K404/K504 Assignment 5: Introduction to Pro Tools

This exercise is designed to make you comfortable with basic operations in the Pro Tools non-destructive audio editing program. During (or after) following these steps, you should combine sounds into a short musical passage.

You may find it helpful to consult the Pro Tools manual, which is accessible in the Pro Tools Help menu.

One crucial bit of terminology: a region in Pro Tools is the same thing as a soundbite in Digital Performer. A list of regions normally appears on the right side of the main Pro Tools editing window; this list is the equivalent of Digital Performer's Soundbites window.

Getting Started with Pro Tools

  1. Create a new Pro Tools session. Choose New Session from the File menu, and save the session.
  2. Create several Audio tracks. Choose Track > New, and select either a mono or stereo Audio Track, as appropriate for the sound files you want to use.
  3. Using the procedures described below (at "Bringing Sounds into Pro Tools"), get some sounds into your tracks.
  4. Become familiar with the various tools — the grabber-hand, the trimmer, etc. — for placing and viewing audio regions in the Edit window. Experiment with the Slip, Spot, Shuffle and Grid modes when dragging regions in the Edit window. (Choose these by clicking on the buttons in the upper left corner of the Edit window.)
  5. Draw Volume and Pan curves for your tracks. Try to figure this out based on how you do it in Digital Peformer. It's very similar: click with the pencil tool to create breakpoints that define line segments.
  6. Create smaller regions from the existing regions by making selections in tracks with the Selection tool and using the Edit > Capture Region command. Drag these shorter regions into your project.
  7. Separate an existing region using the Edit > Separate Region command. This is like the Split command in Digital Performer.
  8. Open the Mix window, and try to figure out how to record fader and pan automation, based on what you know about Digital Performer.

Bringing Sounds into Pro Tools

There are two ways to bring sound into Pro Tools.
  1. Import exisiting sound files.

    It's good practice to keep your imported sound files inside the Audio Files folder of your Project, even though Pro Tools allows you to keep your sound files anywhere. When you import a file into your project, it will be copied automatically into your Audio Files folder IF the file requires conversion to match the format of the session (24-bit .WAV, split-stereo, for example). If no conversion is required (e.g., your file is already a 24-bit mono .WAV file), the file will not be copied. To avoid this confusion, you might want to turn on the Automatically Copy Files on Import option in the Processing pane of Pro Tools LE 7.4 > Preferences.

    The easiest way to import audio into your session is to drag an audio file from the Finder into a Pro Tools track.

    In fact, you can simply drag the file into the empty gray area of the Edit window, and Pro Tools will create a new audio track.

    Or, you can choose Import > Audio from the File menu. This puts the audio directly into a new track, and allows you to specify multiple files to import, with various conversion options..

  2. Record sound directly into a track. In our configuration, you can record analog audio from the mixing board or plug mics directly into the Digidesign Mbox2 next to the computer.

    Pro Tools cannot use the MOTU 828 mkII audio interface that Digital Performer uses — it uses the Mbox2 instead.

    Here's how to set up for recording into Pro Tools from microphones plugged directly into the Mbox2.

    1. Create a new stereo (or mono) audio track.
    2. Choose In 1-2 as the input device (if you want stereo) for your track.
    3. Plug a mic or mics into the Mbox2 inputs 1 (and 2).
    4. Set switches on the Mbox2: phantom power (labeled 48V), pad (as appropriate), Mic (rather than DI).
    5. WARNING: Make sure the Pro Tools channels on the Mackie mixer (ch. 31-32) are NOT assigned to the L-R mix bus!

      Otherwise, you'll generate a feedback loop! Think about it: the sound from the mixer's main outs goes into Pro Tools; then Pro Tools echos the sound back to mixer channels 31-32, which send the sound to the main outs and into Pro Tools again, etc., etc. — feedback!

      You can monitor on headphones plugged into the Mbox2.

    6. Record-enable the track: press the track's red R button.
    7. Set record levels at the Mbox2.
    8. Press the record button (red circle) in the Transport window, followed by the play button, and the stop button to finish recording.

    ©2008, John Gibson, Christopher Cook