Clear All Automation From a Track

By TOM BOWSER

Clear All Automation From a Track

The following tip will clear ALL automation on a track. You DO NOT need to have the automation showing on the track to clear it using the directions below.

• Left click in the lower half of the track.

• Press and hold down the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
• Press then release the letter "a" key on your keyboard to select the entire track. The track/region background color becomes darker once selected. See image below.

• On the Pro Tools menu bar, left click on Edit > Clear Special > All Automation.

The Rock Band Kansas & The Room In The Basement

By TOM BOWSER

My high school friend Bob Mueller had invited Kevin Swanson and me over to his parents flat with a singular purpose in mind.

As I remember it the room in the basement had some comfortable old living room furniture in it. The single window was covered with a stained, ratty old shade. It was cool, dark, damp and a little musty smelling like most basements in older homes. A couple of posters were beginning to peel off the brick walls and a single "black light bulb" was the sole source of illumination. The room in the basement was a womb. There was no TV, no phone, it was quiet. An older home stereo system and a stack of Bob's favorite vinyl records were the only other thing in the room.

The room in the basement was where I discovered the American rock band Kansas. As a violinist in our highschool orchestra I was a bit shocked. Violin in a rock band? It sounded good, really good! Everything about it was right!

We went to see Kansas perform at the Coliseum in Madison, WI as they toured to support their album "Point of Know Return" in 1977 I believe. They were every bit as good live as on their albums.

I recently saw the movie Kansas: Miracles Out of Nowhere. It brought me back to the time my friends and I spent sharing our common love of music in the room in the basement.

Do you remember where you were when you first heard your favorite band or song?

At the time I wrote this post Kansas: Miracles Out of Nowhere was playing for FREE on tubi. If you are a fan of the band Kansas or a fan of American rock music you will probably enjoy the movie. I know I did!

Millions of Free Listenable, Downloadable Music Files!

By TOM BOWSER

The "Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more", so much more. It's all FREE, that's no charge to you my friend.

Lots of music, I mean, LOTS OF MUSIC! A wondrous variety. Digitized vinyl albums and other audio you probably won't find anywhere else at this time.

The sound quality of the music I've downloaded and streamed seems better than the free services of most BIG NAME online services. The sound quality of some of the digitized vinyl album collections is often surprisingly good.

CONS:

1. Searching and finding what you want can be an exercise in patience.
2. I wonder if the musicians, artists and other creatives are being appropriately compensated?

For those of you who have not "been", I suggest you haul your ass over to the Internet Archive and get you some before it's all gone.

---

For your edification and a quick quality test I present David McCallum's song "The Edge" from his Vinyl LP Album entitled "Music: A Bit More of Me" which was released in 1967 by Capitol Records. My wife and I dig the groovy 1960s era vibe.

Who knew that David McCallum, the guy who played the chief medical examiner, Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on the American TV series NCIS, was also a talented musician?

I downloaded the song "The Edge" as an .MP3 file from the Internet Archive. What do you think about the sound quality? How does it compare to the sound quality of the same song available on other online services?

Add Plugins To The Favorites List

By TOM BOWSER

I create a "favorites" list for the plugins I routinely use. I find it helps me work faster, more efficiently and with less distraction. It reduces the time spent looking for plugins.

Your favorite plugins will show at the top of the Plug-In selector pop-up menu. Favorites will appear bold and colored yellow when seen in plug-in menus.

To create a plugin favorites list:

1. Press and hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard.
2. Left click on an insert of a track. An insert looks like a blank rectangular space with a black dot on the left hand side. I've drawn a red line around an insert in the image below.

3. Hover your mouse cursor over the word "plug-in" on the menu that appears.

4. Left click on a plugin you want to add to your favorites list. Remember, you need to hold down the CTRL key.

The "TENS (mono)" reverb plug-in was added as a favorite to the top of my plugins list. (see image below)

Rearrange Controls and Displays On The Edit Window Toolbar

By TOM BOWSER

The Edit Window Toolbar is located across the top of the Edit window.

Understanding how to rearrange the controls and displays on the Edit Window toolbar can be useful if you find yourself working with Pro Tools outside your usual environment for example, at a friend's house or in a different studio.

Having the Edit Window Toolbar arranged as you are used to makes working in a new environment less stressful.

To move a control or display:

1. Press and hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard.
2. Move your mouse cursor to the edge of a control or display you want to move. When your mouse cursor turns into a hand (grabber) then…

3. Left click and hold down your left mouse button. Drag the control or display horizontally to a new location on the Edit Window Toolbar. As you drag the control or display a yellow vertical bar will appear to mark the new position.
4. Release your left mouse button at the position you want to move the control or display.

NOTE: Changes you make to the Edit Window Toolbar are saved on a per session basis. Each new session begins with the Pro Tools default layout.

Change How Plug-ins Are Listed in Pro Tools

By TOM BOWSER

Left click on:

• Setup then Preferences on the Pro Tools menu bar
• the Display tab
• on the dropdown arrow next to Organize Plug-In Menu By:

• Select either Flat List, Category, Manufacturer, or Category & Manufacturer.

