in working with picture is the setup. Most professional video
and film post-production studios have a dedicated hardware device to play the video, but for
most project studios, the picture will be digitized into the QuickTime format.
You can import any QuickTime video file into Pro Tools by choosing Movie > Import Movie,
as shown in Figure 8.1. After it is in, you can do a few things to make sure you’ve set up the
session correctly.

Figure 8.1
The Movie menu

Q Set the start time. When you work with picture, it’s a good practice to set the session
start to before one hour in timecode. Most synchronization sessions like this hate to
cross midnight (00:00:00.000), so it has become standard practice to set up to start
the session at one hour. If you own an LE system that doesn’t support timecode, consider
purchasing Digidesign’s DV toolkit to get that support.
Set the session to start somewhere before one hour, preferably a full minute (or more)
before. Choose Windows > Session Setup Window (CMD+2) and click in the Session
Start Time window, as shown in Figure 8.2. Type in the numbers for the desired start
time and hit Enter. If you don’t know when to start the session, ask the supervising
sound editor. If there is no supervising sound editor, go with something safe, such as
59:00.000 (59 minutes).

Figure 8.2
Session Setup
window with
Start time set
to 2 pop
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Q What happens when you change the start time? If you are importing a movie against a
preexisting session (such as an OMF delivered from Final Cut Pro), then it is entirely
likely that when you change your starting time, Pro Tools will want to know what your
intention is, as shown in Figure 8.3—keep everything where it is, only change the time-
code (Maintain Relative Timecode), or move everything to the new start time (Maintain
Absolute Timecode). Generally, you will choose to maintain the relative timecode,
leaving everything where it is and simply changing the start to your entered timecode.

Figure 8.3
Maintaining the
relative timecode
window

Q Create and line up the 2 pop. When working with picture, everything starts at the 2
pop. This is the moment two seconds before the show starts (generally 01:00:00.000).
There generally will be a beeping sound in the session to line up to. If there is, it should
be spotted to 59:58.000, as shown in Figure 8.4. If it isn’t, you’ll need to move the
entire session so it lines up. Activate the All Group and select the entire the session
(CMD+A). Switch to the Grabber tool and drag the 2 pop until it lines up to
59:58.000. The entire session will move with it, and your files will be lined up to the
proper timecode.

Figure 8.4
Two-pop audio at 59:58.000
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Q Spot the picture. On importing the movie, Pro Tools will create a new movie track to
house the picture, and frame clips will be visible in the Edit window. However, Pro
Tools will want to spot the picture to the beginning of the session. This may or may not
be the proper location. Often, the session will be pre-configured to start at one hour,
while the picture might be set up to start 10 seconds or more beforehand.
If you don’t know when the picture is supposed to start, but there is a 2-pop frame,
you’ll need to mark the 2 pop on the picture track and spot it to 59:58.000.
Set your Nudge value to the timecode (one frame resolution, shown in Figure 8.5) and
position the cursor at the beginning of the movie file. Hold down the + key until the
picture flashes with the 2 pop. It is generally seen as a black frame with a white hole
in the middle (or the number 2, as seen in old movies). Go back and forth by nudging,
using the + and – keys until your cursor is parked on the 2-pop frame. Create a sync
point by choosing Edit > Create Sync Point (CMD+,). Now, switch to the Grabber tool
and Spot mode, as shown in Figure 8.6. Click on the movie file, bringing up the Spot
Dialog box. Type 59:58.000 in the Sync Point field. Back up a few seconds and hit
play to verify the spotting of the picture. You should see the 2 pop frame as you hear
the 2 pop.

Figure 8.5
The Nudge value set to 1 frame

Figure 8.6
The Spot Dialog box with 2-pop frame
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Working with Sound Effects Libraries and Catalogs

Within the Workspace is a folder called Catalogs, shown in Figure 8.7, in which you can
store aliases to all your favorite and much-used audio. Creating a catalog is easy and generally
dependent on your searching (and labeling) skills with audio. If you always search for gunshots,
create a catalog of gunshots so you’ll never have to search again!

Figure 8.7
The Workspace Catalogs list

First, conduct a search for gunshots, like the one in Figure 8.8. You can widen your search by
typing “g*n.” In this case, any file with the letters “g” and “n” separated by one letter will
show up (gun, guns, gunshots, gin, began, and so on), as shown in Figure 8.9. This might
result in a results list that is too wide, so use trial and error to hone your searching skills. After
your search list is complete, you can select all the files found and choose Workspace > Create
Catalog from Selected. Now whenever you need gunshot sounds, simply locate the catalog
subfolder called Gunshots (see Figure 8.10), and you’ll find all your favorites!

Figure 8.8
Search results for
“gunshots”
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Figure 8.9
Search results
for “g*n”

Figure 8.10
Catalog of
gunshots
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Movies Playing out to TVs

When digital movies are created in the .DV (digital video) format, they can play as digital
information directly out of the computer’s FireWire port (IEEE 1394). With proper hardware,
you can convert this FireWire signal to NTSC video and connect directly to a TV. This is
tremendously valuable because the video can take up serious RAM and screen space when
played directly on the computer monitor.
Pro Tools began supporting playing QuickTime movies in the .DV format through the FireWire
port with version 6.0. Prior to this version, third-party software was required to play the
movie out to a regular television. Now, simply choose Movie > Play Movie out FireWire Port,
as shown in Figure 8.11, and Pro Tools will look for FireWire hardware, routing the movie out
the FireWire port to your converter and to your TV.

Figure 8.11
The Play Movie out FireWire Port menu option

This process does not happen in real time, however. There is a small delay involved, but you
can compensate for it by choosing Movie > Set Movie Sync Offset. Generally, this offset will
be around 22 quarter frames, but you should check in the converter box manual to determine
exactly how many frames are necessary.

Working with Music and VO

It is common in video post-production for the VO to be the most important performance, with
intelligibility and clarity of the dialogue as the focus of the piece. However, music and sound
effects often come along to boost the energy and feel of the piece. So where do you balance
the energy of the music and sound effects against the volume of the VO?
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A common trick in these situations is to work with volume automation to create a “ducking” of
the music and effects under dialogue when the VO starts. Generally, the music (probably a
stereo file) will duck by 20 dB under the VO, but if it ducks too quickly or too early, it will feel
empty for a moment (which is unacceptable). If it ducks too late, intelligibility of the first word
might get lost (which is really unacceptable).
Line up the VO track against the music track and set the music track to the Volume Automation
Playlist. Zoom in if necessary, but look at the curve of the music volume and draw (or auto-
mate with the mouse and modes) the curve to start just as the VO starts, as shown in Figure
8.12. It should sound like the VO forces the music downward, emphasizing the crispness of
the first word and making the music dip natural.

Figure 8.12
Automation curve on a music track

Helpful Hints for Final Cut Pro Users: Scott Hirsch, Pyramind
Scott Hirsch is one of the other Certified Pro Tools Instructors in San Francisco, and he teach-
es the Pro Tools Operator Certification series for Pyramind. He is a film post-production audio
engineer and a member of the group “The Court and Spark.” Following are his tips for Pro
Tools users working with Final Cut Pro.
1. OMF has an internal limit of 2 GB. This translates into roughly six tracks of mono
16-bit audio, each an hour long. (A 16-bit mono audio clip is roughly 5 MB per minute.)
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If your total audio is bigger than that, use ins and outs to break your sequence into
sections and export each section as its own OMF file.
a. Create your sequence. Place a 2 pop (one frame of tone matched with a frame of
color bars) two seconds before and after your sequence. You will use this later to
make sure everything came into Pro Tools and maintained sync.
b. Levels and transitions do not get copied into the OMF from FCP, so don’t spend
too much time on them unless it is necessary to have a version of a complicated
mix to reference. If this is the case, then a useful tip is to export the bounced FCP
audio clip onto the video reference movie. Then, the Pro Tools editor can bring
the stereo reference mix from FCP onto a track in Pro Tools by choosing Movie >
Import Audio from Other Movie, as shown in Figure 8.13.

Figure 8.13
The Import Audio from Other Movie menu option

2. In Final Cut, choose File > Export > Audio to OMF.

a. Because Final Cut supports bit depths of 12 and 8, be careful what you choose
for your settings. Ask your supervising sound editor what the preferred audio
specs are; if there aren’t any, ask the Pro Tools editor what is preferred.
b. Choose a handle length of five seconds (or more) so the Pro Tools editor has
some cross-fade room.
c. Choosing to include cross-fade transitions from the FCP OMF Export window can
throw your files out of sync by leaving gaps in your sequence that get shuffled
together, like a ripple edit. Although this is supposedly fixed in version 3, it is
safest to leave this option unchecked.

