“Sumsound at Trackdown” is the new mid-sized room I am launching in 2010.
What I’m trying to achieve with this room is a quick turnaround, affordable mixing space on the Fox lot in Sydney.
Crucial tools for turnaround time are the ICON system for mixing “in the box” and a “Video Satellite” system to immediately open Media Composer HD projects or a ProTools LE system with a Decklink card to open HD FCP material such as DVCPro or ProRes HD footage – saving production companies from creating low res proxies that typically take anywhere from 3-6 times real time to generate.
More details to come as we approach opening, but meanwhile:
- ICON D-Command ES 24 fader console
- HD3 Accel PCIe in 8 core Nehalem Mac pro
- Most Digi and AIR plugins
- TL Space TDM convolution reverb and IR library
- Massenburg Design Works TDM EQ3
- SoundToys TDM bundle
- McDSP plugins
- Eventide Anthology 2 bundle
- Brainworks mastering plugs
- Izotope RX noise removal tools
- Serato Pitch n Time
- Neyrinck Dolby E, Dolby Digital and DTS encoders and VMon
- Dolby Pro Logic encode/decode suite
- SPL and Unique Recording Systems plugs
- Waves 360 and Rane graphic EQ for “B-chain” – including Dorrough Meters
- Virtual Katy re-conforming tools
- Nearfield Monitors are Digidesign PMC RM2 reference monitor series.
- DSM 5.1 system with dual subwoofers phase and time aligned
- Sony Bravia HD 1080i projector
For booking details contact Elaine at Trackdown Scoring Stage
An "unfinished" Sumsound at Trackdown front wall
Yes! Window Configurations is one of those features that I think some people “wish” existed and don’t know it was added in 7.3. Powerful time saver. But takes a bit of mind-bending to really get the most out of it. Looking forward to your take on it.
Thanks Brent for the tips.
Tim Trebble publish the url of your website. Your study on the use of protools is interesting. Know then, that I get from now a diligent reader of your blog.
In advance, thank you.
Benoit Tigeot
Hey Brent,
Great tips here, I’ve got a question though regarding window configs and memory locations. I dont think this is possible, but on the D-Control (32 fader split), I’d love to be able to show/hide large numbers of tracks while recording. For instance, I work for a Television show and I record over a hundred tracks at a time 48 of which are production tracks, and 80 of which are music tracks. I’d love to be able to quickly show only music tracks when we are working on a music act, and show only production tracks when we are in an interview/comedy part of the show. Is this possible? Thanks in advance, and thanks for the tips, its greatly enhanced my workflow for editing.
Hi LameBirdy,
You can definately get to your memory locates from the DControl – browse around your soft key section, it should be in a section labelled “Mem/MIDI” with a button “Mem Loc” – the soft keys then show you your locates 4 at a time with a page up and down button as well.
Just create mem locates with “track show/hide” and “track heights” ticked – but with the time properties set to “NONE” (otherwise you’ll jump around and abort record)
Second part of your problem is showing and hiding tracks during a record pass – I just tested this and it appears to work fine!
Hope that helps!
Thanks a lot….I didnt think it was possible only because if you arent recording but have tracks armed it de-arms the tracks when hiding…and I just didnt try actually recording and hiding … thanks again…that makes me very happy.
This is really cool…have used so many un-cool ways to do this many-a-time in the past!
Thanks
Brent’s method can be taken a step further with the use of Elastic Audio to great effect.
Simply tempo map the music as per Brent’s method then place the Stereo audio track to “Tick” rather than the default of “Sample”. This is done on the track itself by changing the clock icon to the metronome icon, once this is done change the track to Elastic Audio (in our case use Polyphonic). Then Pro Tools will then analyse the track (it becomes greyed out) then once this is done you can perform magic!
I then go down the timeline to where there is no audio say Bar 500, (make sure that the counter is set to Bar/beat) set a new tempo (if the original track was around 125 bpm then try setting a tempo of 120 bpm at bar 500.
Now select the audio at bar 1 to the end of the region copy it, go to bar 500 and paste. Voila! you have a music piece that is now a constant 120 bpm! this can make editing even simpler as the whole piece is now a static tempo.
you’ve got to Love Elastic Audio!
my 2c
Simon L.
Nice demo Brent….but Erectile dysfunction what are you trying to say?
S.
