Pinnacle Systems Pro Tools - 3.4 User Manual
Chapter A
Essential Concepts
Pro Tools User’s Guide2
Essential Concepts
Introduction
Welcome to Digidesign Pro Tools™. Pro Tools is the leading integrated digital studio
that uses the power of personal computers to record multitrack digital audio direct to
hard disk, while allowing you to integrate other elements of your studio such as MIDI
instruments and MIDI sequencers. This powerful combination of technologies provides
you with the means to compose, record, mix, and master professional-quality recordings in your own digital studio.
Along with this new generation of digital tools come a number of concepts that may be
new to you if you are just getting started with direct-to-disk recording. This chapter
explains some of the fundamental concepts behind digital audio and direct-to-disk
recording. Before diving into the specifics of using Pro Tools, you may wish to first
familiarize yourself with a few basic audio principles and terms. The first sections of
your Software User’s Guide provide an overview of the principles of sound, digital
audio, and basic audio production.
Before you go any further in this User’s Guide, you should have already installed your
Pro Tools Software and connected your studio according to the instructions given in
your Installation Guide. If you haven’t already done this, please take a few moments to
do so now. You can then return to this User’s Guide and begin learning how to use Pro
Tools’s many powerful tools for creative audio production.
A
About Your Pro Tools Software User’s Guide
This User’s Guide explains how to use the Pro Tools software to perform digital recording, editing, and mixing. If you have not yet gotten Pro Tools installed and operating
on your computer, put this book down and open your Pro Tools Installation Guide, and
follow the instructions there.
Even if you’re the type of person who simply hates to read User’s Guides (and most of
us are), make an exception with Pro Tools. Your Pro Tools system can do some truly
amazing things with sound. Your User’s Guide is the key to unlocking its power.
3Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Your Pro Tools User’s Guide is designed to teach you how to use Pro Tools, not how to
use the Macintosh. It assumes that you have a working knowledge of standard
Macintosh users techniques, including Macintosh basics such as using the Finder,
double-click, select, Shift-select, using menus, etc. If you don’t know how to do all of
these tasks, spend some time learning your Macintosh before going any further.
How to use this manual
How you approach this User’s Guide will depend on how familiar you already are with
Pro Tools and/or digital audio. There are some conventions used in this manual that all
readers should be aware of, and these are listed below:
System Names
This User’s Guide contains operating instructions for the following Pro Tools systems:
Pro Tools Project. Pro Tools Project is comprised of the Pro Tools software and
the following hardware; the Pro Tools Project Audio Card (formerly called the
Session 8 Audio Card), and your choice of the 888 I/O, 882 I/O or 882 Studio
Audio Interface.
Pro Tools 442. Pro Tools 442 is comprised of the Pro Tools software and a Pro
Tools 442 Audio Card and 442 I/O Audio Interface. This system is also known
as Pro Tools I-series hardware.
Pro Tools with Audiomedia. Pro Tools with Audiomedia is comprised of the Pro
Tools software and an Audiomedia card.
Note: In this User’s Guide, “Audiomedia” refers to Audiomedia III cards.
Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix. This configuration consists of Pro Tools and the
DAE PowerMix software. DAE PowerMix is a DAE Extension that allows you to
run Pro Tools on your Power Macintosh without any additional audio hardware.
If you’re upgrading from a previous version of Pro Tools:
If you’re upgrading (or receiving an update) you should go straight to the
following section What’s New In Pro Tools 3.4. There you’ll find a quick rundown of all that has changed since the previous Pro Tools version was released.
If you find any subject that you need to know more about, look up that word
or feature or on-screen item in the Index at the back of this User’s Guide. The
index will show you where to find additional information on a topic.
If you’re new to Pro Tools or new to digital audio:
If you’ve never used Pro Tools before, we recommend you read through as
much of your User’s Guide as you can regardless of how much audio experience you may possess. The first few chapters (Essential Concepts, Pro Tools
Pro Tools User’s Guide4
Basics, Working with Tracks) cover the basics of Pro Tools and digital audio
(terminology, concepts, etc.), and describe Pro Tools’ windows and on-screen
features in detail. Later chapters get into specific tasks — Recording, Editing,
Mixing, Working with MIDI, etc.
What’s New in Pro Tools 3.4
Version 3.4 of the Pro Tools software has several new features and enhancements,
including:
• Stereo recording and up to 16-track playback on a Power Macintosh without
Digidesign hardware when used with the DAE PowerMix extension. (The number of tracks available depends on the processor speed of the Power Macintosh.)
• Sample-accurate Nudge/Grid via the Nudge/Grid pop-up menu in
Minutes:Seconds, Feet & Frames, and Time Code modes
• Batch importing of mono and stereo audio files into an open Session via “drag
and drop” in the Finder
• Batch deletion of unused files from within a Session
• A Get Info command which allows you to create and store notes about a Session
within the Session
• Support for other Digidesign hardware, allowing Pro Tools to be run on
Session 8 (Pro Tools Project) and Audiomedia systems (functionality will vary).
A
• Numerous performance improvements
The Physics of Sound
Analog Audio
Sound is composed of sound waves. A sound wave behaves like a ripple in a pond—it
travels outward from its source in all directions. If you were to drop a pebble into a
pond once every second, there would be a new wave created with each pebble dropped,
and the resulting waves would have a frequency of 1 wave per second.
5Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Sound waves are actually variances of pressure in the air. In the audio world, the
number of sound waves (cycles) per second are measured in Hertz, which is abbreviated
“Hz.” One Hertz = 1 cycle per second. Higher numbers of Hz are perceived by humans
as having a higher pitch. The human ear can perceive sound in the frequency range of
20 to 20,000 Hz, though for many adults this range is probably 20 to 16,000 Hz as an
individual’s audible frequency range decreases with age.
Microphones take these pressure waves and convert them into electrical signals. Audio
represented by these actual electrical voltages is called analog audio. When the pressure
increases towards the microphone a positive electrical signal is generated. Conversely,
when the pressure is away from the microphone a negative electrical signal is generated.
Speakers reverse this conversion process by generating pressure waves from an electrical
signal.
Digital Audio
Your Pro Tools-equipped Macintosh computer stores audio digitally. This means that
analog electrical signals from microphones or other sources are converted into numbers, which are then stored in a digital medium (hard disk, CD-ROM, compact disc, etc.).
Conversion from analog electrical signals into numbers is accomplished using a technique called digital sampling. Digital sampling takes a numeric “snapshot” of the voltage
over and over again in precise intervals, similar to the way individual frames of film
capture action in a movie camera. The number of snap shots or samples taken of the
audio in a second is called the sample rate. The more samples taken, the better the
quality of the audio. The audio on compact discs, for example, is recorded at 44,100
samples each second (or 44.1 kHz). A 44.1 kHz sample rate produces very high quality
audio.
Another factor that affects the quality of the audio is the accuracy of each particular
sample. Digital audio uses a number to represent or describe the content of each
sample—the higher the number, the more detailed the sample. The following analogy
explains why this is so. Imagine if you had to measure the distance between two points
using a ruler, but were forced to only use numbers matching the marks on the ruler. If
you had a ruler with marks only at inch intervals, your measurement would be accurate
only to the closest inch. But what if the marks were 1/4 inch, or 1/8 inch, or even a
thousandth of an inch? Then you could measure much more accurately. With digital
audio, the accuracy of the sample is determined by the bit resolution of each sample. 8bit resolution provides 256 different numbers to represent the signal level at the
moment the sample is taken. 16-bit resolution provides 65,535 different numbers. Now
you can see why bit resolution makes a big difference in digital audio quality.
Pro Tools User’s Guide6
About the Digidesign Audio Engine (DAE)
When you start the Pro Tools software you will notice that an application called DAE
automatically launches in the background. DAE stands for the Digidesign Audio Engine.
It is Digidesign’s real-time operating system for digital recording systems. When you
install Pro Tools, DAE is automatically installed inside your System folder.
In the same way that the Macintosh System software provides the foundation for
programs that run on the Macintosh, DAE provides the hard disk recording, digital
signal processing, mix automation, and MIDI functionality required by Pro Tools and
other products from Digidesign and its Development Partners. Because DAE is an
application itself, it supplies these capabilities to any products (such as StudioVision
Logic Audio
to record and play digital audio.
DAE allows such programs to run on virtually any Digidesign DSP card. Thus, a
Macintosh digital audio sequencing program can run on a Pro Tools III, Pro Tools
Project, or Audiomedia III card installed in your computer.
Another benefit of DAE is that such programs need not be updated when future
Digidesign DSP hardware cards appear: Digidesign will simply update DAE and the
necessary resources will be available to them.
The only thing that you really need to remember about DAE is this: You never need to
run or quit DAE by itself. When you start Pro Tools, DAE will automatically start. When
you quit Pro Tools, DAE will automatically quit.
™
, Digital Performer™ or Cubase Audio™) which utilize Digidesign DSP cards
™
A
,
What is DAE PowerMix?
DAE PowerMix is a DAE™ (Digidesign Audio Engine) Extension which enables the PPC
processor in Power Macintosh computers to perform as a playback engine and provide
the required DSP power to run Pro Tools software. With DAE PowerMix in a PPCequipped Macintosh or clone, Pro Tools can operate without any additional Digidesign
hardware being present in the system. Users who have both capabilities can take advantage of both the Audiomedia’s 16-bit RCA input/output jacks for system i/o, and then
switch the Playback Engine to DAE PowerMix to obtain up to 16 tracks of simultaneous
playback.
DAE PowerMix is installed in a folder “DAE Extensions” which is created by the Pro
Tools Installer within your DAE folder in your System folder.
7Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Some New Recording Terms and Concepts
Pro Tools has a lot in common with traditional multitrack recording. However, Pro
Tools also provides some distinctly new and exciting concepts and creative tools that
may be new to you. Before you jump straight into recording, take a moment to look
over a few of these concepts. They are essential to understanding Pro Tools.
How Hard Disk Recording Differs From Tape-based Recording
Hard disk recording systems and tape-based recording systems are two very different
things. Tape recorders use a linear recording medium. This simply means that recording
is done “in a line”—the line being the tape itself as it moves from beginning to end. To
record or play the magnetic signals that make up sound on tape, a tape recorder
physically moves the tape across its tape heads. In order to hear a portion of a song recorded on tape, you have to rewind or fast forward the tape to a particular point and play it.
