Unable to do simple edits in Pro Tools HD

J

joswil44

New member
So I just started using Pro Tools HD 6.9.1.

I set everything up.

I recorded a track.

I played it back.

Now I wanted to try to do simple edits like fades, silence, gain reduction.

I can highlight a section of the audio file and go to Edit, Silence and it works fine.

But if I highlight a section of the audio file and then click Edit, Fades, everything is greyed out.

Then someone told me to separate a region.

I highlighted an audio section and selected create region and also separate region and both seemed to then allow me to select Create Fade.

So that kinda works for me now.

But I am now stuck on applying any type of feature from the Audiosuite menu.

I want to reduce gain on a section so I highlight it, go to Audiosuite, Other, Gain and I can reduce the gain -20 and hit process and it goes through but does nothing to the wave or sound.

Same thing if I go to Audiosuite and select any type of effect.

I hit process and it does nothing.

In any program I have ever used, you simply use the grab tool or the highlight tool and click on the audio and apply the effect or gain or fade and it goes through no problem.

Theres no need to create a region or separate a region.

A buddy at work has Pro Tools LE 7 and used 6.9 and said he never had to mess with regions, he just selected the audio and chose the effect and thats it.

Just like Nuendo or Cubase would.

Any ideas?
 
first of all, why are you using the Audiosuite menu for gain reduction (or almost any plugin effect)
Read your manual about volume automation...or how to use the Mix window. You don't want to render gain reduction to a file like that. You'll just get yourself into a mess later on

secondly it sounds like why Audiosuite isn't processing the file is because you have "Use in playlist" deselected in the individual audiosuite plugin menu

third, you are saying the fades menu is greyed out, right? That's because you can't create a fade in the middle of an audio region. Fades are done at the END and beginning of regions...or when splicing two regions together (cross fading). You can't do partial fades. It's either a fade in or fade out. If you are saying you want the volume to decrease at a certain point (not completely fade out)...again, you want to read about volume automation.

Be patient. You spent the money on HD, break out the manual it came with and read through it.
 
Thanks for the great response.

I think you have me in the right direction with the "Use in playlist" part.

I am used to doing quick gain increases or reductions on certain vocal spots in Nuendo and am trying to think the same but obviously Pro Tools has some differences that arent quite obvious and need to be configured before jumping right into stuff.

I was only trying to apply effects through the Audio Suite for Troubleshooting/Test purposes.

As far as fades, I understand now as far as not doing a fade in the middle of a track.

So if I did want to do a fade say at the end of a pause on a guitar track then I would need to create a region there and then at the end of that region it would enable me to fade it.

Hope I am on the right track.

Im trying to be patient, except I have a band that wants to record this weekend and I am still trying to learn the basics of Pro Tools HD.

I figured it would be simple but obviously it threw some strange curves at me.

If I can simply learn the basic edit features for cleaning up the audio track performances I will be fine with the rest.
 
I hope you're not charging the band by the hour! :/ I'd recommend doing what I did when I was learning the software: charge by the song, and tell the band you're working on learning the software.

I'm not 100% sure what you're asking, but as with most tech support it's way harder over the internet/phone, vs. in-person. Do you have any friends that know Pro Tools who could come help you out? Most of your questions could be answered in seconds, vs. minutes/hours/days...
 
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