I need help/advice on how to open old Protools MAC sessions

[Top Jimmy]

Alicia, hopefully you can locate someone still running a TDM rig with all the same plugins to do a quick remix for you. But, they would still need to recover all the files that were damaged through incorrect storage.

If not, the good news is that "Truth or Lies" is completely recoverable and can be opened in the latest version of Pro Tools minus plugins that don't exist anymore or are no longer compatible with their legacy versions, and what appear to be two audio files (samples) that were never actually copied into the session.

Waves' C4, DeEsser, Ren EQ, and RenVerb were all run as HTDM. There are 3 instances of the Virus Indigo TDM synth. There are a couple instances of Amp Farm TDM, and of course 7 instances of Autotune TDM. All of these are ultimately replaceable, but the settings on each has to be worked out all over again. Replacing the synth parts will take the longest since the remixer has to find similar sounds to what was done originally.

As for "TEMP RAE", it's an empty session. Whatever it was used for is unrecoverable because it wasn't saved after they did work in it. The audio files that go with it are recoverable, but since they lost their resource forks, the time stamps are gone and they can no longer be spotted to where they went in the timeline.

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by JFreak

But the good news here is, I have heard rumors SDII support (among others?) are being introduced soon. This however is only a rumor.

SDII has been supported for some time now. A couple of years. Resource forks may still present an issue..

[BScout]

Resource forks aren't an issue. And yes, SDII supported for a long while now. Even in 2013, we found Pro Tools dealt with SDII fine (just converted to wave on import.) (I have records from 2013-2017 of still getting SDII from some places and having no issues)

[Top Jimmy]

Originally Posted by BScout

Resource forks aren't an issue. And yes, SDII supported for a long while now. Even in 2013, we found Pro Tools dealt with SDII fine (just converted to wave on import.) (I have records from 2013-2017 of still getting SDII from some places and having no issues)

It's not an issue if you can open the session file and just want to import the audio from SDII. It is an issue if you need to recover a session file pre Mac/PC compatibility.

[SepiaSiren]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

I would be careful posting source content online. But looking at this for on a minute or two... I cannot tell exactly what you have, just don't have time to do that, but you do have a bunch of audio files and in other folders at least some autosaved backup session files.

You might have mostly stems... i.e. partially mixed drums or other instruments etc. if so then could potentially lay them back together in a session and record new vocals. Or maybe there are enough session files there, or everything is on one big file, Somebody needs to pick though this, with you helping them. Ideally the person who is going to give you a quote for finishing off stuff, and they may need to charge to just spend time working out what you have here. And they'll likely want to look at the actual drives you have not copies on dropbox etc. (and make backups of that drive).

Be super careful not to open Pro tools or do anything else on the session drive, only work on copies of stuff there.

I deeply appreciate your comment--stitching things together seems like a viable option and could save me from re-recording everything.

[SepiaSiren]

Originally Posted by Top Jimmy

The Pro Tools sessions are listed as created by "Pro Tools TDM" making them .pts files. All of your files have had their resource forks stripped in the move between storage media. They are likely recoverable, but it takes some effort to rebuild everything.

It looks like Truth or Lies is the only session file of a completely produced and mixed song. TEMP RAE is the only other session file and it looks to be a temporary session that didn't do much at all. I would expect you have all the other songs still on your drive?

I have a drive with my other songs on it. I was worried about corruption or even a virus. Thanks so much for your comment. Your guy's input has been invaluable.

[SepiaSiren]

Originally Posted by smurfyou

Honestly for experienced users 'opening' the sessions should not be difficult.

The hard part is actually getting the mix back. Notwithstanding TDM plugins that no longer exist - in 2006 depending on the studio it could have been a hybrid PT / console mix or at least used a decent amount of outboard gear that may or may not have been printed in the session.

Hopefully you wouldn't have to re-record and redo the songs entirely - provided all the recorded material is there in the session. BUT you will most likely have to remix from scratch.

the remix aspect seems viable as well--thank you all, you are saving me right now!!

[SepiaSiren]

Originally Posted by Ru_C

Hi Alicia, I just had a quick looks at your files, & can only echo what others have said.

It looks to me as if you have the 'full Pro Tools Multitrack' for one song (Truth or Lies), which not only was recorded in a vintage version of Pro Tools, but also the names of the component-audio-files for that session (technically what's called their 'header' information) have been accidentally altered along the way.

The good news, is with some messing around, someone may be able to resurrect that song, if you can find someone who has a 20yr old Pro Tools rig to try & open it on. I've got a fairly old setup still at my studio, so I'll be able to have a look some point next week.

The bad news is, it looks like its just the one song you have uploaded the multitrack for.

There are stereo mixes for 12 songs, but not the Multitrack/Pro Tools sessions that would allow someone to remix them.

Is this the only folder of archive data you have? Or might there be anything else you have in your possession from that era?

Cheers & good luck!

Ru

I have a hard drive of the original songs, which I recently backed up. I wondered if access to the hard drive would make things easier for someone to access and play with the files. And thank you so much; I am reading some great suggestions here. Hope springs eternal.

[SepiaSiren]

Originally Posted by JFreak

Umm, actually yes and no.

Current session file is .ptx since PT10, and as soon as you open you need to save as current format and work weith it without backwards compatibility.

The PT7-9 session file was .ptf, and PT6 and earlier used .pts file (and if you have ever worked on Mac OS9 you should also know about resource forks and why PC-standard CDROM is a bad idea).

But the good news here is, I have heard rumors SDII support (among others?) are being introduced soon. This however is only a rumor.

If I did manage to open it, would it be advisable to save it with current extensions or leave it be--is that even possible? Thank you

[Ru_C]

Originally Posted by SepiaSiren

I have a hard drive of the original songs, which I recently backed up. I wondered if access to the hard drive would make things easier for someone to access and play with the files. And thank you so much; I am reading some great suggestions here. Hope springs eternal.

How much data is it in total, for the Pro Tools sessions for all the songs? It might be worth uploading all of them to dropbox as a precaution, & you can also share them with potential remixes easily that way. (worth doing it on an 'invite only' rather than publicly though).

There is a small chance too, that the header-info of the files is still intact, for the versions that exist on your harddrive, which would make them much easier to load up.

Its about $10/month for a 2TB dropbox plan btw, that would be plenty for everything I would imagine.