Using Playlists for session comping.

[ffarrell]

Hi All:

To start I'm using a Windows 10 computer with RME hardware running PT 12 HD.

I'm new to the PT editing world, coming from a way differant program. I have read the manual and did a search of this forum but can't find a way to do what I want.

I have 10 sessions of Live recordings from differant locations, same band same songs, all were also captured on video.

I want to import the sessions into a master session and make a comp track as the master to match the comp edited video.

My problem is how do you keep track of what session was from what night within PT 12 HD when importing as a playlist?

I was able to import to differant playlists but only the track label plus a number suffix came through.

Is there not a name playlist or a default suffix one can add for session management that would append text to the track name?

So I need to know what session each playlist is from so when the video editor give me a ruff to mix to I can get the right take so the audio is in sync.

Maybe my workflow concept is flawed.

Any comments or opinion could be helpful.

thank you
fvf

[cwsand]

Hi, Welcome to the forums! New playlists default to the main playlist name plus a number, though you can double click the name and change it easily enough. I may not totally understand your workflow, but the way you're describing it doesn't sound like the most efficient approach. Not sure if you're wanting to use playlists to retain track settings, plugin settings, etc., but I would think about creating new sessions for each performance. Once you create the first session, make a template and create new sessions from that. Seems like it would be a lot easier to keep track of things with the session name, not with playlists.

[JFreak]

I have done this a lot, but not using playlists.

What I do is splice each session to individual songs. Say, your gig has 5 songs you end up with 5 sessions (gig1song1, gig1song2, etc.). Repeat to all gigs. Then create a master session for song1 by importing gig1song1, gig2song1, gig3song1, etc. and put the songs in the timeline first gig first and last gig last. I also hate markers so I put song1 start time 01:00:00:00 and song2 start time 02:00:00:00 etc.

This works for me.

[ffarrell]

Thank you both for your replies.

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[weezul]

There is no easy way. You have to rename all the playlists from numbers to the name of the gig, if that's the easiest way to see what you're using to edit. I guess you want them all as playlists so you can chop and change between takes, making any other method where different takes are spread out on the timeline, a total ballache.

I'd love to append text to the name of multiple tracks/playlists but don't think you can.

[c-tone]

You didn't mention if these were stereo or multitrack recordings. I will assume they are multitrack.

Making playlists with grouped tracks after they were recorded can create a lot of potential problems, particularly if you change any playlist names. So instead I suggest changing the names of the audio files and tracks in each individual session first so that they reflect the date of the recording, such as "9-18Kick.wav", "9-19Kick.wav", etc. That way you will always know which audio was done on what day no matter how you edit it. Set Pro Tools so that the audio file name is listed in the regions. Group all of the tracks from each day's session together and name it with the date.


Import all of the performances into a new session as new tracks instead of playlists, making sure to import group assignments as well. The tracks, files and groups should all already be labelled with the date of recording. Create a new set of empty tracks to comp to and group those as well, and just pull the bits you want from the other sets of tracks into the comp set.

Also, next time you do this type of recording, naming the tracks with the dates before recording will save you from doing most of this work later.

[Drew Mazurek]

How can each night be the EXACT same length?

That's the only reason you'd want to use playlists.

For this project, you just want each night to on the timeline one after the other, no need for playlists at all.

Unless I am misunderstanding something?

[ffarrell]

Thank you, yes you are right because all songs are played to a click track and i captured it as well the line up we be easy. Then if the video guy gives me show 2 song 4 i can go to any of the other shows quickly to grab bits to fix clams.

Thanks
Fvf

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[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by ffarrell

Thank you, yes you are right because all songs are played to a click track and i captured it as well the line up we be easy. Then if the video guy gives me show 2 song 4 i can go to any of the other shows quickly to grab bits to fix clams.

Thanks
Fvf

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But the space between each song won't be the same so you'll be aligning song by song to the video.

I'd set up each night side by side on the timeline, with one hour (or two if show length is over that) in between, so that each song occurs at the same minutes and seconds, with only a 1 or 2 hour "offset".

That way, when you need a piece for a fix, you can go the exact spot +1 or 2 hrs.

[c-tone]

If you us the method I describe in my post above, you can line up all the songs to start at the same point on separate tracks instead of playlists. That way editing should be a lot easier. Since they are grouped, just use soloing or muting to listen to each performance.
If you have a mix / plug-ins that you want to preserve, you could leave all the faders at 0 for each set of tracks, bus the tracks to the comp set of tracks and just set up the mix on those tracks, running them on input until you pull the audio onto them.