The 'I love ProTools' thread

[AudioGeekZine]

Fair enough.
Unless I run into problems, the bulk of the edits are usually done in under 2 hours, with another hour if I'm nudging the kicks to align with the snare, checking for bad edits and things snapped the wrong way. Rendering fades takes 10-20 minutes. If the band has changes, like replacing one section with another, can you make those more 'swingy' another hour.

For stuff that's not metal, without triplet kicks, I could probably do it in an hour.

 

[C_F_H_13]

I usually just conform and fill gaps. I'll crossfade using batch fades for the whole song. That takes a long time but the fades slow down the editing otherwise.

Yeah I've found now that I'm way more confident with BD, that I can just do a "fillgap" of every section I chop...listen...and then do all the fades at the very end of the session and take a 5 minute break while they all process. Listen back, duplicate playlist and consolidate...and move on.

Takes me about 35-40 minutes to do a track, but I'm doing pop/rock stuff. Metal is a whole other story....the few metal drummers I've worked with have been well...not great...so I was looking at 4-5 hours for that.....booourns.

 

[LydonB]

Do you guys normally print to track or use the actual Bounce command in Pro Tools when going to two tracks? I have always heard that print to track is better sounding than the bounce command. Not sure why. I prefer print to track because I like to see the waveform being created in the playlist...I guess it makes me feel a little more confident that the bounce process actually worked

 

[C_F_H_13]

Do you guys normally print to track or use the actual Bounce command in Pro Tools when going to two tracks? I have always heard that print to track is better sounding than the bounce command. Not sure why. I prefer print to track because I like to see the waveform being created in the playlist...I guess it makes me feel a little more confident that the bounce process actually worked

I always print the track, but it has nothing to do with bounce not sounding as good or anything. It's strictly just works better for my workflow, and I to be able to punch in if I hear a mistake without starting over!

 

[::XeS::]

James, what do you usually use as key for BD? Kick, Snare, or Kick and Snare mixed in a single track?

 

[AStudio]

How I quantise with BD,

I always slice in BD, then once ive done a section (sliced) I always without fail quantise with the Apple+0 command (grab all audio that you want to quantise first and adust the grid value to suit the quantise snap ratio). I find that if I use BD to quantise then the audio gets chucked around to easy. Once ive checked the quantised section through I always then use BD to fill gaps and cross fade.

Also I always edit by grabbing a whole section (with drums grouped, selecting kick and snares. I do Tom fills seperate)

Just my work flow. Love BD though, such an absolute pleasure to edit with (from ease of use stand point).

 

[James Murphy]

I find that if I use BD to quantise then the audio gets chucked around to easy. Once ive checked the quantised section through I always then use BD to fill gaps and cross fade.

in that case you were skipping a crucial step in BD... as i've already outlined in this thread, if you don't leave out the "audit beat triggers" step... which goes quite quickly, especially if you leave out the optional step 3 i mentioned..., BD doesn't "chuck" anything around. you are currently taking extra steps that take longer. i'd re-asses that if i were you.. it will speed you up and improve your workflow with BD.

i wouldn't consider your suggestion a "tip"... more of a step backwards really.

 

[AStudio]

Hahaha Cheers James, I will look into that. What I was trying to get across is that if you manually quantise you can fine tune the quantise grid and make sure everything is exactly how you need it.

Your right though, my boss always says "If i sent you to a river to get water you would swim across the river first then fill the bucket up on the wrong side and then swim back" meaning im always doing things the long way. Yep, something i have to adress! haha

 

[kalony]

i was working from time to time on old PT machines, and loved it always for the feeling to sit in front of a tape machine. easy to handle save and stable.
but in my own studio i started with logic because in those days tehre was no cheap PT LE
i was working and learning with Logic everything about multitracking and mixing for like 5 years.
but than, one fine day, i got the news, that PT LE is available with the production bundle wich gaves me 48 tracks more busses and the BD. that was the day i came back to PT, and it took me like two days, to get a decent workflow (well i am still learning. today i learned the target button
you can learn to use PT in 1-2 days. the rest of your life will just make you faster in PT.

now i record at least the basics with logic because i can use there my motu 192, and than i export to PT.

i wont say, that its the best programm, because i dont like the hardware limiting for example, but it has for sure the best workflow and feeling i ever saw on a daw.

kalony

 

[::XeS::]

Awesome guide James. One thing that always puzzled me was that sometimes BD didn't allow me to add my own beat markers too close to pre-existing ones.

