MP212 Principles of Audio Technology II Lab # 3 Mixing in ProTools Version 2.0, 11/05/06 revised JMC, JL, JB Version 4, 06/11/12 revised AR Version 6.1 (X48), 11/26/2013 revised AR Copyright 2006 Berklee College of Music. All rights reserved. Acrobat Reader 6.0 or higher required
MP212 Lab #3 Mixing in Pro Tools Team members: #1 #2 #3 In this Lab, you will mix the song Salvation, working from a pre-made Pro Tools session. You will find this session on a CD-R labeled MP212 Lab #3; it is kept in the Studio Office. You will work in M27 for this Lab. This is a mix starting in Pro Tools, so for this Lab the DM2000 will be used primarily to monitor outputs 9/10 (the first digital pair) from Pro Tools. DM 2000 Setup 1. Begin by setting the DM2000 to a default state. First, hit the Input Patch button in the display access area, find the Library page. From there, recall Library setting #0. This will reset the input patching in the DM2000. 2. Do the same thing for the Output Patch settings. Find the Library page, and recall Library setting #0. 3. Next, recall mix Scene Library #0, which will reset all of the DM2000 faders, EQ s, etc.. Master Word Clock 4. Now you should clock the DM2000 to the Apogee Big-Ben. On the DM2000, go to the Digital I/O DIO" word clock page, and clock the DM2000 from the Big Ben via the DM2000 s word clock input (WC IN). Check to make sure the Big Ben is set to a 44.1kHz sample rate. 5. You don't need it for this assignment, but we better avoid looking at a clock error sign on the DIO Word Clock page, so we better set the clock properly on the X48, just as you did in the previous labs (follow instructions from those labs) 6. In the Control Room section of the DM2000, choose ST to listen to the 2- mix. 7. You should be ready to go! We ll set the Pro Tools system clocking once we open the application. 8. Copy the Session on the CD-R to the Media Drive of the computer. In addition, copy the file called MP212 Lab3 vox.omf, then eject the CD-R. The artist has asked to mix this song. However, the assets for the mix are
coming from more than one place. The Pro Tools session is called MP212 Lab 3 Tracks, and contains the backing tracks for the song. However, the lead vocals were recorded elsewhere, and in Digital Performer; they tracked the vocals to a reference mix of the backing tracks, not the multitrack session. Since the lead vocals weren t recorded in the same Pro Tools session as the backing tracks, you ll have to import the vocal tracks into Pro Tools. Luckily, the engineer who cut the vocals in DP exported the vocal tracks as an OMF file. OMF files contain audio data as well as meta-data regarding the audio regions and their placement in time, and other parameters as well. Many applications can export and import OMF files, including Digital Performer, Logic Audio, Nuendo, and Pro Tools. Your job is to import these tracks into Pro Tools. Pro Tools Setup 9. To do this, first open the Pro Tools session with the backing tracks. 10. In Pro Tools go to the Session Setup window to set the Master Word Clock. The clock source should be set to Sync I/O -Word Clock. This will ensure the ProTools hardware is following the same clocking reference as the DM2000 (the Big Ben in this case).
11. Double check your Pro Tools session has the outputs cascaded properly, starting from output 9 and above. Track 1 to output 9, track 2 to output 10, etc. Remember, Studio M27 I/O setup uses the first 8 ins and outs for analog inputs and outputs. Since we are using digital connections, we need to route ins and outs starting on 9. Note: Since we will be mixing in-the-box, you will need to use a stereo output. In order to connect digitally from Pro Tools to the console, you will need to use output 9-10 for this lab. Be sure to use a stereo I/O setup for this lab. DM 2000 Monitoring Setup 12. In the Control Room section of the DM2000, choose ST to listen to the 2-mix. 13. You should be ready to go! In Studio M27 the Pro Tools digital returns come in to the DM2000 via Card Slots #1, 2 & 3, which are internally routed to channels 25-48. Access those channels on Layer #2 of the DM2000. Be sure to use the digital returns and not the analog returns which appear on the 1st layer. Check the interconnections diagram for any last minute changes to the routing for each specific studio. 14. The session may open up with all tracks routed to Pro Tools outputs 1-2; these are analog outputs. Change these to the first pair of digital outputs 9 10. The naming of the I/O setup might change, although the most common scenario in M27 is to use 1 through 8 as analog outputs and 9 and above as digital outputs. Make sure the DM2000 modules where you are monitoring Pro Tools (first two on the second layer, from outputs 9 and 10) are panned hard left and right respectively. They will be channels 25 and 26 on the console, the first two channels of the second layer. 15. Take a minute, listen to the tracks, set up a listening mix, and so forth. OMF File 16. Importing data from an OMF file into Pro Tools is pretty straightforward. From the Pro Tools file menu, choose Import Session Data. In the file dialog, find the OMF file with the vocal tracks and open it.
