EQ Magazine - August 2008 - (Page 38)

MIX BUS STEMS AND HIDDEN TRACKS by Jonathan Stars For me, one of the handiest features of working with a software mixer over a physical mixer is that I can hide channels I don’t need to see. In this article, I’ll explain how to use stems and memory locations to group and hide channels in the Pro Tools mixer. Using stems is the same as creating subgroups or buses to premix parts of your session to a fewer number of faders, usually for processing. The way I use it most often is to take individual percussion instruments and combine them onto a single stereo fader. I’ve also used it to simplify working with background vocals, horns, and strings. After hiding the source tracks, you can really reduce the clutter of your mix. In Figure 1, you can see a few channels of the mixer in a session I’ve been working on called “I’m Gonna Rock”— a song I wrote with my 9-year-old niece. In order to fit all 21 tracks on my 18-inch monitor I have to use the Narrow Mix setting under the View menu. It’s not my favorite way to work, because in order to squash each channel, Pro Tools abbreviates text up and down the strip. And there’s less throw in the horizontal pan sliders. Like many people, I use external percussion instruments such as BFD, Strike, Drumagog, and Reason, and I like to be able to keep all my volume controls and automation in Pro Tools, rather than switching between applications. So Reason just sits in the background, and the MIDI is right there in Pro Tools. STEMMING In this session, I have eight percussion instruments and a stereo set of handclaps. Instead of sending them to the mains on Audio Out 1–2, I sent them to stereo Bus 1–2. Then, I created a new stereo Aux Input track. It’s important not to just create another audio track, because it won’t accept input from the buses (I pulled some hair out over that one). On the Input Fig. 1. Narrow Mix setting. Fig. 2. Send settings. Fig. 3. The Group dialog. to Mutes and Solos as in Figure 3. So far, so good. But then it started to bug me that the percussion tracks were all the way over on the left of my mixer, and the Aux tracks were on the right. Oh, sure—I could move the Aux tracks over next to the percussion. After all, they’re just virtual tracks. But I like to keep my sessions consistent with the processing over near the Master fader. So here is where I started hiding tracks. HIDING As all tracks were currently showing, I created a new memory location titled Show All. Now here’s the cool part: In the Time Properties area, I clicked the None button, and in the General Properties area, I checked the box next to Track Show/Hide. This doesn’t create a memory location at all. It just remembers what tracks are showing. Brilliant! After I had that set of tracks memorized, I created other “locations” with fewer instruments. In the track window, I displayed the Track List pop-up. Then, I clicked on all nonpercussion tracks (excluding the effects channels) to hide them from the mix window. Next, I created a new memory location titled Just Drums. Finally, I redisplayed the other tracks, and hid all the drum tracks except for the stem. I created a location for that button, I selected Bus 1–2, and I set the output button to Out 1–2. In Figure 2, you can see a Tom track on the left being sent to the DM (drum) Stem on the right. At the same time, I created a second Aux channel and set its Audio Input Path selector to Bus 1–2—just like the stem. On this channel, I inserted a D-Verb set to Small Ambient to give the drums and handclaps a little room sound. If I’d wanted to put the handclaps in their own space, I would have added a send selector to each of the percussion and handclap tracks, and I probably would have used Bus 3–4 for percussion, and Bus 5–6 for handclaps. As it is, I did send the snare and toms out to an additional bus so I could add a more spacious auditorium-type reverb. GROUPING Then, I muted everything except the percussion tracks, and did a rough mix of them in relation to each other—both in volume level and stereo panorama. The easiest way to do this is to create a Group for the percussion tracks, and then click the Solo button on any of those tracks. I Shift-clicked on each of the percussion tracks and the DM Stem, went to the Track menu and chose Group. In the Type area, I selected the Edit and Mix button, and I checked the boxes next Go to www.eqmag.tv. EQTV 38 EQ AUGUST 2008 www.eqmag.com http://www.eqmag.tv http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - August 2008

EQ Magazine - August 2008 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Lyrics Born, Fink, David Kahne on Working with Paul McCartney, What a Future with no Record Industry looks like Tool Box ?uestlove Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Cakewalk Sonar 7 Apple Logic Pro 8 USM Mic Round-Up USB Mics Chameleon Labs 7720 Sounds Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - August 2008

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