Pro Tools and Film Mixing: Dave Nelson, Outpost/Pyramind

Dave Nelson is dedicated to independent films. He has worked on hundreds of independent
films, including Lost in Translation with Sofia Coppola. He also teaches film sound at the
University of California, Monterey; San Francisco State University; and Pyramind. Dave gives
advice for both Final Cut Pro users and the Pro Tools mixers who work with them.
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Q Final Cut Pro users

Q Because FCP doesn’t export volume automation, keep all FCP volume moves to a
minimum, or at least very rough. Because you’ll be exporting the OMF to Pro Tools
for audio mixing, anything you do will need to be recreated in Pro Tools, so don’t
waste your time. If you like what you’ve done, you can export a reference mix with
the OMF, but you might never use it—so again, you might be wasting your time.
Q When exporting the OMF, choose an OMF with embedded audio. When the Pro
Tools mixer unpacks the OMF, he will most likely choose to copy the audio to
new files anyway. Then, you can toss the OMF (unless you’re paranoid and you
worry about losing the Pro Tools drive and the original OMF).
Q Deselect the Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right option when you unpack
the OMF (see Figure 8.14). Because most tracks coming from FCP are dialogue,
having them panned left and right makes more work later when you re-pan the
dialogue to the center.

Figure 8.14
The Pan Tracks option deselected in the Import Session Data window
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Q If you don’t know how to create a 2-pop frame in your picture, at least set your show
to start at 01:00:00.000. If you can’t do that either, then create a reference mix with
your QuickTime picture export. When the Pro Tools mixer imports the OMF, he will
most likely re-conform the session to start at 01:00:00.000. If there’s no visual 2 pop
and no audio 2 pop, then the Pro Tools mixer can reference the exported reference
mix to line up the OMF tracks and the picture.
Q If the Pro Tools session was re-conformed to 01:00:00.000 and that timecode doesn’t
line up to the Final Cut session, bounce the mix starting from 59:58.000. When you
deliver it to the Final Cut Pro editor, he need only line up the mix to two seconds
before the show start to ensure sync between FCP and PT.
Q Organizing Pro Tools
Q Once you unpack the OMF into Pro Tools, reorganize the tracks to your liking,
but be sure to rename the tracks intelligently. If a track is related to dialogue, call
it “dialogue,” not “D.” In film, as in music, several Pro Tools mixers and sound
designers might work on the session. In large facilities many people work on the
session, so the more organized the session, the better.
Q In film, most audio boils down to three types, known as stems—dialogue, music,
and effects. Create stereo (or 5.1) Aux inputs as subgroup masters and position
them at the head of the session. Set their inputs chronologically from 1/2 for
dialogue, 3/4 for music, and 5/6 for effects.
Q Contrary to the “Using Template I/O Settings” tip in Chapter 1, Dave never labels
the I/O buses. For him, the time spent takes away from valuable mixing time, and
if the buses aren’t labeled well, the next Pro Tools mixer may not be appreciative.
If you do label the buses, keep it very obvious what the bus leads to.

Quick Spotting Techniques

First, a quick review of the “Aligning Tracks” tip from Chapter 4:
Q Control-drag. When you drag in audio from the bin, you can quickly spot the region to
the cursor location by Control-dragging the region from the bin. If you have marked
the SFX location with the cursor, simply hold Control while dragging from the bin, and
the file will lock to that timecode only. Remember to nudge the position of the cursor
(along with the movie) by clicking the + and – keys. After you’re spot-on (ha!),
perform the Control-drag and move on to the next sound.
Q Control+Shift-drag. This one works just like the Control-drag, except that it lines up the
Sync Point to your location upon dragging from the bin. If your file has no Sync Point,
Pro Tools assumes that the Sync Point is the start point. In this case, the process is
exactly like the Control-drag.
Q CMD+Control-drag. This will line up the ends of the regions upon dragging from the bin.
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Q Aligning regions. The functionality of the above three dragging methods works exactly
the same for audio already on the tracks. To line up the beginnings of two regions,
place the cursor at the beginning of the desired location and Control-click the second
region. Use Shift+Control-click on the second region to line up the Sync Point to the
beginning of the first region. If you want to line up the two Sync Points, first position
the cursor at the first region’s Sync Point, and then Shift+Control-click the second
region. To line up the ends, position the cursor at the end of the first region and
CMD+Control-click on the second region.
Q Replacing regions. If you’ve used a particular SFX throughout the movie and the
producer no longer likes it, you will be most upset if you have to find every usage of
the region and replace it by hand. This file might be spread across several tracks and
several scenes, so finding the usages is no fun, nor is replacing them.

You really only need to find one instance of the region, and Pro Tools will allow you to
replace all instances in one move. Highlight the region to be replaced and Apple-drag the
new region on top of the old one. This will bring up the Replace Region dialog box.
Depending on your situation, you have a few options.
Q Replace Region versus Replace All Regions that Matchh Original. Simply put, one
replaces the one instance of the original region, and the other finds all regions that
match and replaces them all. The only caveat is if an instance of the original region is
even slightly altered from its original state, then that instance will not be replaced.
(Remember that it will take on a new name with the edit number, such as audio-05.)
Q Match. This is only available when the second previous option is selected. You can
choose Start Position, End Position, or Region Name as the determining factor for
replacement, as shown in Figure 8.15.

Figure 8.15
The Replace Region dialog box
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Q Find Match On. After it is determined that a region matches the description for
replacement, you choose to replace all instances throughout the song or only on the
one track. For a snare drum, it is likely that you’d choose the former, but in SFX sessions,
for example, gunshots (or the like) could be spread across many tracks throughout
scenes. For this situation, choose All Tracks.
Q Fit To. This option is slightly more complex. After Pro Tools has determined a match,
the three options here (Original Length, Original Selection Length, or Replacement
Length) will determine exactly how the region is replaced. For timing-specific events,
such as SFX, you will most likely choose to fit to either original length or original
selection length, but for the snare drum situation, you’ll most likely choose the replace-
ment region length option.

In the aforementioned situation, be sure to check the All Tracks option in the Find Match On
section. Pro Tools will seek out the many instances of the bad region and replace them with
the good one!

Tempo Shifts in Pro Tools

Long a point of contention for film-style composers, Pro Tools never quite worked right when
you tried to create smooth tempo shifts that matched picture. A Pro Tools composer would
have to program micro tempo shifts every eighth note to trick the ear into thinking that the
tempo was increasing. Even this was challenging because you would sometimes also need to
program measures of 1|8 at every tempo shift to keep the bar|beat count accurate too!
Pro Tools now provides two ways to create variations in tempo—by using the Pencil tool on the
Tempo Ruler and by using Tempo Operations.
Q Pencil tool. The simplest method to create variations in tempo is to open the Tempo
Ruler by clicking on the arrow next to it. Switch to the Pencil tool (click and hold on the
Pencil), choose the curve you want to use to shift the tempo, and simply draw in the
tempo shift, as shown in Figure 8.16.

Figure 8.16
The Tempo Ruler exposed with hand-drawn tempo shifts
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Keep in mind that when scoring to picture, you should be conscious of the location of
the one. For certain scenes, there might only be enough time for one beat, or even
one eighth note. In this situation, it might be simpler to create a single measure of 1|8
meter to fill the space. You could also add an eighth note to the meter before the
break, so instead of a measure of 4|4, you end up with one of 9|8 (4|4 with an
extra eighth note).
Q Tempo Operations. For very specific tempo maneuvers, using the Tempo Operations
and entering the data might simply be faster. You will find a tempo shift set of curves
and options when you choose MIDI > Tempo Operations, as shown in Figure 8.17,
each of which has an advanced mode that allows you to let Pro Tools calculate the
shift. Simply choose your curve of choice and enter the data, and your tempo will
change as desired.

Figure 8.17
Tempo Operation curves

The available curves include

Q Constant. This sets a static tempo for a length of time. If you want the chorus to be
at 122 bpm from measures 33 through 41, simply type it in and you’re done.
Q Linear. Tempo will increase steadily (linearly) from location 1 to location 2.
This is nice if you know the tempo at the beginning and the end of the gap,
but not between.
Q Parabolic. More advanced than the others, this option allows you to tell Pro Tools
to either conform to or calculate the tempo according to a user-defined curve.
(The calculate option is for advanced users.) Drag the Curvature slider to adjust
the slope of the curve. Positive numbers will be concave, and negative numbers
will be convex.
Q S-curve. Similar to the parabolic curve, the S-curve tempo shift allows you to set
the midpoint at which the curve switches from convex to concave (and vice versa
with positive curvature numbers).
Q Scale. Very simply put, you can enter a percentage and Pro Tools will change the
tempo within the selected range to a percentage of the original.
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Note: All the Tempo Operations have a Preserve Tempo after Selection button which, when
checked, will change the tempo of the piece back to the original tempo before the selection
where the tempo was changed. If tempo starts at 120, changes parabolically to 135 at meas-
ures 17 through 22, and this button is selected, the tempo will return to 120 at measure 23.

