New Pro Tools user Questions!

[devineandrew]

Hey guys, after several years of mixing in Pyramix with an AMS DFC or MMC I have finally seen the light with pro tools and have been using it a while, but want to know the answers to a couple of questions if you can help?

- Is there a pre roll option that you can assign to one key. Ie can I hit a button whilst playing back that takes you back 3 seconds and then plays again?

-Can I highlight a clip and preview only that without listening to anything else?

-Is there a way of crossfading together clips, ie if I was tracklaying some atmos, and I had to clips and dragged them into each other would it automatically crossfade or would I need to manually do it?

- And finally is there a shortcut to make audio clips snap together so rather than type in a precise TC, I can just make the clip snap onto the end of the previous?!

Cheers everyone!

[Postman]

Have you looked in the manual? Seriously, these are all covered. If you don't have a reasonably recent printed manual you can download it from the Avid site.

Some of these can be done is several ways, somewhat dependent on how you prefer to work.

Are you on mac or PC? The modifier keys are different.

[devineandrew]

Thanks Post man - I will endeavour to read that soon, I will have to download as I bought the Micro off ebay - without manuals. Thanks for your help

[reichman]

1. set your pre-roll time, enable it with cmd-K and you should be good to go. Or, I often stop, and nudge back with the minus key.

2. select the region and option-click it in the bin and it will play back at the level set in the workspace window. This playback bypasses the entire mixer- very useful.

3. select a whole bunch of regions on a track, hit cmd-F and you're in the batch crossfade window where you can set them all to the same shape and length.

4. shuffle mode. There are some very specific and non-obvious rules in shuffle mode. For instance, inserting or removing a region or any selection of time will shuffle the edit, but moving a region to butt splice with another will not shuffle the edit downstream

Okay, now do us a favor and tell us a little about mixing in Pyramix. I've been interested in that system for years. Thoughts?


Best,

Nathaniel Reichman
www.nathanielreichman.com
www.nicknat.com

[devineandrew]

Hey Nathaniel,
Pyramix as an editing tool and a media handler is nothing short of excellent. Its functionality, versatility is superb. Basically comparing the two systems so far, I feel Pro Tools makes life easier for everyone, the way it works with its mixing desks is smooth, seamless and for post production makes the most amount of sense (especially financially compared with AMS)
However Pyramix, is a lot more configurable than pro tools, its choice of fades is fantastic (able to change the curve of the fade in, out crossfade you named it), its way of importing and exporting media is really good (handles it a bit like navigating around windows). One of the cool things is you can have any bit of media in your "edit window" render it on the spot, through FX plug ins, or the pencil tool, or EVEN better, you can change the sample rate, bit rate, and format right there and then. Great for if your doing comm records and the client turns round and says oh I need those as 44.1Khz BWAV files not 48Khz. Or such like. The automation is also very clever, as you can save "automation tracks". Say you have mixed your final mix and your happy, you can "keep" that final mix and then start mixing your M+E then "keep" that -Then you can go to your automation page and at one click of the mouse recall whichever pass you need. (Unlike Pro Tools where you have to duplicate your stems automation tracks, and then make the Final Mix ones Inactive). You can also run multiple sessions in Pyramix at the same time.

Like with many things, it's horses for courses. I have HAD to learn Pyramix for 6 years, and for all its plus points it still causes issues when going to and from more "industry standard" platforms. Pro Tools is, and will remain the industry accepted standard, And from what I am learning, it is just as versatile as Pyramix, It just does stuff in different ways. If you're going to go the Pyramix route one day, just make sure it is NOT an AMS desk, trying to configure a DAW with MADI and Automation outside the box is not a good idea. Go for a rameses or a Euphonix MC.

