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Old 03-26-2003, 08:20 AM
Ben Jenssen's Avatar
Ben Jenssen Ben Jenssen is offline
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Default Pro Tools tips & techniques

I have a collection of PT tips that I pick up along the way.
Thought some of you would like to browse thru it.
I havent confirmed that everything here is correct, so take it for what it is.
  • <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">PROTOOLS TIPS:
    First, select the region you want to copy and press Command+C," Spencer details. "Now select the area over which you want to copy the region, then press Option+Command+V and a batch paste dialog will open that you can use at your discretion.

    cntlclick - move around the edit window.

    mix thru ac1, add ac2 + softopto + wide

    If you've got a stereo file of the song, try inverting the polarity of
    one channel, and mixing it with the other channel in mono. That'll
    cause everything that's panned "center" to cancel out. That usually
    includes the lead vocal. Unfortunately, it also usually includes the
    kick drum, the bass, and some other stuff. (You can get back some low
    end by applying a low frequency cut to either channel before you mix
    them.) It doesn't, however, cancel out any stereo reverb that was
    applied to the lead vocal, so you usually wind up with some remnant of it.

    Option-click in track sets prerolls

    Option-a = Fit song in window

    The speed of sound in air is around 344 meters per second. To find the delay, divide the meters of distance by 344s.

    Did you know you can hold down Control while selecting a new output on a track and BOTH the previous output AND the new output will be active. You'll know because you'll see a + sign next to the output assignment.

    detuning in autotune

    The AC2 in conjunction with an outboard verb can offer amazing results

    Select all traxks in a group: click to the left of the groups name ("drums") in the "groups" window

    Create an Aux Input (mono will do). Name it 'Drums Master' or something similar. Assign NO INPUT and NO OUTPUT. Make this part of your group that you want to control. Save a Track Show/Hide preset called "Show SubMixes Only", so that just the dummy faders come up on your mixer. This will then be more like operating your Hard Groups on an SSL. (ie they will control the levels etc, but no audio will pass thru them). It is still not the same thing however as the automation for the hard groups on an SSL acts independently from the faders they control.

    From memory; Work out your settings before hand. Save them as presets.
    On the plug in automation select All automation on.
    Select the SECOND preset on the plugin. Copy the settings (shift+command+C) Then select the FIRST preset.
    Rollback to before the switch. Put automation on that track into record.
    While rolling, when you hit the spot to change, paste the copied preset (shift+command+V).
    There it is.

    "compact selected" on scattered regions will make a new file for each region. Consolidate will just make one whole region.

    Go into the volume automation, select a grid value of 32nd notes. Then use the triangle tool to draw in automation. The effect will be the audio "stuttering" in and out right on beat!

    Use single note in midi edit!

    Control clicking on a track in the Show/Hide list is useful for bringing a track into focus

    try this: Mult the bass, on track 1 lowpass the bass so only 60hz (maybe 58hz) and below is audible. then on bass track 2 highpass the bass so 250hz and up is audible (eq to taste).
    So now there's not much happening from 65-200hz, so you can place the kick there, and both the bass and the kick are going to be clear and loud. boost the kick at around 80-100hz. Bass sometimes makes a recording sound big

    Test suashing og squashing/+source

    FYI you can add a 3rd internal drive in the slot under the CD/DVD drive as well.

    Do not buy the quicksilver 733 or 800. both lack L3 cache which speeds up the processor considerably. So either buy a used 867 mhz or a 933 mhz. Of course you can buy the DP:s, they too have the L3 cache.

