MSC IND 188

MIXING LAB 1 – INSTRUCTIONS – WEEK 5

Fall 2024

‘Getting a Session Ready to Mix’

For UCLA Studios only:

• Turn on Power of Interface

• Make sure speakers are on, for ATC’s there’s green lights in the front of them
• In B114 Make sure you are using the user Mix Room B114 and B112 Shared Studio
for B112
• Launch Pro Tools

Create a New Session:

• From the Pro Tools startup dialog, under the “New” tab click on "Session” (or)
go to the "File" menu and select "New Session."

• Session Name: Enter: Oh My Gaw Setup for Mix

• Location: Choose where you want to save the session on the computer. In the Mix
Suites this will be in the folder for the class on the Desktop called ‘MIXING CLASS
MSC IND 188 FALL 2024 ASSIGNMENTS’. Create a folder with your group members
names, day, time and week to put the session in the WEEK 5 folder.
• Session Parameters: Select File Type as .Wav, Sample Rate as 48K, and Bit Depth
as 24 Bit. Have ‘Interleaved’ Checked
• I/O: Select: Stereo Mix.

Import the Audio:

• Click on File in the top menu, go to Import, then Audio.

• In the dialog window, resize if needed to see the files in the top half, go to the folder
containing your audio files. Unless you downloaded them, this will be in The MIXING
CLASS MSC IND 188 FALL 2024 ASSIGNMENTS’ Week 5 folder
• Select the first file ‘Audio 1’ and you can select all files by clicking the first then
holding down Shift and then the last one ‘Audio 18’ to highlight them all. If you
 wanted to select multiple ones not next to each other then Command click all the
audio files you want to import to highlight them. But in this exercise you will import
all of them.
• Select ‘Copy All’ option and click OK.
• You’ll see a dialog to select where to place the audio in your session. Select
Destination ‘New Track’ and click OK

A Video on Importing and Renaming Tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkRwt4W9_Gw

Organize Edit Window:

• Click on the View menu in the top menu bar, go to Edit Window Views.
• Make sure ‘Comments’, ‘Inserts A-E’, ‘Inserts F-J’, ‘Sends A-E’, ‘Sends F-J’, ‘I/O’ and
‘Track Color’ are all selected.
• You can also find a quicker way to do this in the drop down menu above the track
names in the upper left and selecting what you want to show.
• In the top left of the Edit Window. There is the Edit Ruler View Selector. Select
Bar/Beats, Min: Secs, Tempo, Markers, Meter. Everything else can be unselected.
• Next in the top right of the Edit Window you’ll see a down arrow in a circle, select
this and make sure ‘zoom controls’, ‘midi controls’, ‘transport’ and ‘expanded
transport’ are selected and nothing else is. Unselect anything else.

A Video on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L_UeAZuSik

Set Preferences:

• Next go to Setup Menu, select Preferences.

• In Display tab, turn on the Tool Tips for Function and Details, until you feel
comfortable enough in Pro Tools to not need them. This will display the function of a
button as you hover above it.
• In Display tab, select to Organize Plugin-In Menus By: Category & Manufacturer
• In Display tab, make sure UI Theme is set to: Classic (this is the original Pro Tools
look)
• In Display tab, set Default Track Color Coding to: Track Type, and set Default Clip
Coding to: Track Number
 • In Display tab, under Marker Colors, select Randomize Marker Color Upon Creation,
and Show Marker Lane Colors For: Timeline Marker Ruler & Tracks
• In Operations Tab, under Auto Backup, set to Keep 99 most recent backup
sessions, and set to Backup every 1 minute. This will create a folder in your session
folder and put backup sessions in there, so if Pro Tools crashes you can go in there
and open a session from about 1 minute ago, instead of hours ago and starting over
and killing the vibe.
• Those are the main preferences we’ll need to have selected for this assignment

Check the I/O:

• Click on the Setup menu at the top, select I/O

• Just make sure the Output tab shows whatever your audio output will be. For
most of you it will be Analog 1-2, Output 1-2, or whatever your interface output is
you listen through, or the computer speaker or external headphone output. Hit
the OK button in the bottom right corner to keep settings. If using headphones,
you need to headphones plugged in before opening up this menu for the
headphone output to show. For other assignments that you will be using
plugins and mixing, I do not recommend using headphones unless you want to
check it in headphones after.
• In the Bus tab, make sure your output you selected lines up to the output of you
interface or system in the Mapping to Output session. This is all so audio comes
out your speakers!
• If you run into any issues listening to your tracks after assigning ouputs in the
following steps, go back to the I/O window and select the Default Button in the
Outputs and/or
Bus tab and try listening again.
• If that doesn’t working click ‘Import Settings’ at the bottom or the I/O window
and select the I/O I made in the studios called ‘MSC IND 188 io Backup’ in the
default I/O folder on the computer And the folder for the class on the desktop.
• This is all so you can’t say I couldn’t get audio to play. 😉 You have 2 ways to
trouble shoot it, and videos and tips online. But with a very simple you or likely
using it should just play. But for most of you, the way we originally created the
session it should just work and audio will play and we are just double checking it
here.

