Pro Tools Expert - post production

Steven Slate Sends 200gb File In 10 Hours With Gobbler

2012-05-18T17:43:59Z

News is doing the rounds today that Steven Slate managed to send 200gb of data in just 10 hours using Gobbler.

On the Gobbler blog they say “Over the weekend, our friend Steven Slate of Slate Digital, one of the most epic mind’s in analog modelling & drums, had to get a 200GB file to Russia and he had to get it there FAST!

There was only one way to get it his files there and that was Gobbler.

Friday afternoon, Sir Steven dropped in the office and sent the super massive file via his Gobbler account and by the next morning the file was downloaded in Russia.

“The transfer was crazy fast: I usually have to send drives. Gobbler f&$cking rules!” -Steven Slate”

Now that’s fast! Hope the Windows version arrives in record time too!

Pro Tools Quick Tips - Perfection Is Possible

2012-05-18T11:00:58Z

Need a perfect take? It’s easy in Pro Tools.

Go to the Operation tab in the preferences window and choose ‘Automatically create new playlists when loop recording’.

Now put your Pro Tools into a loop and record away. Then choose playlist view in the track and all your takes are there ready to be auditioned and compiled into one great take. It’s perfect for vocals and lead guitar – you’ll be amazed at the results.

Maggot Announce New Version Of Spanner Pro Tools AAX Plug-in

2012-05-18T09:03:40Z

Justin at Maggot has released a new build (v1.1.2) of his excellent surround channel manager, panner, remapper and folddown AAX plugin for AVID Pro Tools.

Spanner now supports output in 5.0 and 7.0 as well mono, stereo, LCR, quad, 5.1 and 7.

And the best news is that this version includes audiosuite - so offline downmix from 5.0 track is now possible.

For more info and videos see my previous post.

Mixing Basics - Eq

2012-05-17T19:16:18Z

Russ continues to talk about the components of a great mix, this session looks at how Eq helps to boost and cut and help put all the tracks together.

Review of Blue Cat Audio's Protector 2 Plug-in

2012-05-16T21:23:20Z

In my search for a broadcast limiter plug-in, I saw with interest the announcement from Blue Cat about their new Protector 2 brickwall limiter plug-in, and decided to take a look at it to see if it would work for me in a post context. But music readers don’t skip this, its really for you…

In starting to use it, I quickly released that the Threshold is effectively set at 0dBfs, which of course is what Blue Cat say it is when I took the trouble to read the details on it! However they have included Pre Gain and Post Gain controls so it is possible for me to set it to limit at -10dBfs by setting the Pre Gain to +10dB and the Post Gain to -10dB. There also a nice feature that tells you if your gain reduction hads increased the loudness displayed as an RMS Boost display below the Post Gain control.

But as the folks at Blue Cat explained Protector 2 has been designed mainly for musicians or music producers looking for a 0 dBFS protection. It has been kept as simple as possible for this particular 0 dB limiting scenario, and to be fair it very much does this job, it is simple and easy to use and in a music setting to have this as my last plug-in in the Master channel would give me the confidence to know that everything is being kept in the ‘safe zone’. A Soft Knee on a limiter is an unusual but great addition so that you can gently approach the brickwall

That said I still have to keep reminding myself that it is OK to have audio prior to the plug-in going about 0dB as the there is still plenty of headroom in the Pro Tools mixer at this point. Remember it is OK to pull the Master Fader down if you are getting ‘overs’ on the Master Track as the master fader is before the insert and the level architecture of the Pro Tools mixer can cope.

Although the folks at Blue Cat have kept the interface simple it doesn’t meean that the plug-in can’t do clever things, it can. Like most of their plug-ins, Protector also offers a powerful side chain capability thanks to its MIDI CC output. This feature, not only lets you do side chain limiting, but also parameters modulation: control any parameter of any plugin to create side chain effects in real time. For more info on this feature take a look at the Tutorial Pages on the Blue Cat web site.

They also offer separate downloads for all the different hosts, currently it is AAX Native and they do plan to produce an AAX DSP version at some point in the future.

So all in all an excellent product for all you music guys and when you see the price it gets even better. Currently they are offering a 25% discunt so its 59 Euros instead of 79 or $74 instead of $99. They have demo versions so go and try it out for yourself.

Pro Tools Quick Tips - Get A Gain Advantage

2012-05-16T11:01:11Z

New to Pro Tools 10? Clip gain allows you to choose as many points on the audio and adjust the gain.

Clip Gain takes seconds to learn and allows audio level adjustment that is forensic and fast!

Neyrinck Release Preview Of New Hi-Res V-Control Skins For iPad

2012-05-16T06:28:20Z

The next release of V-Control Pro 1.6 will include a new set of high resolution skins to match the new iPad3 retina display which supports a massive 2048-by-1536-pixel resolution at 264 pixels per inch. The previous iPad supported 1024-by-768-pixel resolution at 132 pixels per inch so this is a 4x increase in resolution. Each DAW and Video edit app we support will have a redesigned skin to take advantage of the stunning new iPad display.

