Pro Tools All-in-One For Dummies

Introduction

C hances are that after you became interested in recording some music, you started hearing about a great software program — Pro Tools. Maybe you read an article in which an artist said that she records with Pro Tools, or you heard that such-and-such major recording studio uses Pro Tools, or a friend told you that you need Pro Tools to record professional-quality music. Of the many great recording programs that are available, the most popular — and one of the most powerful — is Pro Tools.

Pro Tools is an audio and Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) recording program. Aside from recording audio and MIDI tracks, Pro Tools offers some of the most powerful editing functions available, allowing you to tweak your recordings to a high level of detail, clarity, and accuracy. You also get excellent mixing abilities that help you mix your tracks together, EQ (equalize) them, and apply effects. Pro Tools is a comprehensive, all-in-one program you can use to control your music from start to finish.

About This Book

Pro Tools All-in-One For Dummies, 3rd Edition, not only introduces you to Pro Tools 10 audio- and MIDI-recording software, but it also presents basic multitrack recording techniques. You find out about the many Pro Tools features and functions and ways to use this program to create the best possible recordings of your music.

This book also acquaints you with the basic audio-engineering skills needed to make high-quality recordings. These skills can save you countless hours of experimenting and give you more time to actually record your music. (What a concept!)

In this book, you can

check Explore the Pro Tools windows and menus.

check Get a handle on all the useful functions within Pro Tools.

check Discover the ins and outs of using the various pieces of equipment in your studio.

check Explore tried-and-true engineering techniques, such as microphone choice and placement.

check Find out about multitracking, mixing, and mastering.

check Get a chance to turn your music into complete songs and also discover how to assemble and release an album.

With this book in hand, you’re on the fast track toward creating great-sounding CDs. I cut to the chase, showing you skills you can use right away. I don’t bother you with tons of technical jargon or useless facts.

Not-So-Foolish Assumptions

I have to admit that when I wrote this book, I made a couple of assumptions about you, the reader. (And we all know what happens when you ASSume anything.) But what the heck, I did it anyway. First, I assume that you’re interested in recording your music (or someone else’s) with Pro Tools 10 software.

I also assume that you’re relatively new at the recording game and not yet a seasoned professional. Of course, if you are an audio engineer — maybe making the leap from analog to digital — this book offers a great brush-up on many audio-engineering fundamentals and how they apply to the basic functions of Pro Tools. Oh, and I assume that you play a musical instrument or sing — or are at least familiar with how instruments function and how sound is produced, as well as understand some of the basics of music theory such as tempo, meter, measures, and time signature. Finally, I assume that you have some basic computer skills and know how to navigate menus, and work a mouse and qwerty keyboard.

Other than these things, I don’t assume that you play a certain type of music or that you ever intend to try to make it in the music business (or even that you want to treat it as a business at all).

Conventions Used in This Book

I use certain conventions in this book to explain how to use the Pro Tools program. For example, when you choose items from the main menu, I indicate this with arrows, as in Choose Options⇒Scrolling⇒No Scrolling. This is shorthand for Click the Options menu on the main menu, mouse over the Scrolling option, and finally, click No Scrolling on the submenu.

When you need to type a number or text, I indicate this with bold: For example, type Larry in the Name field. I make web sites stand out a bit from the rest of the text with a monospace font, such as www.dummies.com.

Because Pro Tools is available for both Macs and PCs, I include the commands or shortcut keys for both Mac and PC when they differ. For example, press ⌘+N (Mac) or Ctrl+N (PC).

Finally, the Windows key is the key on a PC’s keyboard (just outward from each Alt key on the bottom key row) that is labeled only with a Windows logo. This key can activate various Pro Tools features, but some older non-Microsoft keyboards don’t have it. If you have a PC without a Microsoft-style keyboard and it doesn’t have that pesky Windows key, don’t worry: I show you other possible ways to activate the same features.

How This Book Is Organized

This desk reference is organized so that you can find the information you want quickly and easily. Each mini-book contains chapters that cover a specific part of the recording process, and I briefly describe each mini-book in the following sections.

Book I: Home Recording Basics

Book I introduces you to the basics of home recording. Chapter 1 introduces you to the components of a home studio, explaining what everything is for. Chapter 2 shows you how to make the connections — both analog and digital — that you need when you’re trying to get sound from one place to another.

Chapter 3 acquaints you with the mixing board, introducing you to its many functions. Chapter 4 demystifies MIDI and gives you practical advice on how to use this powerful communication tool to enhance your music. Chapter 5 puts you inside the world of microphones. You get a chance to understand what kinds of mics are available, how they work, and which ones work best for different situations.

Book II: Getting Started Using Pro Tools

Book II leads you into the Pro Tools world, examining the software and the Avid hardware that you need in order to run it. Chapter 1 helps you configure your computer to run Pro Tools and walks you through installing the software on a Mac or a PC. Chapter 2 introduces you to the available Avid hardware options, provides a basic overview of many of the compatible interfaces made by M-Audio (owned by Avid), and shows you where and how to plug in everything.

Chapter 3 helps you make your hardware and software work together and introduces you to sessions, which are the standard building blocks of the Pro Tools song-file system. In Chapter 4, you examine the three windows in Pro Tools — Transport, Edit, and Mix — where you do most of your work. Book II finishes off with Chapter 5, which gets you up to speed on file formats and compatibility in Pro Tools. You discover ways to import and export various file types.

Book III: Recording Audio

Book III gets into the meat of actually recording music. Chapter 1 explains tracks in Pro Tools and discusses setting them up properly. Chapter 2 explores the fundamentals of getting a good source sound from microphones. You discover which mics work best for certain instruments and how to place those microphones for the best sound.