Hard disk recording is quite different. It’s not a linear medium, but a random-access
medium. This means that you can go to any spot in a song at random, and do it
immediately—without having to rewind or fast forward to get there. This is because
sound is not recorded upon a fixed piece of tape, but stored in digital format as a series
of ones and zeros on a hard disk. This design allows the audio to be randomly accessed
as follows:
A hard disk works something like a CD recorder/player. It has a platter similar to a CD
where the data is recorded, and a read/write head like a CD player’s laser head that does
the actual recording and playback of data. To read the digital audio information stored
on the hard disk, your computer simply “drops the laser head” (the read/write head) in
a specific location. Among the many benefits of hard disk technology, two are immediately relevant to recording: First, you can access any part of a recording almost immediately. And second, you can rearrange the parts of a recording even after you’ve recorded
them.
Rearranging a recording is achieved by simply making the hard disk read parts of the
recording in a different order (similar to telling your CD player to skip from track 1 to
track 7). You can digitally “cut and splice” pieces of sound to rearrange or repeat any
and all parts of your recording—without ever actually changing or copying the source
material. This ability is referred to as non-destructive editing.
Your Hard Disk is Your “Workspace”
Another difference between recording on a hard disk and recording on tape is how you
approach your recording projects. In general, you can think of your hard disk as a
Pro Tools User’s Guide8
“workspace” for your current project. When you begin composing and recording, you
do it on disk. When you finish the project, you move it or archive it on DAT tape or
another long-term storage medium. That way, your hard disk is free for a new project.
After archiving, an occasional bit of hard drive maintenance (optimizing, reformatting,
etc.) contributes significantly to the overall performance of your system. Just as open
reel decks need to be cleaned and calibrated occasionally, hard disks require their own
type of regular maintenance.
How much recording time does a hard disk provide? It depends on the size of the hard
disk. Each of your tracks will take five megabytes of hard disk space per minute of
recording (at a sample rate of 44.1 kHz). That means that if you are recording simultaneously to 4 tracks you will use about 20 megabytes of disk space per minute. Recording
8 simultaneous tracks for one minute would consume 40 megabytes, 80 megabytes for 2
minutes, and so on. Recording 16 tracks simultaneously will consume in the neighborhood of 80 megabytes per minute.
Though this new approach to recording and editing sound may seem strange to you at
first, it will soon become second nature, and you will find that it is far more powerful
and flexible that any kind of recording that you’ve experienced before.
Essential Concepts Defined:
Sessions, Regions, Playlists, Tracks, Voices, and Channels
Because Pro Tools is a new technology, certain recording terms such as tracks and
channels take on new meanings which you should understand before you start using
your system. Before you proceed any further, here are some essential terms you should
know.
A
Session
A Session is the document which Pro Tools creates when you start a new project. In fact,
you could say that it is your project. It contains “maps” of all of the elements (audio,
MIDI, and automation) associated with your project. Pro Tools will store each new
Session in its own folder. Inside the Session folder will be the Session document, plus an
Audio Files folder and a Fade Files folder.
Sound files
Each time you record and save a take, it is stored on your computer’s hard disk as a file,
much like a word processor creates a text file when you type a letter on a computer. We
refer to the digital audio files which Pro Tools creates as sound files. Pro Tools saves
sound files in the Session’s Audio Files folder.
9Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Regions
Once you have recorded a sound file you can divide it up into pieces, or regions, and
rearrange them as you like in a track. A region can consist of a musical riff, a verse, or
even a single note from a take. You define regions to suit your specific needs. For
instance, you could perform several takes of a solo, select the best portions of each take
and, by defining each fragment as a region, assemble them into a single composite solo
comprised of the best parts from the various takes.
Playlist
A Playlist is a term used to describe a list of regions strung together in a specific order.
Because audio is recorded to hard disk in Pro Tools, this list merely tells the hard disk
which sections of which audio files to read and in what order. By reusing regions, sections
of a recording can be repeated without using any additional disk space.
Tracks
A track is where audio or MIDI regions are strung together for playback. A track can be
made up of a single file, a single region or many regions. It can be made up of similar
elements, as in the case of a guitar solo track made up of regions from several different
“takes” of the solo, or it can be made up of dissimilar elements, as in the case of a track
made up of several sound effects. Each Pro Tools Session typically consists of multiple
tracks.
The maximum number of allowable tracks is defined by the Pro Tools system being
used. (See the table which follows.)
Voices
Voices refers to the number of digital audio events that Pro Tools can play back at one time.
Each Pro Tools system (Project, Audiomedia III, DAE PowerMix) has its own limit as
to how many digital audio “voices” can play at one time. (See the table which follows.)
Pro Tools User’s Guide10
Table of Track and Voice Limits of all Systems
The following table lists the Track, Voice and simultaneous recording limits of each
system.
