Producing With Pro Tools

One of the best uses of home studio equipment that I’ve heard and seen recently is on YouTube in the “Shred” videos. Maybe a little outside the realm of this blog, but this certainly is creative music production if I’ve ever heard/seen it.

Essentially, the Shred videos are overdubbed guitar solos and other instruments that a guy (StSanders) synced up to a live video performance of a major artist (Clapton, Santana, Iron Maiden, etc.) The guitar solos match up with the videos so well and are absolutely hysterical, mainly because they’re so well put together (or not). Other instruments come in and out as they’re shown on the video…and those parts are equally hilarious.

Its ‘music geek’ stuff and your musician friends will probably laugh their heads off. However, non-musicians probably won’t appreciate it very much.

Here’s the Clapton Shreds video. Search for other Shred videos on YouTube’s site. I HIGHLY recommend the Santana shreds video as well!

And just when I thought Digidesign was going to “force” me to buy a D-Command mixing console… my patience has paid off. This past weekend at AES in NYC, Digidesign showed the new C|24, the replacement for the long-toothed Control|24. It looks pretty sharp and sleek, and brings tons of the D-Command style to the new design.

Here are a few of the features:
- 24 bankable channel strips with touch-sensitive, motorized faders
- 16 mic/line/DI preamps (we’ll see what they sound like)
- 8 x 2 stereo line mixer
- 5.1 surround analog monitor section (cool!)
- talkback mic and inputs for remote talkback and listenback
- tons and tons of buttons – mute, solo, select, input, record, EQ, dynamics, inserts, sends, and automation

It won’t be shipping for a few weeks, but I think I know what I’m getting for Christmas.

OK, Pro Tools 7.4 is just around the corner… looking like November release…and I’ll tell ya it’s got some cool new features for sure. Elastic Time. Nice. It’s pretty slick. And from what I could tell on the AES showroom floor, it sounds pretty good too.

Elastic Time is several time compression/expansion algorithms that enable real-time elasticity of audio regions. You can change the tempo and timing of any audio file… but that’s not new, except that you can do it in real-time now. You can audition audio files from Digibase and have them playback in sync with the session before importing them. When you do import them, they automatically conform to the session tempo.

But the coolest part is that you can apply quantization to the audio files VERY easily and you can use Warp track view and Warp markers to really mess up the timing/tempo of the audio files.

The Identify Beat command and Beat Detective will have MUCH less use now. Pro Tools has brought some of the best features of Ableton Live in and gave them their own Digi spin. I think it’ll be really powerful. I can’t wait to use it.

My friend’s brother works at SE Electronics here in Boston and recently let me try out a bunch of their microphones in my studio… and I like what I hear. My favorite of the bunch is the Gemini II, a two-tube condenser. This thing is HUGE… and yes, it’s got not one but two tubes! Once those tubes get warmed up, they provide a nice glow, which is cool for low-lit recording sessions. Aside from its glow, the mic has a great presence. The Gemini is not as warm as you might think a dual-tube mic would be, but the clarity of its mid and upper range still make it an excellent mic for just about any sensitive application. I’ve used it on lead vocals and acoustic guitars on several different projects and it really helps those tracks cut through the mix with minimal EQing after the fact.

I’m also a fan of their R1 ribbon mic. This is a great ribbon mic for less than half of what you’d pay for a Royer 121. I’ve mainly used it while recording a Vox guitar amp and it definitely adds needed warmth to jangly, high-end-heavy electric guitar tracks.

I did also try a few of their other mics… and although they were good mics, they weren’t as unique and didn’t impress me like the Gemini II and R1. Plus, I could only really afford these two mics. And yes, I did actually buy them after testing them out.

Wanna try an SE Electronics mic? Go to their web site and ask to borrow one. Seriously. Why not?

http://www.seelectronics.com/whatsnew.html

They also make the Reflexion filter… pretty cool device for reducing room ambience around a mic. If you’re recording in a bedroom, office, or otherwise not sound-treated room, you might consider this device to help eliminate a crappy room sound.

Note: My purpose here isn’t to hype SE Electronics, but rather to show you some alternative mics that have a lower price point than some of the industry standard mics, but still sound amazing and have a unique look… two qualities that will impress your clients.
Has anyone else used these mics? What do you think about them? Let’s talk mics…

I’ve been using a ton of instrument plug-ins lately… and I feel like I have an addiction to them. I want to get all the ones that are available for Pro Tools. I’ve been very impressed with the stuff that Digidesign has put out under it’s A.I.R. division, including Xpand!, Hybrid, Velvet, Strike, and Structure. If you don’t have any of these, definitely get your hands on Xpand! It’s free and its really got some great sounds. There’s also a free version of Structure. Granted, Structure Free is pretty limited, but you’ll get a taste at least. If you’re an electric piano, Rhodes, or Wurli player, I highly recommend the Velvet plug. There’s something about that instrument that every time I play it, something cool comes out… either a new song idea, or a new part to the song I’m working on.

Digidesign is offering a boxed set of their A.I.R. virtual instruments - click here to check it out

What are you favorite instruments and why? One of my personal favs these days is Access Indigo. Although its been around for a while, its so robust, easy to use, and has so many cool presets that its hard to beat as my first call synth. For the music I make with my band, the arpeggiator on that plug-in rules. And, I CANNOT WAIT until Spectrasonics finally gets the Intel Mac updates for Atmosphere and Trilogy. I want to use those natively in Pro Tools without the VST wrapper. I’ve heard they’re close to releasing them. Go to http://www.spectrasonics.net/updates/index.php to check.

Talk to me about your favorite instrument plugs…

Who’s going to AES in New York? I will most likely be there, at least for Saturday and Sunday (Oct 6 & 7). I’ve been to AES many times over the past few years, and each time I go I have a blast. After spending the day learning about all the cool new stuff coming out, I usually end up at some crazy studio party. Man, there are some stories… the best one involves jello shots, but we won’t go there in this blog.

If you are going to AES and want to meet up, let me know. I usually spend a lot of time at… yeah, you guessed it… the Digidesign/M-Audio booth. Ask for me there, or if there’s enough interest, we can set up a specific meeting point. I’d love to meet up with other cool Pro Tools users and studio owners.

Welcome back to Producing with Pro Tools. Yesterday I got a call from my friends at Digidesign to do column for their next DigiZine (coming out in January). I wrote for them for several years and then took a short break, conveniently timed while I was working on the latest edition of my Pro Tools book. Anyway, now I’m back.

Who reads DigiZine? Anyone? Do you find it helpful? I’d love to know your opinions about it. Dusty DiMurcio, a good friend of mine at Digi, is the editor in chief and I think the latest version online is pretty rad. It’s even got page turning sound effects. Check it out here and let me know your opinion:

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=6&langid=100&

Cheers.

df

Hi Folks. Welcome to the Producing with Pro Tools blog! I’m David Franz and I’ve started this blog to discuss anything related to using Pro Tools for producing, recording, editing, mixing, and mastering in home, project, and commercial pro studios.

I’ve been using Pro Tools for quite some time now and, as you may have noticed from the links on this page, I’ve also been teaching about it through Berklee College of Music’s online school. I wrote the first book (besides the software manual J) in cahoots with Digidesign and Berklee back in 2000-2001, when the Digi 001 first appeared. My book is now in its third edition, updated for Pro Tools 7.3.

Anyway, this blog exists for you. I’m here to share some knowledge and discuss anything related to producing music with Pro Tools. Please feel free to post a comment, ask a question, or just follow along… and if you’re so inspired, check out the links to my books, online classes, and studio on the right. I’m glad you’re here and I hope you check back in regularly.

Cheers.

df