The new release will also include new skins for Media Composer and Digital Performer, along with continuing to support Pro Tools, Logic Pro 9, Cubase/Nuendo, Digital Performer, FL Studio, Tracktion, Studio One, Reaper, Reason, Ableton Live, SONAR, Media Composer, and Final Cut Pro 7.

You can click on the image above to see the full resolution Pro Tools skin which also includes a V-Window display of the Avid channel strip. This relly now provides a very cost effective control surface especially if you already own an iPad 3 but the sums are still not that crazy if you had to buy an iPad just to get a control surface.

V-Control Pro 1.6 will be a free update for existing customers and will be available for purchase at the Apple App store for $49.99 within the next few weeks.

When Is A Backup Not A Backup - Toy Story 2 Vanishes!

2012-05-15T13:01:19Z

If there is ever a story about why backups are important and even more omportant, to regularly test the backups, this story is it. It’s all about how Pixar nearly lost Toy Story 2 and its told as only Pixar can…

Nugen Audio Release A Pro Tools AudioSuite Loudness Plug-In

2012-05-15T08:04:32Z

We took a look at Nugen Audio’s loudness batch analysis correction application back in February 2012. Well now they have released an AudioSuite version of it that we can use in Pro Tools to prepare our files to meet the new standard.

The guys at Nugen Audio have designed it to use a two-pass system in AudioSuite to analyse and then correct a file for loudness and true-peak overs to your specified target criteria.

AudioSuite is perfect for this as integrated program loudness needs a whole file analysis, so the AudioSuite can save a lot of time if small edits are being made. AudioSuite can sometimes seem to be a forgotten tool and it’s ideal for this kind of application.

How to use it
Well it is very simple. Highlight the bounce track (or whatever file you want to analyse) and then select the appropriate AudioSuite version of the plug-in, Nugen have provided every option from mono through LCRS to 5.1 and even 6.0.

Then hit the Analyse button. The plug-in will then analyse the complete file, it took 22 seconds to analyse a 28 minute file on my Mac Pro 8 core machine, and it updaters the display as it runs through the file.

Next select the standard you are working to, in my case EBUR128 but again all the standards are in the Presets, and finally hit the Render button and the plug-in will process the file to suit the selected standard.

As you will see from the screenshot at the top, for the EBU standard my mix is 1dB low, but the True Peak levels are interesting as this file had been mixed through a limiter set to limit at -10dBfs, but it is showing a True PEak level of -8.8 which goes to she that there can be a difference between peak and true peak, which confirms the need for a good true peak limiter in the broadcast limiter workflow.

Dealing With Avid Artist Series Connection Issues

2012-05-15T08:00:31Z

Some users are having issues connecting their Artist Series controllers to their computers.

Neil and Mike outlined things to check.

Mike (Mac): we have seen a number of queries and issues about problems with Artist Controls and they can be traced to IP problems, remember the Artist series connect to your computer via Ethernet and so each device needs an unique IP address. I think this is a Network problem rather than a Pro Tools problem. Do make sure you have the latest EuControl software installed. It sounds like an IP address conflict. Maybe the two Artist devices are trying to share the same IP address. Check your settings and make sure each Artist device has a separate IP address. Does your router also handle your Internet connection? If so, check whether the DCHP is set to issue/assign IP addresses automatically.

Another option might be to use a separate network connection from the computer to the Artist devices. You might need to put in an additional network card to your computer like this one but make sure it is compatible with your computer before you buy a card. http://uk.startech.com/Networking-IO/Adapter-Cards/10100-Mbps-PCI-Ethernet-Network-Card~ST100S

This has the advantage that it keeps the data from the Artist devices off your main network. Then if the new network card only has one port then use a small unmanaged network switch device something like this… http://www.amazon.co.uk/Netgear-Prosafe-Ethernet-Unmanaged-Switch/dp/B00009015U/ref=pd_sim_computers_1 so that you can take a separate cable from your network card to the switch and then cables from each of the Artist devices back to the switch.

It could indeed be using a crossover cable too, PC’s don’t identify crossover vs normal Cat5 cable. Make sure you cable is not a crossover cable, a lot of Artist series units shipped with crossover cables.