I have the same problem too. And also if I do a little selection it doesn't allow me to add any trigger. I can also delete trigger with alt+click (it appears a little - in the cursor, but the + never appears).
Another question: BD divides the beat like "4|4|160 , 4|4|320 " but...which is the division it does? I mean, a whole "1/4 beat" is 1000.... why a fraction should be 160? Or a whole "1/4 beat" is 960? Probably it's a noob question

 

[James Murphy]

I have the same problem too. And also if I do a little selection it doesn't allow me to add any trigger. I can also delete trigger with alt+click (it appears a little - in the cursor, but the + never appears).
Another question: BD divides the beat like "4|4|160 , 4|4|320 " but...which is the division it does? I mean, a whole "1/4 beat" is 1000.... why a fraction should be 160? Or a whole "1/4 beat" is 960? Probably it's a noob question

because the ppq (pulse per quarter note) resolution of PT is 960

so 16th notes notes break down to:

000 240 480 720

16th note triplets break down to:

000 160 320 480 640 800

you can easily figure out the rest.. just set your grid to each possible resolution, the zoom into the timeline and you'll see the numbers for each..

 

[::XeS::]

Ok...thanks, now it's all clear.
Now my only problem is to add trigger beat.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

dude, just click
no shortcut

 

[SentencedToBurn]

Sure it has it's pitfalls like... well, namely Digidesign - Being hardware exclusive, not supporting VST/AU and a few other things.

This is exactly why i dont use pro tools anymore

 

[James Murphy]

This is exactly why i dont use pro tools anymore

:danceboy: hooray for you. but this thread isn't for you then, is it?


.. seriously though.... this thread is for those of us that DO use PT, or are thinking about using it... to discuss features. not for bitching by non-users about why they don't use it.

basic forum protocol stuff here people.

 

[FarBeyondMetal]

Quick question, is there a modifier key that allows you to click on an FX in the mixer and totally remove it? Some assclown mixed a song at my internship with no bussing, 4 FX on like 15 different tracks, and I ended up clicking each effect and then clicking no insert to remove it after i putzed around with different combos of modifier keys but couldn't figure it out .

 

[::XeS::]

Correct each one as necessary by simply double-clicking on the beat trigger and entering the correct value. Your success here will depend highly upon your remembering to Capture Selection and choose the appropriate subdivision in the "Contains:" drop-down in the Selection Pane for each section you work on.

Wow, I didn't know this trick Unfortunatelly I noticed that sometimes the value I enter doesn't change anything.
Anyway good tricks here...every guide I read/viewed sucks ass compared to a single post here

 

[SentencedToBurn]

:danceboy: hooray for you. but this thread isn't for you then, is it?


.. seriously though.... this thread is for those of us that DO use PT, or are thinking about using it... to discuss features. not for bitching by non-users about why they don't use it.

basic forum protocol stuff here people.

well if they fixed this then i would love pro tools. I find no problems with it besides this actually. I used to use it all the time but then i wanted to move beyond the mbox... haha. Since i did not want to spend over a grand on an interface, i moved to logic. so hooray for pro tools.... except for not allowing third party hardware.

 

[LydonB]

well if they fixed this then i would love pro tools. I find no problems with it besides this actually. I used to use it all the time but then i wanted to move beyond the mbox... haha. Since i did not want to spend over a grand on an interface, i moved to logic. so hooray for pro tools.... except for not allowing third party hardware.

You can use 3rd party hardware...with HD...just have to go through a few hoops to do it.

 

[James Murphy]

Quick question, is there a modifier key that allows you to click on an FX in the mixer and totally remove it? Some assclown mixed a song at my internship with no bussing, 4 FX on like 15 different tracks, and I ended up clicking each effect and then clicking no insert to remove it after i putzed around with different combos of modifier keys but couldn't figure it out .

yep, it's a secret key.. inscribed with a mystic , indecipherable glyph that looks roughly like this : ∂∑£∑†∑