Chuckles – I wasn’t sure how many folks would notice that! A mate of mine asked my help to do a VO demo for him, so this was one of his scripts.
Hi Brent, thanks for the blogs, very clear and informative. In watching it dawned on me that write to punch is very useful for those tight situations where you have adjust automation for one note with very little time to get the fader onto the right value.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. I’ve been reaching out for information since I began my Pro Tools journey. I’ve used analog all my life, went to a Roland, then Sessions, and then, finally to Pro Tools for the edi-bility of it all.
Now I have people beating down my door for me to make their Demos. I really want to get better at using Pro Tools before I start putting my name on other people’s demos.
Thanks for helping me get there.
Brent— great stuff, great site. Is there a direct email contact for you somewhere on the blog? I’d like to ask a couple questions offline if possible.
thanks for the good info!
Regards,
Craig Zarkos
Z-orama
http://thehybridroom.com/
http://www.myspace.com/cajonezzz

Hi Craig – Your facility looks very shmick btw! I just dropped you an email – happy to help.
Talk soon.
Hi, Brent. Awesome blog – thanks for your efforts. I’ve just ordered a D-Command ES, and I’m waiting for it to arrive. Now, I may be asking a stupid question, but…wouldn’t un-linking edit and timeline selection provide the same workflow possibilities as using dynamic transport? I see that the play start marker follow your rew/ff commands, but wouldn’t it work the same way with edit/timeline un-linked?
Many thanks from a norwegian ICON newbie…
Hi PT Lover,
I thought the same thing until I tried it – then I found that the “write to all” function was no longer constrained by my edit selection..it wasn’t constrained at all! So with timeline and edit selection unlinked I couldn’t find any way to “write to my selection”…hence experimenting with dynamic transport where I found this interesting workaround. Let me know if you find any other way around this!
This as an awesome workflow, Brent. Still waiting for my ES, but I’ll jump right in when I get it. Thanks a lot for doing this.
Best, Stig
Thank you brent, as someone who doesn’t know music this was incredibly helpful. I was wondering if you have specific tricks for different genres Such as classical with less clear bars and beats for the non-musically inclined ear.
Ryan G
Hi Brent
Excellent blog you have here. I’m a long time user of Pro Tools, and I’ve picked up up some really useful tips – particularly on the D-Command. I’m trying to get more out of it, get off the keyboard a bit more, and you’ve highlighted some good stuff.
Keep up the good work.
All the best,
Grahame
Hi Brent,
thanx for sharing the knowledge.
Yesterday, finally I got chance to try this on D-Comand, and bisides excellent posibilities of this tip, there are two things I was not so happy about, particulary it is a DYNAMIC TRANSPORT feature:
1. no Avid video playback
2. disable a 9pin machine
I could live without 9pin, but what would you suggest to do with avid video.
P.S. Would you make tutorial about “preview” automation, and also if you could have some more tips on PT LE+DV toolkit2 and how to expand automation tricks there.
thanx a lot
Nenad
Hmmm..No avid video? I didn’t realise this. I’ll have a chat to product management about it and see if we can put through a feature request for this type of workflow with video.
Im hoping it will work with video satellite and HD pictures. I’ll try that later today.
Thanks for your feedback, and yes, I’ll get onto Preview mode soon!
Brent,
Glad to see you’ve left the Windows nonsense behind!! j/k, sort of
Look fwd to more Vids, now with Mac modifiers mentioned first!!!
Thanks for the great tips!
Have been looking for ICON/Protools video guides for a while now!
looking forward for new great vids.
cheers
benny
Hi Brent,
Just wanted to thank you for adding more cool stuff for us all to watch. I have a friend who’s brother is an engineer for Sony where you are. His last name is Hare, and I “think” his first name is Bob, but I am not sure. At any rate, just thought I’d drop that one in on you and see if you have crossed paths.
Cheers!
SG
Hi Brent, nice item to talk about, I am discovering more and more EA uses in Post world. But, still it is not 100% supported on the Unity network, possible Isis too (didn’t tried there yet). Most of the post production houses work these days with Avid networks (and unfortunately Windows OS machines) so to effectively use EA on Unity, I have to change disc allocation for some/all tracks and keep that in mind when backing up, or working with big sessions. Also, I would like to know if it’ll work with video satellite, interplay…as I believe these are most of the time on network systems. Maybe in one of your next EA blogs, you want to mention all “not compatible” systems/workflows of EA and then looking at the possible workaround. Thanx again for your fabulous blog.
greetings,
Nenad
You’re absolutely right about the network volume issue with elastic audio Nedd. It’s very frustrating, but the DAE simply cant get the information off the network share (via the file manager) fast enough to do the elastic processing in real time, reliably, as I understand it.
