They are giving away a great little plugin called Little Radiator, which is an emulation of an Altec 1566A tube mic preamp. You can use this link to get your unique code and then spread the word however you like:

https://www.soundtoys.com/sxsw2012/&rc=397-4308-815

–Damon
The Studio FIles

Avid has decided to retire the Digidesign name. No big surprise really. Read more here:

[EDIT: Looks like they took down the announcement--maybe a little premature since the Digi brand is so strongly embedded. Especially with DUC, etc. --Damon]

…Sometimes it’s just better for the PC users. If anyone wants to try some of these (Antress Modern Plugins) out and give us some feedback, I’ve heard really great things.

Oh, and did I mention that they are FREE!?!

I am in the process of re-deploying my dual core PC to run some sample libraries and Vienna Ensemble Pro, so I could install them with that outboard rig. Check it out and let’s see.

Happy New Year everybody. We’ve got some cool stuff in store for the new decade, so stay tuned!

Damon
The Studio Files

Check it out here:

http://www.pspaudioware.com/

And have a great holiday.

—Damon

While this article is aimed at artists and music producers who are passing files to an engineer, these techniques will also make over-the-internet collaborations much easier. AND – these are things that will help a lot even if you are seeing the project through until the end. ?Good session organization is applicable in any recording situation, analog or digital.

(sorry – I have some pictures ready for this article, but the uploader is being uncooperative…)

First things first – before you get started, make sure you have a way to get that Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase (etc.) session over to your engineer. Personally, I really like YouSendIt.com. For a small fee per month, you can send tons and tons of data at a high speed. There are other delivery services out there too, many of which are very good. ?Other options include FTP transfers, or even snail mail. Just make sure you open a line of communication with the person to whom you are giving the project, and find a solution that works for both of you.

OK – now for setting up that DAW file:

1. Label! Label! Label!

A session that has everything labeled makes for a happy engineer. If someone who doesn’t know your song opens up your project and sees a project full of ?”AUDIO 1, AUDIO 2, AUDIO 3…”

…chances are they are going to have to spend precious time figuring out what’s what. But, if you label your tracks (and include notes if possible) your mix engineer will have more time to spend sculpting the musical message. In reality, you shouldn’t have to spend time naming things, because you should be naming your tracks before you record onto them DAWs will assign names to audio regions based on the track name. It’s much more meaningful to have audio files called “Kick1″ and “SnareT1″ as opposed to a folder full of “Audio File 1″.

Markers and other notes in the timeline can help too. For example, if your guitarist really wanted a short, 1-bar solo to stick out, leaving a note/marker that says as much will prevent having to have the engineer tweak and rebounce later.

2. Mixed? Unmixed?

This is something you will want to discuss with the person to whom you are sending the mix. Sometimes, engineers will want to see a rough mix, to get an idea of a general direction. Other times, they would like to see a blank canvas of possibility. Unless you specifically know that the studio will have third-party plug-ins, its usually best to get this type of rough mix going with more generic (“stock”) plug-ins.

In almost all cases, don’t send your mix with any automation moves. Get your rough mix going without automation (as this should be true for any rough mix). The only time this wouldn’t apply is if there is a specific special effect that needs automation, or if the mix engineer asked you for an automation move. Don’t just automate and then turn your tracks off of “read” – this will cause a problem. When the mix engineer goes into automation, “read” mode will put the faders where their previous automation was written (which could wreck a mix). Also, don’t print (destructively apply) any effects unless the mix engineer specifically asked you to (or, if you do, be sure to also include a dry track, and leave a note about it).

3. Documentation

This is minor, but I like to see an email (or a note on the file transfer, etc.) that shows me some info about the session I am getting. Things like sample rate, bit depth, Pro Tools verison, audio file format, etc. are all important to have.

4. General Recording Practices

This is really a subject for another article, as it pertains to all recordings, but the absolute worst thing to send a mix engineer is a session full of audio files that are clipping. When recording, be sure that you have sufficient headroom, and are not even close to clipping.

Any questions, comments, or suggestions? Leave them in the comments here.

