VCA Faders

[erwabo]

Maybe this is a stupid question..but can someone help me understand the practical use case for using a VCA fader vs using standard groups in Pro Tools? This is being touted as a big feature, and I have never really fully understood their use in the digital domain.

[JFreak]

You have a drum kit "12" tracks routed to "kit" group. Youbalso have grouped those tracks and have VCA master for it.

Now, if you need to bring that drum kit down, would you want to turn down all the faders (VCA master) or simply turn down the kit aux? Well, it might depend on what processing you have

[s.d. finley]

Drums, I will normally have 3 busses for my drums. 2 stereo and a mono kick/snare. All my drum audio tracks outputs feed into those inputs. I group those 3 aux return tracks together and then assign a VCA to those. I do the same for GTRs, bass and vocals return groups. On my C/24 I can now have vca faders only show and I have 4 faders represent the main elements in the mix and just use those 4 to fine tune the mix after I have gotten all the sounds.

[Vovique]

In short: you can adjust each track's level independently in VCA Group, wheres in regular Group you have to disable group to do just that.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Vovique

In short: you can adjust each track's level independently in VCA Group, wheres in regular Group you have to disable group to do just that.

Not true. Was it option key or command key that you need to press while moving a fader using regular group... Fingers remember but now Im tapatalking so cannot check

[Drew Mazurek]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Not true. Was it option key or command key that you need to press while moving a fader using regular group... Fingers remember but now Im tapatalking so cannot check

It's Control.

[YYR123]

The clutch

[Starcrash]

A Mix/Edit Group can do most of what a VCA can do (in addition to all the things beyond what a VCA can do). In fact, you have to create a Group in order to assign a VCA to control it.

That said, VCA automation is easier to edit than using groups. You don't have enable/disable or use a shortcut key to isolate and edit automation on individual tracks. Also, VCA tracks make for a nice dividers in the session to keep things organized.

The way I mix in film post-production, I have all my VCAs showing on the control surface and then press spill if I want to access the individual tracks. For music, I tend to ride the aux's instead because I usually have compressor thresholds that I want to maintain and VCAs will mess that up.

[JFreak]

My only gripe with VCA's are that they cannot be used live. Other than that. I like to use them mixing a drum kit for example.

[Tom Graham]

Originally Posted by erwabo

Maybe this is a stupid question..but can someone help me understand the practical use case for using a VCA fader vs using standard groups in Pro Tools? This is being touted as a big feature, and I have never really fully understood their use in the digital domain.

If you watch the recent Pro Tools 12 webinar archive - I cover it in the video at 08:28 – 12:38

http://connect.avid.com/Pro-Tools-12-2-Revealed.html

To me beyond navigation - they are better at managing the solos of the group versus the individual element (again covered in the video)

Thanks!
Tom