Recording - September 2010 - 18

faders through which you can route signal. They can be set up to run multiple tracks through them (like drums) or they can be set up as FX returns for reverbs, delays, etc. This is achieved by setting up a bus send underneath the inserts and creating an Auxiliary track with the same input as the bus send you have chosen (e.g. Bus 1–2 send routes to Bus 1–2 input on Aux track). Or, you can set the main output of several tracks to the same bus and then create an Auxiliary track with that same bus as its input.

Tools LE you use Command + Click twice on the LED at the bottom of the track that has the processing plug-ins, then the readout will tell you by how many samples it’s being delayed. Simply enter that number of samples into the time-adjuster plug-in and both tracks will now be in time. You can use the Command + Click trick as well to check that the delay amounts line up. Also, if you use Command + Option + Click (twice) you can make changes for that display value for all the tracks in the session.

3. Establish a Rough Mix Now that everything is in the session, it’s a good time to get a rough-level mix and see what you have. This will help you get the overall vibe, check tracks for any noise or potential problems—maybe even cut the noise out of the tom tracks (provided there’s drums) if that’s your modus operandi. (Another direction is to just start deleting things you personally don’t care for... like the lead vocals! Clients love that kind of stuff.) 4. Tools/Windows It’s important to know the basic windows and tools you should be concerned with in Pro Tools. There are two main windows: the Mix window and Edit window. You can quickly jump back and forth between the two of them by pressing Command + =. The main three edit tools you should be concerned with (at the top of the Edit window) are the Trim tool, Selector tool and Grabber tool. 5. Inserts vs. Sends In Pro Tools 8 you can have up to 10 inserts for software or hardware processing. Typically, the hardware inserts are used by people with a lot of outboard gear and an HD system with a lot of I/O. Beneath the inserts, there are five sends for bussing and routing signal path, effects, etc. How many of these you actually see in the Mix window can be dictated by the small drop-down menu in the bottom left of the Mix window, or by going to the View menu and selecting what you want to see. They do take up a lot screen real estate if you’re not using them—some people don’t need 10 sends. 6. Routing Sends and Auxiliary tracks are your friend. Auxiliary tracks are simply passive
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7. Delay Compensation While Pro Tools HD has two modes of Delay Compensation, Pro Tools LE has none. In LE you have to use the timeadjuster plug-in to compensate for massive plug-in usage or else everything isn’t getting to the two-bus output at the same time. The way this works is best described by example: Let’s say you have two tracks. One of them has a couple of plug-ins inserted on the track and the other has none. In order for everything to be exactly in time with each other (since plug-in processing will delay what you’re hearing) you need to insert the time-adjuster plug-in on the track that doesn’t have any plug-ins on it. In other words—you’re going to delay the non-processed track to match up precisely with the other one. But one might ask: “How do you know what timing to set the time adjuster plugin to?” In Pro Tools HD there’s a Delay Compensation drop-down window under the faders in the mixer window. In Pro

8. Automation There are five automation modes in Pro Tools, and a sixth mode is only available in Pro Tools HD. Read and Off mode are pretty straight forward: Read plays back what has been written, and Off bypasses all automation. In the Mix window, Write mode records all volume, pan, and mute moves from the time you press Play until Pro Tools is stopped. After the first pass in Write mode, Pro Tools switches to Latch mode. Latch mode will play back what has previously been written until you make a change during playback. It then goes into Write mode until playback is stopped. Touch mode allows you to tweak what has already been written. Touch mode will play back what has been written until a change is made (like a fader move). Once that action is finished (letting go of the fader with the mouse) it reverts back to what was previously written. Trim mode, which is only available in Pro Tools HD, allows you to globally

Recording - September 2010

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