Chapter 3 helps you get ready to record your first track. You discover how to set levels, enable recording, and monitor your input signals so that you can hear yourself. This book ends with Chapter 4, in which you begin the process of recording single or multiple tracks in Pro Tools. Chapter 4 also shows you how to listen critically (but practically) to those tracks when you play them back.

Book IV: Editing Audio

Book IV is all about editing the audio tracks that you record. Chapter 1 explains the basics of editing audio in Pro Tools, from knowing which of the four edit modes to use on your music to using the Audio Clip list and playlists to find the material to edit. Chapter 2 gets you comfortable with selecting the material you want to edit. You find out how to change a selection and hear it before you edit it as well as how to use memory locators to move quickly from one part of your session to another.

Chapter 3 gets to the heart of editing in Pro Tools. You get used to working with clips (the standard onscreen representations of the music you recorded in Pro Tools), using the editing commands, and using looped material to turn your raw tracks into usable pieces. This book ends with Chapter 4, in which you step up your editing prowess by exploring the Smart tool and other advanced editing features.

Book V: Managing MIDI

Pro Tools offers full-featured MIDI functionality. In this mini-book, you get up to speed on recording and editing MIDI data in your sessions. Chapter 1 helps you set up your MIDI devices. Chapter 2 gets you started capturing MIDI data by showing you how to create MIDI and instrument tracks and then record your performance. Chapter 3 presents the many Pro Tools editing functions that you can use to improve on your performance. Chapter 4 explores MIDI operations, those specialized commands that you can use to transform your MIDI data in numerous ways.

Book VI: Mixing In Pro Tools

Book VI helps you take your tracks and blend them to create a finished song. Chapter 1 introduces you to the process of multitrack mixing and helps you prepare yourself to mix. Chapter 2 walks you through the process of setting up your Pro Tools session for mixing. Chapter 3 details equalization (EQ) and how you can use it to make all your instruments fit together well.

Chapter 4 examines four types of dynamics processors: compressors, limiters, gates, and expanders. These processors are essential to getting your instruments to sit in the mix (sound good together), and this chapter helps you use them properly. Chapter 5 guides you into the world of effect processors, such as reverb and delay. These effects are useful for adding life to your productions, and this chapter shows you some ways to use them effectively.

Chapter 6 covers one of the most useful things about recording with Pro Tools: automating the elements of your mix, such as levels, panning, effects, and so on. Chapter 7 finishes off Book VI by showing you how to mix to a stereo file.

Book VII: Mastering with Pro Tools

Book VII focuses on the often-misunderstood process of mastering music. Chapter 1 details what mastering is and helps you determine whether you want to give it a try or let a professional do it for you. Chapter 2 provides a step-by-step plan to help you in the event that you want to try your hand at the mastering game.

Book VIII: Getting Your Music to the Masses

Book VIII helps you break out of your cocoon so that you can share your finished music with others. Chapter 1 covers how to choose CD-Rs and burn your music to them. You also explore the best ways to make copies of your CDs. If you’re looking to cultivate an audience in cyberspace, Chapter 2 helps you make your music available on the Internet. You get a chance to format your music for Internet distribution and discover some ways to promote your band.

Icons Used in This Book

Like all For Dummies authors, I use a few icons to help you along your way.

tip.eps This icon highlights expert advice and ideas that can help you produce better recordings.

remember.eps Certain techniques are very important and deserve remembering. This icon gives you a gentle nudge to keep you on track.

warning_bomb.eps This icon warns you ahead of time about instances when you could damage your equipment, your ears, or your song.

technicalstuff.eps Throughout the book, this icon shows up in instances where I include technical background on certain subjects. When you see this icon, brace yourself for some dense information. Skip these if you want.

Where to Go from Here

This book is set up so that you can read it cover to cover (and progressively build on your knowledge). Or be a free spirit and jump around to read only those parts that interest you at the time. For instance, if you’re getting ready to record a mix of your song and need some ideas on how to use equalization (EQ), go to Book VI, Chapter 3. If you’re new to recording with Pro Tools and want to know how to set up a session, check out Book II, Chapter 3. And if you’re completely new to the whole concept of home recording, start at the beginning with Book I, Chapter 1.

You know, that’s not a bad idea. Starting at the beginning, I mean. That way, you can get yourself up to speed on my way of thinking. Book I, Chapter 1 can also help you understand some of what I discuss in later chapters. Wherever you start and wherever you want to go, you’re in for an adventure . . .

Please note that some special symbols used in this eBook may not display properly on all eReader devices. If you have trouble determining any symbol, please call Wiley Product Technical Support at 800-762-2974. Outside of the United States, please call 317-572-3993. You can also contact Wiley Product Technical Support at www.wiley.com/techsupport.

Book I

Home Recording Basics

Contents at a Glance

Chapter 1: Discovering What You Need

Eyeing the Big Picture

Piping the Music into Pro Tools

Meeting the Mixer

Managing the MIDI Controller

Recognizing the Recorder

Signing On to Signal Processors

Making Sense of Monitors

Mastering Media

Chapter 2: Getting Connected: Setting Up Your Studio

Understanding Analog Connections

Delving In to Digital Connections

Working Efficiently in Your Studio

Optimizing Your Studio

Chapter 3: Meeting the Mixing Board

Meeting the Many Mixer Types

Understanding Mixer Basics

Routing/Busing Signals

Deciphering Output Jacks

Making Life Easier with a Patch Bay

Chapter 4: MIDI and Electronic Instruments

Meeting MIDI

Getting Started with MIDI

Chapter 5: Understanding Microphones

Meeting the Many Microphone Types

Buying the Right Microphone for You

Caring for Your Microphones

Chapter 1: Discovering What You Need

In This Chapter

check.png Understanding the components of a home studio

check.png Discovering how each component contributes to the final sound

Whether you use a PC- or Mac-based system for your Pro Tools studio, your home recording system of choice employs much of the same basic technology. In fact, your simple Pro Tools studio consists of the same basic components as a typical, million-dollar, professional studio complex.