System Tracks Voices Simultaneous Record
Pro Tools Project up to 55 8 8
Pro Tools Audiomedia III 32 8 2
Pro Tools w/DAE PowerMix - 16* 64 16 16
Pro Tools w/DAE PowerMix - 12* 48 12 12
Pro Tools w/DAE PowerMix - 8* 32 8 8
*About Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix
Track and Voice performance of Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix is dependent upon CPU
and hard disk speed. The following table shows you what each Power Macintosh CPU
provides (NOTE - Power Macintosh models 7200/90 and 7500/100 are limited to 8 tracks):
100 MHz or faster 16
80-100 MHz 12
<80MHz 8
Channels
A Channel refers to a physical input or output. The number of inputs and outputs
available is determined by the Pro Tools system you are using. The following table lists
the channel capabilities of all audio interface options for Pro Tools Project.
A
Pro Tools System Channel Capabilities
The 888 I/O, 882 I/O and 882 Studio provide 8 channels of input and output.
For use with Pro Tools III and Pro Tools Project.
Pro Tools Audiomedia III provides 2 channels of input and output.
Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix, using the Power Macintosh’s built-in audio
convertors, provides 2 channels of input and output.
11Chapter A: Essential Concepts
These terms will become even clearer to you as you begin to actually use your Pro Tools system. In the next section you are going to learn another key concept which is closely related to tracks and voices—virtual tracks.
The Difference Between Virtual Tracks and Physical Tracks
Pro Tools features an architecture that is unique to the digital audio workstation: the
virtual track system. A tape deck records only physical tracks: there are a fixed number of
physical tracks on the record and play heads, and the same number of physical tracks
on the tape itself. A 4-track analog recorder can record a maximum of 4 tracks, and can
play back all of those tracks simultaneously.
A virtual track system operates on a different principle. For example, the Pro Tools
Project system provides for up to 55 virtual tracks—tracks which can be recorded upon
and cued up for playback but cannot all be played back simultaneously. Such tracks are
called “virtual” tracks because they provide virtually all of the functionality of physical
tracks except for this limitation.
The number of virtual tracks supported by each system varies, as described below:
Pro Tools Project 55*
Pro Tools Audiomedia III 32*
Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix 16 64
Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix 12 48
Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix 8 32
*Power Macintosh users can switch the Playback Engine to DAE PowerMix and use as
many as 64 virtual tracks on playback. See also the explanation of Virtual Voices in
Chapter B for more information
The benefit of a virtual track system becomes clear when you think about the nature of
a recorded track. Although some audio tracks in a Session (a drum or bass track, for
example) often contain audio from beginning to end, most tracks actually only occupy
a small portion of the entire tape. If you were to look at the placement of audio on a
typical multi-track tape, it would probably look something like a checkerboard, with
“patches” of audio interspersed with blank areas. For example, you might have a track
called “Guitar Solo.” Although the solo lasted only 10 seconds, it would probably
occupy an entire track in a typical studio session. This is because engineers and producers tend not to place other material on the same track (a vocal overdub, for example),
because it would require its own EQ, pan, effects, and level.
Pro Tools User’s Guide12
A virtual track system addresses this situation by allowing you to create separate tracks
for each audio element, each with its own volume, pan, EQ, effects sends, and automation. They act like individual tracks, and as far as the engineer/producer is concerned
they are individual tracks.
This provides two significant advantages: First, you can have up to 55 tracks in a given
Session (the maximum number is determined by your system configuration). You can
then simply choose which of these tracks you wish to play (depending on the total
number of available voices), and hit the play button to play them. You never need to
erase tracks to make room for other tracks—provided that you have enough space
available on your hard disk to store all of them. You can keep dozens of alternate takes
of vocals, solos, etc. and always have the freedom to go back and pick and choose the
optimum one.
Second, because Pro Tools’ virtual track’s are dynamically allocated, when a “hole” opens
up in one track, its voice is temporarily available and another track, assigned to the
same voice, can “pop through” the hole and begin to play. If the original track reaches
a point where audio occurs again, the track that had popped through relinquishes the
voice to the original track.
You have the power to determine which tracks are allowed to “pop through” holes in
other tracks. The way that you actually assign priority to tracks is described in greater
detail in Chapter C: Working with Tracks . The most important thing for you to remember is that by arranging tracks so that lower priority tracks can pop through gaps in
higher priority tracks, you can get much more performance out of say, a “4-channel”
system than just 4 tracks. Learning to use virtual tracks well is an essential part getting
the most out of Pro Tools.
A
The Cycle of a Typical Pro Tools Project
When you begin a project with Pro Tools, you create a Session. A Session is a Macintosh
file that contains information about all of the elements associated with a particular
project. When you create and save a Session, Pro Tools remembers all aspects of the
Session setup: what sound files were associated with the Session, your mixer settings
and voice assignments, signal routing setup, EQ configurations, and other aspects of the
Session. (This information is saved within the Session document itself. Pro Tools saves
your system configurations — i.e., Preference settings, Hardware settings, etc.— in a Pro
Tools Preferences file which gets stored in the Preferences folder inside your System Folder.)
When you open a Session created earlier, the Session appears exactly as it was saved, and
the associated sound files and settings are loaded automatically (as long as you have not
altered your system configuration).
13Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Many Pro Tools music projects will typically progress something like this:
• Import some basic MIDI tracks into Pro Tools and record digital audio tracks in
sync with them. Punch in any new audio you need and set basic levels for
playback. When you have a rough layout of your Session with audio and MIDI,
open the Edit window.