    MASTERING suggestions:
    1--slot 2--RenComp with very little--1.25 ratio and subtle threshold--3 to 3.4--This plug to just level and add Warmth to tracks...Lower the gain for no more than .3 (under the gain faders)
    2--slot 3--C4, with Electro Mastering preset selected--turn the 2 high bands Gain down from preset 2.4 to 0 or even lower for even more warmth and great sound...
    3--slot 4--S1 with 1.6 shuffling and 1.2 trim for wonderful stereo image... and...
    4--slot 5--L1+ with no more than 5 to 6 db of attenuation after entire song has played and 40 on release...if you want more dynamics and less volume restrict the attenuation even more
    Also..Use RealVerb And d-verb>(on "non-Lin" Only for slap) on 2 seperate Aux's, for the Vx...
    TruVerb on an Aux for drums, with default setting..

    Also, experiment with say panning a guitar hard left and panning the reverb{100% wet) of the guitar hard right.
    This is especially great with congas, wher ethe dry conga is panned one side and a 2.4 or so second plate with a fairly long (150-200ms) predelay is panned opposite. it can really create a sense of depth.

    I discovered something really interesting while working on a snare track recently.
    It was sounding overly "pop-y" and I was looking for something to add both crispness and character. After trying a few different things I happened upon the Lo-Fi plug-in in the D-Fi collection. All I did was add a little of the "noise" effect (about 10-15%) and it did the trick perfectly.

    Use only the movie window, hide that stupid video track.

    I don´t use T Racks for anything else than dithering the master from 24 to 16 bits. There is a CLEAR, audible difference between processing the same through PT dither or T Racks dither. T Racks sounds much cleaner and better, no doubt about it. Idon´t know why, but it is so. I simply prepare 24 bit master (with L1 without dither), bounce it to stereo interleaved, then put into T RAcks dither and process it (few seconds). Results great. Ready for an audio CD.

    "Tune" stuff w/seratoP&T w/reference tone!

    chorus and/or pitch shift (plus some pretty heavy compression) on each track gets pretty close for that "wall of background vocals"

    3. Drop a cursor in a track and hit CONTROL + the HYPHEN key. This will toggle between volume view and regions view.

    Fairchild:
    Gain structure is really important here- a lot of these plugs have sweet spots for whatever reason and you need to hit them with the right level. For example, try to gain about 3-4 dB with the 660, with the reduction meter hitting occasional -1's and only -2 at the loudest spots. The MC4000 sounds good giving up to a 3 dB boost on each freq channel with a gentle curve on the knee. TC|MasterX should be last in the chain. It sounds best hitting the input averaging -4 dB.

    The Input Gain control sets the input level to the unit
    and the compression threshold, just like the Input
    control on an 1176. Full clockwise is loudest.
    The Threshold control adjusts the gain to the
    sidechain, just like the Peak Reduction control on an
    LA-2A.
    Adjust these two controls together until you get the
    sound you want. Like many classic compressors, after a little bit of tweaking, you’ll know
    immediately when you get it right.
    The Time Constant knob selects the attack and release times for the compressor. One is fastest,
    and six is slowest. Seven and eight are Bomb Factory custom presets.
    Tips & Tricks
    5,6,7,8…
    The Fairchild manual documents Time Constant settings 5 and 6 as user presets—although you
    have to go inside with a soldering iron to change them. We used the “factory default” values.
    Settings 7 and 8 offer versions of Time Constant 2 with a gentler release
    useful for compressing vocals and other program material where you desire more subtlety in the
    compression action. Give them a try—you’ve already heard them on hit songs on the radio.

    AC1/AC2:
    My favorite settings are:
    AC1 Consolle1
    AC2 Japan 1
    Try both presets Console 1 + Console 2. They each have there own sound, but they both sound great.

    My favorite AC1 presets are:
    * Console 1 an emulation of a console with three letters.
    * Console 2 an emulation of a console with four letters.
    * Limiter @ -4 dB that sounds great on percussive elements that you want to sound really punchie.
    And then I adjust by ear the input so that the signal hits AC1 within a range of -9 dB to 0 dB. This is AC1's saturation range.