Video on I/O:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36PacBlstjQ

Video on internal Busses in I/O:

Not part of this assignment, but will be used in everything else and for mixing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwMrU9dGZA
Check Playback Engine:

• Click on the Setup menu at the top, select Playback Engine

• Make sure Playback Engine is set to whatever your interface is to listen to your
speakers or headphones. This is important to make sure Pro Tools is using your
desired Interface.
• Set H/W Buffer Size to 1024 Samples. You will want to turn this down for tracking
or recording and up for mixing to use more of the power of the computer, but it
can create a longer delay, which is un-noticeable while mixing.
• Cache Size set to Normal is usually good. If you start having playback issues,
Increase it.
• Other Optimization Settings are up to you. Click OK to save.

Video on Playback Engine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguUcoxu2cI

Rename Audio Tracks

• To solo and listen to each track, click on the “S” button on the track.
• Make the output of all the tracks your output that go to your speakers, for most
of you it will be ‘Analog 1-2’ or ‘Output 1-2’. Holding Option and setting one of
the outputs will set the same thing to all of them.
• Use the Selector Tool click on the area you want to listen to for each track.
Spacebar will play Pro Tools. 😜
• Clip Height- Just to the left of the Tools on the Edit Toolbar at the top of the Edit
window is the waveform height selector with arrows on top and bottom of it to
make the waveforms bigger and smaller. Make them pretty large so you want
see all the information on the tracks. This will show up again in the extra credit.
🤑
• Once you have listened to the track and decided what it is and what you want to
call it, double-click on the track.
• In the prompt, type the new name for the track and press Enter. Your track will
now display the new name. Give all the tracks appropriate names to what they
are.

Video on Edit Tools:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZkz6yMLZQ
Optional good video on Smart Tool, turning on quick keys, zooming, editing, for those of
you who want to know more about how to use Pro Tools

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZkz6yMLZQ

Organize and Move Around Audio Tracks:

• Click on the track you want to move in the Edit window. You can also hold down
Shift to select multiple tracks in a row, or Command click the ones you want to
select together that aren’t next to each other.
• Click and hold on the track name (the area where the track title is displayed) and
drag it up or down to the desired position.
• Arrange the tracks in the following order:

Drums starting with kick and snare, Bass, Instruments, Vocals starting with the lead vocal.
Think of order of importance. Have the most important things for each group first.

Color Tracks:

• The tracks will be colored in this order: Drums-yellow, Bass-dark brown,

Instruments-orange, Lead vocal-pink, and additional vocals and backgrounds-
purple
• Go to the Window menu at the top, select Color Palette.
• Also Double clicking the color next to each audio track opens a color Palette box.
Select the tracks or tracks and choose the colors and they should change color.
Selecting multiple tracks will change all their colors at once.

Video on Coloring Tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR-U-qQm4nQ

Set The Tempo:

• In the Edit Ruler at the top of the edit window locate the Tempo row we have earlier
set to display.
• Click on the red arrow all the way to the left of it and a tempo prompt will come up,
enter as the bpm: 99
Video on Entering Tempo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSP_FPWG40U

Create Markers:

• In the Edit Ruler at the top of the edit window locate the Markers row we have earlier
set to display
• Select Bars/Beats and that row will be highlighted, and then set the grid value at the
top center of the Edit Window to 1 Bar, as I mentioned in class, I always set nudge
below it at 1 bar.
• Still using the Selector Tool, make your first marker by clicking at top ruler all the
way at the beginning of the song bar 1, or press Enter to go to the top of the song,
and press the plus button in the marker row before the song start. In the prompt that
comes up name it ‘Top’
• Then play through the song and select the top ruler on the location where you want
to set the marker. These will at the downbeat of each section on Grid. Make sure
you are in Grid Mode when doing these by selecting Grid at the very top left of the
Edit Window. Slip mode is great for clicking around wherever you want and making
small moves, but for this assignment we want Grid Mode.
• Feel free to adjust the volumes of the tracks to great a pleasant blend to listen to
since they are raw and unmixed. That is fine for this assignment, no right or wrong
on that.
• After selecting where you want a marker, press the Enter key on your keyboard
(numeric keypad right, laptops don’t have this). Or press the plus + symbol again in
the marker row and in the marker dialog box name that section. Check and see that
a marker was placed there.
• Repeat these steps to place a marker on the following locations through the song:
Top, Verse 1 or v1, Chorus 1 or c1, Verse 2 or v2, Chorus 2 or c2, Outro or o1, End.
• Either are correct, but notice how the shorter abbreviated ones take up less space
and look cleaner.