• In the Edit window, try out various arrangements of your audio and MIDI
tracks—repeat verses, swap choruses, fix mistakes, etc. Continue until the
structure of your Session is complete.
• Next, record any additional MIDI tracks to accompany your digital audio
tracks. Finally, add any EQ or effects processing, automate a full digital
mixdown (with EQ and effects), and mix the Session to a digital stereo master
(on disk or DAT). The digital stereo mixdown is then ready for mastering to CD
using Digidesign’s optional MasterList CD software.
1. Import MIDI and
Record audio in the
MIX or EDIT Window.
3. Add EQ, FX and mix down
in the MIX or EDIT Window.
2. Edit and arrange
audio in the EDIT
Window.
4. Bounce stereo master to disk and
record it to compact disk (using
Digidesign’s MasterList CD™, not
included), or record your stereo
master to DAT.
A typical Pro Tools music session
If you are using Pro Tools for audio post or broadcast production, your exact project
flow may be somewhat different, but the principles are generally the same. Pro Tools
3.4 adds greater flexibility in how projects are completed, because of the ability to open
any Pro Tools 3.2 or later Session on any Pro Tools Project, Pro Tools with Audiomedia, Pro
Tools with DAE PowerMix, or Pro Tools 442 core system, regardless of the hardware
used to record or create it. This allows corporations and large facilities to run multiple
smaller editing suites to complement a full Pro Tools III system.
Pro Tools User’s Guide14
Keeping Your Hard Disk Tuned Up
Because Pro Tools is a disk-based audio production system, keeping your hard drives in
good operating condition is essential. Like most other recording devices, hard drives
require regular maintenance in order to operate at their optimum level. In this section,
you’ll learn about formatting, optimizing and initializing hard drives and when you
should perform each of these functions to keep your system running smoothly.
Avoiding Fragmentation
For maximum efficiency, digital audio files should be written to your hard drive in a
“contiguous” fashion—that is, in an unbroken stream on the disk, similar to a vinyl
record, where sound is recorded in one continuous groove from beginning to end. This
helps keep the drive from having to search very far to find the data it needs for playback. Unfortunately, your computer can’t always store the sound files in this way
because there are other files taking up space on the disk. Thus, when your computer
writes a new file, it has to write it where it can find space.
When there are very few files on your hard disk, there is plenty of open space where
files can be written contiguously. But as the disk fills up, the areas of open space
become fewer and smaller. The end result is that the drive has to break file data into
smaller and smaller sections and scatter them around the disk, writing them wherever
there is space. This slows down the drive because when it comes time to read the data,
it has to do a lot of searching to find the different pieces that make up the file. This
phenomenon is referred to as fragmentation.
To keep your drive’s performance at a maximum, it’s best to keep file fragmentation to
a minimum. As fragmentation increases, it’s harder for the drive to retrieve and send
file information to the computer quickly. What happens if the computer doesn’t get the
information fast enough? Disk errors, which can interfere with playback of audio. Even
minor fragmentation can result in stuttering playback of sound files.
A
Optimizing Your Drive
What can you do to prevent this from happening? You can optimize your drive. This
means rearranging your files into a contiguous form. There are many software programs
that do this for you. When you optimize a drive, each file is regrouped and arranged on
the drive in a linear format, making it much easier for the drive to access the data when
it’s needed. Most optimizing software lets you run a check on a drive to find out the
percentage of fragmentation. The amount of fragmentation found will determine if
your drive needs to be optimized. In most cases, if your drive shows over 5% or 10%
fragmentation, you should consider optimizing it.
15Chapter A: Essential Concepts
How often should you optimize? If you use your system several hours a day, five days a
week, you may want to check your drives on a daily basis, since it doesn’t take long for
even a large hard disk to become fragmented. This recommendation applies to less
frequent usage as well. The more often you check your drives, the fewer problems you’ll
have. However, optimizing a hard disk can take time. You should probably allow up to
30 minutes for a 600 Mbyte drive and one hour for a one gigabyte drive. This may take
substantially less time if the drives are not completely full. Also, different brands of
optimizing software may be faster or slower than others. Since your files will be rewritten
by the optimization process, always remember to make a backup copy of the data on your
hard drive before you optimize it! This also applies when formatting and initializing your hard
drive too, which are discussed below.
Formatting Your Drive
In order for a hard drive to locate and rearrange its files, its directory must also be in
good shape. The drive’s directory is like a map that the drive refers to in order to locate
files when the computer asks for them. Hard drives are a magnetic medium, and over
long periods of time, typically months, magnetic data can start to lose its coercive
properties. When this happens, it may become difficult for the hard drive to locate files
as efficiently.
To prevent directory problems from occurring on your system, it is important that you
format your hard drive on a regular basis. Formatting a hard drive replaces the drive’s
directory and will also erase any data that is currently on the disk. That is why it is
important that you back up (make a safety copy of) all the sound files and other information on your drive before you reformat it. Formatting can take up to an hour for
larger drives (such as 1-2 gigabyte drives): Smaller drives may take less time.
How Often Should You Format Your Drive?
Most computer specialists recommend formatting every three to four months. It’s
important to remember though that recording, processing, and playing digital audio is
more demanding on a hard drive than an application such as word processing. Thus, it
may be wise to “tune-up” your hard drive more frequently. If you find yourself using
your system on a very frequent basis, such as many hours a day, you should consider
reformatting on a monthly or even bi-monthly basis.
