Midi recording - I hear no audio, I am new to midi recording

[Peter Roberts]

Hey, I recorded some Midi beat notes setup with a stereo audio track (I am recording drums) but when
I edit the midi the audio does not change. I assume I have configured midi recording wrongly or something. I cannot find how to resolve this with the instructions. Please could somebody help me.
I use Digi 002 Pro Tools 7.1.1 on Mac-Pro.

[CapnChem]

Do you mean a stereo instrument track? Do you see "note on" info lighting up? Do your levels go up? Do you have your fader up? Is the instrument selected from instruments list?

[Peter Roberts]

Thanks, I started again and managed to configure the Instrument track successfully. I recorded a bass line and edited it but when I switch off my EMU Proteus 2000 the bass line vanishes but comes back on when I turn back on the EMU. How do I record the midi data so I can keep an audio version of it?

[CapnChem]

You can "print" it to an audio track. Create a stereo (or mono) audio track and buss the output of the instrument track to the input of the audio track. Then record the audio. Some people will compress/limit instrument track as they're recording onto an audio track (especially a bass line). You can always use plug ins later. Some (many) people chose to never "print" midi tracks and leave their synths, virtual instruments, etc. active while composing/mixing. If you do print the midi tracks, save them and make them inactive incase you need them or want to change something later. Hope that answers some of what you asked...

[Peter Roberts]

Thanks for your reply. As you know I have not done this before and need to go over some things. First do I make an aux track to route the buss?

I tried to follow your advice and put a stereo buss 9-10 in place of Anlog 1-2 in the Instrument midi track out box, which normally goes to the master fader. Am I wrong here?

In place of input mic 1-2, etc. in the input box of the new audio track I created I placed the buss 9-10. I think I am wrong here? I seem to have my in's and out's mixed up, as I do not get a signal reading when I press the red record light.

Thanks for your time,

[Stig Eliassen]

You don't need an aux for bussing. If you choose bus 9-10 as your outputs for the instrument track, then you choose bus 9-10 as the inputs on the audio track.

Have you actually tried to record this way? You will not hear anything if you record-enable the track and hit play.

You can also bus via pre-fader sends when printing, which is my favorite. We can come back to that method...

[CapnChem]

Sounds like you have it routed right. If you have the track record enabled and hit record on the transport to get an audible level. So...you'll probably want to undo the first pass or two of recording as the levels will be uneven and whack.

[Stig Eliassen]

you'll probably want to undo the first pass or two of recording as the levels will be uneven and whack.

Are you trying to confuse him?

The levels will not be "uneven and whack" unless they already are so on the instrument track.

[CapnChem]

Peter, PTLover is right. I meant to say that sometimes as I'm printing to an audio track from an instrument track, I'll adjust the levels on the instruments track (and even compress/limiter)to make sure I'm running as hot as possible on my new audio track without clipping. Since I'd be adjusting these while recording, I usually undo record the first pass. Some folks have it "perfect" before they print. That's probably the preferred way. Sorry for confusion.

[Stig Eliassen]

CapnChem, thanks for the explanation. Now I understand what you mean.

However, recording in Pro Tools close to 0 (zero) dbfs can definitely cause some problems. Start to add plugins, several hot tracks bussed to one aux, eq boosting, compression, etc...it's very easy to digitally clip the signal. And it doesn't sound good.

We have plenty of headroom in DAWs these days, especially recording 24 bit audio. Proper gain staging is crucial to a good mix, and sadly enough it took me years to realize this.

PS: I don't mean to criticize the way you work, although it may seem that way.