Video on markers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZz-yAbIFE8

Video on using Grid Mode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NSi2Dm1ho0

Video on Different Tools:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKZkz6yMLZQ

Create a Master Fader:

• Almost done. Go to the Track menu at the, select New or press Cmd + Shift + N on a
Mac.
• In the prompt, select Master Fader from the Track Type dropdown, and select 1 and
Ster.
• Click Create. A new Master Fader track will appear in your session.
• Select this track and drag it to the top of the session.
• Make sure the output of your Master Fader is set to your main output that all your
tracks have.
• Test it by turning it down and you should hear all the tracks get quieter or go down in
volume, put it back to 0 or Command click the fader and it will shoot back to 0.
You’ll see on the output of each trip there is a little fade, clicking that will bring up
the big fader.

Turn on Delay Compensation, or Make Sure it Is on:

• Go to the Options menu at the top, make sure one of the last things Delay
Compensation has check it on, if not select it. This is important to make sure your
tracks don’t get out of time as you add plugins to it.
• Now double check delay compensation on every track. Go to the top Windows
menu, select Mix. The other main window will come up for the first time that is the
Mix Window and is just faders.
• In the bottom left you will see a view selector for what is displayed on each track.
Make sure these are selected: Delay Compensation, Comments, Inserts A-E,
Inserts F-J, Sends A-E, Sends F-J, Meters and Faders, I/O, and Track color. Anything
else you can unselect.
• Notice how ‘dly’ is Green and is probably 0, as you add plugins this will increase,
Pro Tools will automatically compensate as long as it is not Red, then you have gone
over the delay compensation amount and you have to address it because the track
will be out of time. But the delay compensation for each track is over 4000
samples, so not an issue unless you are using big intensive plugins.
• You can also check this by going back to the Mix Window pressing Command + to
toggle back and forth or selecting the top menu Window then Edit. Look in the very
middle of the top right under Start, End, Length of a selection and see how ‘Dly’ is
Green. If this is Green you are golden with no issues, if this ever goes Red you have
 issues and need to address it to go back to green. When delay compensation is off
this will not show at all and be blank to tell you that it is off.

Delay Compensation Video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUV_XKI806w

Extra Credit Point: 🚨🤑

• Strip Silence out all the blank area of the clips that have no audio information on all
the tracks, make sure to make the waveforms big enough that you don’t cut off the
reverb tails or anything. The song will sound the same if you do it right, but it won’t
have the un-needed blank space taken away that takes up computer processing
and chokes down the playback of a big session.
• Send me a Screenshot of you using Strip Silence in your session so the window will
show Strip Silence and Pro Tools, I want this to be you entire window including the
date and time and everything at the top, so I know you did it and someone else
didn’t just share it with you.
• To get the Bonus Point, I will need the session to have it done correctly, no audio
chopped off or cut off early, and the included Screenshot.

The Finale…

Save the Session:

• Click on the File menu at the top, then select Save.

• Then go to File again and select Save As…
• A dialog box will appear prompting you to enter a new name for the session. Type in
The WEEK-The Group members-COMPLETED- Oh My Gaw Setup for Mix.
• For example, since this is Week 5’s assignment: WEEK 5-Erik Madrid-COMPLETE-
Oh My Gaw Setup for Mix
• Select the location where you want to save the new session file. Put in in your
groups folder on desktop if you are in the UCLA mixing rooms.
• If you want to keep mixing, do not close the session, and skip to the next section.
• If you want to end here you go to File at the top menu, then Close. This will keep Pro
Tools on, but close your session.

You are done! Find this PTX file in the Finder, right click or Control click on it and select
Compress. Send me this .Zip file that creates AND the .PTX file you just created with the
new name. All I need are these 2, and no audio files and it will open up on my end.
If it was me, I would personally Close the session, re-open it and makes sure everything is
there before sending, and then close it again. If you changed nothing, and only looked, go
to File, then Close, and select Don’t Save. I am only going to grade you off what you sent
me, not how you got there.

Save As a Session to Keep Mixing:

• If you want to keep mixing and practice the concepts we have been working on.
After saving it with the title I described to you for your grade, immediately go to the
File Menu, and Select ‘Save As…’ and rename the session something different. So
the one you will be graded on stays as is, and you can do whatever you want in this
session. So you will Save the one you’re sending and then next thing Select Save
As.. to keep working and not change the one you’re sending me. This is how things
are done in the studios all the time to keep track of versions and days.
• I’d pull all the faders down, start pulling them up starting with your most important
elements or whatever you want to give a balance and grove, and then use the tools
or anything we talked about to practice the concepts. It’s only stock plugins, but it
should have the basics and next week we should have all the other plugins.
• I don’t need this session! Only the one you saved previously send me for grading.
• Save and close it when you’re done. 🚙