In this chapter, you discover the purpose of each component of a home recording studio, and you also discover how each of these components relates to the quality of sound you ultimately get from your studio. This knowledge will help you to spend the right amount of money on the right stuff. (See Book II, Chapter 1 for more on purchasing gear.)

Eyeing the Big Picture

In spite of what you may surmise from this chapter — with its long list of equipment — you need only a few things to do multitrack recording with Pro Tools. This simple list comprises instruments and microphones (called input devices), a computer, an Avid or M-Audio audio interface or any other compatible, third-party audio interface, Pro Tools software, and monitors (speakers, to you home stereo enthusiasts). No matter how complicated your system becomes and how many pieces of gear you end up accumulating, your studio will still consist of these basic parts.

remember.eps This chapter breaks down recording systems into the components they have to have, but you may not need to purchase every component separately to get a great-sounding system. Many of these components come bundled together. For example, your Avid hardware will include at least two preamps — or you may find speakers that come with a power amp inside them.

Piping the Music into Pro Tools

As you begin to build your home studio, you’ll notice a long list of components — okay, go ahead and call them extras — lurking within the Top Five basics of your studio: input devices, computer, interface, software, and monitors. In this section, I focus on these details of input devices so you can understand just what roles they play in your system.

tip.eps As you get more and more involved in recording, you’ll find you can add almost any of these components to your existing system to expand and enhance what you can do.

Interpreting input devices

All your expensive recording gear is useless if you have nothing to plug in to it. This is where the input device comes into play. An input device is, simply, any instrument, microphone, or sound module that produces or delivers a sound to the recorder.

Instruments

An electric guitar, a bass, a synthesizer, and drum machines are typical instruments that plug in to the interface and represent most of the input devices that you use in your studio. A synthesizer and drum machine can plug directly into the Line In inputs of your interface, whereas an electric guitar or a bass needs a direct box (or its equivalent) to plug in to first. (In the case of a Avid interface, you need to use one of the inputs that has a preamp.)

A direct box is an intermediary device that allows you to plug your guitar directly into a mixer without going through your amp first. (For more on direct boxes, see the upcoming section, Deciphering direct boxes.) Check out Figure 1-1 for an example of an instrument-input device.

Figure 1-1: An instrument-input device, which you can plug right into the mixer.

Microphone

You use a microphone (mic) to record the sound of a voice or a purely acoustic instrument — sound sources that, last time I checked, couldn’t be plugged directly into the interface. A microphone converts sound waves into electrical energy that can be understood by the interface. I detail the several types of microphones in Book I, Chapter 5. Check out Figure 1-2 for a look at a microphone.

Figure 1-2: Use a microphone when your instrument can’t plug in to the mixer directly.

Sound modules

Sound modules are special kinds of synthesizers and/or drum machines. What makes a sound module different from a regular synthesizer or drum machine is that these contain no triggers or keys that you can play. Instead, sound modules are controlled externally by another synthesizer’s keyboard or by a Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) controller (a specialized box designed to control MIDI instruments). Sound modules have MIDI ports (MIDI jacks) to enable you to connect them to other equipment.

tip.eps Often sound modules are rack-mountable, meaning they have screw holes and mounting ears so you can put them into an audio component rack. Some controllers, however, are not rack-mountable; Figure 1-3, for example, shows a drum module that rests on a stand or tabletop.

Figure 1-3: The sound module can be plugged right into the mixer but has to be played by another source.

Deciphering direct boxes

A direct box (or DI box, short for Direct Induction) is used to connect a guitar or bass directly into the mixer without having to run it through an amp first. A direct box’s purpose is twofold:

check To change the guitar’s impedance level so that the mixer can create the best sound possible

check To change the nature of the connection from unbalanced (quarter-inch) to balanced (XLR) so that you can use a long cord without creating electrical noise between instrument and mixer

tip.eps For more on cord types as well as balanced versus unbalanced signals, see Book I, Chapter 2.

For most home recordists, the main purpose of a direct box is to act as an impedance transformer. You’re unlikely to need a long run of cords from your guitar to your mixer. Without a direct box changing your impedance levels, your guitar signal may sound thin or have excess noise.

Perusing the preamp

Microphones produce a lower signal level than line-level devices (synthesizers, for example); thus they need to have their signal level increased. For this purpose, you need a preamp, a device that boosts a microphone’s output. Preamps can be internal or external, meaning they can reside within your mixer or be a separate unit that you plug in between your microphone and mixer.

remember.eps The preamp is one of the most crucial elements of a recording system because using one can affect your instrument’s sound significantly. Most professional recording studios have a variety of preamps to choose from, and engineers use particular preamps depending upon the type of sound they’re trying to capture.

The three basic types of preamps available are solid-state, tube, and hybrid. (You can find out more about preamps in Book I, Chapter 5.)

Solid-state

Solid-state preamps use transistors to boost the level of the microphone or instrument. Top-quality (expensive) solid-state preamps are generally designed to produce a sound that’s clear and accurate (George Massenburg Labs and Crane Song brands, for instance). Solid-state preamps can also be designed to add a pleasing distortion to the music (Neve and Neve-clone preamps, for example). Many recording professionals prefer the clear and accurate sound of a solid-state preamp for acoustic or classical music or any situation where capturing a very natural sound is important. The preamps in your Avid interface are solid-state. Although not as high in quality as many of the more expensive external preamps, they are certainly serviceable for most purposes and allow you to create top-quality music when you use them correctly. (I show you how to do this in Book I, Chapter 5.)

