Avid RECORDING STUDIO user guide
®
Avid Recording Studio User Guide
Version 8.0.3
Legal Notices
This guide is copyrighted ©2010 by Avid Technology, Inc., with
all rights reserved. Under copyright laws, this guide may not be
duplicated in whole or in part without the written consent of
Avid Technology, Inc.
Avid, Pro Tools, Pro Tools SE, M-Audio and Fast Track are either
trademarks or registered trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc.
All other trademarks contained herein are the property of their
respective owners.
Product features, specifications, system requirements, and
availability are subject to change without notice.
Guide Part Number 8420-30231-01 REV A 06/10
Documentation Feedback
At Avid, we are always looking for ways to improve our
documentation. If you have comments, corrections, or
suggestions regarding our documentation, email us at
techpubs@avid.com.
contents
Chapter 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Recording Studio Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Hardware Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Pro Tools SE Guide Set . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2. Controls and Connectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Front Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Back Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Top Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Chapter 3. Installing Recording Studio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Installation Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Mac OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
MP3 Export Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Hardware Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Checking Your Signal Path . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Software and System Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Chapter 4. The Software Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Accessing the Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Latency Tab (Windows) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Sample Rate Tab (Windows Vista and Windows 7) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Performance Tab (Mac OS X) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
About Tab (All Systems) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Contents iii
Chapter 5. Using Recording Studio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Launching Pro Tools SE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Recording Audio Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Adjusting the Output Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Direct Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Sample Rate and Bit Depth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Opening a Recent Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Appendix A. Additional Information and Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Pro Tools SE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
M-Audio Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Before Updating Your System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Appendix B. Compliance Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Environmental Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
EMC (Electromagnetic Compliance) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Safety Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Avid Recording Studio User Guideiv
chapter 1
Introduction
Welcome to Avid® Recording Studio. Recording
Studio turns your Mac or PC into a complete
music production environment, by combining a
low-latency M-Audio® Fast Track® audio interface and Pro Tools® SE from Avid®.
Pro Tools is the industry standard platform in
music production software that is used in top recording facilities around the world. Whether
you're new to music production or a seasoned
professional wanting to take Pro Tools SE on the
road, this package includes what you need for a
professional-quality recording setup.
Please take the time to read this User Guide. It
will explain how to get the best results out of
your Recording Studio.
Recording Studio Features
M-Audio Fast Track Audio Interface
• Low latency performance
• Balanced XLR mic-level input with highquality mic preamp
• 48V phantom power for condenser microphones
• 1/4-inch guitar input
• Input Signal and Clip LED indicators
• Direct Monitor Button
• 1/4-inch stereo headphone output
• Stereo line-level RCA outputs
• Up to 24-bit, 48 kHz operation
•USB powered
Pro Tools SE music production
software
Chapter 1: Introduction 1
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements can be found
on the Avid website at www.avid.com/support.
A qualified version of Adobe® Flash®
Player is required.
Hardware Registration
Please register your product online at
www.avid.com/support. By doing so, you become eligible to receive the following:
• Technical support information
• Software update and upgrade notices
• Hardware warranty information
Pro Tools SE Guide Set
Complete documentation can be accessed via
the Help Menu.
Conventions Used in This Guide
The following symbols are used to highlight important information:
User Tips are helpful hints for getting the
most from your system.
Important Notices include information that
could affect your data or the performance of
your system.
Cross References point to related sections in
this and other Avid guides.
Interactive Guides and Tutorials
Interactive guides and tutorials can be accessed
via the Pro Tools SE Quick Start dialog or the
Help Menu while the program is running.
Avid Recording Studio User Guide2
chapter 2
7
12 34356
Controls and Connectors
Front Panel
1 Phantom Power Indicator (48V) This LED il-
luminates when Phantom Power switched on.
Although phantom power can be used
safely with most microphones, it may damage some ribbon microphones. Always turn
off phantom power and wait at least ten
seconds before connecting a ribbon microphone.
2 Microphone Input This connector accepts a
standard XLR microphone cable.
3 Signal/Clip Indicator The green LED indicates
the presence of an input signal. The red LED indicates “clipping” or distortion.
For more information, refer to Chapter 5,
“Using Recording Studio.”
4 Guitar Input This 1/4-inch jack lets you con-
nect an electric guitar, bass, or other instrument.
5 Direct Monitor Button This button switches
Direct Monitoring on and off, which provides a
latency-free mix of the input signal and the output of your music software.
6 Headphone Output This 1/4-inch output jack
lets you connect stereo headphones. The level is
controlled by the top-panel Output Gain knob.
7 Power Indicator This LED indicates that
Fast Track is receiving power from the USB port
on your computer.
For more information, refer to “Direct Monitoring” on page 16
Connecting your headphones disables the
back-panel Line outputs.
Chapter 2: Controls and Connectors 3
Back Panel
8
9
10
8 Line Outputs These line level RCA outputs
(left and right) allow you to connect Fast Track
to a pair of powered studio monitors, a mixer, or
stereo amplifier. The volume level for these outputs is controlled by the top-panel Output knob.
These outputs are disabled when headphones
are connected.
9 USB Port This port is used for connecting
Fast Track to your host computer, using the supplied USB cable.
10 48V Phantom Power Switch When this
switch is in the “on” position, 48V phantom
power is sent to the XLR Microphone input.
This is used with condenser microphones requiring external power. The Phantom Power Indicator LED illuminates when phantom power
is on.
Although phantom power can be used safely
with most microphones, it is possible to
damage some ribbon microphones. Always
turn off phantom power and wait at least ten
seconds before connecting a ribbon microphone.
For more information, refer to the documentation for your microphone.
Avid Recording Studio User Guide4
Top Panel
Mic Gain Guitar Gain Output
11
12
13
11 Microphone Gain Knob This knob controls
the volume for the Microphone input when setting recording levels.
12 Guitar Gain Knob This knob controls the vol-
ume for the Guitar/Line input when setting recording levels.
13 Output Knob This knob controls the volume
for the front-panel Headphone output and backpanel Line outputs.
For more information, refer to Chapter 5,
“Using Recording Studio.”
Chapter 2: Controls and Connectors 5
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