5.1 Surround in Pro Tools (TDM)

One of the last remaining frontiers in audio production is surround sound. Many experiments
have been tried in 3D sound, but the current surround-sound format seems to have taken
hold. There are a few standards in surround sound, which really means there is no globally
accepted standard. There are, however, some best practices and many ideas on the subject.
Pro Tools TDM supports up to 7.1 systems, but we will limit our discussion of surround sound
to 5.1 and the three main configurations therein—SMPTE, Film Style, and DTS (also known as
Pro Control Monitoring).

Choosing Your 5.1 Format

Pro Tools currently supports surround-sound setup for three types of 5.1 configurations—
SMPTE, Film Style, and Pro Control Monitoring (see Figure 8.18). When you create a 5.1
session, it is critical that you choose the correct format because you are almost guaranteed to
have problems later if you don’t. I’ve heard of stories in which the producer had the format
incorrect (and never did a quality control check, mind you) and pressed 2,000 copies of the
DVD, only to find out that the dialogue played out of the right speaker only! For the record,
they can throw you out of the producers’ club for that kind of mistake!
You should ask your producer (or supervising sound editor) about which format to choose.
There is no real standard, but there are several common uses for choosing your format
(although that, too, is hotly debated). As you will read, even some of the heavyweights
disagree on which standard is the best for Pro Tools, but they all agree that there are
tremendous pitfalls to avoid!
Q Film Standard. The track layout in this format is a direct parallel to what you’d think of
5.1, and the outputs of the interface should respond accordingly. In output order from
1 to 6, the tracks and outputs should line up to Left (1), Center (2), Right (3),
Lsurround (4), Rsurround (5), and LFE (6).
Q SMPTE/ITU. This format is more aligned for compatibility to stereo mixes. Had the
aforementioned producer used this standard, he might have saved himself a huge
problem (and several thousand dollars). In output order, the tracks should be Left (1),
Right (2), Center (3), LFE (4), Ls (5), and Rs (6). This is the hardwired default for the
Digidesign Control 24.
Q DTS (Pro Control). As its name implies, this format is the hardwired version of 5.1 for
Pro Control users. Its outputs are Left (1), Right (2), Ls (3), Rs (4), Center (5), and LFE (6).
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Figure 8.18
The 5.1 options in the
New Session dialog box

The good news is that there might be a way around the issue later if you’ve chosen the wrong
format, but we’ll touch on that a bit later. In the meantime, check out http://www.dolby.com
for more information on their specifications and speaker placement/calibration ideas.

Setting Up for 5.1 (I/O Configurations)

Just as you’d expect, there are as many pitfalls in setting up Pro Tools for 5.1 as there are in
mixing in 5.1. This is a direct result of the choices (and lack of standards) in 5.1 configurations.
There will be many little details to square away before you get into the meat of the job but no
matter what the job, you should always label your I/O.
After you label your I/O, you should make sure you are compatible with the Default Path
Order in the I/O Label dialog box, as shown in Figure 8.19. This determines what format the
next path created will take.
Q Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound. Because Andre’s job is to man the Pro Tools rig while
recording orchestras, he has quite a bit of experience in recording 5.1 sessions. He has
several I/O labeling configurations already saved, ready for import as soon as the
producer tells him the format. (See the “Using the Template I/O Settings” tip in
Chapter 1.) As soon as he knows the format, he’ll create a new session and import the
I/O settings for that format, such as the one shown in Figure 8.20. He works roughly
75 percent of the time in Film Standard (L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE) and 25 percent of the time
in a variation of Film Standard (L, C, R, LFE, Ls, Rs), but almost never in SMPTE standard.
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Figure 8.19
The Default Path
Order tab

Figure 8.20
The I/O Label
page (inputs)
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Because Andre records quite a bit with a Decca Tree microphone configuration, he
creates a dedicated 5.0 input label for those mics. This tree consists of three front-facing
mics and two rear-facing mics, each recorded to its own track. Because he has several
192k HD interfaces, each mic gets its own input (standard operating procedure), and
he reserves 5/16 inputs for the tree. They will be labeled Left (1), Center (2), Right (3),
and so on. Although Pro Tools can support tracks of 5.1 (and higher), Andre recommends
that you record every track in mono and pan each track accordingly. This minimizes
any assignment confusion and keeps everything easy to manage later.
Q John Loose, Dolby Labs. It’s safe to say that the good folks at Dolby know a thing or two
about surround formats. John was one of the first to have worked with 5.1, and as the
leader in the field, has a unique way of doing things that works best for him and his clients.
It’s not the most common way to work, but in the end it doesn’t matter—it does work.
First, John works with SMPTE format as his configuration. (A similar I/O setup to John’s
configuration is shown in Figure 8.21.) Although this is not the most common format, it
provides him with the most compatibility between stereo sessions and 5.1 sessions. He
has lots of gear prewired to his Pro Tools setup, and it would be harder to rewire than
to reconfigure Pro Tools for him. Because most of the media that comes to him is not in
that configuration, he has to perform several steps to ensure quality, but he also gets
the benefit keeping his studio as is. If media comes to him in a different format (which
happens all the time, he says), he’ll print it into Pro Tools in his format. This way, his
I/O setup never changes.

Figure 8.21
An SMPTE I/O
setup (outputs)
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Of course, he has a template I/O setup that he starts with the labels he likes and every
conceivable subpath available. Subpaths are output configurations that live within the
master path. In this case, the path would be 5.1 (six outputs) and subpaths would be
clusters such as left/right only, surrounds only, LCR, and so on. This way, during the
mix he can choose any collection of speakers needed and route the audio to those
speakers only to save some DSP. Because he reprints the media into his format,
everything plays properly and he can rely on his configuration.
Q Gene Radzik, Dolby Labs. Maybe it’s a Dolby thing, but Gene also subscribes to the
SMPTE format if possible. The added level of compatibility between stereo and 5.1 is
the main thing, but he also works with clients who produce in the older Dolby Surround
format or LCRS. (A potential I/O setup shown in Figure 8.22 reflects the compatibility
with LCRS.) With LCRS, the mix is heard in stereo if there is no decoder and in LCRS
if there is. Because the SMPTE format is L, R, C, S, Ls, Rs, there are two levels of
compatibility: L,R (stereo—the first two, no matter what) and then L, R, C, S, Ls, Rs
(SMPTE—the first six).

Figure 8.22
5.1 SMPTE
format with
7–8 as matrix
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For this two-leveled compatibility, Gene also suggests that the 7–8 be used as well as the
5.1 outputs. When the client has mixed the 5.1 session and is happy, they will print the mix to
six tracks of Pro Tools (or another medium), and then they’ll set to remix the spot for LCRS.
Usually, the client will have encoders for the LCRS mix (hardware or software). LCRS goes in,
and LR comes out. This matrixed Dolby Surround mix is then reprinted to the last two tracks of
Pro Tools. Now, the client has eight tracks of mix in three formats: 5.1 (tracks 1 through 6),
LCRS (matrixed on 7–8), and the stereo (matrixed on 7–8).

5.1-to-Stereo Compatibility
There is always a decision to be made in choosing your 5.1 format. You should check with the
producer or supervising sound editor to determine which is the best format for the project.
However, if there is no producer, you might have to make the decision yourself.
Q Andre Zweers, Skywalker Sound. Generally, Andre is not the one mixing in 5.1; the
mixes are performed on an automated console and rerouted into Pro Tools for printing.
As suggested in the “Setting Up for 5.1 (I/O Configurations)” tip earlier in this chapter,
Andre records the 5.1 mix to six mono tracks (labeled accordingly—Left5.1mix,
Center5.1mix, and so on), and then Option-drags them to a 5.1 track of a similar
setting, as shown in Figure 8.23. That way, if another session needs to reference the
5.1 mix, you can import session data for the 5.1 mix and have it available.

Because the mixes are all performed at the console and not within Pro Tools, Andre’s
job is easy when the client needs stereo and 5.1 at the same time—he simply creates
a stereo audio track and records the stereo mix too. However, his suggestion when
remixing 5.1 to stereo within Pro Tools is to start by re-panning everybody to the
stereo bus. Once there, you’ll recognize a difference in the mix and you’ll need to
tweak it. This is inevitable, but you can save time by starting with a quick volume dip:
–6 dB for the surround channels and –3 dB for the center channel.