Tube

Since the beginning of the digital recording revolution, professionals have complained about the harshness of digital recording. As a result, many digital-recording pros prefer classic tube preamps because they can add warmth to the recording. This warmth is actually distortion, albeit a pleasing one. All-tube preamps are generally very expensive, but they’re highly sought after among digital recording aficionados because of their sound. Tube preamps work well with music when you want to add color to the sound (that is, not produce an accurate representation of the original source sound). No wonder they show up a lot in rock and blues — and they’re great for recording drums. You can also find tube preamps that are clean and open — much like the high-end solid-state preamps that I describe earlier — such as those made by Manley Labs.

Hybrid

A hybrid preamp contains both solid-state and tube components. Most of the inexpensive tube preamps that you find in the marketplace are actually hybrids. (These are also called starved-plate designs because the tubes don’t run the same level of voltage as the expensive tube designs.) These types of preamps are usually designed to add the classic tube warmth to your instrument’s sound. How much the sound is colored by the tubes — and how pleasing that colored sound is to the listener’s ears — will depend upon the quality of the preamp. Most hybrid preamps allow you to dial in the amount of character (pleasing distortion) that you want.

remember.eps Your Avid interface will come with one (Mbox 2 Mini), two (Mbox 2 and Mbox 2 Pro), or four (Digi 002, 003, 002 Rack, and 003 Rack) preamps. If you want to plug in more mics than the number of preamps you have — or if you want to be able to produce different sounds from your preamps — you need to buy one or more external preamps, such as the one shown in Figure 1-4.

Figure 1-4: An external preamp.

Meeting the Mixer

A mixer is the component you use to bring together and balance what you’re recording from all those mics, instruments, effects, and other inputs; it’s the heart of any recording system. Take a look at Figure 1-5. Although a mixer may seem daunting with all its knobs, buttons, sliders, and jacks, it’s really one of the most interesting and versatile pieces of equipment that you’ll have in your studio. With a mixer, you can control the level of the incoming signal, adjust the tonal quality of an instrument, blend the signals of two or more instruments, and do a host of other things. And don’t worry; after you read through this book, you’ll get the hang of all those knobs in no time.

For the Pro Tools home recordist (that’s you), the mixer is usually incorporated into your computer software. (Of course, you can always use an external hardware mixer if you want.) The mixer in Pro Tools does the job well enough that you don’t need an external mixer, although some people prefer having physical faders and knobs to mess with.

Figure 1-5: The mixer is the heart of your home studio system.

If you’re a knob-turner and like to physically touch the instrument you’re playing (or, for that matter, the gadget you’re tweaking), consider choosing the 003 instead of the other Avid interfaces. This unit has physical faders that link perfectly with Pro Tools LE software.

tip.eps If you already have one of the other Avid interfaces (such as the Mbox or 003 Rack) and you want physical faders, you may want to add a Command|8 (as shown in Figure 1-6) when you have the cash. Third-party control surfaces are available that are compatible with Pro Tools, such as the Mackie Control Universal (by Mackie).

Figure 1-6: A computer control surface offers you real knobs and faders and still uses the mixer that’s part of your Pro Tools software.

Managing the MIDI Controller

If you’re like most home recordists, you’ll end up using some sort of MIDI controller in your studio. (See Book I, Chapter 4 for more about MIDI.) The purpose of this piece of equipment is to allow the various MIDI instruments to communicate and synchronize with one another.

technicalstuff.eps MIDI is a protocol that musical instrument manufacturers (in a rare moment of cooperation) developed to allow one digital instrument to communicate with another. MIDI uses binary digital data, in the form of 1s and 0s, to tell an instrument to play or release a note, to change sounds, and send a host of other messages. (Discover more about MIDI in Book I, Chapter 4.)

MIDI controllers come in many shapes and sizes. The most common are computer software, keyboard, or standalone controllers. These controllers can reside within the computer (Pro Tools, for example, has MIDI capabilities), a keyboard (synthesizer), or a separate box. They enable you to either play, in real time, another instrument or to trigger another instrument with the sequencer, which is a MIDI program that allows you to play an instrument without actually playing (like a player piano). They just need to have MIDI capability and be connected through their MIDI ports (using MIDI cables) or a USB ports if they use one (using as USB cable).

tip.eps Pro Tools software has fine MIDI capabilities, so you don’t need to buy a separate MIDI controller. I recommend that you use the MIDI functions in Pro Tools before deciding to invest in another MIDI controller. I think you’ll be pleased with what you can do with Pro Tools.

Recognizing the Recorder

The recorder is where your music actually gets, well, recorded. In Pro Tools, your recorder consists of your computer and the software. Sound becomes data and is stored as digital information, as 1s and 0s. Digital recording introduces very little noise into the final sound and can be copied without any loss in that sound quality, depending on the bit depth and sample rate at which you record, of course.

Digital recorders

A digital recorder is included as part of your Pro Tools setup. Digital recorders use two terms to describe the overall quality of the sound that they produce — sampling rate and bit depth.

Sampling rate

Sampling rate refers to the frequency at which the recorder samples the incoming sound source. When a recorder samples a sound, it actually takes a small snapshot of the audio signal. Typical sample rates for digital recorders are 44.1 kHz (the sample rate for audio CDs), 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz (the sampling rate for DVD audio), 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz. The higher the number, the more samples are taken each second, and the closer the recorded sound is to the original.

technicalstuff.eps The more times per second that a digital recorder samples the sound of the incoming signal, the more of the original sound it includes (which results in, among other things, a bigger sound file that takes up more space on your computer). These numbers are described in kHz (kilohertz) — that is, as taking place thousands of times per second. For example, when you record at 48 kHz, the sound is sampled 48,000 times every second. This sounds like an awful lot, but accurate sound requires lots of samples.

