DigiDesign Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2, Pro Tools LE Getting Started Manual
Pro Tools LE & Mbox® 2
Getting Started
Version 8.0
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
Read this guide if you are new to Pro Tools® or are just starting out making your own
music. Inside, you’ll find quick examples of how to record, compose, mix, and produce your
own music in Pro Tools.
One quick question: Have you installed Pro Tools yet? If not, follow the
tions or your detailed
Setup Guide
to install Pro Tools software and your Mbox
Quick Setup
®
2 hardware.
instruc-
Do not connect your Mbox 2 to your computer until you’ve installed Pro Tools from your installer DVD as described in the Quick Setup instructions.
Connect Headphones or Speakers
You have to be able to hear your music, so plug in some headphones or speakers.
Plug your headphones into the jack on the front panel. If your headphones have an 1/8-
inch plug, use the 1/8-inch to 1/4-inch adapter.
If you want to use speakers, connect them to the 1/4-inch Monitor outputs
(Mon Out L and R) on the back panel (L to left, R to right).
Monitor Speakers
Headphones
Where to connect headphones and monitor speakers
For detailed instructions on how to connect your Mbox 2 to headphones, speakers,
and instruments, see your system’s Setup Guide.
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Getting Started with Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2
Listen to the Demo Session
To get started, you can use the Demo Session to see and hear many of the things you’ll soon
be doing in Pro Tools. It also gives you sound to play so you can test your headphones or
speakers.
To install and open the Demo Session:
1
Put the Pro Tools LE® Installer disc in your DVD drive.
2
On the disc, open the Additional Files folder, then open the LE Demo Session Installer
folder.
3
Double-click the LE Demo Session Setup icon, then follow the instructions on-screen to in-
stall the Demo Session. Make a note of where you install it.
123
Pro Tools
Installer disc
For best performance Digidesign
®
recommends using an external hard drive for Pro Tools
recordings. But if you don’t have an external hard drive yet, it’s OK to put the Demo Session
on your system drive.
4
Launch Pro Tools LE by clicking its icon in the Dock (Mac) or double-clicking its icon on
your desktop (Windows). If this is the first time you are launching Pro Tools, enter your Authorization Code (located on the inside front cover of the
Setup Guide
). This is only required
the first time you launch Pro Tools.
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
3
5
Choose
File > Open Session
(click the
File
menu to choose
Open Session
“Filtered Dream” (it’s inside the folder “Filtered Dream Demo Session.”)
Edit
Window
Tracks
), then open the file
Toolbar
Play and Listen
To play the Demo Session:
1
On the front of the Mbox 2, do the following:
• Turn the Headphone/Monitor Level knob fully left (counter-clockwise) to be sure your
volume is at a low enough level.
• Turn the Mix control fully right (clockwise).
Headphone/Monitor
Mix
Level
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Getting Started with Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2
2
To start and stop Pro Tools, press the Spacebar, or click the Play and Stop buttons on-screen.
(These buttons are located at the top of the Edit window; you can also have them appear in
their own Transport window by choosing
Window > Transport
.)
Stop Play
Stop and Play controls in Edit window (left) and Transport window (right)
3
While the session plays, gradually raise the volume knob.
4
Explore Pro Tools while the demo plays: Use the zoom and Track view controls to zero in on
Stop Play
different tracks.
Vertical
Click to select the Zoomer tool and then drag-select to zoom in.
(Double-click the Zoomer tool to zoom back out again)
Horizontal
Click the Horizontal and
and Vertical Zoom
buttons to adjust size
and length of what is
shown in tracks
Click the Track Height selector and choose
a display height
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
5
5
Next, click the
Window
menu and choose
in vertical channel strips.
Mix window
Mix (Window > Mix)
. The Mix window shows tracks
Tracks
The Edit window and the Mix window are the two main work areas in Pro Tools. Throughout
the rest of this guide, you’ll see examples of both windows being used for different types of
production work.
6
Press the Spacebar or click the Stop button to stop playback.
7
When you’re through checking out the Demo Session, choose
File > Close Session
.
The Demo Session is a great example of a complete, finished project that has been
arranged, edited, and mixed. You don’t need to return to the Demo Session for anything else in
this guide, but you might want to check it out again later, after you’ve been introduced to a few
more Pro Tools features. If you want to return to the Demo Session or any recent one,
click File > Recent and choose the Demo Session (if it is still one of your most recently opened
sessions), or choose File > Open and open it that way.
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Getting Started with Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2
Bring in a Song from a CD
This section lets you see how to create a new Pro Tools
session
and then
import
a song from a
CD. You can create a new session after you launch or when you first launch Pro Tools.
To create a new session:
1
If you already have a session open, choose
File > Close
.
The Quick Start Session dialog is an easy way to create a new session; create a new session
from a session template; open any of the last ten most recent sessions; or open any other session. For more information on this feature and on sessions in general, see the
Pro Tools Reference Guide.
2
Now choose
File > New Session
.
New Session dialog
3
In the New Session dialog, choose
4
In the Name the Session dialog, choose where you want to save the session, and then name
it and click
Save.
Create a Blank Session
, then click OK.
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
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5
After Pro Tools opens the new session, choose
Window > Edit
It will look something like this:
The Edit window, with the Transport window showing in the foreground
so the Edit window is displayed.
Transport window
To import a song from CD:
1
Put the source CD into your computer’s CD/DVD drive.
2
In Pro Tools, choose
3
In the Workspace browser, click the Audio CD’s Expand/Collapse icon to show the files on
Window > Workspace to
open the Workspace browser.
the CD.
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Getting Started with Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2
4
Click an item (track) to select a song on the CD.
Tip: Click the speaker icon to
audition a selected song; press
he Spacebar to stop.
t
5
Drag the item from the Workspace to the Track List at the left of the Edit window.
Track List
Tip: You can drag and drop
video, plug-ins, and MIDI, too. If you aren’t
familiar with these terms, don’t worry
you can learn about them later.
6
Pro Tools creates a new audio track, containing the song.
7
Close the Workspace browser, then press the Spacebar to begin playing back the song in
Pro Tools (see “Play and Listen” on page 4).
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
9
Make an Audio Edit
In this example we’ll show you how to do a simple edit to change where a song starts. To show
this, we used a song where the drummer is heard “counting off” the tempo (“1...2...1.2.3...”)
before the song starts. Here’s what this song looks like in Pro Tools.
countoff
song start
In the picture, the two
waveforms
let you visualize the different sections. We can take advan-
waveforms
tage of this “what you see is what you hear” aspect of Pro Tools to be able to quickly silence
the countoff by “trimming” the beginning of the song.
To trim:
1
Click to select the Trim tool (located in the toolbar).
2
Click in the track after the countoff and before the start of the song (you’ll see the cursor dis-
play the Trimmer icon). Drag left or right to fine tune the location.
Trim tool
song start
3
For future reference, you can “untrim” the song by clicking and dragging the song start back
to the left with the Trim tool. You’ll see that the previous audio (the countoff) is still there.
This is a small example of how Pro Tools lets you edit
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Getting Started with Pro Tools LE & Mbox 2
non-destructively
.
Record Yourself
This section shows how to connect a microphone and record yourself singing or playing an instrument.
Connect a Mic
To hook up a microphone:
1
Plug a mic into the one of the Mic inputs or one of the DI inputs on the back panel:
• If your mic has an XLR cable, plug into a Mic input.
• If it has a 1/4-inch cable, plug into a DI input.
- Or -
Input 1
Mic input
Connecting a mic to Input 1 with an XLR cable (left) or a 1/4-inch cable (right)
Input 1
DI
Welcome to Pro Tools LE
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