My good friend Joe Gilder of Home Studio Corner has just announced his first Video Tutorial Series: Understanding Pro Tools.
I watched the series yesterday and they are excellent, similar quality to Groove3 or MacPro video, and so much better than the tutorials provided by AVID. This is 3+ hours of all new content, created specifically for this series.
http://www.homestudiocorner.com/unde…ls-pdc/?id=agz
*** This is an affiliate link, buying through this link supports Audio Geek Zine *** Remove “-pdc/?id=agz” from the link if you don’t want to support my site.
It’s 3 hours of beginner tutorial content split up across 9 HD videos (Quicktime). $39 to download.
Topics covered:
Video #1 – Overview – This introductory video explains what I’ll be covering over the course of Understanding Pro Tools and gives a basic overview of Pro Tools itself.
Video #2 – Track Types – Learn all about the five different track types in Pro Tools. Learn what they are and why you would use each one.
Video #3 – Mix Window – Learn the ins and outs of the mix window.
Video #4 – Edit Window – Learn the ins and outs of the edit window.
Video #5 – Recording – Learn how to record both audio and MIDI.
Video #6 – Editing – Learn what to do with the audio and MIDI once it’s recording. I discuss the various different edit modes and editing tools available.
Video #7 – Mixing – While this video isn’t intended to TEACH you how to get a good-sounding mix, I do show you all the mechanics of setting up a bouncing the final mixdown.
Video #8 – Mastering – After talking about mixing, it only makes sense to briefly explain what mastering is.
Video #9 – Preferences & Troubleshooting – This is a catch-all of topics and advice that weren’t covered in the first eight videos.
All the details are on the site.
http://www.homestudiocorner.com/unde…ls-pdc/?id=agz
*** This is an affiliate link, buying through this link supports Home Studio Corner and Audio Geek Zine *** Remove “-pdc/?id=agz” from the link if you don’t want to support my site. This is an excellent intro for anyone new to Pro Tools, definitely worth checking out.
This Thursday, February 25th Joe Gilder of Home Studio Corner is hosting a webinar entitled “Why I Use Pro Tools”. It’s free to sign up and will be fun and informative. Fair warning, he is going to be promoting his upcoming tutorial video (which is going to be something you’ll want to pick up).
Besides things like the upcoming Webinar, Joe has some brilliant articles and videos on various Pro Tools related topics. His latest blog post lists them all, as reposted below.
Maybe you’ve come across this, I know I have, where no matter what you do, you just can’t get what you want from your reverb. You find that too much makes the vocal too distant and any less makes the vocal too dry. Now before you give up because you suck at reverb, there’s another option. Delay. That’s right boys and girls, a pair of short mono delays on mono buses feeding into each other can create a sense of space, without clutter. And that’s just what you need.
For this recipe you will need:
a DAW that allows feedback loops.
1 stereo send
2 mono aux tracks or effect return tracks
2 mono sends
2 mono EQ plugins
2 mono delay plugins
On your vocal track, create a stereo send to bus 1-2 at a level around -7dB.
Create 2 mono aux tracks or tracks that will allow you to receive the output of a bus. Set the input of the first aux track to bus 1, pan it left. Set the second to bus 2, and pan it right.
On each of the mono aux tracks insert an EQ plugin and set a high-pass filter around 150Hz.
After the EQ plugin, insert a simple mono delay.
Set the delay time to a 16th note. Mix 100% wet, no feedback, no modulation. If available, use the built-in low-pass filter to reduce the high frequencies above 5kHz (adjust to taste).
Repeat the previous 2 steps, changing the delay time to a 32nd note.
On the left side delay, create a send to bus 2 and set the level around -5dB.
On the right side delay, create a send to bus 1 and set the level around -5dB.
Your delays are now set up and ready to use. Try it out. It is a similar effect but sometimes it works way better than reverb. If this didn’t make sense, have a look at the signal flow in the picture above.
Here are some examples (not the best song for this but you’ll get the idea):
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
I find that with this technique I can create a space for the vocal, but keep things nice and tight without reverb tails taking up energy.
Today I was mixing a song in Pro Tools and came across a big problem with the Pitch Shift and Time Shift Audiosuite plugins.
Here’s what happened:
I had a horn part that just didn’t sound as thick as I wanted.
I duplicated the track and processed the duplicate with Audiosuite Pitch Shift down one octave.
I played it back the notes were all way off in timing!
I tried it again with the TimeShift plugin and had similar results.
I had to manually pocket every phrase because it was just so badly off and inconsistently too. In the picture above that one note is 79ms later than the original.
Obviously this is annoying! It might have gone unnoticed had I been just replacing the part and not layering it.
PAY ATTENTION! DON’T TRUST AVID TO GET IT RIGHT!!!!
Of course if you think this is operator error let me know what I did wrong.
Nick Maxwell [@AbletonTutor] of Nick’s Tutorials has recently released his 4th in-depth series of tutorial videos for Ableton Live users – Sound Design With Ableton Live: Analog. The latest video series goes deep into subtractive synthesis using Analog and costs $40.
Below is a taste of what’s in the nearly 4 hours of content.
Demystifying Synthesis and Analog’s Inteface
Looking to improve your skills with sound synthesis? How about more information on Ableton’s most misunderstood instrument? These two questions spawned this 3 hour 40 minute video tutorial series on the Analog synthesizer. Many people have been wondering where to begin with Analog’s interface and powerful functionality: “Sound Design in Ableton Live: Analog” serves as both a missing manual for the instrument plus a comprehensive introduction to the most important concepts in subtractive synthesis. By the end of the series, you’ll have a better understanding of the logic behind Analog’s interface and as well as its sonic potential.
Sound Design in Ableton Live: Operator $40
Learn Operator and FM synthesis in a practical way, discovering how timbres are created and combined to generate insane synth and drum sounds.
Sound Design in Ableton Live: Sampling Tools $40
Learn radical techniques for creating everything from hard-hitting drums to complex atmospheres. Gain the knowledge to create unique, complex sounds.
Sampling & Slicing in Ableton Live $25
A no-fluff series on creating sample-based music in Ableton Live. Learn essential tools and creative techniques with this series. Get up to speed in no time.