Bit depth

When you start looking at digital recorders, you’ll hear jargon such as 16-bit (the bit depth of audio CDs), 20-bit, 24-bit, and so forth. This is the bit depth, which is described in terms of bits. (A bit, short for BInary digiT, is the basic unit of information in the binary numbering system used by computers.) The numbers 16, 20, and 24 relate to the amount of digital information that can be contained in each of those sample rates that I describe in the previous section, Sampling rate. The higher the number, the more accurately the sound is represented; most professional audio gear now records at a 24-bit resolution. With that higher number, however, the sound takes up more of your digital storage space. This usually isn’t a big deal, though, considering the low cost of huge hard drives.

tip.eps Beginning in Pro Tools 10 you can also record in 32-bit floating point mode. This bit depth can be beneficial if you plan on doing a lot of processing with plug-ins (AudioSuite such as effects like reverb and chorus, gain change, and others) because it can help improve quality of this processing (due to the way it does the math). The downside is that working in this mode takes up one-third more space and computer processing power, so you need to have a powerful computer if you want to use this in sessions with a lot of tracks.

A/D and D/A converters

A third variable that affects how good a digital recorder will sound is the type of analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) converters that the recorder uses. The A/D and D/A converters are what actually transform the signal from an analog sound source into digital information and back again. They do this by taking small snapshots of the incoming signal (at whatever sampling rate the converter uses) and applying a number to that sample (based upon the bit depth).

For example, suppose you have a 24-bit converter with a 48-kHz sampling rate. When it senses an auditory signal — a vocal perhaps — the A/D converter takes a snapshot (measurement) of that signal 48,000 times per second (48 kHz). Each of these snapshots is given a value between –8,395,008 and +8,395,008 (24-bit resolution has 16,790,016 possible levels), which puts the vocal sound somewhere on a chart corresponding to a waveform shape. The recorder in turn reads these numbers, and the D/A converter translates these numbers back into an analog waveform again. (Pshew!)

remember.eps Converting an analog signal into digital data and back again is a highly technical process. You can spend days or even weeks reading about the intricacies of audio conversion. (Check out Principles of Digital Audio by Ken C. Pohlmann, published by McGraw-Hill Professional; or The Art of Digital Audio by John Watkinson, published by Focal Press, if you’re into this techy stuff.) The most important thing to remember when considering A/D and D/A converters is how well you like the sound. If the converter sounds good to you, it’s a good converter.

tip.eps You can buy separate A/D and D/A converters that can sound better than the one included in your Avid hardware. Depending on your ears, your engineering skills, and the style of your music, the improvement in sound of external converters can range from barely noticeable to mind-blowing. Before you spend any money on external converters, though, I highly recommend working on your skills as a songwriter, musician, and engineer.

The computer

No matter which platform of computer you choose (Mac or PC), the stuff you find inside your computer plays a major role in determining how smoothly (or how less than smoothly) your Pro Tools system runs. (Book II, Chapter 1 details the best computer setups and needed specs for Pro Tools.)

To set up a Pro Tools computer, you need several things:

check A computer (preferably with a speedy processor)

check Bunches (BIG bunches) of memory

check Dual hard drives

check An audio interface

If you use Pro Tools 10, you can use any audio interface — but if you use an earlier version, you need Avid or M-Audio hardware.

check The software (Pro Tools, of course)

tip.eps If you can afford it, get a dedicated computer — one specifically for recording audio — because running other types of applications (home finance, word processors, or video games) can cause problems with your audio applications and reduce the stability of your system.

The following list clues you in on the various pieces of hardware that you find in your computer:

check The CPU: The CPU (processor) is the heart of your computer studio. The speed of your CPU ultimately dictates just how well any program runs on it. As a general rule, for audio, get the fastest processor that you can afford. For most audio software, you need at least a Pentium IV for the PC or a G4 for Mac.

remember.eps Because computer hardware is always changing and nearly unlimited options are available for the different components you find on a computer (especially on a PC), I strongly recommend that you consult the Avid compatibility pages at its web site before you buy a computer. Or, if you already have a computer, first check whether it’s compatible:

a. Find compatibility information at

http://avid.custkb.com/avid/app/selfservice/search.jsp?DocId=353265Avid

b. Choose your version of Pro Tools and hardware or OS type from the drop-down menus.

tip.eps If you own a PC and have no idea what’s in it, use PC Wizard to find out what you have and compare it against the requirements for running Pro Tools. You can download PC Wizard by going to www.cpuid.org/pcwizard.php.

check Memory: Computer-based audio programs and all their associated plug-ins are RAM (random-access memory) hogs. My advice: Get a lot of RAM. Okay, that’s not very specific, but how much you really need depends on your recording style. If you do a lot of audio tracks and want reverb or some effect on each track, you need more RAM (and a faster processor).

Pro Tools recommends a minimum of 2GB of RAM for basic operation, but you should really get a lot more, especially if you’re using the DV Toolkit or Music Production Toolkit options available for your system. In this case Avid recommends at least 4GB of RAM.

remember.eps Regardless of the platform you choose (PC or Mac), keep in mind that you can never have too fast a processor or too much memory.

check The hard drives: To record audio, be sure you get the right types of hard drives. Notice how I said hard drives (plural). Yep, you should get more than one if you want to record more than a few tracks of audio. You want one hard drive to hold all the software and the operating system — and the second drive just for audio data. Having two drives greatly increases the likelihood that your system remains stable and doesn’t crash on you, especially if you try to run 16 or more tracks.

technicalstuff.eps Choose your hard drives wisely. For the software hard drive, you can get away with a stock drive (usually the one that comes with your computer). For the audio, though, you need a drive that can handle the demands of transferring audio data at high speed. The main things you want to look for are spindle speed, seek time, and buffer size:

• Spindle speed: Also called rotational speed, this is the rate at which the hard drive spins. For the most part, a 7,200-rpm drive will work well for recording and playing back audio.

