Pro Tools Questions

[Agent47]

Hi there. I'm starting to use Pro Tools (6.2.3) more on a daily basis, and was wondering if there were any experts here with some answers...

Yes, I know, 'RTFM', but I find it really hard to find what I'm looking for in it...I guess this might be quicker...


1. I've got two mono tracks. I want to go into the mixer and turn the two mono faders into one stereo fader for easier automation. How do I do this?

2. I've got some music in stereo on two mono tracks. I see that trimming both tracks simultaneously is done by highlighting both L and R segments then holding shift and trimming. How come fade doesn't work in the same manner? How do I fade two monos simultaneously? Currently, holding shift just fades one of them, not both.

3. Can you view/edit automation 'rubber-band' style? If so, how?

4. Say I want to make a cut/snip (separate) across multiple tracks, how do I select across them without it asking me to 'name the region'? I find if you're just one micron to the left or right, it thinks you are creating a region. I know that if you click on the timeline at the top it selects the whole lot - but what if I just want to separate two tracks but not cut through everything else?

5. Is there any way of creating groups of audio without consolidating? For example, say I'm doing a radio ad which has 10 different tag lines at the end, I want to copy VOs on tracks 1 and 2, effects on tracks 3,4,5,6, and music on tracks 7 and 8, and create a single group (that behaves as a single segment) which is then used as the master for copy/pasting - rather than pasting a collection of separate segments. I need to be able to open up the group after pasting, in case any segments need to be moved for time constraints, so I don't want a consolidated segment.

Yeah I know, RTFM...

Thanks,

A47.

 

[bennychico11]

A) RTFM

1) two ways you can approach this. Option #1 is to group the two mono tracks together so you can have separate automation/plugins for each one. With a stereo track you're limited to one fader that controls both channels' volume....keeping them in mono allows each track to have it's own automation, and you can group them so at certain times they act the same way. So look up fader groups in the manual as it can get too complex for me to talk about in this post. Plus the manual will explain it better.
BUT, to answer your question you can also just create a stereo track and drag the two mono tracks' regions on to it. Create the stereo track and put it below the two mono tracks. Make sure the two mono tracks are next to eachother and then use the grabber or selector tool to select the entire portion you want to move onto the stereo track. Then you can use just the grabber tool to drag it down to the stereo track.

2) this question relates to the one above it. You can either group the two tracks together or just put them on a stereo track. It'll be less cluttered in the windows and you can trim both tracks the same way.
However, if you want to add a fade to both tracks, just select the beginning or end of both tracks (use the selector tool + shift) and then hit CTRL+F to create the fades.

3) Yes, look at the word "waveform" in the Edit Window right under the track names....click and hold on this and you can select the different track views. If you're doing just volume automation you can also click with the selector tool on that track and press the - sign on the qwerty keyboard.

4) If you make an actual selection over a region(s) and then separate it will ask you to name that region, unless you go to Preferences-->Editing-->Auto-Name separated regions (should be in your version too).
However, you can also just separate the beginning and end points without it asking you to rename it. Instead of making a selection just put the cursor at the point in the region where you want to separate it. To add multiple tracks hold the shift key while clicking once on the tracks. It doesn't matter where you click because you've already defined where in the timeline you want the cursor...the shift key just tells Pro Tools to extend the cursor onto multiple tracks. You can even skip adjoining tracks if you want. Then Separate...do the same thing for the other end of the separation point you want. This is how I do my separations.
You can also create groups, like I said above, and the edit point will follow those groups.

5) Again, take a look at groups in the manual. As well as reading up on how playlists works. I think with a combination of these two things you can accomplish what you need. If you're having different tag lines but everything else remains the same, one way you can accomplish this is just to use playlists. So you have VO on track one, Tags on track 2, music on 3-4, and effects on the other ones. They all might start at 00:01:30:00 and the tags don't come in until 00:01:50:00....well you just make playlists on the tag track and you can switch between multiple tags that are 10 seconds long and always remain at the same place in time. Very hand when doing VO work.



As you can see, there are about a billion different ways to do one thing in Pro Tools. Learn them all.
-B

 

[Agent47]

B I G thanks Bennychico!

I was hoping you'd appear. I'll print that out and check those out. Thanks.

I don't get enough time on PT as I'd like (at work), but I see the need to improve my skills with it. Most of what I deal with is other people's PT sessions, so I never really record or edit on it.

I'm looking to move back into post-pro engineering, and these days PT skills are essential, as I'm sure you know. I'd like to get as proficient with that as previous DAWs I've used.

I just had a thought, I have an old Win 98 PIII 550mHz PC sitting idle in my home studio. Might download PT Free for it so I can have a fiddle with it weekends... Hmm...

Again, big thanks.