Tag: Pro Tools

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It's All About Aesthetics: What "Analog vs. Digital" Means to Me

Toward the end of last year, I did two analog sessions back to back, one with JKutchma and the Five Fifths, the other with Justin Townes Earle. I had worked with bands tracking to tape before, but the dynamic of both of these sessions had an impact on me that changed my perception of what "analog vs. digital" really means. Read more

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Boost Your Workflow: Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts (OS X)

I'm a huge fan of keyboard shortcuts, and pretty much anything else that speeds up my workflow. One of the main reasons I use and love Pro Tools is because I'm so used to the layout and editing functions, most of which I control with the keyboard rather than mouse. There are, however, some menu items that I find myself clicking on regularly that I wish I could access without have to click around. Well, thanks to a built in function of Mac OS X, this is no longer an issue, as you can create your own custom keyboard shortcuts for any menu item in any application. This is obviously useful for programs other than Pro Tools, including other DAWs, so if you're using a different platform, take these ideas and apply them to make things faster and easier. Read more

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Benefits of Using Proper Digital Levels

I was browsing some various message boards recently, and ran across a post titled “The Reason Most ITB Mixes Don’t Sound as Good as Analog Mixes.” If you’re anything like me, this is probably very intriguing to you. I realized almost immediately after starting to mix on an analog board (first my Soundcraft Ghost 32 LE) that my mixes sounded more open, deep, and punchy than when I had mixed solely in Pro Tools. It could be argued that my mixing skills had improved, but I remember very distinctly the first mix that I did on the Ghost just having a different “sound” and more life to it (this was a remix of a song that I had originally mixed in Pro Tools).

There are endless discussions and debates that can be found all around the web regarding mixing ITB vs. OTB, using a console vs. a summing box, and everything in between. Personally, I really like using a console, but as far as I’m concerned, you can’t beat the instant recall-ability of doing things ITB. For me, however, it comes down to sound, and in my experience, external summing on a board just sounds so much better than Pro Tools summing that I’m willing to put up with having to take great care to document all of my settings in order to recall mixes. Read more