Pro Tools is the benchmark for professional audio recording, editing and mixing. It's used in places as humble as bedroom studios all the way up to major recording studios in Hollywood post-production facilities. The version we will be looking at in this tutorial is Pro Tools LE. This is the affordable younger sibling of Pro Tools HD for high definition. It offers almost every feature of the Mac daddy except that it harnesses the power of your computer to do all of its mixing and audio shaping. So how do you get it? The latest version Pro Tools LE 6.7 is yours for free when you purchase a Digidesign Pro Tools LE hardware interface. There are three interfaces currently available. The Digi 002, the 002 Rack and the Mbox. All three work on an Apple Macintosh running Mac OS 10 or on a Pc running Windows XP. After connecting your audio interface into your Mac or Pc, you can record it extremely high quality into Pro Tools LE. You can then edit and mix your recordings with unmatched precision. Add in DigiRack or third party plug-ins and you have the makings of a world-class recording studio wherever your computer can take you. I will be teaching Pro Tools LE using a Digi 002 Rack on the Macintosh and an Mbox on the Pc. However, most of what I will be showing you will translate well to any Digi interface. And will even get you on your way to working with Pro Tools HD. I will try to give you more than just a look at Pro Tools. I will also try to educate you on some fundamental principles of digital audio. I will touch on optimum recording levels, mixing considerations and ways to maintain the highest quality through to the pre-mastering stage. I have organized the structure of this tutorial in a way that knowledge from one chapter usually builds on knowledge gained from an earlier chapter. If viewing a later movie might be helpful, I will make sure you know about it. We will first take a look at what's new with Pro Tools LE 6, specifically Pro Tools LE 6.7. Then we will install the software and hardware on our Mac or Pc. Next we will build a session and create audio tracks and work with existing audio files. Then we will do our own recording. I will make sure you understand some important level setting considerations and provide concrete examples of what to do and what not to do. In chapter 4, we will take a detailed tour of all the editing tools and cover all the fundamentals. Chapter 5 is where we will take a more in-depth look at editing and some ramifications of making certain kinds of editing decisions. In the chapter on mixing, I will not only show you how digital audio mixing works but I will also give you advice on optimizing CPU resources and different ways to handle the Pro Tools LE 32 track limit. Chapter 7 is a fun one. When we get to start sculpting and shaping our sound with digital signal processors called plug-ins, I will make sure that you understand why you are applying a plug-in rather than just saying do this or do that. It will be knowledge that will help you understand how to obtain better quality from your recordings. In chapter 8, I will show you how to get that masterpiece into a final form ready for release to the world. I will also give you some sage advice on maintaining top-notch quality to the end. Chapter 9 is our MIDI chapter. MIDI is relatively new to Pro Tools but Digidesign did a good job when they updated it for Pro Tools 6. Mix automation is wonderful. And in chapter 10, I will show you many things you can do to tame difficult mixes and make Pro Tools work for you. Rounding out our tour will be an appendix where I will give you an overview of some of the best third party plug-ins available today. My personal thanks goes to all the vendors who graciously supplied their wares for that appendix. You can watch this tutorial online and still learn a lot. However, I believe you will get more out of your investment if you order the take home version on CD. The quality will be higher, especially for those critical audio comparisons and examples that I will be playing. I hope that you enjoy learning Pro Tools and that you will make better recordings as a result. Maybe you will find that muse you never knew you had.
Course: | Digidesign Pro Tools LE 6 |
Author: | Nathan Dickson |
SKU: | 33599 |
ISBN: | 1-932808-46-9 |
Release Date: | 2005-02-25 |
Duration: | 9 hrs / 101 lessons |
Work Files: |
Yes |
Captions: | No |
Compatibility: |
Vista/XP/2000, OS X, Linux QuickTime 7, Flash 8 |