• Seek time: This is the amount of time the drive takes to find the data stored on it. You want an average seek time under 10 milliseconds (ms).

• Buffer size: Often called cache buffers, these memory units store data while it’s being transferred. You want a buffer size of at least 2MB.

As for the size of the hard drive — again, bigger is better, at least in the audio drive where you store your music. For the core system drive, you can get by with a 60GB drive; for the audio, 120GB is still pretty conservative because audio data can take up a ton of space. For example, a 5-minute song with 16 tracks recorded at a 24-bit resolution and 44.1-kHz bandwidth takes up about 600MB of hard-drive space (about 7.5MB per track minute). Recording at 96-kHz bandwidth takes up about 20MB per track minute.

remember.eps The track count that your system can handle is directly related to the speed of your hard drive: The faster the drive, the more tracks you can record and play back at once. (Of course, the type of drive you get determines how large a role your processor plays.) My current drives are Seagate Barracuda 7,200 3Gb/s 1.5TB with a 8.5-ms seek time and 32MB cache buffer. (These currently cost about $80.) I’ve also had good luck with Western Digital drives (such as a 1TB Caviar SATA III; 7,200-rpm drive with 32GB cache, roughly $60).

tip.eps You may also want to add a third hard drive so you can back up your data. I usually buy a duplicate to my recording drive and transfer my work each day. As computer experts often say, Your data doesn’t exist if it doesn’t exist in at least two places. If you prefer not to have a third hard drive, you can burn your data to DVDs or even use an online backup or storage service such as adrive.com, mozy.com, or carbonite.com (you can find more by doing an Internet search for online data storage).

technicalstuff.eps You can use internal IDE/ATA and SATA drives as well as external FireWire or FireWire 800 drives for recording audio with Pro Tools. However, you cannot use USB 2.0 drives: For some reason, they are slower than FireWire drives in real-world testing.

Getting the sound in and out

After you have a computer with enough speed and muscle (see the previous section), you need the appropriate hardware to get the sound in and out of it. Traditionally (if there can be traditions in such a new technology), you needed a sound card — also called a PCI card because it fits in the PCI (Peripheral Component Interface) slot in your computer. You also needed an audio interface, which allowed you to get the sound from your mixer or preamp to the sound card. This is not the case anymore.

Currently, audio can be brought in and out of a computer in several ways:

check Through a PCI card connected to your computer’s PCI slot: No current the Avid interface uses a PCI card. However, several of the M-Audio and third-party interfaces use PCI cards to connect with your computer. These use a sound card that installs in your computer and may or may not have a separate box that houses the converters, inputs, and outputs.

check Through an interface connected to the USB port: Most of Avid’s audio interfaces employ USB connectivity. These include the Mbox 2, Mbox 2 Mini, and all of the newer M-Audio hardware. USB has proven to be a robust format and with the new USB 3 standard, transfer rates are fast enough to handle all the data you need to run multiple inputs and outputs without the latency issues that used to limit the value of the old USB 1.1 standard for recording.

check Through your FireWire port: The Mbox Pro is the only newer Avid hardware to use FireWire connections, though the older Digi 002 and 003 interfaces are still viable FireWire options. FireWire was preferable to USB because the transfer speed is fast enough to keep latency (the delay from the audio going in and coming back out of your computer) to a minimum. FireWire ports are inexpensive and available on laptop computers as well as desktop systems, which makes FireWire interfaces more versatile than PCI-based systems. As you can tell by Avid’s newer hardware options, these days FireWire is taking a back seat to USB.

remember.eps Each of the Avid, M-Audio, and some third-party interfaces are described in detail in Book II, Chapter 2.

Software

Because you’re reading this book, I’m going to assume that your main choice in recording software is Pro Tools. Four lines of Pro Tools Software are available:

check Pro Tools SE: This is Avid’s entry-level program that offers a limited number of tracks (two simultaneous recording and 16 total audio tracks). This is an inexpensive way to get into Pro Tools; it works well for artists recording their own music.

check Pro Tools MP: This version of Pro tools is created to run only with the M-Audio interfaces. This program offers more functionality than the SE version with up to 18 simultaneous and 32 total audio tracks.

check Pro Tools: Beginning with version 9, Avid dropped the LE from its most common software program. Pro Tools is Avid’s most powerful host-based program (which means that Pro Tools relies on the power of your computer to run the program as intended), with 32 simultaneous and 96 total audio tracks. This version of Pro Tools is a full-featured program that can do anything you’re likely to want to do with your own (or others’) music.

check Pro Tools|HD: This is the native solution that requires you to buy an Avid PCI card to provide the processing power to run Pro Tools. This version of the software also offers some extra functionality beyond what you get with the host-based options, which some pros may find useful.

tip.eps Down the road, you may want to add some other software to your system. You can include (for example) programs such as Acid (for creating loops) or Logic (for more MIDI-intensive work). You can find an online discussion board on the Internet for each of the major audio-recording software programs. Before you buy, go to the sites of the systems that interest you and see what people say about the programs. Ask questions, explore the issues that the people are having with the programs, and look for comments that reflect how well the programs interact with Pro Tools and your Avid hardware. Doing so can save you lots of time dealing with bugs in your system, allowing you to record a lot more music. You can find these sites by using the product name as the keyword in your favorite search engine, or by checking out these Internet forums:

www.gearslutz.com/board

www.homerecording.com

www.prosoundweb.com

www.recording.org

Signing On to Signal Processors

Part of the recording process involves making adjustments to a sound before or after it’s been recorded. This is the job of the signal processor, which comes in three varieties — equalizers, dynamic processors, and effects processors. They can be incorporated into the system or be separate, standalone units. For most Pro Tools users, the signal processors of choice are integrated into the software as plug-ins, although you can also use external processors by sending the audio out of your computer and back in again.