17. The next dialog window is used for importing session data from an OMF file into Pro Tools. Read the whole window carefully, to see some of the options and parameters involved in OMF importing. For Mapping Options, choose Maintain Absolute Timecode Values, so that the regions from DP (which used the same timecode as the PT tracks session) will import to the correct timecode positions. For Audio Media Options, you should choose copy from source media, so that Pro Tools makes a copy of the audio in the OMF file, and places the copied audio into your Pro Tools session. Finally, for each of the vocal tracks (A1 and A2), choose to make a New Track for each. When you are done, hit OK. 18. If everything went correctly, you ll have two new tracks in your Pro Tools session, probably named A1 and A2. At this point, play the session, and make sure the vocals are placed correctly. They may be hard panned, which is an easy fix in the Mix window.
The DM 2000 as a Control Surface One of the popular uses of digital consoles in a Pro Tools environment is to use the faders as remote controls of the PT virtual faders. The DM2000 communicates over MIDI in this situation. We ll set up the DM2000 as a remote control surface first. If the console has previously been used in REMOTE CONTROL mode the following steps may be unnecessary. You may want to select the Remote1 Layer on the DM2000 and check to see if communication has been enabled. 19. In the second column is labeled "SPECIAL FUNCTIONS". "StudioManager" should be set to "USB" "8" "1" (USB, Port 8, id 1). Also in the second column, "DAW" should be set to "USB" "1-4". 20. Then use the "SETUP" button and associated soft keys (f4) to access the "REMOTE" page. Select "MACHINE CONFIG->" and press the "ENTER" key. Machine Configuration should be set to "DAW CONTROL". Machine 1 should be: type "MMC", port "USB" "8" id "1", Transport Control "ENABLED", Chase Control "ENABLED", and Master/MTR "MASTER".
21. In order to control ProTools remotely, you must be in Remote mode. Use the "REMOTE" button, in the "DISPLAY ACCESS" portion of the console, to confirm that Remote1 is set to the target of "ProTools". Now select "Remote1" under the "LAYER" section of the console. The faders are now set to match the first 24 tracks in the ProTools Mix window. Setting up Pro Tools for Remote Control 22. Choose Peripherals from the Setups menu. When the Peripherals window appears, click the MIDI Controllers button. 23. Select HUI as the Type of controller for #1 #3. The DM2000 can emulate up to three typical 8-channel Pro Tools MIDI controllers. A single MIDI port is required for every eight channels. So, you must configure MIDI Controller #1 to use channels 1 through 8, MIDI Controller #2 to use channels 9 through 16, and MIDI Controller #3 to use channels 17 through 24. 24. Set the Receive From and Send To ports to use the Yamaha USB Ports 1 3 respectively, and then click OK.
25. Now when selecting the Remote 1 Layer on the DM2000 you should see the Pro Tools track names appear above each fader. The communication is bidirectional, movement of a fader in the Pro Tools application will cause the associated DM2000 fader to move and vice versa. Writing Automation from the DM 2000 You might benefit from continue reading until you are familiar with all the instructions of the lab, before trying to do the following step by step instructions, reading up to the chapter Automation in Pro Tools. Once you have read everything, you can return here and start implementing the stepby-step instructions. 26. DM2000 channel strips correspond to Pro Tools channels from left to right, with the leftmost Pro Tools channel being handled by DM2000 channel strip#1. You can change the order of channel strips by dragging the channel select buttons in Pro Tools, in which case the DM2000 automatically reorders its channel strips. 27. Enable auto touch mode on a few Pro Tools tracks and use the DM2000 faders to write automation. Additional automation instructions and options are at the end of this document.
