|
Recording Procedure:
The ProTools - LogicPro Dynamic Duo!
I primarily use ProTools to record new tracks because it
has better waveform editing capabilities
than Logic. I can fix notes easily, overlap whole sections
of audio, etc. I export the finished "dry" tracks
to LogicPro where all the mixing takes place!
The recording process
is pretty straight forward. First I plug all the keyboards
into a 16 channel mixer (stereo). The effects processors
(reverb, echo/delay, compression etc.) units are patched
through the send/returns so I have control of pre-effects
going in as well as utilizing post-effects in Pro-Tools
& LogicPro (I also use a few other sound processors
for effects.)
The balanced stereo outs
on the mixer go directly into the stereo sound inputs of
the G3 computer. After opening ProTools and record enabling
a pair of tracks, I'm ready to check for levels and begin
the recording process. Usually starting with drums I lay
down a pattern or create tracks that I export out of the
iDrums program which get imported into ProTools that become
the root of the song.
Sometimes, I do entire drum projects with 7 or 8 tracks
exporting to the final LogicPro project folder. This makes
it much easier to mix later if the all the drum tracks are
pre-edited in ProTools. The Millennium Music CD Doesn't
have a lot of drums but my "Best of THEM" CD that
I am still working on has a lot of drum tracks because it's
a Rock and Roll CD! (See below "Long Road" project
shots!)
Below is an example of
the edit window and the mix window (below that) for the
"Nemo's
Dream ©2005" project. You can see the track
names for the instruments used like; Arp Harp. Echo Lead,
Grit Guitar, Seahorses and Timpani. The colored tracks can
be edited in a variety of cut and paste ways making it very
easy to splice entire sections of tracks/songs end to end
and fix bad notes!
|
|
Continued....
|
|
As
you can see, the above edit window provides the same
rec. solo, mute buttons that a standard manual mixer
features with the added convenience of actually seeing
the music in the track fields which is simply not
possible on a standard tape recording system digital
or otherwise. |
Below you can see the mix
window which is where all the action takes place! While
the tracks are playing, I can adjust the volume on any given
track, live pan the tracks (stereo) left or right or add
one of many post effects (none used here because I usually
do that later in LogicPro which has much better FX). This
song contains some pre-effects because my IntelliVerb effects
processor has better sounds going in than the ProTools on
board post effects. I pair the stereo inputs to ProTools
creating both a dry set and FX set going through the intelliverb,
this gives me a greater choice option later. After the tracks
have been bounced just the way I want them, I'm ready to
import them into LogicPro.
|
|
|
After
the tracks are mixed just right and the automatic volume
and panning sub tracks have been written, the tracks
are bounced to disk and become stereo 44.100 kHz - 16
bit .aiff files. These are the only file formats that
are good enough to burn to CD. Anything less doesn't
cut it and the sound difference is noticeable.I have
experimented with recording in 24 bit but found that
since most stereos can only play 16 bit and I had to
"downgrade" my output, the difference of the
final file was not even noticeable. Sure sounds nice
when it's playing live! |
|
As
you can see in the "Long
Road ©2006" project, LogicPro looks
quite a bit different than ProTools and organizes
tracks differently. This is a very powerful program
with many capabilities. The main reason I mix down
with this program is that I can have up to 50 full
quality stereo 44.100 kHz - 16 bit .aiff tracks
playing simultaneously although things do start
to slow down after about 16 tracks (which is actually
32 tracks if you split the stereo files into L.&
R. channels).
The
program also has top of the line built in sound
FX inserts that blow away ProTools FX patches. As
you can see in the following mix window, I'm using
quite a few on-board FX inserts to get the sound
I want:
|
|
The sound
that results from the LogicPro mix is phat and full,
there is more of a stereo feel to the music and the
on-board FX really just make the song! This final mix
is bounced to disk as a stereo 44.100 kHz - 16 bit
.aiff file that can then be burned to CD as full 16
bit audio! That ends my online studio tour with
you today, if you would like to visit Redwood Productions
Studio in person to learn more about how I can create
that special album you've
been wanting to make, feel free to email me or call
me at (707) 865-9216. My services are for hire at a
reasonable rate! |
Click HERE
to return to the home page!
Thomas
Hemenway ©2006
|
|
|