Equalizers (EQ)

Equalizers enable you to adjust the frequencies of a sound in a variety of ways. In effect, you tell the frequencies to

check Go away. You can get rid of unwanted noise or an annoying ringing by reducing select frequencies.

check Come hither. Add life or presence to an instrument by bringing the best characteristics of that instrument forward.

check Scoot over. You can make room within the frequency spectrum for each of the instruments in your mix by selectively boosting or cutting certain frequencies.

You can find out more about EQ (and discover some great EQ tips and tricks) in Book VI, Chapter 3. The three main types of EQ are graphic, shelf, and parametric. The following sections give you the rundown.

Graphic EQ

Use graphic equalizers to choose a specific frequency to increase or decrease by a certain amount, generally up to 6 or 12 decibels (dB). Doing so enables you to eliminate an offending frequency from the signal or make other adjustments to the tonal quality of the source signal. The graphic EQ has a certain number of frequency bands that you can adjust. You’re limited to only those frequency bands that your EQ has available. Figure 1-7 shows a typical graphic EQ.

Figure 1-7: A graphic equalizer.

Shelf EQ

A shelf equalizer affects a range of frequencies above or below the target frequency. Shelf EQs are generally used to roll off the top or bottom end of the frequency spectrum. For example, you can set a shelf EQ to roll off the frequencies below 250 hertz (Hz) in order to reduce the amount of rumble (low-frequency noise) in a recording. You can see how this looks in Figure 1-8. Notice how the shelf EQ gradually reduces the amount of energy (sound) below the set point and then levels off — hence the shelf in its name.

Figure 1-8: A shelf equalizer works like this.

Parametric EQ

The parametric equalizer enables you to choose the specific frequency that you want to affect as well as the range of frequencies to put around that frequency. With a parametric EQ, you dial in the frequency that you want to change, and then you set the range (referred to as the Q) — that is, the number of octaves that the EQ will affect. Check out Figure 1-9: The two diagrams show how the Q relates to the range of frequencies affected. (The higher the Q setting, the narrower the band of frequencies affected.)

The parametric EQ is one of your most useful tools when mixing all your individual tracks into a stereo pair. I describe this tool in detail in Book VI, Chapter 3.

Dynamic processors

Dynamic processors regulate the amount of sound or energy that gets passed through them. This amount is defined as the dynamic range — the range between the softest sound and the loudest sound. Dynamic processors come in three varieties: compressors/limiters, gates, and expanders. I explain each variety in the following sections.

Figure 1-9: A para- metric equalizer in a digital system. Top: Using a small Q. Bottom: Using a large Q.

Dynamic processors are used in a variety of ways. Use them to

check Control the signal going into the mixer and recorder.

check Tame the levels and correct the effects of an erratic musical performance when mixing.

check Optimize the levels of the finished stereo tracks when mastering.

Dynamic processors are some of the most useful tools that you have in your home studio. See Book VI, Chapter 4 for more on dynamic processors.

Compressors/limiters

A compressor’s job is not only to limit how loud a note can be, but also to reduce the difference between the loudest and softest note (that is, compress the dynamic range) of the sound being affected. The purpose of the compressor is to eliminate transients (unusually loud notes) that can create clipping (digital distortion).

Compressors are used extensively on modern recordings; the device keeps transients at bay by gently reducing the highest level that goes through it. Compressors are also used in mastering to raise the overall volume of a song without creating distortion. The device does this by reducing the overall dynamic range; as a result, a compressor effectively raises the volume of the softer notes without allowing the louder notes to be too loud and distorted.

A limiter works much like the compressor except it severely limits the highest level of a sound source. The limiter is basically a compressor on steroids; it gives you beefed-up control over volume. Any signal above a certain level, called the threshold, gets chopped off instead of compressed (as it would be with the compressor). A limiter is a good choice in extreme situations, such as when you want a really in-your-face, snare drum sound. In this instance, the limiter essentially eliminates any dynamic variation from the drummer’s snare-drum hits and makes them all as loud as possible.

Gates

A gate is basically the opposite of the limiter. Rather than limiting how loud a note can get, the gate limits how soft a note can get. The gate filters out any sound below a certain setting (the threshold) while allowing any note above that threshold to be heard.

tip.eps Gates are often used on drums to keep unwanted sounds from the cymbals from bleeding through to the tom-tom or snare drum mics, or on guitars by refusing to allow the noise generated by guitar effects to be heard when the instrument isn’t playing.

Expander

An expander is basically the opposite of a compressor — instead of attenuating (reducing the volume of) the loudest notes in a performance, an expander attenuates the softest notes. For example, if you have a singer whose breath you can hear in the mic and you want to get rid of that particular blemish, just set the expander to go on at a level just above the annoying breath sounds to subtly drop the offending noise.

Effects processors

Effects are historically used to mimic real-world situations. As a home recordist, you will likely discover a great affinity toward your effects processors because they enable you to create sonic environments without having to rent some great recording room. For example, imagine dragging your drums and all your recording equipment into a large cathedral, setting them up, and spending several hours getting the mics placed just right. Sounds like a lot of work, right? (I’m tired just thinking about it.) Well, how about recording your drums in your modest home studio and simply choosing the cathedral hall reverb patch instead? Now, that’s much easier.

I can practically guarantee that you’ll use effects processors all the time in your studio. Scope out Book VI, Chapter 5 for how to use them effectively.

In the world of effects processors, you have many choices, and many more show up every year. The most common effects processors are (in no particular order) reverb, delay, chorus, flanger, and pitch correction. Read on for the lowdown on each type.

Reverb

Reverb is undoubtedly the most commonly used effects processor. With reverb, you can make any instrument sound as if it were recorded in almost any environment. Reverb, a natural part of every sound, is the result of the sound bouncing around inside a room. The larger the room, the more pronounced the reverb. The purpose of a reverb in audio production is to make an instrument sound more natural (especially because most instruments are recorded in small, nonreverberant rooms) or to add a special effect. Reverb can make almost any recorded instrument sound better — if used correctly.

