Quote:
Originally Posted by O.G. Killa
No problem. One other little thing I do, which I forgot to mention. Most of the time, audio tracks themselves have lowercase letters in the name. Aux tracks for Submixes has all Caps letters.
This way when looking across the control surface with all the tracks being shown, I can easily spot the Aux tracks from the Audio tracks...
So it would be like
LEADVOX Sub
leadvox V1
leadvox P1
etc...
As you play around and work on more sessions you'll start to come up with your own system that will probably be a combination of a bunch of other people's systems.
Like for example, a chief engineer at a studio I used to work out of would solo safe the Aux tracks but leave the audio tracks normal. For me, since I use the Aux tracks for mixing moreso than the audio tracks. I flipped his way of doing it for my own workflow. so I solo safe ALL the audio tracks in a group, but I don't solo safe the Aux. That way I can solo the Aux and hear all the tracks that belong to it.
Now with VCA tracks this is less of an issue...but I came up with this workflow long before PT added VCA tracks to HD... and since LE doesn't have VCA tracks, this workflow might work for you (or some variation of it).
Once you get a system going, 30 to 40 tracks isn't so bad. I think the biggest music mix I've done was somewhere between 130 to 150 tracks. For films, forget about it... I've mixed films before where I had over 100 tracks in each protools system and I'm controlling/mixing from 2 or 3 protools systems simultaneously. And there was a second guy there with me also mixing using a couple more protools systems!
Being organized and coming up with your own "method" or workflow is important. You always want to put the same tracks in the same spot for every project. It makes finding things quicker which in turn helps make mixing faster.
For me drumset is always the topmost/leftmost tracks in the session or on the console/control surface. After that percussion. After that any sound effects or music design. after that Bass guitar. After that any regular guitars... after that any keyboards and synths... after that any strings... then brass... then woodwinds... then lead vocal, then adlibs, then doubles, then background vocals. And within each section I usually try to arrange the tracks from low freq/pitch to high freq/pitch. so for example, with guitars, low "chug" guitars would come first, and then to the right would be higher pitched or shimmering guitars. For drumset, it's always kick, snare, OH, HH, Toms, Room. For Strings it's always Contrabass, then Cellos, then Violas, then Violin, then room mics... but if there are multiple passes I keep each set together following this layout. I don't put contrabass 1st pass next to contrabass 2nd pass. For me it just makes more sense to keep each pass together instead of putting all the different passes of each instrument together... and so on...
As you keep doing this you'll start to find your own way of doing things. For example I know some guys that always like to have the bass guitar track right next to the kick drum track. I don't like doing that, but for some guys it works really well... everybody has their own system of organization that makes sense to them. Over time you'll find yours.
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This information you're so freely giving to me is priceless! I really really appreciate this.
Thus far, my work-flow consists from top to bottom:
Vox
Guitars
Bass
MIDI
Drums
For some weird reason I like to stack Aux tracks on the top of the source tracks from which they're sucking the juice from. I view this "order of tracks" as a foundation, drums and bass "carrying" the load. It seems to work for me as of now.
I started following your guidelines and made individual tracks, then I started overwhelming my self because I was making tracks like... PreChorusBG1, PreChorusBG2, VerseVox1, VerseVox2, ChorusVox1, ChorusVox2... following with stereo auxes for backgrounds, and mono auxes for Leads and Verses. Then I said, "hold on, hold on", I need to simplify this. I don't need more tracks than necessary, right? The simpler the better.
Again, I'm going to follow your guidelines and keep it simple at first. I like the idea of sending background vox to stereos, and leads to mono, I might not have ever thought of that!
I'm going to get back at it, and do my best! Thanks again man!!
I wish I had a job like yours, (assuming that is your job) working in a recording studio like that. One day I would absolutely love that! I work road construction, but my passion lies heavily in drumming, singing, and now guitars and tracking!! I spend about 4 hours a day in my little home studio, and I only become more captivated each session!