Visual representation of final mix volume

[GtrDude]

I have several recordings that are about 5-7 minutes long.
I'm going to import them into a mix and finalize session.
My question is, can I see a visual representation of the volume of each recording?
If I turn up and down the volume the waves don't change.
This is something that's very easy to do in Audition and Producer.
But is it possible in PT?
I know I can use my ears but I would like to have the visual as well.
Let's just say it doesn't hurt to have it too.

GD

[rhythmtechnologies]

what you're talking about is post-meter waveforms that will update in realtime?

can you imagine the DAE errors while the engine tries to compete with all those re-draws!!!! man this place would be hopping with support requests.

best thing for you to do would be to use your meters to judge what kind of level change you require and then use audiosuite gain. this will update the waveform for you.

[albee1952]

Sounds like what you really want is Mastering. I hate mastering my own stuff and much prefer to send it out. For those cheap projects that can't afford it, there are several ways to go. Usually, I import the final mixes into WaveLab which has much better metering. WaveLab also lets me analyze each song and shows the peak levels. An option you might try is; bring each song file into a Pro Tools session, each to its own stereo track. Set the Solo function for "last selected" or whatever its called where every time you hit a Solo button, it cancels any other solo selections. This way, you can solo each track quickly and hear any that are too loud or too soft compared to the others. You could use Audiosuite GAIN to raise/lower the volume of any of the audio files so you could export and not have to sit thru another Bounce to disk. If you drag your tracks to a large size(in the edit window), the larger meter will(in theory) have more resolution. In any case, avoid the red. Assuming you want to use some mastering limiter like Maxim, you can insert Maxim and find the settings for each song, then save the settings as presets(maybe name them for the song) and then remove the insert and process the tracks with the Audiosuite version of Maxim(using the correct preset for each song. Then all your tracks would be balanced and you could export them for CD burning.

[GtrDude]

"what you're talking about is post-meter waveforms that will update in realtime?
can you imagine the DAE errors while the engine tries to compete with all those re-draws!!!! man this place would be hopping with support requests."


Adobe Audition and Producer don't seem to have those problems.
I don't know why it would be more inclined to happen with PT.
Maybe because of the hardware?

GD

[GeneOuse]

Such feature is simply not needed in PT, I cannot imagine how looking at waveform would help anyone guess what the level are. You got SPL meters for that like Waves Dorrough Meters. The last thing I want PT to do is use extra CPU cycles to calculate the waveforms after every change that is applied in channel inserts.

[Trazan]

Originally Posted by GeneOuse

Such feature is simply not needed in PT, I cannot imagine how looking at waveform would help anyone guess what the level are.

Actually, this is a VERY nice feature. Not showing fader adjustments, but showing gain in regions. Now, there's no gain adjustment in PT, but I wish there was. I used to always comp vocals this way in Samplitude. Adjusting gain, pre plugins, while watching the waveform. Extremely effective way to level out material before entering the compressor.

Feature request from me!

[GeneOuse]

Originally Posted by Trazan

Actually, this is a VERY nice feature. Not showing fader adjustments, but showing gain in regions. Now, there's no gain adjustment in PT, but I wish there was. I used to always comp vocals this way in Samplitude. Adjusting gain, pre plugins, while watching the waveform. Extremely effective way to level out material before entering the compressor.

Feature request from me!

Gain adjustment makes sence and would be very useful, kinda like EA gain adjustment works. If you look at OP message you'll see that he's asking about updating waveforms to AFL which doesnt make any sence.

[TOM@METRO]

I guess I can see how some might enjoy this, but coming from the analog world of recording, I never would have thought up using anything but my ears to evaluate levels. Pro Tools was conceived years before a lot of the other popular DAWs out there, and engineers at that time were not looking so much for graphics to guide them in an audio world.

That being said, I could be fun to play with a feature like that as long as we could turn it off.

[Keybeeetsss]

Originally Posted by TOM@METRO

I guess I can see how some might enjoy this, but coming from the analog world of recording, I never would have thought up using anything but my ears to evaluate levels. Pro Tools was conceived years before a lot of the other popular DAWs out there, and engineers at that time were not looking so much for graphics to guide them in an audio world.

That being said, I could be fun to play with a feature like that as long as we could turn it off.

I agree with every word in this post; I think my function would stay on OFF though... just me...

[guitardom]

Originally Posted by GeneOuse

Gain adjustment makes sence and would be very useful, kinda like EA gain adjustment works. If you look at OP message you'll see that he's asking about updating waveforms to AFL which doesnt make any sence.

i would have to say this does seem kinda silly. we all have our workflow and things we like, but also have spent my time on analog systems and have had to align and clean my share of 2" machines and still have a 1 1/2" 16 track tascam and a 1/2" otari mastering deck, so i might be a bit skewed but if you cant look at meters and know whats going on and considering you can select post fader metering in pro tools which will tell you all this on a track to track basis, some time really needs to be spent just listening and learning basic metering.

i think we have become to visual as it is in audio and to start going even further is a step back in our profession in the basic skills dept. things like this contribute even more to the arguments of to much production, the loudness wars, and where have all the "audio" engineers gone?? just because a waveform looks pretty doesnt really mean much and sometimes some dynamics left is an even better thing. this is just my opinion of course in an area of to many opinions......