Protools

[bryan_kilco]

EDIT: Just realized this may be in the wrong subforum. My apologies if it needs to get moved.

Hey all. Been tracking drums slowly over the past few weeks. Our bassist recently got the upgrade to PT9. I have never used it before, but obviously most DAWs are similar and different in many ways.

I'm noticing some really cool stuff. I use Reaper, and I noticed that certain things are easier in one DAW or the other. The way he makes edits to drums is..... Have drummer play the entire song through a bunch of times till we think we have enough good takes to pick apart, then he'll just copy/paste chunks of good parts into their respective places. Once in a while I'll hear a pop or glitch, but he always quickly cleans it right up. Is there something special going on in PT with just moving chunks of audio around? I'd imagine its the same as Reaper in that you have a very short crossfade at each cut?

I also really like how you can highlight sections of certain tracks whereas in Reaper, you have to actually click outside the tracks (like, in the grid) and highlight, but it highlights ALL tracks.

It seems that inverting phase isn't as easy as hitting a button, or is it? We ended up using 4 OH mics (I know, probably phase nightmare) but things are sounding ok so far, but the snare sounds thin and brittle, which I'm assuming the bottom mic will need to be inverted, as well as the front kick mic. But dudeman says he never really messes with phase, so I'm going to have to try to figure something out to let him be able to hear the difference for himself.

Anyway, I think I should install my demo of PT and try it out.

Comments, suggestions, discuss?

 

[Trevoire520]

Personally I love Protools, workflow is great for me.

To flip phase on a track just insert a trim plugin and click the phase button on it. Or if you already have a compressor/eq inserted chances are it already has a phase button on it.

 

[VWAS2009]

Or select the audio go to audiosuite & invert it

 

[::XeS::]

+1

 

[pikachu69]

Phase is important. It effects the tonal qualities of your tracks in a huge way. I am not saying you HAVE to invert phase as it is always a matter of taste, no right or wrong answers and all that blah BUT it think it is more style specific than anything. I have read interviews with several major AE's (Stav being the first to come to mind) and they all stress the importance of having mics in phase. In metal the most important part of mixing is to make everything very clearly defined in its own space. This is what phase is all about to my ears. When your mics have phase cancellation issues your transients will be smeared, sometimes to the point of being lost. Bottom end will suffer also. Now for jazz or blues or maybe Rnb Motown etc this could be a desired effect as the drums are not supposed to be up front or in your face so by leaving phase issues between your close mics - OH and room mics alone you can create this effect naturally = win.

I will say though that if you ever have TWO mics on opposite sides of one source then you MUST invert the phase on one of them. So top and bottom snare, front and back kick etc always invert one of the mics.

So, if you have phase issues you will find it VERY hard to achieve and up front, in your face drum sound. The most important part of metal drums. I manually time and phase align every drum mic. It only takes a few minutes but the difference in sound is astounding I assure you. This is even more important to do if you use samples. Even though we are promised phase accurate samples, its not always, and most often not true. Once you blend 2 or more samples YOU MUST CHECK THE PHASE. flipping the phase button is not enough though as some times the phase issue can arise from a misplaced (early or late) sample rather than it's phase needing to be flipped (God I hope that made sense lol :Smokedev: )

My internet is REALLY slow at the moment other wise I would post clips sorry.

Think of these as your transients < = up > = down.

When lining up drum tracks they should line up like this:

< < < < < < < < <
< < < < < < < < <
< < < < < < < < <
So all going the same way.

Not:

< < < < < < < < <
> > > > > > > > >
< < < < < < < < <
< < < < < < < < <

This is out of phase and will sound dull and have no energy. Not only should they be pointing the same way but they should all be as lined up as possible too.

My 2 cents.