    For an even more analog sound when using AC1 on stereo faders - especially the Master Mix Fader - use it in Multi-Mono instead of Stereo mode. This emulates even more closely the way that analog stereo busses work, because they are actually two mono busses. The left and right channels each saturate independently, and Multi-Mono AC1's emulate that type of saturation.

    Mac OS memory. The amount your memory will increase is dictated by your current DAE Playback Buffer setting.

    Nudge Change- Apple Option plus or minus

    Hold eple for MCdsp utvidet

    ctrlclick on group shows only that group (ctrl+shift=add to view)

    Chop the bass note at the beginning and end. Put the cursor at the kick drum's attack and control click (mac) or start click (windows) the bass note region with the grabber tool. The bass note will snap to the kick attack.

    Making a Ping Pong panning delay with feedback that disentegrates over time.
    Make 2 mono Aux's. – Pan Aux 1 Left and Aux 2 Right.
    Set Aux 1's input to bus 1 and
    Aux 2's input to bus 2. – Put a mono Medium or Long Delay Plug in on both aux 1 and 2. About 300ms. – No Feedback. – Put the Hi freq cutoff about 3Khz on both – Now on aux 1 set up a send for bus 2 – Now on aux 2 set up a send for bus 1 – Set both sends to about -8db – (This is your feedback level adjustment) – Now use bus 1 for your Ping Pong panning delay and it should pan and filter down each repeat. – For a more dramatic effect. Ad an eq in the second plugin slot on aux 1. – Set that eq to rolloff Lo's & Hi's and boost some 1Khz.

    Another variation on the gated snare...
    Copy the snare track onto another track and reverse it. Gate that track with with a longish decay and normal attack, and print to a third track. When you reverse back this track it sounds kinda cool, like you're riding the fader into the hit.

    To fatten up a kick drum without adding EQ:
    Use the signal generator to make either a 52Hz or 60Hz sine wave at about -6dB on an audio track. – Send the kick out to a buss prefader at 0dB. – Now put a gate on the Sine wave and have it be keyed by the buss. – Set the settings so that the tone peaks thru as tight as needed.
    Wah Wah Effect

    OK I didn't invent this. I read it somewhere and I applied it to a plugin, and it works great.
    I print it as I go, so I'll explain it that way.
    Make two Mono Aux ins and set both inputs to your guitar inputs.
    Now on both tracks put a Trim plugin then a Focusrite 4 band.
    Set one of the trim plugs to invert the phase. Now you should have no sound.
    Take one of the EQ's and boost the mids about 10 to 12 dB. You may have to turn the input on the EQ down to compensate for the boost. Turn the input down on the other EQ also.
    Now sweep the Freq and adjust the Q to taste.
    Buss both auxs to the input of the track you want to record to.
    I use delays to create 'early reflections'.

    Mult the vox to stereo aux track. Put a stereo delay inserted on the aux track (the digirack medium works well for this). Put 15ms delay on the left side and 30ms on the right). Send to the aux track pre-fader. You get a nice wide vocal, it doesn't cancel out in mono, it doesn't sound 'effected' like a chorus or anything like that. Mix in the original and the delayed track to taste. Not too wide, but not dead up the middle either.

    If you have defined index points in your SoundDesigner II files,
    Toast recognizes them and writes them to the disc. To read the
    markers in your sound files, select the marker type from the Index
    pop-up menu. Choose Text Markers or Numeric Markers depending on the type of
    markers you defined. The number of markers is then displayed in
    the track list. Note: Index-points are seldom used, because most audio CD
    players cannot use them (or even see them).
    Not all CD writers are able to write index-points in track-at-once
    mode (the mode used by Toast). If your writer does not support
    index points, a dialog box is displayed to warn you when you try to
    write the CD.
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  #2  
Old 03-26-2003, 11:55 AM
picksail picksail is offline
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Default Re: Pro Tools tips & techniques

In light of all the ridiculous flame wars on this site, it's nice to see that you reinstated this post Ben. Thanks.
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