Neil (Windows): I agree with Mike to check whether your router is set to assign IP addresses via DHCP and then check your network connection settings on your PC to see if thats also set to DHCP. Regardless, make a note of the PC’s IP address and subnet mask by going to “Network and sharing Centre” , on the Column to the right, Click, “Change Adaptor Settings” and that will display your available network ports,

You may have a few things listed there, if you have firewire cards or multiple network interfaces,

Right click on the one thats showing as “connected” (or the one that you know is your active network connection to the router) and select “status” and then click the details button,
Now look down the list for “DHCP Enabled”, and note whether this says “Yes” or “No” in the column to the right, The next item down should be “IPv4 Address” with its IP address written in the column to the right,, Make a note of this number, Then look for “IPv4 Subnet mask” and write that down too,
Check to see if the MC Control and MC Mix are set to receive their addresses by DHCP, you can do this by powering the unit off, hold down the two page buttons and the push the power button to power up, this will take you into the IP configuration setup.
There you can set the IP address to DHCP (if your router is broadcasting DHCP) or if you are having no joy with DHCP you can manually add an address and subnet mask using the rotary knobs, You need to choose an address within the same range of the address of your PC (the settings you wrote down in step 2), that is also not being used by any other device on your network, e.g. if your PC’s IP address is 192.168.10.1 you could set your MC Control to 192.168.10.2 and your MC Mix to 192.168.10.3 and the subnet masks all need to be the same number as your PC’s Network device was set to.

For more detailed step by step instructions about entering IP addresses to the MC Control and MC Mix download the Artist setup guides here http://euphonix.avid.com/artist/ux/euphonix/artist_downloads.html

Pro Tools Expert Podcast Number 14

2012-05-14T21:03:06Z

Russ, Eric, Mike are back and joined again by new team member Neil Hester who will be covering Windows issues. This is a bumper edition as we try to clear the backlog of your questions

In this week’s show;

Pro Tools & Intel HD 2000 Graphics card.
Using VIs in Pro Tools
Calibrating monitors
Trashing Preferences
Pro Tools and Solid State Drives

And much more.

Links for this week’s show;

Listen on iTunes

Listen on Podbean

Virgin Airlines Install A Pro Tools Studio For Customers At Heathrow Airport

2012-05-14T20:35:25Z

It might sound like some mad story, but it’s completely true, Virgin Airlines have installed a Pro Tools studio for their new Clubhouse at Heathrow airport.

Speaking to The Telegraph they say ‘Virgin claims its services from London to New York and Los Angeles are well-used by members of the entertainment industry, hence the idea to provide equipment for musicians to record tracks while they wait to board a flight.’

More here

Pro Tools Quick Tips - Start A Tab

2012-05-14T11:00:00Z

Next time you need to edit audio in Pro Tools then take a tip from the top editors. Use the TAB key to move to the next transient on the timeline.

It’s one of the things that has made Pro Tools number one with top studios and engineers. Before long you’ll be flying through edits. Turn it on using the icon shown above.

HHB Have Some Pro Tools Special Offers Until June 15th

2012-05-14T08:42:12Z

Avid Promotions and upgrade offers – Valid until Friday June 15th 2012:

Upgrade to the Sound and Performance of Pro Tools|HD Native and Save – Trade in any qualifying Pro Tools|HD Core or Accel Core card towards a Pro Tools|HD Native card, which comes with Pro Tools HD 10 software, for just £1299 (ex VAT).

Save on HD Native bundles –Customers can save up to £1000 on a Pro Tools|HD Native system bundle, featuring their choice of HD OMNI, HD I/O 8x8x8, HD MADI or the HD I/O 16x16.

Take advantage of up to 39% savings on HD to HDX Upgrades:

HD1 to HDX PCIe Card	£5,299.00
HD1 w/HD Series I/O to HDX OMNI System	£5,299.00
HD1 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 8x8x8 System	£5,999.00
HD1 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 16 x 16 Analog System	£6,599.00
HD1 w/HD Series I/O to HDX MADI System	£6,599.00
HD2 to HDX PCIe Card	£4,599.00
HD2 w/HD Series I/O to HDX OMNI System	£4,599.00
HD2 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 8x8x8 System	£5,299.00
HD2 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 16 x 16 Analog System	£5,999.00
HD2 w/HD Series I/O to HDX MADI System	£5,999.00
HD3 to HDX PCIe Card	£3,999.00
HD3 w/HD Series I/O to HDX OMNI System	£3,999.00
HD3 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 8x8x8 System	£4,599.00
HD3 w/HD Series I/O to HDX 16 x 16 Analog System	£5,299.00
HD3 w/HD Series I/O to HDX MADI System	£5,299.00

How To Optimize Windows 7 For Pro Tools

2012-05-13T09:38:56Z

click to enlarge

Neil, our new Windows guru offers some tips for optimising your Windows 7 system for use with Pro Tools.

I’d highly recommend checking out Avid’s Optimisation and troubleshooting page here: http://avid.force.com/pkb/articles/en_US/Troubleshooting/en349411

There’s quite a lot to do but it makes a hell of a difference to system performance, the page has actually been recently updated so even if you’ve been through that page before, its worth a double check from time to time to see that nothing new has been added to improve your system performance further.