Setting up for your Mix 28. Create some markers to lay out the basic form of the song. To create a marker, place the play cursor at the point you d like to mark, and hit Enter. You can also create a marker on the fly by hitting Enter while Pro Tools is playing. You can navigate from one marker to another with the Show Memory Locations window (from the Windows menu). 29. For this lab, you can mix the tune as you like. There are, however a number of tasks to perform in your mix. 30. The overheads tracks are split up to two mono tracks; it might be better if we had those two regions in one stereo track. To do this, first make sure you are in SLIP mode. Next, select the track called OHR (click on the track name), and then create a new stereo audio track (SHFT-CMD-N). It should appear just under the OH R track. 31. Using the Grabber tool (the hand) select the region in the OHL track. Holding down shift, select the region in the OHR track. Once you have them both selected, drag them down to your new stereo track. If you hold control while dragging those regions down to the new track, you ll find that you can t shift the region forward or backward in time; it will go exactly where it s supposed to go. Delete the OHL and OHR tracks when you are done, and rename the track with the overheads regions in them. 32. Mixing the kit -the individual tracks will most likely need EQ and dynamics on them. On the kick and snare tracks, be sure to gate them to reduce the leakage. 33. Use this Lab as an opportunity to explore some of the Waves plug-ins you don t have in your Berklee Waves bundle. The only plug-ins you should avoid are the Waves Mastering plug-ins; the Lin EQs, the Lin MB, and the L2. These aren t really appropriate plug-ins for mixing work, and they put a HUGE strain on your computer. Feel free to experiment other plugins, not only Waves. 34. Insert a gate on the overheads, and key this gate with the snare. You will use a buss as the key input for the gate. Send the snare as a pre-fader send to an unused bus on your Pro Tools session. On the overheads gate, click the key icon at the bottom of the plug-in window, which tells the gate that we will send it an external key signal. At the top of this window, there s another key icon with a pop-up window. Here, choose the same buss that you ve put the snare on. The snare is now the key signal for this gate, and the overheads are the audio signal. Adjust the parameters so
that you re getting a little gating of the overheads, keyed by the snare. A variation of this idea would be to duplicate the OH tracks, so you have them gated simultaneously as non-gated. This way you can treat the gated OH tracks mostly for the snare sound, but the non-gated for an overall sound of the drum kit, including cymbals. 35. Find at least one other opportunity for keying a dynamics processor (gate, expander, compressor) from another track. There are a lot of choices here. 36. Bass, guitars, vocals -these will also need EQ and dynamics, in whatever manner you like. 37. Create two mono aux tracks -one for a reverb, and the other for a delay. On each aux track, choose an unused bus as the input into the aux track. 38. One the first aux track, set up a plate reverb using the Waves Renaisance Verb (mono>stereo), and send the snare, overheads, acoustic and whatever else you like. For the delay (can be mono or mono>stereo), set it up with one of the Digirack delays, and set the delay time for something tempo-related (quarters, dotted 8ths, etc.). Send the lead vox, slide guitar, and whatever else you like to this delay. In both cases, to send a track s signal into these FX, set up a send on that track going to the corresponding bus. 39. Create at least one more aux track, and choose any effect you want to use in your mix (chorusing, another delay, etc.). Use this effect in any manner you like. 40. As you are working on your mix -open up the window called Show System Usage, and be sure to keep an eye on your DSP resources. You ll see the DSP chips used by the DSP plug-ins, as well as a gauge showing the load on the computer s CPU. You should also check that Delay Compensation is selected. This is done to avoid latency when adding plug-ins to your session. More about Delay Compensation will be discussed in class. 41. There is one HIDDEN CHALLENGE in this mix. There are some noises on a track or two. You need to find them and remove them before you finish the mix, otherwise the noises will be present on your final mix, and you don't want that.
