Today Pro Tools 9 decided that my 002 wasn’t something that it wanted to talk to anymore.  The last time I had loaded Pro Tools I just needed to crack an AAF, so I left the 002 off.  Now it just wasn’t talking to it at all.  It wasn’t listed in Hardware Setup, and repeated visits to Audio/MIDI Setup only allowed me to modify settings for Aggregate I/O.  After a few more minutes of standard troubleshooting bore no fruit, I decided to turn to Google for help.  So what was the answer?

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In the last post we took a look at the fundamentals of working with Elastic Audio in Pro Tools.  Elastic Audio is the powerful function that allows you to stretch and compress audio like a rubber band, all without changing pitch or rendering any new audio.  The main focus of this function is in the music world, allowing you to quantize your music performance to the beat.  In post, however, Elastic Audio has quite a lot to offer.

Here we’ll take a look at what it can do for ADR sync, one of the most important aspects of post production sound editing.

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We’ve all done it: inadvertently linking to audio files on hard drives other than the one our session is on.  That’s all well and good for the time being, but what happens when you have to move that session to another computer?  Offline files!  The bane of any Pro Tools user’s existence.  What can you do to prevent this troublesome situation?  Read on… Read the rest of this entry »

So you’ve got your dialog cut across 5 tracks or so, each with an EQ and then compressor, and each bussed to your dialog master aux which is the home of your dialog chain of plugins.  On your chain you’ve first placed another EQ followed by a noise reduction tool of your choice.  What’s next? Read the rest of this entry »

One of the most powerful automation features that used to be reserved for Pro Tools HD systems is Trim Automation.  Avid has finally brought this fantastic feature to the masses with Pro Tools 9 (with the Complete Toolkit, that is).

Trim automation allows you to apply a relative change to your existing volume automation.  Let’s break down exactly what that means. Read the rest of this entry »

So you’ve gotten the hang of working with Latch Prime and Write To Next Breakpoint.  So what else can you do to hurry things along during your mix?  One incredibly useful tool to get familiar with is AutoMatch.

AutoMatch is the process of telling a track that’s currently writing automation to return to the pre-existing automation value during play.  It’s the tool that allows you to ease back into your existing automation during an automation-writing pass.  It’s called AutoMatch because you “match” back into your existing mix. Read the rest of this entry »

Mixes usually need to be turned around quickly.  They also need to be good.  So if you’re in the hot seat, it’s best to get a handle on the automation techniques in Pro Tools that allow you to work well and efficiently.  Fortunately with the arrival of Pro Tools 9, all of the professional automation features can finally be had on even the smallest of setups. Read the rest of this entry »

We already know that when the time comes to really squeeze the power out of your Pro Tools rig, it’s all about the key commands.  But what if there’s a function that exists in the menus but doesn’t yet have a key command?  No problem, make your own!  This tip is for Mac OSX systems, by the way.  I imagine this can be done in Windows as well, but I’m not the guy to tell you how.

In any case, here’s how we Mac folk can do it: Read the rest of this entry »

Pro Tools 8 has brought a lot of great new stuff, and also some new pitfalls to be aware of.  One thing that changed is the waveform overview engine.  This is nice because you get a 16-bit overview instead of the old 8-bit one, allowing for greater visual accuracy especially when dealing with lower-level recordings.

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Level, level, level. It’s one of the core concerns of post production sound. How loud is my show? Why are those dumb commercials so much louder? How loud should my dialog be compared to my music and effects? Will my mix be within specification of the broadcast network? Will my movie sound right in the theater? Will my webisode distort on laptop speakers?

The answer to these questions lies in good audio metering.
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Hey all, welcome to the new post production sound blog entitled “Pro Tools is Awesome!”  My name is Alexey Mohr, and this is where I’ll be posting all sorts of useful info about post production sound, workflows, and doing it all in Avid Pro Tools!

I’ll also be making free how-to videos that answer your post sound questions in Pro Tools.  So ask away, and let’s get this thing started!