The good news, if you can call it that, is that with the video satellite workflow it WILL work, because in most instances VS is for HD (1080/720 DNxHD material) video playback streaming off unity/ISIS but you would normally move your audio files onto the local drives of the PT rig, giving full track count (and it can be a mac!) lower drive buffers, faster response and EA support.
VS is the best of both worlds, instant playback of HD video, streaming off shared avid storage, but with local audio for best performance.
Of course, VS isn’t for everyone, once you add in the Mojo or Nitris dx hardware plus the Media composer auth and the VS ilok auth and a compatible machine to run it, its not in the same ballpark as say, an ADVC100! But the cost IS comparable to the AVOptionXL days and with much better workflows and better technology and we do have quite a few happy clients out there. China Film, a facility out of Beijing, has put VS rigs on almost all their PT rigs, for instant updates of video sequences in all rooms, giving producers complete creative freedom to move around the facility, with consistent picture everywhere.
Hope that helps.
Awesome video, Brent. I didn’t know that so many editing features still works while in warp view, so that’s fantastic news for me.
Hi Brent,
Thanks for all the great info on your site. I’m very interested in watching the HD workflow videos in this post but no matter how I try to load the page I never see any embedded video or links to another page with video. Am I missing something?
Thanks,
Ryan
Hi Ryan,
Over 20 folks have watched the videos in the last 48 hours so its all working here. I’ll drop you an email with some troubleshooting ideas for the flash player, revver engine.
I would like to see the inscription “to be continied”:-D
hey brent
thanks for these vids … very informative..
are you going to upload more vids from the day?
cheers
leyton
Hi Leyton,
I have a second series of vids based around field recorder workflows, but we quite a few changes to that in PT8 (which I cant talk about at this stage) so I havent posted them, what with 8 hitting stores in the next 3 weeks or so.
Dear Brent,
this is a cool tip but unfortunately is only useful for short videos. The way that the conversion works is to bounce the audio then combine that with the video then do the conversion. This can take a loooong time with a long video. Worse still you are locked out from doing anything else in Tools while the process is occurring .
As a result I would still recommend using MPEG Streamclip for conversion duties. It has a Batch feature and many many useful parameters, it is fast and best of all free and will work in the background enabling you to do other things in Tools while encoding the Movies, Best of all it is FREE!
With the new 8 core machines (I’m a Mac Guy) you can do a lot and put no pressure on the computer.
my 2c
Simon L.
Thanks so much for these videos. I’ve forwarded them to all technical assistants here, so there are no more excuses for them not to know this stuff.
Keep it coming, ’cause we are lapping it up over here.
cheers from Canada,
JC
This is a great discovery! But why does Digi always hide stuff like this?? Why not just have an “options” button in the Bounce to Quicktime dialog box?
Please excuse me, but I want to write something off Topic:
I am giving a little time to go through blog’s like this, perhaps unwittingly, have helped me when I decided to start in March.
I want to have a spectacular end of year and the beginning of next much much better.
Blessings from Chile!
Pd: My English is very bad lol!
This is great Brent. Thanks heaps.
Hi Brent I really like and appreciate your blogs – it would be interesting to hear what you can teach about structure for post – it appears to be the general consensus right now too.I’ll keep my fingers crossed.Kind regards, Baris
I’m a bit concerned actually – Im beginning to question how ambiguous the comment “Structure for post” was. I was referring to how the Air sampler Structure could be used in a post production environment, rather than its traditional application, being music. Hopefully everyone realises this?
If there is an interest in structure/approach to doing post work with PT then I can move onto that also.
Hi Brent, great blog and very useful tips, many thanks! I’m looking for a way to store/recall tracks’ active/inactive status with memory locations, but it seems that there is no way to do this. The nearest I can get is using a group to mute the track outputs and storing with memory locations, but I’m really looking to save resources and also streamline my sessions by having only essential tracks active at each stage of editing projects. It’s tedious (and frustrating) doing this manually when I’d like to do it instantaneously via a memory location. It seems impossible but maybe I’m missing something…
Thanks for the video, Brent! Great info on the shortcut key commands. You just saved me a lot of time from having to look them up in the manual.