Remember from Audio Theory 101 that when stereo parts are panned to mono, they
gain 3 dB. Because the surround channels both come to the front speakers, it makes
perfect sense to dip them 6 dB (3 dB per channel) and the center by 3 dB. This is only
a starting point. You might find other interactions that require adjusting (such as EQ
and phase), so trust your ears. When he is finished, Andre simply mutes the 5.1 mix
and plays the stereo mix for the producer. He quickly A/Bs for the producer with the
mute buttons only.
Q John Loose, Dolby Labs. When you work at Dolby, you tend to have more gear than
the next guy. Although John isn’t crawling around the gear to get to the chair, he does
have quite a few toys to work with between stereo and 5.1. For him, either direction is
equally easy. If the client needs to go from 5.1 to stereo, he has at least two options—
hardware encoding (most likely) and software mixing (occasionally).
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Figure 8.23
Final mix as six mono
and a 5.1 track

Figure 8.24
5.1-to-stereo conversion with aux sends
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Hardware encoding. There’s no mystery here; simply purchase the Dolby boxes (or
work at Dolby and get them for free!) and route the signal to the encoder. Six channels
go in and two come out. That’s it. No adjustments, no nothing—just six to two. Now you
are referencing the encoded two-channel mix as you would when you play the movie
without a 5.1 decoder. It’s a good idea to also reference the 2–6 decoded mix to
make sure it goes back and forth properly. Because these encoders are pricey (to say
the least), you might want to start with the software-mixing solution first, before you
rush out and buy the encoder/decoder package.
Software mixing. If the client needs it done within Pro Tools, John will copy to send
(Edit > Copy to Send) the mix so his 5.1 mix shows up on an aux send going to a
stereo output, such as the one in Figure 8.24. Similar to Gene Radzik’s suggestion,
generally outputs 7–8 will be used for this. Now he has his mix going to both 5.1
outputs and stereo outputs at the same time. Both mixes show up at his monitor system,
and he can audition between them with a touch of a button.
For stereo-to-5.1 conversion, John relies on outboard gear such as the TC Electronic
M6000, which has a function called Stereo Unwrap that takes stereo material and
reconfigures it for 5.1. Where outboard like this doesn’t exist, simply import the file
into a 5.1 session and have fun. Beyond the simple panning options, try creating a 5.1
reverb on the track and adjusting the mix to taste. For more detailed-sounding conver-
sions, create an aux send and route it to a 5.1 aux return with a 5.1 reverb inserted on
it, as shown in Figure 8.25.

Figure 8.25
Stereo file
with aux send
to 5.1 reverb

When it’s in a good place, be sure to route both tracks to a single 5.1 track for printing
so you have it. If John were Andre, he’d print it to six mono tracks, then Option-drag it
to a 5.1 track so both versions would be available!
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ReWiring in 5.1: John Loose, Dolby Labs

Not to be outdone, John Loose offered a view into the future of 5.1—ReWire in surround.
Because John composes equally between Pro Tools, Reaktor, and Live, the necessity of creating
in Live and ReWiring into 5.1 immediately became apparent. The secret is to pre-mix in Live,
and then pan 5.1 in Pro Tools.
Because Live doesn’t really support 5.1, John had to create a system that works this way. Live
supports 16 stereo rewire paths but for sounds that won’t have surround panning, John will
only use three of them—one for the L, R channels; one for the C, LFE channels; and one for the
Ls, Rs channels, as shown in Figure 8.26. When he’s satisfied with the composition, he’ll
decide which parts in Live will go to which speakers and route them to the appropriate buses.
Then, when they hit Pro Tools, he can work the Surround Panner in Pro Tools to decide where
the sounds go. Sounds that need surround panning can use individual ReWire buses and be
brought into Pro Tools as mono tracks. Then, change the output to 5.1 and pan.

Figure 8.26
Aux inputs with Live inserts and I/O
266 CHAPTER 8}
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The C, LFE pair is of note. This ReWire bus is generally reserved for sounds that need to stay
locked front and center or bass-driven effects that need to be routed to the LFE channel.
Make sure to pan center-channel sounds to the left (ReWire bus 3) and LFE-channel sounds to
the right (ReWire bus 4) on the stereo ReWire bus 3–4, shown in Figure 8.27. So you are
confident that the LFE channel only contains signals below 120 Hz, the use of a steep filter,
such as the LFE360˚ Low-Pass Filter from Waves, is useful.

Figure 8.27
Pan output on the C, LFE pair

John could create multiple Live inserts and multiple stereo chains to accommodate more than
the standard six-channel routing, but it generally gets unmanageable and can hog the CPU
too. In either case, the idea is to predetermine which sounds should be grouped and ReWire
them together, with all the 5.1 panning occurring within Pro Tools.

Mixing Pitfalls in 5.1: John Loose, Dolby Labs

Take everything you know about mixing and multiply it by four. Well, 3.1 at least. That’s
basically what happens when you mix in 5.1. Because Pro Tools doesn’t really behave any
differently than it does in stereo, everything you already know about Pro Tools mixing is true
in 5.1, with two pitfalls thrown in to keep you honest! Check out these potentially job-threatening
pitfalls and best practices.
Working with Picture and Surround 267
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Q Multiple pan automation. One of the biggest complaints about the built-in panner (see
Figure 8.28) is the separation of parameters when you are spinning sounds around.
Although the three knobs for position link (when the three-knob button is activated—the
green dot at the bottom of the black field), there is no linking the green dot in the mid-
dle of the black field to divergence or center %. For this, John has a secret weapon he
shares with us all: Control+CMD-paste. This secret move will allow you to copy unlike
information to other parameters. Like the curve of the position and want it to happen
on the center %? Copy the curve, and then Control+CMD-paste the move onto the
Center % Automation Playlist, and off you go (see Figure 8.29)!

Figure 8.28
The 5.1 panner

Q Cross-named files. The manual makes slight reference to this, but man, is it a problem!
Remember the story about the producer who printed 2,000 copies of the DVD with the
tracks in the wrong format? Here’s how it might have happened. (It wasn’t anyone
involved in this book, by the way!)
1. After you’ve chosen your 5.1 format, it will (should) be consistent throughout your
session. That means that all your I/O labels, all your track names, and all your
files (prints, too) should conform to the same specifications. Pro Tools, however,
seems to disagree.
2. If you route your mix to a single 5.1 track, Pro Tools will print the file in L, C, R,
Ls, Rs, LFE format anyway, as shown in Figure 8.30! Additionally, if you are drag-
ging a 5.1 channel file into six mono tracks, make sure that your tracks are in L,
C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE order.
268 CHAPTER 8}
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Figure 8.29
Control+CMD-pasted curves on unlike parameter Automation Playlists

Figure 8.30
Printed mix in
the wrong track
format
Working with Picture and Surround 269
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3. If your session conforms to SMPTE/ITU format, you would expect that a 5.1 track
created in this session would conform as well. Unfortunately, the printed file will
retain the naming convention for L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE! That means that while your
session plays fine and prints to the 5.1 track (and still plays fine), the track names
will not be fine! Bounced files will bounce as L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE, but mono-recorded
classes will be tagged x.L, x.C, x.R, and so on. This makes identification easy after-
ward.
4. Remember that your monitoring format is different than the printed file type. If
you choose SMPTE/ITU as your monitor path (selected in the I/O setup), be sure
that sounds imported or recorded in are cross-patched to match. In other words, if
the incoming tape is in Film Format (L, C, R, Ls, Rs, LFE), then cross-patch left to 1,
center to 3, right to 2, and so on so the correct channel is recorded to the correct
track to play in the correct monitor.
5. When you export these tracks as mono tracks for encoding elsewhere, the Left
sound will line up to the Left file but the Right sound will line up to the Center file.
As you can see, this can lead to serious issues.
6. If you work in SMPTE/ITU, you need to be conscious of this fact and should verify
by listening after export to each file to ensure that the names match the appropri-
ate channel. If not, then you should rename the file after exporting to ensure that
you don’t end up with dialogue in the right ear only!
Q Surround busing. Most people use many of the 64 internal buses (128 for HD) during
a mix, and in a film mix you might use all of them. Even in 5.1, the temptation to go
nuts with 5.1 busing is generally found to be overkill, and most people go back to
using stereo buses mainly, with the occasional 5.1.
1. To keep things simple, start by creating a single 5.1 aux return with a 5.1 reverb
and have it be the only 5.1 bus (see Figure 8.31).

Figure 8.31
I/O setup with single
5.1 bus
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2. Or, if you need to print your tracks to six mono tracks, create the single 5.1 bus
for printing first.
3. John’s suggestion is to keep the first buses stereo and create the 5.1 bus toward
the bottom, after bus 32, as shown in Figure 8.31. That way, your temptation to
grab a 5.1 bus will be visually less when you see the bus list.
Q Printing stems. In the film world as well as in the world of orchestral recording, there is
a need for multiple 5.1 prints. For film, you’ll need 5.1 prints of all your D, M, and E
tracks (dialogue, music, and effects tracks) for delivery. In this case, you’ll need three
5.1 buses to route to three sets of six mono tracks for recording (see Figure 8.32).
All told, you end up using 18 buses (and 18 tracks), but that’s how it is!