C

The Studio Files

Being a mix engineer is a a lot more than calling up plug-ins and twisting knobs until things sound better.  Granted, that (oversimplified summary) is a big part of mixing, but the musical influence of the mix engineer is just as important.  Think of muting as an ultimate multi-effect process.

Result #1 Spectral Flattery

Let’s say you are mixing a song with a big guitar solo in the middle of it.  The guitar solo is backed by the usual drums+bass, as well as 2 rhythm guitars, a keyboard, and a synth pad.  Its likely that the solo, the rhythm guitars, the keyboard, and the pad are all sharing some frequency range (specifically perhaps upper mids).  Once approach may be to load up some EQs and make strategic cuts to the accompanying instruments during that solo.  While this is a great start, and may be just the fix in some situations – consider the mute button.  Do you really need all 4 of the accompanying parts during this solo?  As a mix engineer, assuming you have been granted this freedom by the client/label/band, it is your job to make these mix-level arrangement decisions.  Muting an unneeded track will always clear more space than an EQ cut.

Result #2 A Better Arrangement

This concept also doesn’t just apply to just solo sections with a highlighted instrument.  When you first start your mix, listen through a few times and get a feel for all the parts.  If there are 9 guitars tracked, that does not mean that you need all 9 of them! (Especially in today’s session where its common to record a few mics on an instrument, leaving the final decision up to the mix).  Now, that being said, this is not a hack and slash process.  Use your ears and musical knowledge (as well as conversations with the artist/producer) to identify the most important elements of the song.  Muting conflicting tracks will save you a lot of time and energy during mixdown.

Result #3 Cleanliness!

When an electric guitar isn’t playing, its track is likely full of amp hiss, foot noises, etc…  When a tom isn’t being hit, its track is a sanctuary for cymbal and drum bleed.  At the beginning of your mixdown, it is a good idea to spend a few minutes in the Edit window cleaning up your tracks.  Cut out regions where instruments aren’t playing, decide on a tentative ending and start for the song, etc.  This short process will save you time later as well – as you won’t have to search through the mixer, solo tracks to figure out where the random noises are coming from.This process does take some discretion – there are plenty of times when manually-gating your toms like this is not a good direction.  Additionally, there are times with amp noise is a cool addition to a song.  Use your ears and musical discretion!

Expect an update on this article soon – my recording rig is currently out on a gig, so I was unable to add screen shots or audio from relevant sessions.  Hopefully by this weekend I’ll be up and running again.

C

The Studio Files

Here’s a page from Sweetwater offering the trade-ins

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/search.php?s=ptle_pthd_exchange

Unfortunately I must have deleted my original email from Sweetwater, but I remember a 002R/003R trade-in (for an HD2 system with free 192 i/0) came in around $6k…  That’s an astonishingly low price.  To my knowledge, a company offers ridiculously low prices on their flagship product when one of two things in happening:  either they are about to release a new product, or their company is about to fold.

Honestly, I really don’t think that Digidesign as a corporation is in trouble at all.  However, they did create quite a buzz at this years AES (Audio Engineer’s Society) convention in New York City.  How? By not being there. Digidesign did release statements long before AES stating that they weren’t coming but that it wasn’t because of financial reasons.  Unfortunately that didn’t instill a lot of confidence in attendees.  In my experience, most of the chit-chat going on at AES was all about “Why isn’t Digidesign here?!”.

(This is all speculation, but) What is much more likely is that Digidesign is getting ready to release a new flagship system.  Current Pro Tools HD systems are powerful professional solutions, but they are also almost a 10-year-old technology.  Since Pro Tools HD’s initial release, the Native market (that is – powered by your host computer’s processor) has grown exponentially.  While this doesn’t negate the need for processing cards, it does force Digidesign to step it up in the Native market share.

We’ve had a bit of foreshadowing over the last year, with the release of the Complete Production Toolkit and the revitalized version 8.0 software.  I want Digidesign to release a Native system that is capable of 24 i/o with the track and bus counts of the Complete Production Toolkit.  That will attract a large number of project and home studio owners (including myself) to make the jump to a bigger Digidesign system without plunging into the often-near $10,000 (or more) Pro Tools HD pool.

