Rethinking my UA/PT Recording Workflow - Comments please

[Raphaeld]

I record in ProTools thru UA Console with an x4. Because of this I lower the track's record fader to zero or the artist would themselves doubled. UA Console gives me a lot of power of what the artist hears, what plugins are loaded, preamps, headphone mixes, etc. It's very nice. However, one of the big downsides from an artists's perspective is the inability for me to do a proper auto punch. Since I have to silence the track while recording you can't hear your pre/post vocals. That's becoming a bigger problem especially now since the other big advantage of the Apollo Console (no latency) isn't much of an issue anymore due to my MacStudio.


I'm beginning to think it's time for me to us PT input monitoring and abandon the whole console workflow.

Before I do however, I wanted to know if any other PT users have gone thru this journey and what's it like on the other side?

[sw rec]

I use a Presonus Faderport, so I can hit “record” and “mute” at the same time. So they still hear it right up to the punch point. You could always write in mute automation. (Also have the singer sing along with the existing track to get a cleaner punch-in.)

[Raphaeld]

I changed my prefs in PT to separate the record and playback volume so having the track mute on record is seamless. And yes, one workaround could be to make a track out of a previous playlist take and have the singer use that for reference. However, then it won’t shut off with the punch and it’s not as fast as a punch-in.

[nstu]

If you use the Low Latency Monitoring option in Pro Tools all armed tracks auto-mute while you recording (or punch in). There should not be a double signal for you and the artist coming from pro tools.

You listen live back from ua console of course.
So you have to mix the playback in pro tools and send the playback as example to a virtual stereo track in console to listen while playback (non-record). Also set all record tracks to mute while stop (is also an option in the settings, don‘t know exactly how it is called right now)

live input = listen from console
Playback = listen from pro tools to console

This is the way I worked a long time with Apollo and is also the reason why I came back to an Apollo system from carbon.
I want to have the recording source always „active“ to communicate with the artist while listen back together or to play along with an instrument without the need to change anything.

If you want to do this without console you can use the LLM option as well and create a additional aux channel with the same input as the recording audio channel. The aux should not mute automatically in LLM if i remember correctly.
With a mono signal like a voice this is practically, with more tracks likes with drums it is a bit clumsy.

UA did this great with Luna and tracking with Apollo in Console mode. You can have the always active input listen but don‘t have to fiddle around with Luna and Console, because Luna then controls Console. I hoped and asked this for Pro Tools and Carbon but…


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[Raphaeld]

Originally Posted by nstu

live input = listen from console
Playback = listen from pro tools to console
Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

NSTU - thank you for your reply. I always keep my eye on Luna. I am very much in the UA ecosystem. Did you hear Apple just hired one of UA’s top executives? But I digress.

I may not be understanding your reply. Right now I playback and live input in Console. All my PT tracks are going to Virtual 3/4 and I’m live input monitoring in Console which is why I mute the record track in PT. If I didn’t it would be mixed in there too and the artist would get an echo. That, however is also why I cannot do an auto punch properly. The track in PT that is recording is muted. Even the pre/post roll is muted. It would be nice if it used the playback volume for the pre/post roll and the recording volume when punching in but it doesn’t.

Am I missing something from your reply?

[685]

Raphaeld,
If I understand you correctly let me share a little of my workflow.
Overall there are a few ways to do what you need but keeping it simple I usually set Console to prefader mode and mute all the channels. You will still see the meters moving in Console and audio will still flow into Protools.
For auto-punch inside of Protools I usually select/highlight the section of audio that needs to be re-recorded, set pre-roll/post roll points based on what the artist/musician likes, and hit record. The previous track will playback up until the auto-punch begins.

[nstu]

Originally Posted by Raphaeld

NSTU - thank you for your reply. I always keep my eye on Luna. I am very much in the UA ecosystem. Did you hear Apple just hired one of UA’s top executives? But I digress.

I may not be understanding your reply. Right now I playback and live input in Console. All my PT tracks are going to Virtual 3/4 and I’m live input monitoring in Console which is why I mute the record track in PT. If I didn’t it would be mixed in there too and the artist would get an echo. That, however is also why I cannot do an auto punch properly. The track in PT that is recording is muted. Even the pre/post roll is muted. It would be nice if it used the playback volume for the pre/post roll and the recording volume when punching in but it doesn’t.

Am I missing something from your reply?

Please have a look at this Video from UA LUNA Office Hours #89 - Setting Up Cue Mixes in Luna & Console. From 1:34h Drew explain this how to handle the Cue Setting with Pro Tools. This is they way I work if I work with Pro Tools and Apollo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUn0tNzOZVk

Let me know if you have any further questions

[ejinbc]

OP

I think we are at a point where modern computers can run low latency without specialized hardware. I recently went from an 8700K system to a well-tuned 13900K system. The difference was huge with respect to low latency performance.

For my live sessions, I can run 24 tracks with CLA Mixhub, NI Abbey Road Drums, NI Pianos, Omnisphere, a couple HVerbs, HDelays, ..., all with a 64/32 buffer @ 24/48 kHz setting on my MOTU 1248 interface.

This gives about 5 ms round trip latency with all vocals, keys and drums monitored through PT. No pops or clicks when recording for a continuous full hour live-band session.

I am OK with ~5ms latency, you might not be. I think we are there now.

ejinbc

[EGS]

Originally Posted by ejinbc

OP

I think we are at a point where modern computers can run low latency without specialized hardware. I recently went from an 8700K system to a well-tuned 13900K system. The difference was huge with respect to low latency performance.

For my live sessions, I can run 24 tracks with CLA Mixhub, NI Abbey Road Drums, NI Pianos, Omnisphere, a couple HVerbs, HDelays, ..., all with a 64/32 buffer @ 24/48 kHz setting on my MOTU 1248 interface.

This gives about 5 ms round trip latency with all vocals, keys and drums monitored through PT. No pops or clicks when recording for a continuous full hour live-band session.

I am OK with ~5ms latency, you might not be. I think we are there now.

ejinbc

+1. I track @ 64. I monitor through good LL plugs & it all works fine. Punch in/out, too. Easy workflow. Works!

[persen]

Hi,

I just have several mono-tracks under the recording track and move recorded clips down fast between takes.

All those mono tracks are routed to a mono aux with some light compression and eq and some simple sends to reverbs and delays.

The mono track he/she is recording on is muted and the singer hear som delays and/reverb from the Apollo Console while recording the voice.

Works quite well for me!

Cheers!