Figure 8.32
I/O setup for three
5.1 buses
} Index
Numbers batches
exporting, 80-82
5.1 Surround Sound. See surround sound fading, 127-128
808 drums, 204-205 importing, 70-71
Beat Detective, 136-140, 183
A beats
Beat Detective, 136-140, 183
A-B tests (inserts), 214-215 Identify Beat, 183
Ableton Live loops, 96-98
MIDI, 181-183 MIDI
surround sound, 265-266 editing, 176
tempo, 181-183 quantizing, 160-162
adding files (importing), 66-67 Reason, 160-162
administrators, 16-17 bin
aligning regions, 131-132 deleting, 82-83
AM Radio effect, 195, 239-240 delivering, 82-83
amplifiers (simulators), 55-56 linking, 75
AMS (Audio MIDI Setup), 142-145 importing, 66-67
analog mixing, 228 size, 74
analyzing MIDI tracks, 169-171 blue locator, navigating, 122-123
applications booting drives (FireWire), 16
AMS, 142-145 Bounce dialog box, 227
Dock, 4 bouncing, 226-227
artists, sends, 45-47 BPM (MIDI loops), 151-153
attacks, automation, 231-232 breaths (vocals), 101-103, 232-233
audio. See files browsers, 24-26
Audio Bin. See bin buffer
Audio MIDI Setup (AMS), 142-145 setting MIDI, 145
Audiosuite TCE tool. See TCE tool size, 35
automation
attacks, 231-232
Automation Enable list, 236-237
clicks, 231-232
C
calibratring I/O, 19-21
curves, 231-232 catalogs, movies, 247-248
fading, 241 CD Baby Web site, 188
Master Fader, 239-240 CDs
modes, 229 files, importing, 69-70
overview, 222 unmounting workspace, 26
phasers, 237-238 chains, 203-204, 208-210
Reason, 179-181 channels
reggae/dub, 238-239 inserts
reverb, 238-239, 241 creating, 201-202
Automation Enable list, 236-237 multi-channel, 194-195
AutoSave dialog box, 32 muting, 41
sends, 201-202
B chords (MIDI), 171-173
choruses
backups| effects, 196-197
drives, 13-14 groups, 125-126
sessions, setting, 32 vocals, 125-126
bandwidth (mixing), 223-228 Clear Audio dialog box, 83
Bar|||Beat Markers dialog box, 151-153 clearing bin, 82-83
bass, drum side-chains, 198-199 Click-Countoff Options dialog box, 168
Batch Fades dialog box, 127-128

271
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272 Index
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clicks, 95. See also loops delays

automation (mixing), 231-232 effects, 197-198, 219
Dr. Rex Player, 168-169 inserts, 212-214
MIDI, 168-169 comments, 212-213
playback, 92 compensation, 217-218
Reason, 168-169 printing, 214
clipping inserts, 210-211 Timeadjuster, 213
clocks playback monitoring, 43-44
MIDI Beat Clock, 156-157 sends, 219
setting MIDI, 145 deleting, 82-83, 193
colors, 9, 229-230 delivering sessions
Columns view, 8 clearing bin, 82-83
comments (insert delays), 212-213 compacting, 85
Compact Selected dialog box, 85 copying, 83-85
compacting sessions, 85 duplicating, 83-85
comparing inserts, 214-215 handles, 85
compensation (delays), 217-218 preparing, 82-85
compositing tracks, 113-117 saving, 83-85
compressing. See also TCE tool destructive recording, 62-63
editing, 135-136 Details view, 7
vocals, 104-105 dialog boxes
configuring. See setting AutoSave, 32
conforming regions, 139 Bar|Beat Markers, 151-153
consistency, recording, 50-52 Batch Fades, 127-128
consolidating files (importing), 75 Bounce, 227
consonants (vocals), 103 Clear Audio, 83
Control Focus keyboard shortcuts, 36 Click-Countoff Options, 168
converting files (importing), 66-67 Compact Selected, 85
Copy To Send Data dialog box, 46 Copy to Send, 46
copying. See also duplicating Export Region Definitions, 77
delivering, 83-85 Export Selected, 79
editing, 93 Export to OMF, 88-89
importing, 66-67 Flatten Performance, 176
MIDI, 162-165 Hardware Setup, 33-34, 40
CoreAudio Driver, 144-145 I/O Setup, 22-23, 40, 45, 199-200, 258-261, 269-270
CPU Import Audio, 66, 69-71, 77-78
inserts, 192-194, 207-208 Import Session Data, 51-52, 68, 86, 252
MIDI (Reason), 154-155 Left Slice, 159
crashes, 14-15, 30-32 MIDI Operations, 185
creating files, 38-39 Missing Files, 27-28
formats, 89 New Group, 54, 124
groups, 124-126 New Memory Location, 59, 118-120
inserts, 201-202 New Session, 18, 257-258
loops, 94-101 New Tracks, 38, 148
MIDI, 73-74, 185-186 Playback Engine, 35, 217-218
OMFs, 88-89 Plug-In Automation, 235-237
sends, 201-202 Program Change, 147
crispness (vocals), 103 Quantize, 176
cross-fade (vocals), 104-105 Relink, 195
cursor location indicator, 132 Rename Selected Regions, 82
cursors Replace Region, 254-255
cursor location indicator, 132 Save, 8, 73-74, 83-84
navigating, 122-123 Select Notes, 174
timelines, 36 SMF Export, 73-74
curves (automation), 231-232 Spot Dialog, 130-132, 246
customizing. See setting Step Input, 185
cut time (MIDI tracks), 184 Track Name, 39
Disc Allocation window, 32-33, 41, 75
disks, ejecting errors, 26
D displaying. See viewing
data, importing, 67-68 dithering, 226
default fading, 129 Dock
Default Thru (MIDI tracks), 150-151 applications, 4
definitions, exporting, 77-78 position, 2-3
defragmenting drives, 15 setting, 2-3
size, 2
Dolby Labs Web site, 258
Index 273
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Dr. Rex Player (MIDI) trimming, 133, 135-136, 140

clicks, 168-169 vocals, 101-107, 125, 129
copying tracks, 162-165 zero-crossing points, 92
exporting loops, 157-162, 174-175 effects. See also inserts; sends
thickening quality, 162-165 AM Radio, 195, 239-240
drives chains, 208-210
backups, 13-14 choruses, 196-197
crashes, 14-15, 30-32 delays, 197-198, 219
defragmenting, 15 importing, 88
files, recording, 32 I/O names, 199-200
FireWire booting, 16 kick drums, 204-205
partitions, 12 MIDI, 165-167
performance, 11-15 MIDI Beat Clock, 219
saving, 14-16 movies, 247-248
security (permissions), 16-17 offsets, 196-198
setting, 30-31 Pencil tool, 233
size, viewing, 11 phasers, 237-238
drums printing, 193-194
bass side-chains, 198-199 Reason, 165-167
kick drums, 204-205 recording, 55-56, 60
MIDI, 176 reggae/dub, 238-239
mixing, 230-231 reverb, 206-207
phasers, 237-238 mixing, 238-239
reggae/dub, 238-239 Solo Safe, 215-217
reverb, 238-239 side-chains, 198-199
trimming, 176, 230-231 Telephone, 195, 239-240
DSP tempo, 219
MIDI, 165-167 ejecting disk errors, 26
printing, 192-194, 207-208 EQ, 234-236
dual mono errors, ejecting disks, 26
importing, 88 Export Region Definitions dialog box, 77
recording, 60-61 Export Selected dialog box, 79
dub/reggae mixing, 238-239 Export to OMF dialog box, 88-89
duplicating. See also copying exporting
delivering, 83-85 files, 79
editing, 93 batches, 80-82
exporting, 80-82 definitions, 77-78
duration, MIDI notes, 176 duplicating, 80-82
formats, 89
MIDI, 73-74, 161-162
E names, 80-82
editing OMFs, 88-89
Beat Detective, 136-140, 183 regions, 77-78
beats, 176 timestamps, 80-81
compressing, 135-136 loops
copying, 93 Dr. Rex Player, 157-162, 174-175
duplicating, 93 Reason, 155-160, 174-175
groove templates, 138 ReCycle, 157-160, 174-175
groups, 124-126 Exposé, 5
Identify Beat, 183
lift-cutting, 120-121
loops, 94-101, 136-140, 183 F
markers, 137-138 fading
methodology, 93 batches, 127-128
MIDI, 176, 189-190 cross-fade (vocals), 104-105
mixing, 230 default fading, 129
path names, 74-76 groups, 125-126
Pencil tool, 126-127 Master Fader, 223-228
pops, 126-127 mixing, 223-228, 241-242
preparing, 93 vocals, 125-126, 129
recording, 61-63 files. See also regions; sessions; tracks
Separation Grabber, 120-121 bin, deleting, 82-83
smear edits, 135-136 colors, 9
spikes, 126-127 creating
stretching, 135-136 formats, 89
stutter edits, 133-135 MIDI, 73-74
takes, 110-117 OMFs, 88-89
TCE tool, 135-136
274 Index
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files (continued) flattening MIDI tracks, 176