Hey Brent. Another great vid!
Just a quick question… what if I don’t want to use loop record but still want the playlist functionality? Is there a way to make the last recording automatically drop down to the playlist (or even a shortcut)?
Cheers
O
thanks very much
b’cos i am not done coarse of pt operating . but i doing job as a recordist n i want to know some shocut like this.
thanks u make my worke fast n esier. once again thanks friend
if, u have more trick abot pt so, plz frwrd me on zameerpt@gmail.com my mail.
thanks in addvance.
Thanks, just what I wanted to look for in the manual one of these days! (in adjusting my Nuendo workflows to PT)
For me, there’s no reason not to be organized across at least two drives even for small projects. It can always make the system less sluggish.
I always keep BGFX (for post work) on a separate drive – those damn things are running at all times in multiple layers. So, the main audio project disk is free for more random-access to shorter clips such as dialog and foley.
Hi Brent,
I would love to see some of the post examples you promised when you get a moment.
Thanks,
Mike.
Aboslutely Right Mike – Its on my fairly lengthy list of topics to cover, I just havent had the inspiration to get to it in the thoroughness it deserves. I’ll give it a bash this week – stay tuned.
Hi Brent,
I just spoke to you at the con today. I’m glad you’ve mentioned this plugin. I just got it a few weeks ago and it’s really made me realise why the hardware unit is regarded as a “secret weapon” in many studios. Great tool.
You got me very interested in Pro Tools 8 today, so you might be hearing from me in a few months re workflow lessons.
Take care,
Adrian
I was just wondering why in PT8 this (hidden) dialog now always comes up and you always have to wait a long time during re-rendering (translating media). In PT7.4 it was much more faster if you do not want to resize your video.
Stefan
200 spots per week? i think i once did about 100. i better work on my chops. thanks for the advanced tips.
joel
Thanks! This was really helpful. Do you have any tips on importing video and audio between logic and pro tools? (both ways)
Really enjoyed the demo in Melbourne last week. Thanks.
Hi Brent,
Thanks for posting this, great to hear things straight from the horse’s mouth and good news about the Mac support too.
Brent, I really love the ‘One Avid’ interviews with different Digi/Avid Employees. It’s cool to learn about some of the people that I work with every day but didn’t know their background or much about. them Thank you for taking the time to do these. I’ve seen some DUC talk too about enjoying these videos and people appreciating getting an insiders look into Pro Tools.
Really useful video showed how Video Satellite works for real. Keep it up. Mike.
The video is password protected.
Fixed now! Sorry!!!
Nice one Brent!
I have recently tried it out and it is really awesome. I guess it’s just a matter of time for the ‘take up’ to eliminate the need for ISDN, which I’ve never really liked the sound of (CDQ and Prima).
Of note also is esession’s ‘Virtual Glass’ (http://www.esession.com/home/index.php).. check it out, which is currently free but has a slightly different target market and marketing model. (it also does not have the unique restore feature).
Cheers,
Matt
True, but believe it or not there are still studios that don’t use ProTools so ISDN is still a necessity.
Hi JHinton,
Just as an aside – Source connect “Started life as a pro tools plugin” but is now available in VST and AU also. So assuming they have SOME sort of software DAW they should be able to connect to you for two way communication.
I work in a studio over in europe. We actually use both ISDN and Source-Connect! I dont know how much time you spend using this plug-in, but we have seen major problems as the correct setup to use source-connect is pretty hard to achieve. Well we brought in a LAN-Technician to do it, but Ive worked with several studios around the world that had problems with that! So ive heard a lot of artifacts and black-outs…
Im not saying that I dont like source-connect – in fact it makes my work a lot easier – but as long as you need special skills to set it up better stay skilled in using ISDN…
Sorry for my english…
regards, erik
PS: Great site Brent!
Hi Erik,
I just wanted to mention that I’ve had no issues with regard to network setup… Worked a treat. I made sure I had the correct UDP forwarded to my main workstation however.
In my earlier message, I’d mentioned I tried it, well I have bought it now and I am extremely happy with its performance so far… Sounds a lot better than the codecs I had been using.
nice interview. looking forward to your ICON videos.