Initializing a Drive
The final procedure that you should know about is initializing a drive. What’s the
difference between formatting and initializing? As explained previously, formatting
means completely erasing the hard drive. Initializing a drive is similar to formatting in
that the drive’s directory, volume partition map and drivers are replaced, but in this case,
the drive is not erased, nor is a process called verification performed, where each sector
on the drive is read/write tested. In most cases, initializing a drive is not as thorough as
reformatting one, but it is much faster. If you’re trying to get rid of a problem with your
hard drive, you should reformat it rather than simply initialize it.
Pro Tools User’s Guide16
Software Products that Can Help You Tune Up Your Hard Drive
There are many software products available to assist you with drive maintenance. When
the time to format your drive comes around, it is generally best to use the formatting
software supplied with the drive. Most hard drives come with a floppy disk containing
all the software you need to keep your drive running smoothly. If your drive didn’t
come with maintenance software, some commonly used applications that you may
wish to look into are Norton Utilities™ and Norton Speed Disk™. Most computer stores
carry these products.
In the end, the time you spend keeping your drive in good shape will be well worth the
effort. Take good care of your drive and your drive will take good care of your Pro Tools
projects.
About Rebuilding your Desktop
One of the best maintenance operations you can perform yourself with very little effort
is to rebuild your desktop frequently. This helps your Macintosh keep track of data on
your startup disk. You can “rebuild” the desktop with a simple startup keystroke, or
with a utility that has this function. This should be done on a regular basis (weekly,
monthly, etc.). Consult the documentation that came with your computer for more
information.
To rebuild your Desktop:
• Restart your computer while holding down the Command+Option keys. Keep
holding them down until a dialog appears asking you to confirm that you want
to rebuild the desktop on the drive named.
A
• Click OK to rebuild the desktop. If you have multiple drives attached to your
machine, the Macintosh will give you the option of rebuilding the desktop on
each one. Repeat these steps for each drive necessary.
Conclusion
In the next chapter you will learn some fundamental aspects of using Pro Tools,
including how to start up and shut down your system, and how to create, open, and
save Sessions. Read on!
17Chapter A: Essential Concepts
Pro Tools User’s Guide18
Chapter B
Pro Tools Basics
Pro Tools User’s Guide20
Pro Tools Basics
Introduction
In this chapter you’ll learn how to start up and shut down your system, how to create,
open, close, and save your projects, and other basic skills involved in using Pro Tools.
Starting Up and Shutting Down Your System
Your Pro Tools system consists of several components that have to be turned on and off
individually: your Audio Interface(s), your Macintosh computer, and your external hard
drive(s). In order for all of these devices to communicate properly it’s important that
you start up and shut down your system in a specific order.
Start your Pro Tools System in this order:
• Turn on your external hard drives first. Wait 10-15 seconds for them to come
up to speed.
• If you plan to work with MIDI equipment, turn on your MIDI interface and
other MIDI devices.
• Expansion Chassis (if used).
• Turn on your Pro Tools Audio Interface.
• Turn on your Macintosh.
B
Shut down your Pro Tools System in this order:
• Turn off your Macintosh. (Use the Shut Down command in the Finder’s Special menu.)
• Turn off your Audio Interface (Pro Tools Project only).
• Expansion Chassis (if used).
• If you’re using MIDI equipment, turn off your MIDI interface and controllers.
• Turn off your external hard drives.
21Chapter B: Pro Tools Basics
Preparing Your System
The first time you use Pro Tools, you must set several parameters of your system so that
they match your studio setup. At this point, if you followed the instructions in your
Installation Guide, you should have installed your Pro Tools hardware and software, and
configured your system by using the Hardware and/or Playback Engine command in
ProTools’ Setups menu. You should also have installed the demo files included with your
Pro Tools system and confirmed that your system was working properly.
Once Pro Tools is configured, you won’t need to reset anything unless you remove and
reinstall Pro Tools (to reformat your hard drive, for example). You will also need to
configure everything whenever you wish to change settings such as the number of
tracks in your session (if you are using Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix) or to change the
settings of your Audio Interface (or Audiomedia III card) such as the input format
(analog or digital), sample rate, synchronization source, sync mode, and other parameters.
You have two options for configuring Pro Tools Software:
• If you have a Power Macintosh and the DAE PowerMix extension: You can
run Pro Tools without any additional Digidesign hardware. Pro Tools will
provide stereo recording and from 8-16 tracks of audio playback depending on
your Power Mac’s processor speed and the speed of your hard drive. This
scenario provides the greatest number of tracks, but relies on the Power
Macintosh’s built-in 16-bit audio converters for input and output. These builtin converters provide lower fidelity than those found on Digidesign audio cards
and audio interfaces.
• If you have a Power Macintosh AND a Digidesign audio card/audio
interface: This arrangement gives you the best of both worlds: the highfidelity input/output of the Digidesign hardware and the Power Macintosh’s 816 track capability. For example, you can use Audiomedia III’s high-fidelity
input and output to record your tracks; switch to the Power Macintosh hardware to edit, mix, and bounce (with more tracks); and finally, switch back to
Audiomedia if you wish to record your master stereo mixdown to an external
mastering recorder such as a DAT deck.