exporting, 79 folders. See files
batches, 80-82 formats
definitions, 77-78 creating, 89
duplicating, 80-82 exporting, 89
formats, 89 selecting, 18
MIDI, 73-74 surround sound, 257-262
names, 80-82 Fourier clicks. See clicks
OMFs, 88-89 freezing inserts, 192-194, 207-208
regions, 77-78 frequency (mixing), 234-236
timestamps, 80-81
formats
creating, 89 G
selecting, 18 Grammy Association Web site, 18
importing grids (loops)
adding, 66-67 relative grids, 97
batches, 70-71 tracks, 95
bin, 66-67 groove templates, 138
CDs, 69-70 groups, 52-53
consolidating, 75 choruses, 125-126
converting, 66-67 creating, 124-126
copying, 66-67 editing, 124-126
data, 67-68 fading, 125-126
dual mono, 88 I/O names, 200-201
effects, 88 mixing, 224-225
handles, 75 playlists, 52-53
linking bin, 75 suspending, 124
MIDI, 71-73 vocals, 53-55
mono, 88 guitars, 55-56
OMFs, 86-88
path names, 74-76
sessions, 67-68 H
stereo, 88 half-time recording (MIDI), 185
timecodes, 87 handles
tracks, 67, 69-70 delivering, 85
trimming, 75 importing, 75
workspace, 69-70 hands, splitting, 174
MIDI. See MIDI hard drives. See drives
names hardware
paths, 72-76 inserts (I/O), 56
surround sound, 267-269 setting, 40
recording Hardware Setup dialog box, 33-34, 40
Disc Allocation window, 32-33, 41, 75 headphones
drives, 32, 41 mixing sends, 45-47
round robin, 32 MO-ME, 53-55
sample rates, 18-19 hiding. See viewing
searching hot keys. See keyboard shortcuts
Columns view, 8
Details view, 7
List view, 6-8 I
missing files, 27-28 Identify Beat, 183
offline, 27-28 Import Audio dialog box, 66, 69-71, 77-78
relinking, 27-28 Import Session Data dialog box, 51-52, 68, 86, 252
Sidebar, 10 importing
setting playback buffer size, 35 adding, 66-67
sorting, 6-8 batches, 70-71
Stationery Pads, 23 bin, 66-67
viewing CDs, 69-70
Columns view, 8 consolidating, 75
Details view, 7 converting, 66-67
List view, 6-8 copying, 66-67
path names, 74-76 data, 67-68
filters (mixing), 234-236 dual mono, 88
Final Cut Pro, 250-253 effects, 88
finding. See searching handles, 75
FireWire inserts (chains), 203-204
booting drives, 16 linking bin, 75
movie sessions, 249 MIDI, 71-73
Flatten Performance dialog box, 176 mixing, 242
Index 275
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mono, 88 navigating, 36, 122

movie sessions, 245-246 numbers, 36
OMFs, 86-88 zooming, 35-36
path names, 74-76 kick drums, 204-205
sessions, 67-68
stereo, 88
timecodes, 87 L
tracks, 67, 69-70 laptop keyboard shortcuts, 35-36
trimming, 75 latency. See delays
workspace, 69-70 Latin tracks (loops), 96-98
input. See I/O Left Slice dialog box, 159
inserts. See also effects; plug-ins; sends levels, mixing, 223-228, 242
A-B tests, 214-215 libraries (movie sessions), 247-248
chains, 203-204, 208-210 lift-cutting, 120-121
clipping, 210-211 Link Timeline and Selection tool, 123
comparing, 214-215 linking files, bin, 75
CPU, 192-194, 207-208 List view, 6-8
creating, 201-202 Live
delays, 212-214 MIDI, 181-183
comments, 212-213 surround sound, 265-266
compensation, 217-218 tempo, 181-183
printing, 214 locator, navigating sessions, 122-123
Timeadjuster, 213 Loop Record (MIDI), 177-178
freezing, 192-194, 207-208 loops. See also clicks
hardware, 56 Beat Detective, 136-140, 183
importing, 203-204 BPM, 151-153
kick drums, 204-205 creating, 94-101
Mbox, 57 editing, 94-101, 136-140, 183
mixing, 226, 242 exporting
multi-channel, 194-195 Dr. Rex Player, 157-162, 174-175
multi-mono, 194-195 Reason, 155-160, 174-175
overloading, 208 ReCycle, 157-160, 174-175
recording, 56-57 grids, 95
reverb, 206-207, 215-217 Identify Beat, 183
saving, 203-204 Latin, 96-98
saving presets, 211 Link Timeline and Selection tool, 123
selecting, 203-204 markers, 98
Solo Safe, 215-217 MIDI, 151-153, 177-178
troubleshooting, 192-194, 207-208 off the one, 96-98
interfaces, setting, 33-34 quarter notes, 96
I/O recording, 61-62
calibrating, 19-21 regions, 94-101
effects, 199-200 relative grids, 97
ejecting errors, 26 selecting, 94-101, 123
groups, 200-201 size, 94
inserts sync points, 98
hardware, 56 Tab-to-Transient tool, 101
Mbox, 57 TCE tool, 99-100
MIDI tracks, 148-150 tempo maps, 151-153, 177-178
mix-minus sessions, 48-49 timelines, 123
recording tracks, 40-42 trimming, 99-100
setting, 19-23, 33-34 vocals, 106-107
surround sound, 258-262, 269-270 lyrics (vocals), 108-110
talkback, 42-43
templates, 22-23
vocals, 53-55 M
I/O Setup dialog box, 22-23, 40, 45, 199-200, 258-261, 269-270 Main Time Indicator, 93, 122-123
iPods, 26 managing memory, 35
iTunes Web site, 188 markers
editing, 137-138
loops, 98
J-K recording, 59, 118-120
keyboard shortcuts zooming, 118-120
Control Focus, 36 Master Fader, 223-228, 239-240
cursor, timeline playback, 36 MBC, 156-157, 219
Exposé, 5 Mbox
laptops, 35-36 inserts (I/O), 57
modes, 36 playback monitoring, 43-44
276 Index
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media offsets, 178-179

importing, 69-70 Pencil tool, 185-186
unmounting workspace, 26 pitch, 169-171, 175-177
memory playing, 150-151
buffer, 145 program changes, 147
performance, 35 quantizing, 175-179
setting, 35 quantizing beats, 160-162
memory location points. See markers recording, 149-150, 185-186
merging (mixing), 242 rulers, 187-188
meters sampling, 165
MIDI, 187-188 splitting hands, 174
mixing, 223-228 step recording, 185
microphones. See I/O TCE tool, 184
MIDI. See also ReWire tempo, 156-157, 175-177, 181-184, 187-190
Dr. Rex Player thickening quality, 162-165
clicks, 168-169 triggering, 169-171
copying tracks, 162-165 trimming, 184
exporting loops, 157-162, 174-175 trimming drums, 176
thickening quality, 162-165 MIDI Beat Clock, 156-157, 219
files MIDI Merge, 177-178
creating, 73-74 MIDI Operations dialog box, 185
exporting, 73-74 missing files, 27-28
importing, 71-73 Missing Files dialog box, 27-28
loops mixing
BPM, 151-153 analog, 228
exporting, 155-160, 174-175 automation
tempo maps, 151-153 attacks, 231-232
patches names, 145-146 Automation Enable list, 236-237
Reason clicks, 231-232
automation, 179-181 curves, 231-232
clicks, 168-169 fading, 241
CPU, 154-155 Master Fader, 239-240
effects, 165-167 modes, 229
exporting loops, 155-160, 174-175 overview, 222
printing, 154-155 phasers, 237-238
quantizing beats, 160-162 reggae/dub, 238-239
sampling, 165 reverb, 238-239, 241
setting, 179-181 bandwidth, 223-228
ReCycle, 157-160, 174-175 bouncing, 226-227
sampling, 165 colors, 229-230
setting dithering, 226
AMS, 142-145 drums, 230-231
clocks, 145 phasers, 237-238
CoreAudio Driver, 144-145 reggae/dub, 238-239
memory buffer, 145 reverb, 238-239
sample rates, 145 editing, 230
tracks EQ, 234-236
analyzing, 169-171 fading, 223-228, 242
chords, 171-173 filters, 234-236
clicks, 168-169 frequency, 234-236
copying, 162-165 groups, 224-225
creating, 185-186 importing, 242
cut time, 184 inserts, 226, 242
Default Thru, 150-151 levels, 223-228, 242
DSP, 165-167 Master Fader, 223-228
editing, 189-190 merging, 242
editing beats, 176 meters, 223-228
effects, 165-167 panning, 233-236
exporting, 161-162 peaks, 235-236
flattening, 176 printing, 226
half-time recording, 185 sends, 45-47
I/O, 148-150 sessions, 242, 50-52
Live, 181-183 songs, 50-52
Loop Record, 177-178 summing, 226-228
loops, 177-178 surround sound, 266-270
meters, 187-188 trimming, 224-225, 230-231
MIDI Beat Clock, 156-157 versions, 242
MIDI Merge, 177-178 vocals, 53-55, 232-233
monitoring, 148-150 windows, 230
note duration, 176 mix-minus sessions, 48-49
Index 277
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modes scrolling, 122-123