C

The Studio Files

128 track sequencer, full editing capabilities, send the mixes to your computer with wi-fi. I really like that you can stretch the keyboard. This would be pretty cool to use to demo a theme to a client or director, or scratch down an idea that comes to you during a long walk in the woods…

Xewton Music Studio.

We all have our favorite plug-ins (the ones that inevitably end up on a LOT of tracks in most mixes).  Even if you are just using the stock Pro Tools plug-ins, changing this preference will make inserting these plug-ins a little faster.

Typically, when inserting (let’s say) a dynamics plug-in onto a track, you’d have to click the insert, scroll through a few menus and pick the one you want.

Plug-in selection menu in Pro Tools LE

Pro Tools will let you pre-select a favorite EQ and compressor, putting these two plug-ins in the top menu of of the insert selection.  Here’s how you do it.

Go to Pro Tools > Preferences

Pro Tools > Preferences

Now go to the “Mixing” tab. In the Setup section, you will see two drop-down menus for “Default EQ” and “Default Dynamics”.  Choose your favorite (or most used) plug-ins for these two categories.

Choose your favorite plug-ins here

Now, if you go back into the mixer window and insert a plug-in, those two plug-ins will be available on the first menu.

Convenience!

Yes, this is a minor tweak, but over the course of a mix, it can save you a lot of time.  Fishing through menus full of plug-ins can be a killer in the middle of a critical section of the song, so having your most-used plug-ins conveniently placed in their own place can help out.  (Also, if you are using a control surface with the capability of inserting default EQ and Compression, this is how you set that up as well)

I would highly recommend everyone do this – time=money!

C

The Studio Files

For a small $30 upgrade fee, you get the following plug-ins for your MBox or MBox 2 (pro) Factory:

• Bomb Factory Moogerfooger 12-Stage Phaser
• Bomb Factory Moogerfooger Lowpass Filter
• Bomb Factory Moogerfooger Ring Modulator

If you own the 002 or 003 Factory Bundles, you get those plug-ins, plus the following:

• Bomb Factory BF-2A
• Bomb Factory BF-3A
• Bomb Factory Purple Audio MC77 (as well as the 1176 if you don’t have it)
• Bomb Factory Fairchild 660
• Bomb Factory Fairchild 670
• Digidesign SoundReplacer
• Trillium Lane Labs TL EveryPhase

This is a REALLY good deal.  The Bomb Factory Classic Compressors bundle (all of which are included here) retails for around $600 by itself…  I would highly recommend everyone do this.

You will get a link in your email if you have registered your Factory bundle on Digidesign.com

C

The Studio Files

One plug-in and the quick turn of a knob, and you have that world-famous T-Pain/Cher/computer voice effect.

This is a great technique to know when a pop filter fails to do its job.  With a little EQ, a gigantic plosive can be squelched to a fraction of its former self.

A great resource: Virtual Instruments Magazine

Examples are Garageband instruments, Spectrasonic Triology Bass instrument, NI-Kontakt (sampler), or Play (from East West Soundsonline). Yours truly has too many of these to count. If you are in the market, ask a question and I’ll be glad to help.

Damon
The Studio Files

If you need to check the old DAW comparison entry, click this link.

So what features are coming in the new Pro Tools 8:

• PT 8 now supports up to 48 mono or stereo tracks out of the box (not voices, tracks).  The new music production toolkit 2 will add support for 64 (while the complete toolkit supports 128!)
• PT 8 adds new virtual instruments, including a new B3-like organ, a grand piano, drum machine, and more!
• New effects plug-ins (20 in all) are included, featuring Eleven Free (Digidesign’s new guitar amp simulator) and a bunch of plug-ins from A.I.R (including a new reverb, finally….)
• Although still no surround out of the box, users can upgrade to the Complete Production Toolkit, which will unlock up to 128 tracks and up to 7.1 mixing support
• New Score Editor (with complete integration with Sibelius), a new MIDI editor, improved editing features on tracks, and a new “comp” take features

And, although the software is tied to Digidesign hardware, remember that you then don’t have to pay for any software (minus the upgrade cost of course).  As long as Digidesign can keep this version of Pro Tools as bug-free as possible, I think its a great first step to restoring user’s confidence in their dedication to the Native market.

C

The Studio Files