How to import all plug-ins, template, etc.

[grubbgto]

hello...
i'm presently working on a band with a very limited budget and time frame.
in wanting to do the band a favor, i spent a few hours working on one song (their budget was to mix/master all 5 songs in two hours... eeks!) and am now wanting to apply every plug-in, effect, etc. uniformly to all the other sessions/songs/mixes.
when opening up a new mix/session/song (that's already been recorded, and labeled exactly the same) i tried the 'import session template' option hoping this would import all of my work and was unsuccessful.
my hope is to be able to import all the work/plug-ins/efx/etc. from the first/main session/song, and have the new songs/sessions recognize where to place the proper plug-ins to the exact tracks as they exist on from the main session.
can pro-tools even make this happen? maybe i missed a step.
any help would be appreciated.

thanks,
g

running LE 804 on digi 002, waves diamond, mac G5 tower intel duo quads, 12 meg ram

[mrjohn]

Hi g,

Quick way: Buy the complete Production Toolkit.

Longer way: -Save As- your mixed session to a new file. In this new copy, delete all the audio from the time line. Delete all unused playlists (ie all of them). Next, in the region bin, select all unused regions (which should be all of them) and delete them **taking care not to choose the option to delete the original files**.
Now save and close this session.
Open song number 2 and you should be able to import session data from this new session (use Match Tracks if the track naming is the same).
Probably wouldn't hurt to take some screenshots of the mix window as well.

Hope this helps,
John

note: the bit between the ** is Really Important

edit: also you may want to delete any automation as well. That is where the screenshots are handy. Take them in the middle of a chorus or something, then if you're levels get messed up you can see where they were.

[grubbgto]

um... wow... duh... (i think) i totally get what you just told me and it seems so obvious it's scaring me !
gonna give it a run right now... will let you know the results. if it's as easy as i think it's going to be, it shouldn't take me more than 5 minutes (maybe 2!)
thanks so much,
g

[grubbgto]

thank you, thank you...
worked instantly...!!!
a new (easier going) world has opened up

thanks,
g

[mrjohn]

You're welcome!