Mix Studios Online

Copy Files to Session Folder using Import Audio

Tommy — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 13:49:37 +0000

So I had a good friend call me up the other day about an issue he was having. He was wondering why after he was done with his session, he would remove the unused audio files and pro tools would delete some of his samples in his sample library. The idea when importing audio files through “Import Audio” in pro tools, is that it would COPY over the audio file into your session folder. But in his case, it wasn’t copying them over. If he moved his session to another computer, he would get the “Cannot find audio” error we all hate. We’ll, there is a solution for this. It’s not completely apparent, but after a couple sessions of files getting deleted and missing audio files from sessions, one tends to quickly find a solution. The fix lies within Pro Tools Preferences. 1. (On Mac) Click on “Pro Tools” at the top of your screen and go to Preferences. 2. Go to the Processing tab and check “Automatically Copy Files on Import” 3. This 3rd step should automatically be covered because of the option chosen in the processing tab. But this is another step to take to ensure you are properly copying the files over. In the Import Audio window, always make sure to click on “Copy” or “Convert” instead of “Add”. Because when you click on “Add” you are telling Pro Tools to leave the file in it’s location, instead of Copying it to your session folder.

Pro Tools Auto Session Backup

Tommy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:19:20 +0000

Learn how to protect yourself from a Pro Tools Crash! This video explains how to use Auto Session Back up and where the backup files are located incase you need to find them. This feature has been a life saver in many instances.

How To Convert Midi To Audio

Tommy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 17:08:01 +0000

This video takes us through the process of recording your midi tracks back into Pro Tools as audio. Why is this useful? Well if you’ve ever had a bunch of virtual instruments running in your session, you know they EAT computer resources. Not only that but if your computer ever crashes or you have to replace the hard drive, these instruments can suddenly disappear, especially when you’ve worked 6000 hours on tweaking those parameters just perfectly. This insures that your sound will be permanent.

How To Prepare Session For Mastering

Tommy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 16:59:05 +0000

This video takes you through some of the steps that you can take to help prepare your session for mastering. I explain a couple ways on how to tame the Master bus. I talk about volume trim along with other things to look out for before bouncing your track for mastering. Your mastering engineer will appreciate it!

Controller VS Console

Tommy — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 15:21:07 +0000

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the differences in controllers and consoles in the studio world. Even some studio owners don’t know that they are using the word console, when they actually have a controller as their main desk. So I figured I would do a little write up about the two and show some different examples. Although they look similar, they are two very different pieces of gear. I’m going to use the SSL Duality Console and the Digidesign D-Command as the examples in this write up. A “Controller” is a tool that simply controls Pro Tools or any other DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). There is no actual audio signal that runs through it. When you move it’s faders, you move the faders in your DAW. They can also control parameters in plugins and do a wide variety of other things in your DAW. A lot of people refer to controllers as calling them a “Really Big Mouse”. Because in reality, everything you can do with a $30,000 controller, you can do with a $10 mouse. The most simple reason these units are in studios is because for 1. They look nice. What’s a studio without a big piece of gear with faders and knobs on it, right? A lot of the times, these units just sit there. Now on the other hand, if you are proficient at using a Controller. It can increase your work flow dramatically. This is one of the justifications for having one in your studio. Some people MUST have a controller when they work. I for example, mostly don’t use them. I could be sitting at a controller for three days straight and never touch it once, except for the volume knob, speaker selection buttons and the talk back button. Here is the D-Command: Looks fancy right? It’s a great tool if you take the time to really learn it inside out. Is it worth it’s price? That is for you to judge. Now on to my favorite, the console. A “Console” is what you mostly see in big expensive studios. Companies like SSL and Neve are very popular for having great sounding consoles. The main difference that separates a console from a controller, is the fact that audio signal actually runs through every single channel down to the fader. Depending on the console, determines the characteristics it will add (or sometimes subtract) to your audio signal. Even two of the same exact consoles can have a different sound, for example, because one is older than the other. A lot of the time, this is desired because it adds character to your audio. Consoles are a ton of money and are very expensive to maintain and run. Get ready for a new world of electricity bills, because it is best to keep these things on 24/7 to reduce the chance of damaging the unit from excessive On and Off every day. Here is a console from SSL, the SSL Duality: What’s great about this particular console (SSL Duality) is with the press of one button, you can switch it to controller mode and control your DAW just as if it was a controller, like the D-Command. When this console was released in 2007, it’s retail price was around $300,000. So, yeah… You better be serious about music if you want to buy one of these monsters. There are many other features that I can list out about this console that are great, but I’ll leave that for another time. Hopefully this write up gives you an idea of the differences and possibly inspires you to learn more about the awesomeness of studio gear and music. Before I write off, here are a couple more pictures of other small and big consoles you might see in home studios, smaller room commercial studios and large room studios.