automation, 229 Universe window, 121
keyboard shortcuts, 36 New Group dialog box, 54, 124
MO-ME, 53-55 New Memory Location dialog box, 59, 118-120
monitoring New Session dialog box, 18, 257-258
MIDI tracks, 148-150 New Tracks dialog box, 38, 148
playback delays, 43-44 notes, duration, 176
mono numbers (keyboard shortcuts), 36
importing, 88
multi-mono inserts, 194-195
recording, 60-61 O
movies off-beats (loops), 96-98
sessions offline files, searching, 27-28
catalogs, 247-248 offsets
effects, 247-248 effects, 196-198
Final Cut Pro, 250-253 MIDI tracks, 178-179
FireWire, 249 OMFs (Open Media Files), 86
importing, 245-246 creating, 88-89
libraries, 247-248 dual mono, 88
replacing regions, 253-255 effects, 88
setting, 244-246 exporting, 88-89
spotting, 253-255 importing, 86-88
start time, 244-246 mono, 88
television, 249 stereo, 88
tempo, 255-257 timecodes, 87
timecodes, 245 operations, calibrating I/O, 19-21
two-pop, 245-246 output. See I/O
vocals, 249-250 overloading inserts, 208
workspace, 247-248
surround sound
file names, 267-269 P
formats, 257-262 panning
I/O, 258-262, 269-270 mixing, 233-236
Live, 265-266 surround sound, 267
mixing, 266-270 partitions (drives), 12
overview, 257 patches, MIDI names, 145-146
panning, 267 path names, 74-76
printing, 270 peaks, 235-236
ReWire, 265-266 Pencil tool
setting, 258-262, 269-270 editing, 126-127
stereo compatibility, 262-264 effects, 233
track names, 267-269 MIDI, 185-186
moving regions performance
cursor location indicator, 132 drives, 11-15
timestamps, 130 memory, 35
multi-channel inserts, 194-195 permissions (drives), 16-17
multi-mono inserts, 194-195 phasers (mixing), 237-238
music sample rates, 19 pictures. See movies
muting channels, 41 pitch
MIDI tracks, 169-171, 175-177
shifts, vocals, 104-105
N playback
names buffer size, 35
files clicks, 92
exporting, 80-82 delays, 43-44
surround sound, 267-269 Mbox, 43-44
I/O MIDI tracks, 150-151
effects, 199-200 monitoring, 43-44
groups, 200-201 timeline cursors, 36
MIDI patches, 145-146 Playback Engine dialog box, 35, 217-218
tracks, 39 playlists, groups, 52-53
recording, 42 Plug-In Automation dialog box, 235-237
surround sound, 267-269 plug-ins. See also inserts
vocals, 108-110 clipping, 210-211
navigating recording tracks, 41
blue locator, 122-123 pops
cursors, 122-123 editing, 126-127
keyboard shortcuts, 36, 122 two-pops (movie sessions), 245-246
Main Time Indicator, 93, 122-123
278 Index
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position punching in, 57-58

Dock, 2-3 regions, 57-58
Main Time Indicator, 93, 122-123 round robin, 32
post-production. See movies Selector, 57-58
post-roll recording, 58 sends, 60
pre-fading meters, 210-211 setting hardware, 40
preferences. See setting signal checks, 40-42
preparing stereo, 60-61
delivering, 82-85 takes lists, 61-62
editing, 93 talkback, 42-43
recording, 40-42 vocals, 60
pre-roll recording, 58 ReCycle, exporting loops, 157-160, 174-175
presets, inserts, 211 reggae/dub mixing, 238-239
printing regions. See also files; sessions; tracks
DSP, 192-194, 207-208 aligning, 131-132
effects, 193-194 conforming, 139
inserts (delays), 214 exporting, 77-78
MIDI (Reason), 154-155 loops, 94-101
mixing, 226 MIDI sampling, 165
surround sound, 270 movie sessions, 253-255
Program Change dialog box, 147 moving
program changes (MIDI tracks), 147 cursor location indicator, 132
programming. See applications timestamps, 130
punching in, recording, 57-58 quantizing, 139
recording, 57-58
replacing, 253-255
Q separating, 139
quality, thickening (MIDI tracks), 162-165 smoothing, 139-140
Quantize dialog box, 176 vocals, 108-110
quantizing relative grids (loops), 97
beats, 160-162 Relink dialog box, 195
MIDI tracks, 160-162, 175-179 relinking files, 27-28
Reason, 160-162 removing files, bin, 82-83
regions, 139 Rename Selected Regions dialog box, 82
quarter notes (loops), 96 Replace Region dialog box, 254-255
replacing regions (movie sessions), 253-255
reverb
R effects, 206-207, 215-217
radio sessions, 48-49 inserts, 206-207, 215-217
Reason. See also MIDI mixing, 238-239, 241
automation, 179-181 sends, 206-207
clicks, 168-169 Solo Safe, 215-217
CPU, 154-155 ReWire. See also MIDI
effects, 165-167 Live
exporting loops, 155-160, 174-175 MIDI, 181-183
printing, 154-155 surround sound, 265-266
quantizing beats, 160-162 tempo, 181-183
sampling, 165 Reason
setting, 179-181 automation, 179-181
recording clicks, 168-169
consistency, 50-52 CPU, 154-155
destructive recording, 62-63 effects, 165-167
Disc Allocation window, 32-33, 41, 75 exporting loops, 155-160, 174-175
drives, 32 printing, 154-155
dual mono, 60-61 quantizing beats, 160-162
editing, 61-63 sampling, 165
effects, 55-56, 60 setting, 179-181
inserts, 56-57 surround sound, 265-266
I/O, 40-42 room tone (vocals), 106-107, 129
loops, 61-62 round robin recording, 32
markers, 59, 118-120 rulers
MIDI, 149-150, 185-186 MIDI, 187-188
mono, 60-61 selecting tracks, 123
muting channels, 41
names, 42
plug-ins, 41 S
post-roll, 58 sample rates
preparing, 40-42 selecting, 18-19
pre-roll, 58 setting MIDI, 145
Index 279
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sampling MIDI, 165 tempo, 255-257

Save dialog box, 8, 73-74, 83-84 timecodes, 245
saving two-pop, 245-246
delivering sessions, 83-85 vocals, 249-250
drives, 14-16 workspace, 247-248
inserts navigating
chains, 203-204 blue locator, 122-123
presets, 211 cursors, 122-123
views, 8 keyboard shortcuts, 122
scrolling sessions, 122-123 scrolling, 122-123
Scrubber, 133 Universe window, 121
searching radio, 48-49
Columns view, 8 sample rates, 18
Details view, 7 sends. See sends
List view, 6-8 setting, 50-52
missing files, 27-28 Stationery Pads, 23
offline, 27-28 telephone calls, 48-49
relinking, 27-28 templates, 22-23
Sidebar, 10 setting
security, drive permissions, 16-17 backups, 32
Select Notes dialog box, 174 Dock, 2-3
selecting, 133 drives, 30-31
formats, 18 Exposé, 5
insert chains, 203-204 hardware, recording, 40
Link Timeline and Selection tool, 123 interfaces, 33-34
loops, 94-101 I/O, 19-23, 33-34
music, 19 markers, 118-120
sample rates, 18-19 memory, 35
setting rulers, 123 MIDI
timelines, 123 AMS, 142-145
video, 19 clocks, 145
Selector, recording, 57-58 CoreAudio Driver, 144-145
sends. See also effects; inserts memory buffer, 145
creating, 201-202 Reason, 153-154
delays, 219 ReWire, 153
MIDI Beat Clock, 219 sample rates, 145
mixing, 45-47 movies, 244-246
recording, 60 playback buffer size, 35
reverb, 206-207 Reason, 179-181
tempo, 219 rulers, 123
separating regions, 139 sessions, 50-52
Separation Grabber, 120-121 surround sound, 258-262, 269-270
sessions. See also files; regions; tracks windows, 29-30
backups, 32 workspace, 24-26
delivering zooming, 117-120
clearing bin, 82-83 Sidebar, searching files, 10
compacting, 85 side-chains (effects), 198-199
copying, 83-85 signal checks, recording, 40-42
duplicating, 83-85 Signal Generator, calibrating, 19-21
handles, 85 simulators (amplifiers), 55-56
preparing, 82-85 size
saving, 83-85 bin, 74
effects. See effects Dock, 2
importing, 67-68 drives, viewing, 11
inserts. See inserts loops, 94
I/O, 48-49 playback buffer, 35
mixing. See mixing smear edits, 135-136
mix-minus, 48-49 SMF. See MIDI
movies SMF Export dialog box, 73-74
catalogs, 247-248 smoothing regions, 139-140
effects, 247-248 software. See applications
Final Cut Pro, 250-253 Solo Safe, 215-217
FireWire, 249 songs, 50-52
importing, 245-246 sorting files, 6-8
libraries, 247-248 speakers. See I/O
replacing regions, 253-255 speed, tracks, 133
setting, 244-246 spikes, editing, 126-127
spotting, 253-255 splitting hands (MIDI), 174
start time, 244-246 Spot Dialog box, 130-132, 246
television, 249 spotting movies, 253-255
280 Index
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standard MIDI files. See MIDI movies, 255-257