Pro Tools User’s Guide22
To configure your Pro Tools Project, or Audiomedia III system:
• Make sure that you have powered on your equipment in the order outlined in the
previous section Starting Up and Shutting Down Your System.
• Double-click the Pro Tools icon to start the software.
• Next, if this is the first time you’ve launched Pro Tools, the following dialog
appears, prompting you to use the Hardware Setup dialog to configure your
system:
• Click OK. The Hardware Setup dialog appears.
B
The Hardware Setup dialog (Pro Tools Project shown, configured with an 882 I/O)
Configuring Hardware Setup for Pro Tools Project or Audiomedia III:
• In the Hardware Setup dialog you must configure the parameters for your audio
card and/or audio interface.
• Click the Select Card Type button to choose the Digidesign Card that you want
to configure (“Project” for Pro Tools Project or “Audiomedia” for Pro Tools with
Audiomedia III systems). Once you have selected an audio card, the remaining
options in the Hardware setup dialog control that audio card.
23Chapter B: Pro Tools Basics
• To configure a Pro Tools Project system, click the Interface pop-up menu to
select the correct peripheral device (i.e., the audio interface attached to your
Pro Tools Project card). Select 888 I/O, 882 I/O, or 882 Studio.
• Click the Sample Rate pop-up to select the appropriate sample rate for the
currently selected card and any audio Interface, if applicable (44100 or 48000
Hz). 44.1 kHz is the Compact Disc standard. This will become the default
setting for all subsequent sessions until you change it again here.
• Click the Sync Mode pop-up to select the appropriate sync mode on the currently selected Interface (Internal or Digital).
• Click the Digital Format pop-up to select the appropriate digital format of the
currently selected interface (AES/EBU or S/PDIF).
• Click the Ch 1-2 Input pop-up to select the input format of Channels 1-2 of the
currently selected Interface (Analog or Digital). If you are recording from an
analog source such as an analog mixer, choose analog. If you are recording from
a digital source such as a DAT deck, choose digital.
• To continue configuring Pro Tools Project or Pro Tools Audiomedia systems,
refer to the following sections for specific information about the Other Options
button that appears in Hardware Setup. This button provides additional
configuration options for the 888 I/O and 882 Studio interfaces, as well as Pro
Tools with Audiomedia systems.
• When you have finished setting all Hardware Setup parameters appropriately,
click OK. Your Pro Tools system is now ready to use.
Configuring the 888 I/O Audio Interface
(Pro Tools Project only)
If you selected 888 I/O, click the Other Options button to configure the input
format for each of the 888’s input pairs (analog vs. digital).
Setting the analog/digital format for 888 I/O outputs (888 I/O Audio Interface only)
If you selected 882 Studio, click the Other Options button to configure the
routing of your 882 Studio Audio Interface. The window that appears should be
familiar to a few 882 Studio Interface owners. If you are unsure of how to route
the 882 Studio, refer to the following section Configuring the 882 Studio.
Pro Tools User’s Guide24
Configuring the 882 Studio Audio Interface
(Pro Tools Project only)
Using the 882 Studio Audio Interface with Pro Tools requires you to “route”
interface inputs to specific Pro Tools inputs. When used with Pro Tools, the
882 Studio can be used in Direct Outputs mode or Stereo Mix Outputs mode,
described in the following section.
The 882 Studio provides 8 discrete 1/4” inputs, and 8 discrete 1/4” outputs. You
can still use the four front-panel inputs on the 882 Studio. To use these inputs,
or to set up effect send/return routings, you must first use the Hardware Setup
dialog’s Other Options window to route interface inputs to Pro Tools inputs.
The following dialog appears when you click Other Options with the 882
Studio selected:
Routing 882 Studio input jacks to Pro Tools inputs via the Other Options dialog (HW Setup)
B
This dialog is used to “route” the input jacks on your 882 Studio Audio Inter-
face to Pro Tools’ software inputs. The vertical items listed down the left-hand
side of the dialog represent the input jacks on the back and front panels of the
882 Studio Audio Interface. The top-most 8 are the back-panel input jacks, and
the bottom 4 (“Front 1, Front 2,” etc.) are the four front-panel Mic/Line inputs.
Along the bottom of this “grid” are numbers representing each Pro Tools
Project input channel, 1-8. What this design allows you to do is internally send
the signal arriving at any 882 Studio Audio Interface input connector to any
Pro Tools input channel.
• To route an interface input to a Pro Tools input, click in the box at the intersection of the interface input (the left-hand column of inputs) and Pro Tools
inputs (along the bottom of the grid). The example above shows a typical effect
send/return routing, using outputs 7 and 8 as Sends, and inputs 7 and 8 as
returns. In addition, a single input is shown routed from front-panel Line input
1 to Pro Tools Project input 1.
25Chapter B: Pro Tools Basics
You should now proceed to the section Choosing Your Operating Mode to con-
tinue configuring Pro Tools Project.
Configuring Audiomedia
To configure Pro Tools with Audiomedia, click the Other Options button. The following
dialog appears:
The Input Gain slider (Pro Tools with Audiomedia only)
This fader controls the level of the analog input signal coming into the
Audiomedia card’s analog inputs. Adjust the input gain as necessary and click
OK to return to the Hardware Setup dialog.
