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The latest edition of Pro Tools, 2020.3, arrived in March, bringing with it the enormously useful Folder Tracks. Previewed at NAMM in January, this feature has been at the top of many users’ wishlists for several years now. In this workshop, we’re going to examine how best to integrate these new track types into your […]
Breaking the shackles and freeing yourselves from the tyranny of everyday time signatures can be an enormous creative boon. Swapping out your tawdry 4/4 to a meter with divisions of three, five or even seven beats per bar can expand your temporal and, by extension, your compositional horizons. Thankfully, Pro Tools makes this process as […]
Along with the announcement of Reason 11 came the unveiling of Reason Rack, which allowed users to access Reason instruments and effects in another DAW without the use of ReWire. Previously, this was compatible with DAWs supporting AU and VST plug-ins, which left Pro Tools users out of the mix. That’s all now set to […]
Avid has announced that it is issuing temporary licenses to active users who’ve been asked to work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 90-day licenses are for Pro Tools and Pro Tools Ultimate, and the Ultimate versions of scoring software Sibelius and video editor Media Composer. Responding to social-distancing measures being taken around […]
In electronic music circles, sidechain compression is a key aspect of sound design. But the technique isn’t particularly well understood in the larger audio world. In this workshop, we’re going to look at how to use sidechain compression in your mixes, and discuss alternative ways to use it, just in case you’re keen to create […]
Automation is an essential part of almost all modern mixing. Whether it is enhancing a chorus with a few simple fader rides, controlling the parameters of a plug-in filter to perform a sweep, or crafting custom morphing sounds from an outboard MIDI instrument, automation enables you to not only perform these moves, but record and […]
Stereo buss compression is one of the essential techniques of any mix engineer. You don’t have to use it every time, but it’s incredibly important to understand how to use it, so you know when to bring it to the table and when to leave it off. But while stereo buss compression can work wonders […]
Compiling vocals is unlikely to be anyone’s favourite task during the editing process. There is something uniquely dull about listening to the same line of a song on a loop while you go through each take to pick out the best parts. It’s difficult enough if you’re just the engineer in this process, but harder […]
The subscription model Avid has moved to means Pro Tools users now get more regular updates and bug fixes, which has largely been a great thing for the user base. In 2018, Avid shipped six versions of Pro Tools, each subtly improving on the previous version rather than introducing any huge new features. This year, […]
There are hundreds of thousands of kick-drum samples to choose from and many, many more instruments capable of generating kicks. but scouring through all of the samples often isn’t enough. You might find one kick sample that has a deep, low-end weight you like, but doesn’t cut through the mix strongly enough, while another kick […]