Pro Tools has four Edit modes: Shuffle, Slip, Spot and Grid. See image below.
Quickly Switch Between Edit Modes by pressing the:
TIP: Press F4 a second time to enter "Relative Grid" mode.
The Clip Gain line is only visible if the track is set to size small or larger.
NOTE: The Windows Start key has the Windows symbol on it. See image below.
Use "Shuffle Lock" to prevent accidental editing while in Shuffle Mode.
To engage Shuffle Lock:
NOTE: You cannot enable Shuffle Lock while in Shuffle mode.
I've drawn a red line around the Clip Gain icon in the image below.
NOTE: The Windows Start key has the Windows symbol on it. See image below.
The bypassed plug-in button will change colors from gray to blue. I've drawn a red line around a bypassed EQ plug-in within the image below.
To re-enable the plug-in repeat the steps you followed to bypass the plug-in.
These tips enable you to easily and quickly scroll left (earlier) or right (later) on the Pro Tools timeline. You need a mouse with a middle scroll wheel or a track pad to use method 1 below. Method 2 uses keyboard keys only.
Method 1:
Method 2:
If you have a lot of visible tracks in a session, it can be useful to change to a narrow mix view to reduce the width of the tracks. This makes the session feel less cluttered. You can also fit more tracks in the same viewable space of the Pro Tools mix window.
Pressing the M key allows you to toggle between Narrow or Expanded view.
NOTE: The Track List is located at the top left of the Pro Tools Edit and Mix windows. The track Show/Hide icon is the black dot to the left of a track name in the Track List. I've drawn a red square around the Show/Hide icon in the image below.
The image below has three different Edit window view names showing. The names are INSERTS A-E, SENDS A-E and I/O. I've drawn a red line around all 3 window view names in the image below.
This tip works on native Pro Tools plug-ins.
| MAC KEY | WINDOWS KEY |
| Control | CTRL |
| Option | ALT |
| Command (4 leaf clover) | Windows/Start (has Windows logo on it) |
| SHIFT | SHIFT |
The default track view is "waveform".
You will notice a + sign added to the left of the tracks output path selector button. The +/plus symbol indicates the track output is routed to more than one location.
The automation window shows the different types of automation that are currently enabled. You must enable any automation type you want to write. Enable automation by left-clicking on the button (turns red) for the automation type you want to enable.
With Pro Tools Running:
Why do we want to reduce/eliminate the snare and cymbal leakage into the kick mic/track? Anything done to the kick drum mic/track (EQ for example) will also be done to the snare drum and cymbal leakage. The result of processing the leakage can cause drums to sound indistinct and can cause strange frequency interactions.
EQ changes to the bass/kick drum will affect the sound of the drum and cymbal tracks present in the leakage which becomes noticeable when these tracks are added to the entire mix.
In this tutorial, we compress the external bass/kick drum mic. We will create a send from the snare drum to trigger the compressor on the kick. This will reduce the level of the snare present in the bass/kick drum track. This approach also allows you to keep all the kick/bass drum resonance the outside microphone captures. If you use an Expander / Gate you may lose some of the bass/kick drum resonance.
NOTE: If the ATTACK and RELEASE times are too fast you may hear distortion. The distortion will sound like crackling. Increase the ATTACK and RELEASE times to eliminate the distortion. You may also have to reduce the amount of compression by reducing the THRESHOLD.
Any additional leakage left after using this approach may be able to be removed using a LP (low pass filter) or other EQ.
NOTE: The speed of sound is approximately 1100 feet per second so about 1 foot per millisecond. The mic that is in front of the bass drum is probably around 3 feet from the snare mic. When the snare drum gets hit it takes about 3ms to reach the external kick mic.
By keying the compressor off of the snare's top mic and then using a pretty fast attack you can compress BEFORE the snare leakage reaches the mic. This allows you to effectively remove or at least significantly reduce the snare leakage in the external kick mic/track.
You will see greater headroom in the external kick drum track allowing you to raise the fader and achieve greater volume of the track in the mix.
What are ghost notes? Ghost notes as they pertain to the drums are quiet notes usually played in between accented notes. They do not always have to be played in between accented notes. Ghost notes can be used to fill in the groove and give it more feel, rather than the groove sounding very straight and rigid.
Ghost notes may be more felt than heard. Musicians on the stage who are playing with the drummer may be able to feel the ghost notes and lock with the drummer better because the drummer is filling out the groove more and giving it more feel.
