Today, we’ll learn the 4 steps that you need to follow to record audio in Pro Tools First.
They should be set via the menus as follows. Pro Tools Preferences Operation check box for: “Timeline Insertion Follows Playback”. Options Link Timeline and Edit Selections (select and leave checked) Options Scrolling Page (select and leave checked) You can start and stop playback by pressing the space bar. In the Pro Tools MP3 Option dialog, click Au-thorize. In the Pro Tools MP3 Export Option dialog, deselect the Use my iLok Smart Key option, then click Next. In the Pro Tools MP3 Export Option dialog, se-lect Internet, then click Next. Follow the online instructions to purchase and authorize the MP3 Export Option.
If you’re new to Pro Tools First, then exactly how to record your audio into the DAW may be a bit of a mystery to you, as its not instantly obvious how to do it.
Record audio in Pro Tools First – 1. Create your tracks
If you want to record audio in Pro Tools First, perhaps vocals or acoustic guitar for instance, then you need to begin by creating the tracks to record to.
If you’re unsure of how to create your tracks, then I’ve written an article on exactly how to do that here.
Record audio in Pro Tools First – 2. Routing your inputs
Once you have created your tracks, then you need to use the input of the I/O section to tell the tracks where their audio will be coming from:
In the mix window, and with I/O visible, set the input of each track to the input on your interface that you want that track to capture. For instance, if you’ve plugged a mic into input 1 of your interface to record your guitar, then assign the input of the track that you want to record guitar to, to input 1.
You’ll notice that you can also select an output in the I/O section. Later in the session, you may wish to assign your outputs to various group buses or a mix bus, but for now, just set it to which ever output your speakers are plugged into on your interface.
Once the tracks are set up and the routing of the tracks is taken care of, the next step is to set the gain levels so that you can record audio in Pro Tools First.
Record audio in Pro Tools First – 3. Set the gain levels
In order to record audio in Pro Tools First, you need to set the gain levels. That way, the signals coming into your session will be at an optimum level. In order to see the level that the signal is coming into Pro Tools First at, you need to ‘record enable’ the track. To do this hit the record enable button on the tracks that you want to record. When enabled, the track will flash in red:
Pro Tools 10 Mp3 Option Download
You’ll notice now that each input’s signal will show up on the tracks meter. Using this meter, set each inputs gain level.
Not sure what you should set an instruments gain level to? I’ve written a full article on exactly how high your track’s gain levels should be, read it here.
Record audio in Pro Tools First – 4. You’re ready to record
With your gain levels set, you’re ready to record. Ensure that the tracks that you want to record to are record enabled, then hit record in the transport controls or in the extended transport window:
The record button will begin to flash along with the record enable button on any record enabled tracks. When you’re ready to start recording, hit the play button to the left of the record button. At this point, Pro Tools First will record each of the record enabled track’s inputs.
Its that simple! With this simple process to record audio in Pro Tools First, you can record your tracks easily.
What type of audio tracks are you most likely to record in your session? Are you a solo artist looking to record your vocals and acoustic guitar? Are you recording your band and need to record a full drum kit? Let me know in the comments section below.
Pro Tools Mp3 Option Torrent
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New in Pro Tools 10 is the ability to create 32 floating point audio files when recording, in addition to the 16 and 24 bit options that we are accustomed to. Great! But what does this actually mean and what are the implications for your system?
The Theory
32 bit floating point audio files have a theoretical dynamic range of up to around 1680 dB. Compare that with the 144 dB available from 24 bit recordings and you will realise that it's quite an improvement! In terms of resolution that's a lot more than the human brain could ever decipher. Add to that the fact that there is no audio interface currently available that has Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog converters that are anything but either 16 or 24 bit and you may begin to wonder - what's the point?
The Advantages
So having your 24 bit recordings in 32 bit floating point format will not change the quality of the initial recordings themselves, but creating audio files in this format before they are processed by plug-ins will help you avoid the following:
- Clipping during AudioSuite rendering
- Unnecessary noise introduced by AudioSuite dithering
- Rounding errors during signal processing
These issues then are mostly caused by the fact that with either 16 or 24 bit audio the data requires conversion at the point of processing.
The Disadvantages
So, it is a '˜good thing' from a quality point of view to have your audio in the 32 bit floating point format from the start, but is there a downside? 32 bit files are 50% bigger than their 24 bit counterparts, and 100% bigger than the 16 bit equivalent. For example, 60 seconds of 44.1 kHz mono 16 bit audio will take up roughly 5 MB of hard drive space and require a data throughput of 83 kB/s. These figures will double at 32 bit. Still not huge numbers by today's standards maybe, but 10 minutes of a 64 (mono) track session recorded at 32 bit and 192 kHz will take up roughly 28 GB and require data throughput of 48 MB/s just to play back.
Relative data sizes for different bit depth files.
Using 32 Bit Floating Point
Pro Tools Mp3 Option Download
You can set up a new session that creates 32 bit files in the Quick Start dialog or the New Tracks dialog (see images).
Quick Start dialog.
New Session dialog.
In addition, one of Pro Tools 10's new features is the ability to support multiple file formats in the same session (those who have been using Pro Tools since day one please pick yourselves up off the floor!) It is therefore possible to '˜Add' (as opposed to '˜Convert') existing 32 bit files to a session which has been set to record in another file format, and you can also change the recording file format on the fly in the Session Setup dialog (Setup > Session).
Bit depth can be changed mid-Session!
Added to this, the ability to Bounce and Export audio at 32 bit means that, in a more complex workflow, it will be possible to move 32 bit files from one session to another without compromising quality.
Bounce in 32 bit.
Export in 32 bit from the Clips List.
Want to learn more about the new features in Pro Tools 10? You've come to the right place as macProVideo.com is an Avid Learning Partner Online!
Check out all the tutorial-videos for Pro Tools 10 here.