Automation in ProTools. 42. At some point, you will want to automate your mix. You can add automation by drawing it into a track, or do real time automation from the mixer page. Choose whatever you are more comfortable using. To draw automation, change the track display from waveform to volume, (or panning, etc.) 43. In either case, open the Automation Enable window (CMD-4), and make sure you only arm the parameters you intend to automate. Also, for the most part, if you use real time automation, use touch or latch mode rather than write mode, to be sure you don t erase existing automation by mistake. 44. Automate the levels, panning and mutes of tracks as you see fit. You can use automation for obvious mix changes, such as muting entire sections of the rhythm tracks for parts of the song, or for more subtle manipulations of a track. 45. One thing you must do is use volume automation on the vocal tracks. The performance is very uneven, so you ll have to ride her level to bring out certain syllables and consonants, as well as balance some of the louder phrases with some of the quiet phrases. In addition, you might try riding some of the other tracks to keep them out of the way of the vocals. 46. In addition to automation of volume and panning of your tracks, automate the sends of the lead vox and slide guitar into the delay effect. Use this creatively to vary the amount of delay we hear in the mix. 47. Find at least one more creative use of automation beyond these tasks listed above. For example, see if you can figure out how to automate a plug-in parameter, such as the gain of an EQ band, etc. Hint: start by opening the auto window from within the plug-in. 48. From here, there s more to tweak and adjust in your mix. Spend some more time getting the mix just right. If you arrived here after reading for the first time, you may go back now to Writing Automation from the DM2000 chapter and do the lab from there.
The 2-Mix You will submit your final mix as an mp3 file format through Inside Berklee, but, feel free to create a better sound quality version for your record, bouncing to a CD quality WAV file, besides the required mp3 file format required for the lab. 49. When you are done, you will bounce your mix back to disk as a soundfile. The first step in doing this is to create a new track, this time a stereo Master fader track. This is essentially a main output track for your Pro Tools mix. In this Master Fader track, insert a POW-r dither plug-in, and choose 16 bits. Double check that the Master Fader was created for the correct outputs you are using (9-10) in this case. 50. Now, go to File/Bounce to Disk, and bounce your mix as a stereo interleaved mp3 file format and when prompted, select the 320 kbps as the Constant Bit Rate (CBT), in order to preserve as much of the sound quality as possible in a compressed data file format as mp3. Make sure you bounce the file down into your Session folder, so that you can find it again! Double-check you are using output 9 and 10 as the source for your BTD (Bounce-to-Disk).
51. Don t forget to submit the mp3 version of your mix online at Inside Berklee, as instructed there. One mp3 from each team, no need to multiple submissions of the same mix from the same team. 52. If you want to keep a non-compressed version of your final mix, even though it is not required for submission in this lab, then perform a second BTD (Bounce-to-Disk), this time selecting WAV as the file format, with the standard CD quality: 44.1 khz, stereo, 16 bits, as shown in the next picture. Don t forget to check that 9-10 is the selected output. The picture representing this process below uses a default output of 1-2. 53. Save and quit Pro Tools. Back up your Pro Tools session. Also, burn a CD-R of the Pro Tools session to hand in.
54. On or before the due date, submit a manila envelope, properly labeled, containing your Session on a CD-R, a Session Report (1 to 2 pages) from each Lab partner, and any other paperwork you generated during this Lab. Each team can submit everything in a single envelope. Your session does not mean only the PT session file, but the whole folder, including all Audio Files, including your bounced final mix. New DM 2000 features for Lab # 3 The following pages are copies from the DM2000. You will find topics related to Surface Controller settings, as well as Pro Tools Remote Automation settings. The DM2000 has its own Automix, a Console Automation setting. This lab and these instructions are not related with Automix. Automix will automate faders and other knobs on the audio part of the console. This lab instructions are related to Pro Tools automation and the DM2000 as a Pro Tools controller.