| E d i t i n g , R e c o r d i n g & M i x i n g P r o d u c t s | |
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| PRO TOOLS TIPS |  |
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July 2005 - Make Use of Disabled Groups
Traditionally, groups are enabled to lock tracks together for editing and mixing purposes. Groups, even disabled ones, are also useful for isolating specific tracks in your session. By right clicking just to the left of a group name in the Group List, you can see the tracks that are members of that group. Since this works whether the group is enabled or disabled, you can group tracks that you might never enable but would still want to view together. For instance, you can group your drum and bass tracks in a disabled "rhythm group" that can be used to show only those tracks while hiding all others.
June 2005 - Customizing Views with Memory Locations.
Memory Locations have many uses beyond marking points on your session timeline. If you frequently find yourself switching between two or more views, Memory Locations are a great way to customize different track views that you can jump to quickly. When you create a new Memory Location and the dialog window opens, choose "None" for the Time Properties. Check boxes for various track parameters, such as zoom settings, track height, show/hide tracks, pre/post roll, and group enable. That way you can, for example, have one Memory Location set to recall a vocal track in jumbo size, zoomed in close, with the other tracks hidden. Create another Memory Location that takes you back out to a wider view with all vocal tracks showing in medium size.
May 2005 - Tuning Up Windows Systems.
A slow-running computer or crash is enough to turn the most mild-mannered personality into a whirling dervish of mental duress and all-around crabbiness. You can avoid the aggravation and make your computer much more lovable with a simple tune-up. Here's how to maximize computer performance and keep blood pressure low by tuning up Windows systems. You may be running unnecessary programs and processes that can result in sluggish Pro Tools performance and those annoying buffer error messages.
Windows systems tend to run unnecessary background processes that can interfere with Pro Tools - and many of these processes start up from within the Windows registry, so you might not even realize they're running. Instant messaging services and media players usually start up automatically every time your computer starts, creating extra work for your system. It's better to open these applications individually as needed and save your processing power for Pro Tools.
How do you find out how many unnecessary processes you're running
- Open the Windows Task Manager by right clicking on an empty space on the task bar and choosing it from the menu
- Look in the bottom left corner of the Task Manager window to view the number of processes you're running. On a well-tuned system, you should have somewhere between 20 and 30 (the fewer the better).
If you see a high number of processes, you can use the System Configuration Utility to reduce the number of startup items:
- Click on the Start tab on the bottom left corner of the task bar.
- Select Run and type "msconfig," then click OK. The System Configuration Utility window will pop up.
- Click on the Startup tab at the top of the window. You'll see a list of items with checkboxes to the left. These are the processes that start up when Windows starts. A vast majority (if not all) of them can be turned off.
- Uncheck the processes you don't need, click Apply, and then click Close. Windows will prompt you to restart your computer.
- After restarting, you'll see a message beginning; "You have used the System Configuration Utility to make changes to the way Windows starts." Click the checkbox below to bypass this message, and then click the Close button.
If you wish, you can check the Task Manager again to see how these changes affected your system. Some systems may still show a high number of processes. This is due to a group of processes called Windows Services. Some of these may be unnecessary, and you can disable them using the same System Configuration Utility mentioned above:
- Click on the Services tab (instead of the Startup tab, as before).
- Uncheck the Windows Services you don't need. Please note: Windows Services can affect the way the computer functions - so don't turn any of these off unless you're sure they're not needed.
An example of a service that may not be needed is "Wireless Zero Configuration." If you aren't using a wireless network card, this service is not necessary - yet by default, it starts every time Windows starts. Some wireless cards take up excessive CPU cycles than can cause interrupt errors in Pro Tools. Here's how to shut off your wireless card:
- Right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop or in the Start menu, and choose Properties.
- Click on the Hardware tab at the top of the window, and then click on the Device Manager button. A list of all hardware installed on your computer will appear.
- Look for the entry "Network Adapters," and click the plus sign to the left of this entry to expand it. You should see a list of the network adapters installed on your computer.
- Right-click on the wireless adapter and choose Disable. You should see a red X over the icon, indicating that the device has been turned off.
- Close the window to leave Device Manager. (To turn it back on, follow the same steps. This time you will see an "Enable" option.)
Now that your computer is tuned up, we suggest calling it something nice for a change.
April 2005 - Working in the Workspace.
Audio files can be imported into your current session through the Workspace in Pro Tools 6.0 and higher software. For instance, you can drag an audio file from the Workspace directly onto an audio track. The file will automatically be imported and placed on the track where you release the cursor. Additionally, if you drag the audio file into the blank space of the Edit window (the white area below the last track), Pro Tools will automatically create a new track, name the track the same as audio file, and place the audio file at the beginning of the session. No empty space available? By holding the Shift button as you drag the audio file into the Edit window, you will force Pro Tools to create a new track.
March 2005 - Getting the Perfect Take
Whether you nail your musical performance in one go or put it together from multiple passes, Pro Tools can help you get the perfect take. Just follow these easy steps:
- Choose Setups > Preferences. Under the Editing tab, enable the three "Matching Start Time Takes List" preferences.
- Select the section of the track that you want to record over. This could be a verse, chorus, guitar solo, etc.
- Choose Operations > Loop Record. Record-enable the track and start recording. Don't worry if you have a bad take; another recording pass will start as soon as the end of the selection is reached.
- With the Selector Tool, double-click the recorded regions. You can switch to previous recording passes by Control-Clicking (Win) or Command-Clicking (Mac) on the region and choosing a previous take from the pop-up menu.
- Select the best take. If it isn't perfect, separate out the problem areas using the Separate command. Then Control-Click (Win) or Command-Click (Mac) to choose a region from an alternate take. By doing this, you can composite the perfect take.
Feb 2005 - Clean Up After Beat Detective
Now that Beat Detective LE has been added to Pro Tools 6.7, you may find that the Audio Regions List fills up quickly because Beat Detective creates a separate region for each bar, beat, or sub-beat within your audio selection. To un-clutter your Audio Regions List, just follow these steps:
- After using Beat Detective, and with your audio still selected, choose Edit > Consolidate Selection. This creates a new, consolidated audio file based on your selection.
- From the Audio Regions List menu, choose Select Unused. All of the small regions that Beat Detective created will be selected, since they were replaced with the consolidated region and are now unused.
- From the Audio Regions List menu, choose Clear Selected and Remove. All of the selected regions will be removed, leaving you with a cleaner list.
 Jan 2005 - Communicate with Color
Pro Tools 6.7 software's new Color Palette window allows you to customize the colors of individual elements of your sessions. For example, you can assign the color red to regions that need further editing. To change the color of a region, simply select the region with the Grabber tool, choose the Color Palette from the Windows menu, and select a new color. To change the color back to the default preference, press the Default button in the Color Palette while the region is selected.
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