start time (movies), 244-246 sends, 219
Stationery Pads tempo maps (MIDI loops), 151-153
files, 23 vocals, 189-190
songs, 51 tempo maps (MIDI loops), 151-153
Step Input dialog box, 185 thickening quality (MIDI), 162-165
step recording (MIDI tracks), 185 Timeadjuster, 213
stereo timecodes
importing, 88 importing, 87
recording, 60-61 movies, 245
surround sound compatibility, 262-264 timelines
stretching. See also TCE tool cursors, 36
editing, 135-136 selecting tracks, 123
vocals, 104-105 timestamps
Strip Silence tool, 101-103 exporting files, 80-81
stripping vocals, 101-103 moving regions, 130
stutter edits, 133-135 tone (room tone), 106-107, 129
summing (mixing), 226-228 Track Name dialog box, 39
surround sound tracks. See also files; regions; sessions
file names, 267-269 aligning, 131-132
formats, 257-262 amplifier simulators, 55-56
I/O, 258-262, 269-270 batches, 127-128
Live, 265-266 clicks, 95, 168-169
mixing, 266-270 colors, 229-230
overview, 257 CPU, 192-194, 207-208
panning, 267 creating, 38-39
printing, 270 deleting, 193
ReWire, 265-266 Dr. Rex Player, 168-169
setting, 258-262, 269-270 editing
stereo compatibility, 262-264 Beat Detective, 136-140, 183
track names, 267-269 compressing, 135-136
suspending groups, 124 copying, 93
switching takes, 52-53, 110-113 duplicating, 93
syllables (vocals), 103-105 groove templates, 138
sync points (loops), 98 Identify Beat, 183
synthesizers. See MIDI lift-cutting, 120-121
system. See drives markers, 137-138
system administrators, 16-17 methodology, 93
Pencil tool, 126-127
pops, 126-127
T preparing, 93
Tab-to-Transient tool, 101-103 Separation Grabber, 120-121
takes smear edits, 135-136
compositing, 113-117 spikes, 126-127
editing, 110-117 stretching, 135-136
switching, 52-53, 110-113 stutter edits, 133-135
takes lists, 61-62 TCE tool, 135-136
vocals, 110-113 trimming, 133, 135-136, 140
takes lists, 61-62 zero-crossing points, 92
talkback, 42-43 effects. See effects
Taskbar. See Dock fading
TCE tool. See also trimming batches, 127-128
loops, 99-100 default, 129
MIDI, 184 groups, 52-53
smear edits, 135-136 choruses, 125-126
vocals, 104-105 creating, 124-126
telephone calls, 48-49 editing, 124-126
Telephone effect, 195, 239-240 fading, 125-126
television (movies), 249 I/O names, 200-201
templates mixing, 224-225
groove templates, 138 playlists, 52-53
I/O, 22-23 suspending, 124
sessions, 22-23 vocals, 53-55
tempo guitars, 55-56
effects, 219 importing, 67, 69-70
Live, 181-183 inserts. See inserts
MIDI, 156-157, 175-177, 181-184, 187-190 Live, 181-183
MIDI Beat Clock, 219
Index 281
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loops recording
Beat Detective, 136-140, 183 destructive recording, 62-63
creating, 94-101 dual mono, 60-61
editing, 94-101, 136-140, 183 editing, 61-63
grids, 95 effects, 55-56, 60
Identify Beat, 183 inserts, 56-57
Latin, 96-98 I/O, 40-42
markers, 98 loops, 61-62
off the one, 96-98 markers, 59, 118-120
quarter notes, 96 mono, 60-61
regions, 94-101 muting channels, 41
relative grids, 97 names, 42
selecting, 94-101 plug-ins, 41
size, 94 post-roll, 58
sync points, 98 preparing, 40-42
Tab-to-Transient tool, 101 pre-roll, 58
TCE tool, 99-100 punching in, 57-58
trimming, 99-100 regions, 57-58
markers, 118-120 Selector, 57-58
MIDI sends, 60
analyzing, 169-171 setting hardware, 40
chords, 171-173 signal checks, 40-42
clicks, 168-169 stereo, 60-61
copying, 162-165 takes lists, 61-62
creating, 185-186 talkback, 42-43
cut time, 184 vocals, 60
Default Thru, 150-151 saving, 8
DSP, 165-167 Scrubber, 133
editing, 189-190 selecting, 133
editing beats, 176 Link Timeline and Selection tool, 123
effects, 165-167 setting rulers, 123
exporting, 161-162 timelines, 123
flattening, 176 sends. See sends
half-time recording, 185 side-chains, 198-199
I/O, 148-150 speed, 133
Live, 181-183 takes
Loop Record, 177-178 compositing, 113-117
loops, 177-178 editing, 110-117
meters, 187-188 switching, 52-53, 110-113
MIDI Beat Clock, 156-157 vocals
MIDI Merge, 177-178 breaths, 101-103, 232-233
monitoring, 148-150 choruses, 125-126
note duration, 176 compositing, 113-117
offsets, 178-179 compressing, 104-105
Pencil tool, 185-186 consonants, 103
pitch, 169-171, 175-177 crispness, 103
playing, 150-151 cross-fade, 104-105
program changes, 147 editing, 101-107, 125, 129
quantizing, 175-179 fading, 125-126, 129
quantizing beats, 160-162 I/O, 53-55
recording, 149-150, 185-186 loops, 106-107
rulers, 187-188 lyrics, 108-110
sampling, 165 mixing, 232-233
splitting hands, 174 names, 108-110
step recording, 185 pitch shifts, 104-105
TCE tool, 184 regions, 108-110
tempo, 156-157, 175-177, 181-184, 187-190 room tone, 106-107, 129
thickening quality, 162-165 stretching, 104-105
triggering, 169-171 Strip Silence tool, 101-103
trimming, 184 stripping, 101-103
trimming drums, 176 syllables, 103-105
mixing. See mixing Tab-to-Transient tool, 101-103
names, 39, 267-269 takes, 110-113
navigating, 93, 122-123 TCE tool, 104-105
playback, 92 tempo, 189-190
position (Main Time Indicator), 93, 122-123 trimming, 104-105
printing, DSP, 192-194, 207-208 words, 104-105
Reason. See Reason triggering MIDI, 169-171
282 Index
QQQ

trimming. See also TCE tool voice overs. See vocals

drums, 176, 230-231 volume. See I/O
editing, 133, 135-136, 140 Volume Browser, 24-25
importing, 75 VOs. See vocals
loops, 99-100
MIDI, 176, 184
mixing, 224-225, 230-231 W-Z
vocals, 104-105 Web sites
troubleshooting CD Baby, 188
clicks, 92 Dolby Labs, 258
inserts, 192-194, 207-208 Grammy Association, 18
two I/O, setting, 33-34 iTunes, 188
two interfaces, setting, 33-34 windows
two-pops (movie sessions), 245-246 Beat Detective, 136-140, 183
Columns view, 8
Details view, 7
U Disc Allocation window, 32-33, 41, 75
Universe window, 121 List view, 6-8
unmounting media, 26 mixing, 230
users, permissions, 16-17 setting, 29-30
utility (AMS), 142-145 saving tracks, 8
Universe, 121
viewing/hiding, 29-30
V words (vocals), 104-105
versions, mixing, 242 workspace
video sample rates, 19 importing files, 69-70
viewing movies, 247-248
drive size, 11 overview, 24-26
files setting, 24-26
Columns view, 8 unmounting media, 26
Details view, 7 zero-crossing points, 92
List view, 6-8 zooming
path names, 74-76 keyboard shortcuts, 35-36
windows, 29-30 setting, 117-120
views. See windows
vocals
breaths, 101-103, 232-233
choruses, 125-126
compositing, 113-117
compressing, 104-105
consonants, 103
crispness, 103
cross-fade, 104-105
editing, 101-107, 125, 129
fading, 125-126, 129
groups, 53-55
I/O, 53-55
loops, 106-107
lyrics, 108-110
mixing, 53-55, 232-233
movies, 249-250
names, 108-110
pitch shifts, 104-105
recording, 60
regions, 108-110
room tone, 106-107, 129
stretching, 104-105
Strip Silence tool, 101-103
stripping, 101-103
syllables, 103-105
Tab-to-Transient tool, 101-103
takes, 110-113
TCE tool, 104-105
tempo, 189-190
trimming, 104-105
words, 104-105