If ghost notes are present in the track you want them brought out and heard. If there is no ghosting you do not need to use this technique because the back beat will be the loudest thing in the track and will be the most audible over any leakage in the track (the kick for example).
Use compression to help the ghosting be heard:
Looking for total compression of -12 dB or so.
Optional:
The bottom of the snare may be rattling just as much when the bass/kick-beater hits as it is with the strike of the drumstick. We can limit how much of the kick/bass drum we hear in the bottom snare mic using the following procedure.
NOTE: Verify your settings and how they affect the sound by toggling the compressor plugins BYPASS switch.
You isolate the drums first using expander/gates or editing (Example, Pro Tools Strip Silence) to minimize the bleed in the track from other drums & external sources (use editing if needed, given the context of the music, the amount, and type of bleed).
Isolating the drums limits the amount of bleed that is also processed with the drums when they are processed (EQ, Compression). Also, by isolating the drums first, if the drums are well recorded you may not need to do much processing.
Isolation (with downward expansion and noise gates) is usually not done during tracking. Any mistakes in settings would be committed to the recording and could not be undone. LISTEN before drawing any conclusions.
Though it may sound good, the low end on the kick drum has to be managed, especially if there is a really rich bass guitar that will be layered with it. Why? Because the low end of the kick may trigger low frequency compression when it's getting mastered or trigger limiters used by radio stations. Kick drums need to marry well with the bass in a mix and give the rhythm articulation. The kick/bass drum and bass guitar should complement each other.
NOTE: Not much is needed to "fix" a track when the drums are tuned and recorded well.
EQ: Always begin by using subtractive EQ then use additive EQ as needed. By removing unwanted frequency content from the tracks you make more room for what you're keeping in other tracks. Using subtractive EQ first often results in needing less additive processing later to reach your desired result.
Controlling the low-mids by reducing them improves the attack of the track. It also allows you to raise the level of the external mic track for a more complete, blended sound.
Listen to ensure you have the right amount of attack in the kick/bass drum tracks. By removing some LF content you are revealing the attack elements of the sound.
External Mic: If you bring up the level of the external mic its decay component will be stronger than it was at a lower level. To modify the decay component we can add an Expander/Gate and trigger it with a send to its side chain from the internal mic.
You often do not need much of the hi-hat microphone in the mix. You can often get the amount of hi-hat you need from the overhead microphones. However, in denser mixes you may need to use the hi-hat microphone to give the hi-hat definition in the mix.
If the hi-hat mic is positioned too high when it was recorded to "let it breathe" you can get a lot of snare leakage/bleed into the hi-hat mic. If you then use the hi-hat mic/track high in the mix you tend to get a phasy/blurry snare response that's fighting the close mic on the snare.
The goal of the following section is to reduce the amount of snare sound present in the hi-hat track.
NOTE: The hi-hat track is being compressed, but the snare drum is triggering the compression. The snare level present in the hi-hat track will be reduced and compressed. EQ: Joel states that the hi-hat is a high frequency instrument. There is nothing in the way of low frequencies that we want to hear in the track. The first thing Joel wants to do is reduce the low frequencies in the track. All the low frequency information has nothing to do with the hi-hat. Joel also states in this video that the hi-hat track has a "metallicy" character that he does not like. He states that the sound of the hi-hat in the track is either how the hi-hat itself sounds or it sounds as it does because of the microphone or preamp used or possibly the mic placement used to record the hi-hat. He decides to insert a compressor on the track to see if he can improve the sound of the hi-hat. Bypass the EQ and listen then re-enable the EQ to verify the difference in the hi-hat track both with and without the EQ. Consider blending the sound of the hi-hat mic with the sound of the hi-hat in the overheads. The low end can cause phasiness or a blurred snare drum image. Use subtractive EQ. Sweep from low to high until you hear the low end disappear (from around 450-750 Hz), The sound of the hi-hat should remain unchanged in the mix. Reducing the low end also gives you a little more headroom if you need to push the faders up to achieve a louder sounding mix before you reach for compression. The process outlined in this tutorial is a useful way to contain the snare in the hi-hat track so that the snare remains the dominant part of the groove/backbeat and yet the hi-hat when the snare is not playing is still entirely natural and clear allowing you to pan the hi-hat where you want it in the mix. NOTE: Remember to disable any EQ bands not being used. If an EQ band is enabled, it influences the sound of the track in subtle ways even if you have not changed the filters settings. Look at the image above. EQ bands that are not used are disabled.
