Save Copy In...

I was doing drum overdubs the other day for some demos that these people had been working on at their home studio. The tracks were really cool, and it's always nice to hear stuff that people have been recording in the comfort of their own studios. Something about not having to watch the clock can really help the creative process, I suppose.

Anyway, one of the songs we opened up had some disk allocation issues (I'll post more about this another day) and the guy told me that he wanted to make sure to work it out before he sent it off to be mixed. Here's a good way to make sure that you have a master session that contains ALL your audio files and everything. Once you follow these steps, you can burn a dvd or copy to a hard drive the new session we've created, and rest easy knowing you've included everything and the mix guy won't be calling you asking about this file or that...

1. Make sure your session is all ready to go. All your edits should be made, and any special effects you want might be best printed to an audio track, rather than just relying on plugins.

2. Click FILE > SAVE COPY IN...

These are the options you'll see:


SESSION FORMAT: old versions of ProTools can't open newer session documents. This is where you can save it as a ProTools version 6 session or whatever. Usually, the latest is what you want, since it will include all the features you might be using.

SESSION PARAMETERS: here you can change the type of audio file the session uses, as well as enforcing Mac/PC compatibility. That's always a good idea.

ITEMS TO COPY: the way they appear in the picture below is the safest way to proceed. You pretty much want to copy everything, to be safe. If you don't select to copy all audio files, it will simply create a new session DOCUMENT. The only time this really makes sense is if you need to make a session compatible with an older ProTools system.


That's it! Good luck, and I hope your mix engineer is thankful that I'd show you all how to do this... :)

Master Faders...

When we hear the term "master fader", usually people figure that means it's just the last fader of your mix. All your stuff goes down this stereo path and through this master fader to your speakers. Fair enough, but there are a few things you should know about master faders in order to use them best.

I used to use master faders as I just described above. But what would happen is at the end of the song I'd start fading out with the master, and would notice that my mix would start changing. I just thought it was a perception thing, and so I'd go through and automate the vocal level (or whatever was changing) so that it would sound the same through the fade. One day, someone mentioned in passing that master fader inserts are POST fader. This makes all the difference!!!!
What was happening, was as the fader would drop it would change the input levels to whatever compression I was using on the stereo bus. Here's the scenario:



As you can see, the output of the fader feeds the input of the compressor. This explains why my mix would change as I was fading out. The best way around this is to set up an Aux Track as your master fader. Assign all your tracks out a stereo bus output (for example Bus 29-30) and create an aux track with the input Bus 29-30 and output Interface 1-2. Aux track inserts are PRE fader, so you can make your fade without changing your mix. Brilliant!


You can use master faders however you like, but this is a good thing to know...

Hold COMMAND to have more control...

I was talking to a co-worker about my blog, and we were trying to think of what key commands we use all the time in ProTools. I remembered one of my favorites. Maybe everyone already knows about it, but I think it's awesome enough to justify a blog entry...

In ProTools, if you hold the Command (apple) key while performing mouse functions it will increase your control over whatever you're adjusting. Here are a few examples that I use all the time.

1. Adjusting faders, sends, and pans
If you hold command, then click on a fader or a pan knob you'll find that you have to move the mouse a lot further to make adjustments. This equals more control over the parameter you're changing. I use this a lot when I'm automating without a control surface. I switch to whatever automation mode I want to use, then command+click the thing I'm automating and bam! More control!


2. Adjusting automation in the edit window
Depending on what height you like for your tracks in the edit window, sometimes adjusting automation here can be frustrating. Let's say you want to bump up the overhead mics for the bridge section. You switch over to your edit window, change your view to see volume automation, make your selection and start to drag up the volume. It jumps up way too quick (10dB might be too much). Well, hold command before you click to adjust the volume. More control!



3. Adjusting track height
It used to be that you were stuck with adjusting the track height via the popup menu in the edit window. Then they made it so you could click on the bottom of the track (near the track name in the edit window) and drag the track to the height you want, although still it still "clicks" to the preset ones (micro, mini, small... etc.). Hold command while you're dragging, and suddenly your track height is totally controllable. More control!

4. Grid mode freedom
If you work in Grid mode at all you know the frustration of only being able to put your cursor on the grid. Holding the command key will give you freedom to put your cursor wherever you want WITHOUT having to go change to Slip mode all the time. More control!

In conclusion, more control is often better. Sometimes you want to be more precise with panning or whatever. Command key is your friend. Use it. I'm sure you can find new ways that it can give you more control. Please share them via a comment here.

Welcome to my blog...

I guess it's time for me to officially start my blog. I'm going to try to keep a constant flow of ProTools and other tips on here. I know there are a lot of us who are working with pretty advanced software every day of the week, and I want to share things that I've been learning lately. Hopefully, as I do some of you will also share your tips through the comments you can leave here. I'd love for this blog to be a resource to a lot of people.

Check back often!

Tab to transient...

Something I've been appreciating lately is the tab to transient button in ProTools, especially as it relates to copying and pasting regions. One common application would be "flying" vocals from the first chorus to the second chorus of your song. I can usually accomplish it using this method much faster than I could by adjusting my session so that grid mode works, unless I have to fly a lot of parts. If you're going to be a doing a LOT of this, go ahead and grid your session. I'll cover that in a later post.

As an example, I'm going to fly the bass guitar from the intro to the first chorus. To accomplish this or something like it, just use this method:

1. Make sure the tab to transient mode is active.


2. Find the most transient (dynamic) and rhythmically consistent track in your session. This might be the click track if you have the click on an audio track, or it might be the kick drum or a loop or something. I'm going to be using the click track in this example.

3. Using the select (cursor) tool, click to the left of the downbeat you'll be using. Then push the tab key and the cursor will jump to the transient. Push again to jump to the next, until your cursor is right where you want it.


4. With the cursor on the click (or whatever) track you're using and located on the transient, hold shift and click with the select tool in the track you're going to be copying. This will place the cursor on both your click track, and the track you're copying. Holding shift, drag your selection to the right of the cursor to select how much you want to use, and then press command-c to copy the selection.


5. Go to the location where you want to place the copied audio, and use tab to transient to locate to the desired downbeat. Then hold shift and click to the track you're copying, in this case the bass. Make sure the cursor is flashing in ONLY the click and bass tracks.

6. Press command-v to paste. Add some crossfades to make sure your edits are clean, and you're done!