How Does Pro Tools Help?

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How Does Pro Tools Help?

Pro Tools is the ultimate audio tool for post-production. Let's go over a few key features of Pro Tools that make this process so much easier.

The Non-linear, Non-Destructive Editing Model

The traditional method of using an analog tape machine to record dialog, foley effects, and music required a painstaking process of recording each sound separately. Editing audio meant cutting up the tape itself, rearranging it, and piecing it back together again by hand. Working on long-format projects required many reels of tape and hours of rewind and fast-forward time.

Using Pro Tools, you now have the ability to change when and how sounds are played back without permanently altering or destroying the original audio. You can instantly move from the end of a long piece to the beginning. You can effortlessly create perfect duplicates of a sound and place them wherever you like. You can save different versions of your work without losing the original. You can snip, clip, cut, and paste pieces of audio, rearranging them in limitless ways, all in the digital realm and without any loss of quality.

Think about the difference between the word processor I'm using right now and traditional pen and paper. Pen and paper are linear and destructive methods of composing. The word processor is non-linear and non-destructive. Analog recording is linear and destructive. Pro Tools is non-linear and non-destructive.

QuickTime Movie Support

Usually when creating soundtracks , you must watch the video in sync with the audio and be able to quickly locate different sections of a scene. Pro Tools can be synchronized to QuickTime movies without the need for costly additional hardware. QuickTime is a multimedia software technology that allows the playback of video and audio on both Macs and PCs and supports many different audio/video formats. When a QuickTime movie is imported into Pro Tools, a window is created that allows us to watch the video while Pro Tools is playing, as shown in Figure 2.7. Whenever playback begins, the video runs right along in sync. Wherever you click the selector tool in the timeline, the QuickTime movie will immediately jump to that point and display that frame of video. Each time you move a region in the timeline, the video window shows you what image coincides with the beginning of the audio region. If you were placing the sound of a glass hitting the floor, each time the region was moved you could see which frame is the one where the glass actually touches the floor. That way, the crashing sound begins right when the glass hits. This is just one example of how Pro Tools makes it convenient to work with movies and video. In Chapter 5, "Recording to Picture," I'll discuss these possibilities in depth.

Figure 2.7. The QuickTime movie window in Pro Tools.


Automation, Automation, Automation

Pro Tools has extensive automation features that help polish the production when it comes time to mix your project. Pro Tools allows automation of almost every parameter involved in mixing, from level and pan controls to plug-in parameters such as reverb time and EQ settings. Figure 2.8 shows an example of volume automation displayed over the waveform. Being able to tweak very minute details can save the day and your project. Mastering the automation modes will give you key skills that will put your productions ahead of the competition.

Figure 2.8. View of an automation playlist in Pro Tools.


Multi-channel Mixing

In addition to automation, Pro Tools has the capability to mix to many different formats, such as good old stereo, Quad, LCR, LCRS, 5.1 (as shown in Figure 2.9), 6.1, and even mega-surround with 7.1. In today's world of ever-changing audio/video formats, this type of flexibility is a must. For a detailed explanation of mixing formats, see Chapter 6, "Editing to Picture." In that chapter you'll learn how to set up Pro Tools to mix to these varied formats.

Figure 2.9. A surround-sound panner in Pro Tools.


The Standard in Hollywood

Pro Tools has become the standard in the film industry. It has been used in nearly every major motion picture released in the U. S. over the past five to ten years , including extensive use in Star Wars Episode I . The entire audio post-production community is familiar with Pro Tools. As a Pro Tools user , you have an advantage in being able to interchange audio directly with other studios and work with the popular Avid video-editing systems quite easily. I will go into detail on the subject of interchanging files in Chapter 4, "Getting Started with Pro Tools and Video," and Chapter 7, "Processing Audio Using Audiosuite Plug-ins."

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PRO TOOLS R for video, film, and multimedia
PRO TOOLS R for video, film, and multimedia
ISBN: N/A
EAN: N/A
Year: 2003
Pages: 70

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