IMPORTANT
If you ever wish to switch your system from DAE with PowerMix using a Power Macintosh’s
built-in audio capabilities to an Audiomedia card or other Audio Card, or vice-versa, use the
Playback Engine command in the Setups menu. This command will prompt you to save the
current session and close it before it you change your Playback Engine from DAE with
PowerMix to an audio card or vice-versa.
Selecting Your Operating Mode
(Pro Tools Project only)
Pro Tools Project has two different operating modes, Direct Outputs mode and Stereo Mix
Outputs mode. These modes allow you to configure Pro Tools to match your particular
studio setup.
Systems with no audio interface, such as Pro Tools with Audiomedia and Pro Tools with
DAE/PowerMix, should always be used in Stereo Mix mode as they lack discrete hardware outputs.
Pro Tools User’s Guide26
These modes were explained in greater detail in your Installation Guide in Chapter C:
Connecting Your Studio. Here is a brief explanation of these two modes again and how
they differ:
Direct Output Mode
In Direct Outputs mode, track outputs are routed to a single Audio Interface output: 1, 2,
3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Panning controls are not available in Direct Outputs mode.
Stereo Mix Output Mode
In Stereo Mix Outputs mode, track outputs are routed to a pair of Audio Interface outputs:
1-2 or 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. Each track contains controls for panning between the selected
output pair.
To choose an operating mode:
• From the Options menu, choose Preferences. This dialog appears:
Choose Pro Tools’
operating mode
from here
B
The Preferences dialog
• Choose the desired operating mode, Stereo Mix Outputs or Direct Outputs.
If you choose Stereo Mix Outputs mode, track outputs are routed to pairs of
Audio Interface outputs: 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8. If you choose Direct Outputs mode,
track outputs are routed to a single Audio Interface output: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8.
Panning controls are not available in Direct Outputs mode.
• After choosing your operating mode, click OK. To learn about the other options
in the Preferences dialog, please see the discussion of Preferences in the Refer-
ence chapter.
27Chapter B: Pro Tools Basics
Configuring Pro Tools for a Power Macintosh:
If you have a Power Macintosh and plan on using Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix, you
must first configure Pro Tools Hardware Setup dialog box for your system. If you plan on
using Pro Tools with DAE PowerMix and Pro Tools Project or Pro Tools with Audiomedia, be sure to also read the following section Using Pro Tools without Digidesign Hardware.
• Double-click the Pro Tools icon to start the software if it is not already running.
• Choose Hardware Setup from the Setup menu.
• Click the PowerMix button at the top of the Hardware Setup dialog. If you have
no Digidesign hardware, PowerMix will already be selected.
• Next, click the # Playback Tracks pop-up at the bottom left of this dialog to
select the default number of tracks you wish to have in your sessions. (This will
become the default setting for all subsequent sessions you open on the current
system until you change it again here.) The greater the number of tracks you
choose, the greater the demand on your computer’s performance. To maximize
performance, set the track count no larger than you absolutely need. You can
always increase the number of tracks later in the Session with the # Playback
Tracks pop-up.
• Click OK to close this dialog.
The Hardware Setup dialog
(configured for a Power Macintosh)
• To configure the Power Macintosh’s built-in 16-bit input and output capabilities, go to the Apple menu and open the Sound Control Panel.
Pro Tools User’s Guide28
• When the Sound Manager appears, choose Sound In from the pop-up menu at
the top of this window.
The “Sound” Control Panel lets you configure
Sound Manager Input and Outputs
• In the Sound In window, click the Options button.
B
Click the Options button to choose a sound input source
• Select Microphone and then select Playthrough. This selects the sound input jack
on the rear of the Power Macintosh. Click OK when you are finished.
Choosing a sound input source
29Chapter B: Pro Tools Basics
• Next, choose Sound Out from the pop-up menu at the top of the Sound Manager window.
Choosing sound output options
• In the Sound Out window, select the sample rate that you desire (“Rate”). 44.1
kHz is the Compact Disc standard. (This doesn’t affect Pro Tools, just audio
playback through the Sound Output jack on the Power Macintosh.)
• Select the bit resolution (“Size”). 16-bit is the Compact Disc standard. (This
doesn’t affect Pro Tools, just audio playback through the Sound Output jack on
the Power Macintosh.)
• Select mono or stereo format (“Use”). We recommend stereo.
• Close the Sound window when you have finished and go back to the Pro Tools
application.
Using Pro Tools Without Digidesign Hardware
If you own a Power Macintosh, you can run Pro Tools without Digidesign cards or an
Audio Interface by using the DAE PowerMix™ extension included on your Installer disks.
While you use this option you are limited to the built-in audio input and output
capabilities of your Power Macintosh. However this capability will allow you to create a
“hardware-less setup” at need, which can be convenient for applications such as
editing. On systems where only DAE PowerMix is installed (i.e., no hardware), only the
system configuration settings described in the previous section need to be set. The
following information explains how to work with both hardware-based and hardwareless Pro Tools systems.
In order to use DAE PowerMix with System 7.5.2 or higher, your Power Macintosh must have
at least 24 megabytes of RAM.
Pro Tools User’s Guide30
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