Delay

Think of delays as a recording studio’s version of an echo. The delay can be set to happen immediately after the original sound or be delayed much longer. Delay can sound natural or be used as a spacey special effect. You can have a single echo or multiple delays (very common with the snare drum in reggae music, for instance). Delays are commonly used on vocals and guitar, although you can hear them on just about any instrument, depending on the style of music.

Chorus

A chorus effect can make one instrument sound like several. Chorus effects add very slightly off-tune versions of the unaffected sound, which results in a fuller sound. You find chorus effects used on vocals, guitars, and lots of other melodic instruments.

Flanger

A flanger (pronounced flanj-er) effect is similar to a chorus effect in sound except that the flanger gets its sound from delaying part of the affected sound in relation to the original, rather than altering its pitch. Flangers are sometimes used on background vocals and solo instruments to add an interesting texture. This is a unique sound that you recognize almost immediately upon hearing it.

technicalstuff.eps The flanger effect comes from the early days in recording. You can create the flanger effect the old-fashioned way by using a two-track tape recorder to record a duplicate track of the one you want to flange. You then play the two identical parts back at the same time, gently pressing against the edge of the two-track tape (the one with the duplicate part) while it’s running. This delays certain parts of the sound slightly and drastically changes the character of the instrument.

Nowadays, you can just choose the flanger patch (sound) on your effects processor to get this sound. Isn’t technology great?

Pitch correction

Pitch correction, like its name suggests, is used to correct an out-of-tune note. You can use this effect to help a singer or an instrument player sound better by fixing those notes that are slightly out of tune. Pitch correction (also called auto-tune) has gotten a bad rap lately (mainly from its overuse and potential for abuse with a singer who can’t sing on-key). When used sparingly and appropriately, pitch correction can make an otherwise-decent vocal performance really shine. Auto-tune can also be used to create some interesting effects, such as that robotic-vocal sound you hear on so many of the pop songs on the radio nowadays. The most easily distinguished example is the lead vocal on Cher’s Believe.

Making Sense of Monitors

To record and mix music, you need to be able to hear it. (Hey, obvious things need love, too.) Monitors make this happen. You can use headphones or speakers as monitors; most home studios use both. Monitors are an essential part of a recording studio because you need to get what you’re recording and mixing into your ears before you make sure that it sounds good.

tip.eps Without good speakers, you won’t know what your mixes are going to sound like on other speakers. (Find out more about mixing in Book VI.)

Headphones

Chances are that your first home studio will be in a spare bedroom or a corner of your garage or basement. All your recording, monitoring, and mixing will be done here. If that’s the case, a set of headphones is indispensable because then you can turn off your speakers and still hear what’s being (or was) recorded. When you go to record a guitar using a microphone in front of the guitar amp, for example, you want to hear only the guitar — not the guitar amp and the guitar amp coming back through your monitors. Headphones allow you to do this. (See Figure 1-10.)

Figure 1-10: Studio head- phones.

Speakers

For most home recordists, your first set of monitors consists of the home stereo system. Sooner or later, though, you’re gonna want a real set of monitors. Studio monitors come in many varieties, but the home recordist’s best bet is a set of near-field monitors. Near-field monitors are designed to be positioned close to you (which is often the case anyway because most home recordists have very little room in which to work).

Near-field monitors come with or without an amplifier. The amplified monitors are active monitors, and the nonamplified monitors are passive monitors. Which type of monitor you choose depends on your budget and whether you like the idea of the amp coming with the speakers or you prefer to purchase the amp separately. Figure 1-11 shows an active, near-field monitor. The amplifier is located inside the speaker cabinet.

Figure 1-11: An active near-field monitor: The amplifier is located inside the speaker cabinet.

tip.eps If you end up getting passive monitors, you need to buy an amplifier to send power to the speakers. The amplifier connects to the outputs of the mixer and boosts the signal to the speakers. A good power amp should be matched in power to work well with whatever speakers you have.

Mastering Media

After you mix your music, you need to save your final music on some kind of medium. The two most common media for Pro Tools users are CD and raw computer files. Which medium you choose depends upon what your goals are. For instance, if you intend to send your finished mix to a mastering house, you’re better off saving it as raw audio data in a computer file. On the other hand, if you master your music yourself and just want to have it duplicated (or you want to give copies for your friends to play), you want to use a CD.

CD

With the cost of CD-R (write) and CD-RW (rewrite) drives plummeting, CD mastering is the only choice for most home recordists. With CDs, you can back up large amounts of data at a very low cost, and you can burn audio CDs that can play in any CD player. You can even send out your mastered CD to be duplicated and packaged for retail sale. (Book VIII, Chapter 1 details the process for burning CDs and how to have mass quantities created.)

Computer files

Sometimes you won’t want to master your music directly to CD. You may decide to have a professional mastering house do it, or maybe you want to put your music on the Internet. In those situations, store your recordings as computer files. The following sections describe the most commonly used file formats for storing recorded music.

WAV and AIFF

WAV (Microsoft Wave format) and AIFF (Apple; Audio Interchange File Format) files are the formats for audio files found with most professional audio software. The advantage to saving your music to WAV or AIFF is that when you hand over a CD containing your WAV and/or AIFF files to a mastering house, the recorded sound is actually in a higher-quality format than that of the finished CD (provided that your recorder records in 20- or 24-bit, which most do). You can also take your music files to any other studio that supports these file formats and work with them there.

MIDI

A MIDI file is not an audio file; rather, it’s a data file that contains MIDI information that can be transferred from one computer to another; it tells the computer how to use a sound module to construct the music. An