I prefer to organize my plug-ins by Category & Manufacturer (see image below). This setting gives you the most information in the least amount of space. The alphabetically arranged "Flat List" can get very long.

Control Plug-ins Simultaneously On Multiple Tracks

By TOM BOWSER

In this Avid Pro Tools tutorial I show you how to simultaneously control the settings of the same plug-in installed on two or more tracks.

This might be useful if you want to process (equalization, compression, other), 2 separate drum overhead tracks (1 Left + 1 Right), doubled guitars or vocals.

NOTE: The plug-ins you want to control must be inserted on the same letter insert on ALL tracks. Inserts are assigned the letters A through J to identify them. See the image below.

Create a "group" that includes your tracks:

1. Press and hold down the SHIFT key on your keyboard.
2. Left click on the name of each track to select it. The background should turn white.
3. Press and hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard then press the letter g. The Create Group window opens.
4. Type a name for your group in the box next to “Name:”.
5. Verify the tracks you want to include are listed in the box beneath the heading “Currently in Group:”.
6. Left click on the “OK” button to save your changes.

Open the Modify Groups window:

1. Right click on the name of the group you created. Groups are listed beneath the “GROUPS” heading in the Pro Tools Edit window.
2. Left click on the word “Modify…” in the menu that appears.

In the Modify Groups window:

1. Left click on the "Attributes" tab.
2. Remove the checkmark to the left of “Follow Globals”.
3. Press and hold down the ALT key on your keyboard then left click in a single checkbox under both the “Controls” and “Bypass” headings. All should become selected. See image below.
4. Left click on the “OK” button to save your changes.

Open 2 of the plug-ins you want to simultaneously control. Arrange them next to each other. Now, when you move a control on 1 of the plug-ins the same control will move on the other plug-in.

Sub Mix Tracks - Combine The Output of Multiple Tracks

By TOM BOWSER

In this Avid Pro Tools tutorial I demonstrate how to create a submix of the outputs of multiple tracks. You can then control the output level of all the tracks as a collection or group.

• You might submix/combine multiple instruments, for example, all the drums of a drum set. The level of the drum submix could then be raised or lowered as a whole mix as opposed to changing individual drum levels.
• You may create a submix of background vocalists. You could create a "send" from the submix to an effects plug-in/unit like a reverb. This would enable you to use the same reverb and apply the same reverb level/amount to each vocalist in the submix.
• You could process the submix as a group. You could add a compressor and/or equalizer to the submix and process all the combined signals or tracks (instruments, vocalists) at the same time and by the same amount.

In the example steps below I create a submix for 2 brass instruments, one trumpet and one trombone.

Create a submix:

1. Select the tracks you want to submix. Press and hold down the CTRL key then left click on the name of the track. The background will turn white.

2. Press and hold down the SHIFT + ALT keys.
3. Left click on the "Audio Output Path selector" of one of the selected tracks.

4. Left click on “new track…” on the menu.

The “New Track” dialog window will open.

Select:

• Width: Stereo
• Type: Aux Input
• Time Base: Samples
• Name: You might type a name to describe what the submix combines. For this tutorial I used "BRASS BUS".
• Left click on the “Create” button.

7. Press and hold down the CTRL key then left click on the "Solo" button of the new submix aux track. (The Solo button will turn light grey) See the BRASS BUS track in the image below.

8. Choose a color for the new submix aux track's color bar (optional). Double left click the track's color bar then left click on a color to select it from the Color Palette window.

Overview:

• A new "aux" track has been created called BRASS BUS.
• The Trumpet and Trombone tracks have their outputs routed to the BRASS BUS input.
• The BRASS BUS has its output routed to the stereo output of the hardware interface.
• Plug-ins can be inserted on the submix aux track. You can now process (EQ, Compression) or add effects directly to all the tracks in the submix.
• The BRASS BUS fader will now control the output level/volume of both the Trumpet and Trombone tracks.

I always use the same color for all my submix aux tracks. It makes it immediately obvious to me what the track is used for.

NOTE: If you want to pan the tracks of the submix to different positions in a stereo field then choose "Width: Stereo" in step 4. You might choose a "Width: Mono" if all the tracks assigned to the submix will be panned the same. You could then pan the submix using the pan control of the submix aux track fader.

Folk Musician Greg Brown - A Prairie Home Companion

By TOM BOWSER

I mixed live sound for folk musician Greg Brown during his sold-out performance at the University of Wisconsin's "Music Hall" back in the late 1980s. I'd never heard of him before. I've not forgotten him since that show. You never know where life will take you.

Greg Brown was a recurring performer on the weekly, nationally broadcast, radio variety show A Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor.

At the time Greg was recording for the independent record label Red House Records in St. Paul, Minnesota.

I hope Greg Brown's song The Iowa Waltz brings you peace and joy in the new year. Listen Below

Members of the band:

• Greg Brown - vocals, guitar
• Dave Hansen - bass
• Dave Moore - harmonica
• Al Murphy - fiddle
• Mike Watts - drums
• John Welstead - drums
• David Williams - banjo, guitar, mandolin