Transcript MUSC1010 – WEEK 5 - University of Queensland

MUSC1010 – WEEK 5
MIDI sequencing in Pro Tools
Cycle Record including MIDI Merge
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Follow the steps under “STARTING WITH MIDI & SOFT-SYNTHS” in last week’s lecture notes
Set the tempo (to display the transport bar press Ctrl-1)
configure your chosen soft-synth to produce drum sounds.
enable MIDI Merge;
enable cycle playback by right-clicking the play button.
enable GRID
set the GRID to 1 bar
enable and configure “Input Quantise” which is under Event > Event Operations. Choose an appropriate
quantise value for the beat that you will be performing.
• select 1 to 4 bars for recording
• start recording. You have the freedom of taking your time, and adding rhythms when you please.
Input Quantise
Input quantise corrects timing problems “on the fly”. This is particularly useful when
using the cycle record mode. Go to;
Event > Event Operations > Input Quantise
Swing
When swing is selected, every second quantise division is shifted by the specified
percentage value (0–300) to achieve the “swing” feel. A Swing value of 0% yields no
swing, while 100% yields a typical 2/3rds division feel. With Swing set to 300%, every
second quantise division is moved to the next division.
Latency
Latency is the time delay inherent in a digital music production or recording system. It can take numerous forms,
e.g. the difference in time between when you strike a MIDI key and when sound comes from the speaker, or the
difference in time between when an audio signal is registered by a microphone and when it is monitored in your
headphones
There are varying amounts of latency inherent in the different stages of recording/production;
1. analogue to digital converters (ADC) on the input stage
2. digital to analogue converters (DAC) on the output stage
3. the sample buffer on your DAW (recording software).
4. the lookahead functionality of plugins
When you are using soft-synths you may need to adjust the Pro Tools “hardware buffer size” in order to make the
synth respond quickly to your performance.
Hardware Buffer Size
The Hardware Buffer Size (H/W Buffer Size) controls the size of the hardware cache used to handle host-based tasks such as
real-time plug-in processing.
 Lower Hardware Buffer Size settings reduce monitoring latency, and are useful when you are recording live input.
 Higher Hardware Buffer Size settings allow for more audio processing and effects, and are useful when you are
mixing and using more plug-ins
 To change the Hardware Buffer Size:
1. Choose Setups > Playback Engine.
2. From the H/W Buffer Size pop-up menu, select the audio buffer size, in samples
3. Click OK.
EDIT MODES
SHUFFLE
You can “shuffle” the order of regions, but you cannot separate them from
each other and you cannot make them overlap as in Slip mode
SPOT
You can specify a numeric value for the location of a note or region.
SLIP
You can move a note or region freely without it snapping to any value
GRID
The note or region will “snap” to the currently selected Grid value
EDIT TOOLS
Zoom Buttons
Zoomer
Zoom Toggle
Trimmer
Selector
Grabber
Smart Tool
Scrubber
Pencil
Use the Zoom buttons to zoom in and out vertically and horizontally on MIDI and audio
track material. You can also store and recall five Zoom presets.
Use the Zoomer tool to select a zoom view in a track.
Use the Zoom Toggle to switch between the current zoom view and a defined zoom
view.
Use the Trimmer tools to trim regions and region groups.
Use the Selector to make selections on tracks.
Use the Grabber tools to select, separate, or move regions on tracks.
Use the Smart tool to Trim, Select, or Grab regions in tracks.
Use the Scrubber tool to scrub through track material.
se the Pencil tool to draw automation and MIDI data.
Balance
Creating a balance between the different sounds in your session generally involves making
adjustments to the volume faders in the MIX view. However, for a percussion or drum recording
there can be several different sounds in the one MIDI/Instrument track. Therefore it is necessary
to create a balance by scaling the velocities of the notes.
adjusting velocities using the grabber
To turn down the high hat, for example you would need to select
the hi-hat notes (use the grabber), and then pull one of the
velocity stalks down to the desired level.
Controlling Track Levels (to prevent clipping)
Sometimes you may find that certain instruments (particularly those that use a sweeping filter or flanger) clip in
the track volume stage, even when they are turned down considerably. In this instance you may consider adding
a limiter to help control the peaks. Use the MAXIM plugin or the Digidesign Compressor/Limiter III, with the
preset “Brickwall limiter”. Adjust the Threshold and Gain as necessary.
Mixing Down
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Select the amount of time that you want to mix down (use GRID mode, and enable minutes/seconds view)
File > Bounce > to Disk
Change the Format to “Stereo Interleaved”
Use File Type “WAV”
16 bit, 44.1kHz
Convert After or Bounce
Myspace Music