Neve 5088 Console:

API 1608 Console:

SSL J 9000:

A Must Know: Enable Session File Backups

Tommy — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:37:06 +0000

This is one of my favorite tips. If it wasn’t for this feature, many computer screens would have been smashed in and thrown outside studio windows. If Pro Tools has ever crashed on you right when you were in the middle of adding some nice new creative juice, you’ll immediately appreciate this feature. It’s a simple feature to use and understand, so I’ll jump right into it.

Easily Remove Silence from Regions in Pro Tools

Tommy — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 18:50:38 +0000

I originally did a write up on this, but then did a video for it. So here is the video. If for whatever reason you’d rather read how to do this, you can read that down at the bottom below the video.

So this is a pretty easy but very useful little tip. Sometimes when you’re running a session that has a bunch a full audio tracks, meaning, from session start to session end, all the regions are uncut, even when there is no audio within certain parts of them, protools can become sluggish or give you the “Cannot access hard drive fast enough” error. This tip can help you quickly get rid of all the wasted unused region space. You can also use this to easily cut out any un wanted background noise. 1. Select the regions you want to strip. If it’s the entire session, highlight all the regions. 2. After highlighting all the regions, go to Edit > Strip Silence (click to enlarge) 2. Now a little strip silence box will come up. Adjust your Strip Threshold until the boxes are only surrounding areas with no audio in them. (click to enlarge) 3. You can adjust the Start Pad and End Pad just to give your audio files a little tiny buffer so it doesn’t cut out the very start or very end low signal. And that’s pretty much it.

Quick Tip: Add Click Track & Tap Tempo – Pro Tools

Tommy — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:03:54 +0000

Here’s two quick tips I decided to put into one post because they will be very short and they are so easy. Also because they go hand in hand. But just because they are easy doesn’t mean they are obvious and if you didn’t know them, you’ll be glad you do now. The first one is adding a click track to your session:

Rip!: A Remix Manifesto – Great Video on Remixing and Copyright Law

Tommy — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:16:27 +0000

Check out this documentary on remixing and how the law views issues regarding this. It’s definitely worth watching the entire video if you’re an aspiring DJ/Producer or an artist. There’s no old and boring lectures either! It’s an up-to-date, well directed film. Check it out!

(Opens in new window)

How to Dramatically Reduce Session Size

Tommy — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:13:22 +0000

Here I’ll go through how to reduce the size of your sessions (dramatically sometimes). This is another great tip for preparing your sessions to be sent over the internet to, for example, a Mix Engineer. If you haven’t read my post on “How to properly send your session“, read that as well as this one. It will definitely make your life that much easier when preparing your sessions for sending out. Note: I do suggest most of the time (unless you’re absolutely positive you won’t need any hidden takes) to follow the steps in the “How to send your session” post before following these steps. Because if you apply this to your main session you will remove the audio files that aren’t being used in the session, which is Ok, but if you ever realize you needed a certain take that you saved in a playlist, it will be gone.