Basic Pro Tools mixing advice needed

Sales Dude McBoob · Post by **Sales Dude McBoob** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 3:37 pm

I'm mixing a record I recorded with a band two years ago. We did basics (guit + bass + drums) onto a 1/4" Tascam TSR-8. This is the first real mix I've done with PT, and I guess it's my first REAL mix in general.

Alright. Here we go. Basic #1. If any of my tracks go into the red, be it an audio track or AUX track, do I have to go back and adjust everything so this doesn't happen? Part 2 of basic question #1... If one remedies this by inserting a limiter on the problematic track, uhh, is that okay, or is it better to do it the hard way?? The thing is, some of these songs go into the red but they sound great. I plan on spending some $$$ at a mastering house for this project and I don't want to get there and be screwed.

The next thing I need to do is incredibly simple in Ableton Live. I've got a song with 26 tracks and it's about 1/2 mixed with automation. I decided to add a one minute long intro to it from another song. So I imported the new audio to tracks. But now I need to move the other 26 tracks with automation back a full minute, or somehow insert a minute of space in front of them to make room for the new intro. I tried to do it for a while yesterday, but I'm so used to Ableton that I just couldn't make it happen.

That's it for now but I'm sure I'll have another question or two.

Thanks. (it's PT LE 6.4)

mike holiday · Post by **mike holiday** » Tue Oct 18, 2005 5:16 pm

red is just a warning..but if you leave more headroom (3db maybe) whoever masters it will be happy...just make sure the overall level isn't to hot...

you should be able to select all the wave forms and just drag them down the edit window, all automation should move with them...

...i havn't touched PT in quite some time but i'm pretty sure you can drag them..what is dragged (as far as autiomation) might depend on the view you are in.. not sure..

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:21 am

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:I'm mixing a record I recorded with a band two years ago. We did basics (guit + bass + drums) onto a 1/4" Tascam TSR-8. This is the first real mix I've done with PT, and I guess it's my first REAL mix in general.

Alright. Here we go. Basic #1. If any of my tracks go into the red, be it an audio track or AUX track, do I have to go back and adjust everything so this doesn't happen? Part 2 of basic question #1... If one remedies this by inserting a limiter on the problematic track, uhh, is that okay, or is it better to do it the hard way?? The thing is, some of these songs go into the red but they sound great. I plan on spending some $$$ at a mastering house for this project and I don't want to get there and be screwed.

The next thing I need to do is incredibly simple in Ableton Live. I've got a song with 26 tracks and it's about 1/2 mixed with automation. I decided to add a one minute long intro to it from another song. So I imported the new audio to tracks. But now I need to move the other 26 tracks with automation back a full minute, or somehow insert a minute of space in front of them to make room for the new intro. I tried to do it for a while yesterday, but I'm so used to Ableton that I just couldn't make it happen.

That's it for now but I'm sure I'll have another question or two.

Thanks. (it's PT LE 6.4)

McBooby,

I'm pretty sure that red is not a problem in pro tools, as from memory their mixer does not clip. The clipping you gotta worry about is ones in recorded files or bounced tracks.

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 4:23 am

mike holiday wrote: might depend on the view you are in.. not sure..

make sure all tracks are showing the waveform or blocks, none of the tracks should show any of the automation when you do this.

Gygaxian · Post by **Gygaxian** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 6:48 am

ummm . . .

you do want to watch your red. clipping on tape is not always bad anf can give it a cool sound. clipping in pro tools is bad. that is digital distortion which does not sound good, for the most part.

If it is just a small clip in pro tools then that is not too much to worry about.

I would worry more about your limiting. if you are getting a master amde then you defintely DO NOT want to add your own limiting, etc.

its much better if you just adjust levels in pro tools until a minimum of clipping is there.

my typing skills are matchless

sweetjesus · Post by **sweetjesus** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 7:00 am

chagos wrote:ummm . . .

you do want to watch your red. clipping on tape is not always bad anf can give it a cool sound. clipping in pro tools is bad. that is digital distortion which does not sound good, for the most part.

If it is just a small clip in pro tools then that is not too much to worry about.

I would worry more about your limiting. if you are getting a master amde then you defintely DO NOT want to add your own limiting, etc.

its much better if you just adjust levels in pro tools until a minimum of clipping is there.

my typing skills are matchless

i may be wrong, but still i'm pretty sure that the whole floating point 32 bit maths stops clipping in the mixer. was having a very random discussion with Robert about this on a seperate thread as I believe Live has something similar.

amo · Post by **amo** » Wed Oct 19, 2005 7:32 am

Sales Dude McBoob wrote:
The next thing I need to do is incredibly simple in Ableton Live. I've got a song with 26 tracks and it's about 1/2 mixed with automation. I decided to add a one minute long intro to it from another song. So I imported the new audio to tracks. But now I need to move the other 26 tracks with automation back a full minute, or somehow insert a minute of space in front of them to make room for the new intro. I tried to do it for a while yesterday, but I'm so used to Ableton that I just couldn't make it happen.

That's it for now but I'm sure I'll have another question or two.

Thanks. (it's PT LE 6.4)

Hi,

for the second thing, there are different possibilities. This is one: MAke sure all tracks show the waveform, and not automation. Switch to the "slip" mode. Then click in the left bottom corner the little arrow that allows you to see the left pane opening, where you can show/hide tracks, and at the bottom of it, you see something called "group", click on "group all". Now all your "clips" will be grouped. now grb whatever and move the whole to the right. Then drag the audio files for you intro at the beginning of the session (you may quit the "group all" state). Then drag back all the rest, in "group all" mode, to be at the end of the intro.
Or, you could use the "shuffle" mode, "group all", and directly drag the intro file before the rest of the track.
Or there are other ways of selecting all, or selecting a clip, if you hit "alt shift enter", it will select all clips from that clip toward the end on the same track. Then hold shift key and click every track with selector tool to add to the selection.....

Hope this is not too unclear, as I'm just waking up

Best of luck,
amo

Basic Pro Tools mixing advice needed

Basic Pro Tools mixing advice needed

Re: Basic Pro Tools mixing advice needed

Re: Basic Pro Tools mixing advice needed