[Postman]

able to change the curve of the fade in, out crossfade you named it

While you cannot "pencil" a fade shape, you can:
1. select from quite a few fade shapes, using the fade window. (On Mac, I open this with command-F.)
2. Use the buttons to select several fade shapes
3. Click+drag within the fade graphic to change the fade shapes. When the sides are locked together, they both change together.
4. Unlock the two sides ("none") and click-drag little black boxes at the top and bottom of each fade line. This can give you very good control of each side of a fade in/out of a cross fade.

One of the cool things is you can have any bit of media in your "edit window" render it on the spot, through FX plug ins, or the pencil tool, or EVEN better, you can change the sample rate, bit rate, and format right there and then. Great for if your doing comm records and the client turns round and says oh I need those as 44.1Khz BWAV files not 48Khz. Or such like.

All of these tasks can be done in Pro Tools also, but in ways that are not always intuitive.


I agree with you about other points. We have been begging Digidesign and now Avid for at least 15 years that I know of, for a dedicated edit window. Having to edit always on active tracks in your session is not a good workflow for many of us. These requests have been routinely ignored forever, I still don't understand why.

Another feature request for many many years is to save/recall automation. We can save/recall alternate audio on any and all tracks, but not the automation.

Media management is amazingly basic. I do not mind the current system but many people would strongly prefer to have options to use bins or folders to help organize the regions list.

[thermisonic]

As has been said there's a few ways to skin a cat in pro tools. A few other ways in addition to Nathaniels methods are:

Originally Posted by reichman

1. set your pre-roll time, enable it with cmd-K and you should be good to go. Or, I often stop, and nudge back with the minus key.

If you have a control surface (icon) there is a BACK and PLAY button which rewinds by a presetable amount then goes into playback. If you don't have a control surface, you can hold CTRL and Command (mac) and hit the rewind button for the same effect.

Originally Posted by reichman

1
2. select the region and option-click it in the bin and it will play back at the level set in the workspace window. This playback bypasses the entire mixer- very useful.

You can also achieve this by using the selector tool, holding down CTRL and scrubbing the region with the mouse.

Originally Posted by reichman

3. select a whole bunch of regions on a track, hit cmd-F and you're in the batch crossfade window where you can set them all to the same shape and length.

4. shuffle mode. There are some very specific and non-obvious rules in shuffle mode. For instance, inserting or removing a region or any selection of time will shuffle the edit, but moving a region to butt splice with another will not shuffle the edit downstream

I personally never use shuffle mode when working to picture, its too dangerous most of the time. You can snap regions by their head or tail by using TAB to get to a region's head or tail then COMMAND grabbing the region you want to snap into place (heads) or COMMAND + CONTROL click (tails). Have a look at the shortcut guides for more region spotting fun!

Hope this helps,

Rob Walker

[devineandrew]

Thanks to everyone for their responses, Postman I can't believe they still haven't responded with a fade edit window, after everything they can do in the new systems.
I will take all these suggestions home and have a play. Im just doing a tracklay on a 5 minute insert as practice. I've actually spent every free second reading and learning as much as I can, so gradually getting there now.

Rob - I will be using a control surface when mixing at work, Icon D Control. So will try out the back and play option, that is exactly what I have been looking for.

I know all these things are in the manual but trying to find the time is a nightmare at the moment. Cheers for all the tips though.

[Brent_Sydney]

Hi Andrew,
If you're new to the automation feature set in PT and are using an ICON you may find some good tips on my video blog. Hope they help!

[Vedat]

Originally Posted by devineandrew

- Is there a pre roll option that you can assign to one key. Ie can I hit a button whilst playing back that takes you back 3 seconds and then plays again?

Icon back and play. It also keeps your automation running.

-Can I highlight a clip and preview only that without listening to anything else?

Control + Numeric 5 will play the track you selected and nothing else. Or shift + S will solo the track.

- And finally is there a shortcut to make audio clips snap together so rather than type in a precise TC, I can just make the clip snap onto the end of the previous?!

Right-click on a region and the options snap to previous and snap to next will be there.