Hi Mattrixx,
maybe we had this problems because we bought the first avialable version of source-connect (something like a year ago). As we did the setup then with a LAN-trechnician, and had no issues since, I havent checked the setup. So maybe source-elements made the setup easier with newer versions…
regards erik
PS: Have you ever used the remote transport sync?
Hysterical. I’m going to do this next time I get my car serviced.
You could add, “you know- your menu wasn’t really even complete. We were really expecting you to have a ‘96 Barolo to go with our filet.”
Ah yes… especially the interaction right at the very close of the Clip. Nice.
Maybe AVID should rename the trimmer tool to ‘Highlights’, so we can charge our clients more…. or they can feel like they’re getting better value for money. Mmmmm Tiz a funny clip.
We’re gonna make it up on the next one… I’m gonna kill the next client that says that!!! Grrr
This feature has actually been around a while – I had totally forgotten about it tho until now. I really should’ve been utilizing this in my mixes – HOWEVER – can this be applied to mixing? I feel it when u say I must create IO settings and a template….but how do I get this to work for mixing? Import Session Data from my template? I’m running 7.1 and I’m gonna try out different options and get back to you on this one
No. ISDN is NOT dead. For music and VO perhaps but not for broadcast.
All the live radio broadcast interviews booked through our facility are via ISDN. NPR, BBC, CBC, some of the major PBS stations, and more have only ever requested ISDN of us.
Now, would I like that to change? Absolutely!!
Hi Brent
Forgot to leave my message??
I am new to HD, I am trying to get ouptuts from 5&6 to monitors when in 1&2 output mode, I was able to get 3&4, but when trying to press start/click in the I/O prefs. for 5&6 nothing happens.
This site is really cool I like your importing session data video, very useful.
Thanks, Tony
I’ve learned how to be a better person for sure. The desire to grow community is a strong motivator to staying ethical and honest at every turn.
Wow, thanks for linking to my blog. I really appreciate it
. By the way, there are some great articles, I’m going to check them out. Thanks for sharing. See you soon.
Good Luck Brent
Is it also possible to write the movement within the selection that is being previewed, or is it only for the one value of automation?
Hi Nenad, hope you are well!
Unfortunately, using preview mode is like an “audition pass”, so any movements you make are not stored.
You can punch at a point and then write from there, or punch/write to all with a value you are happy with – so it tends to lend itself more to writing static values within a given selection.
Hope that helps!
BH
Yay! I was hoping you hadn’t packed up the blog.
All the best for the new year Brent.
I’m working full time in TV/Radio production and I’d be definitely interested in any ‘one off’ clinics or seminars you may be conducting in post production. I’ll be keeping an eye on the blog!
Cheers, Simon.
Looks awesome – nice work
hi brent .. nice new look .but its all skewy in safari 4.0.4, 10.5.8..
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/535560/heber.png
L
Needs more plants B.
Nice one Brent. can’t wait to see the finish product.Received my Mac Pro 8 core also not long after our chat. Still waiting on the shipment of HD 2 though. Hopefully soon. cheers
QJ: “Zero, what the hell is a title going to do, is a title going to put clothes on my kids? Less money?”
UFC fan? random much!
the other question is: will stuff internationally be pushing in the direction of 3d very soon? (or is it just a gimmick?) and if so, what does that mean in terms of software/hardware/infrastructure?
In a PTHD workflow, 3D isnt a problem. Avid Media composer 3.5 and above are capable of showing 3D material direct from a qualified DVI port as far as I know. You need a 3D ready TV/projector and glasses to look at it properly, but you can definately monitor it direct from the application – that in turn opens PTHD operators to using MC as their video satellite solution to monitor 3D material in their audio suite. So I’m guessing I’m 3D ready, already? I’d need to test some material first to know for sure! (or call mates from Avid video division)
Very nice indeed! If the audio engineer on budget, it is not really a problem, it makes us more creative, we make better plans.
Waiting for more pics!
Best regards, Tamas
Thanks for all that!
Here Here… I can’t believe he said that!! Clearly he’s not present for the process.
Wicked cheers, very use full information. thank you.
Lookin good mate! When are you hoping to be operational?
This should be the last week of aesthetic tweaking and acoustics tweaks. Building some wall panels tomorrow, putting up curtains and Tuesday mounting a ceiling cloud. That should balance out the mid range and we’ll be ready to rock n roll!