It’s a good idea to check your IRQ assignments in the Windows Device Manager this is how Windows allocates system resources to hardware devices so that a certain amount of resource bandwidth is reserved specifically for that device. If you go to Device Manager and from the “View” menu tab choose “resources by connection” and then hit the triangle icon to expand the list names Interrupt requests (IRQ) you will be presented with a whole big list of devices, after each devices hardware id number there will be a 2 digit number in brackets, this is the IRQ number that is assigned to that device.

Look for your audio interface in the list and check that its number is unique, and not duplicated (or sharing) an IRQ with any other device, if it is sharing an IRQ number with something else, depending on what sort of a resource hog that device is may have an impact on your audio interface’s performance, for example if its sharing with your graphics card that’s not good as the graphics card is one of the most bandwidth hungry devices in a computer so you want to move you audio interface away from that IRQ. The only way to change an IRQ is to physically move the device to another PCI/PCIe slot, if its a card or to another Firewire or USB controller if its external. Some PC’s have 2 or more USB controllers offering and many or more as 12 or more available ports to choose from so try physically moving the interface around and see what impact that has, Firewire is usually only provided by one controller so moving IRQ’s usually involves installing an extra PCI or PCIe Firewire card and again that card wants to have its own IRQ. Unfortunately you can’t change IRQ’s on a Laptop’s devices unless you have multiple controllers on board to move to which is very rare for laptops, or you purchase a dedicated Expresscard USB or Firewire interface to slot into the laptop’s expansion slot.

Theres some detailed further info regarding IRQ assignments on M-Audio’s website here:
http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=support.faq&ID=80d7b56e35ea51e73104295aec1f755b

Hope that’s a help.

5 Things To Test The Patience Of Any Producer Or Engineer

2012-05-12T19:10:59Z

A bit of fun really, but there seems to be a few things that connect all producers and engineers around the world - here are are my top 5 rants of things to test the patience of any engineer.

Artists/Clients asking you what you are doing every time you reach for a knob, fader, plug-in, microphone, cable. Whilst we want to try and keep those we work for in the loop, trying to give a running commentary during a project is tiring. If they want a lesson on recording then they should join a college, live sessions are not the time for recording 101.
Artists/Clients telling you they don’t like the sound of the drums/vocal/guitar/fill in the blank, about 5 seconds after you’ve finished tracking it. Again, having to explain you are yet to edit/mix/tune/hire a session playing to fix their cr*p/fill in the blanks is just as tiring as number 1.
Artists/Clients telling you they have a copy of Garageband so think they can give you lessons on how to run a 48 channel Neve desk and HDX rig… bless em!
Artists/Clients filling the control room with every man and his dog. In the music world, it’s normally friends, family, girls/boys they met in the pub or worst of all their bloody ‘manager’, they all talk constantly. In the post world it’s normally about 35 agency producers and art directors all on their Blackberries and complaining because the WIFI isn’t working.
Need I say? The Pro Tools session crashing!

So there’s my 5, what are yours?

Pro Tools Quick Tips - Groupies

2012-05-12T11:00:23Z

Tracks

When doing any audio edits, Beat Detective or Elastic audio you need to retain both their timing and phase relationship otherwise it will sound a mess. Use Groups to edit the whole group at one time – it’s a must!

Audio

Many producers group audio regions or clips (Pro Tools 10) using the shortcut CMD + Option + G (Mac) or CMD + ALT + G (Windows). It holds your audio together and doesn’t use up disk space, plus you can ungroup at any time you like.

Metric Halo Release V1.0.2 Of Their Pro Tools AAX Plug-ins

2012-05-12T06:23:29Z

Metric Halo have released the version 1.0.2 maintenance update for the AAX versions of the Production Bundle as well as individual AAX plug-ins. This update fixes the following issues and improves performance with the Production Bundle:

Further optimized CS3, Precision De-esser, and MH MultibandDynamics, leading to an increase in instance counts
Substantial optimization of the processing code, especially for HDX, leading to increased instance counts
Fixed bit-cleanliness on bypassed CS3 blocks; now CS3 with phase invert nulls with unprocessed audio
Fixed issue with grunge when DSP is filled with MH Precision De-esser
Accurate Cycle Counts for all plugins on HDX
Enhanced control surface page table layouts
Fixed some corner case bugs that apparently can cause a DSP crash on heavily loaded systems
Additional interpolation of various parameters in the plugins to provide glitch free parameter changes
Fixed a conflict between CoreGraphics and DAE that can lead to DAE errors (DSP + Native), CPU spiking & overloads (Native)
Fixed a filter stability issue for high session sample rates for CS3
Fixed an issue where the average trace in the analyzer view can get stuck
Reduce the size on disk and in memory of the plugins
Fixed some missing control surface metering support and clip detection
Fixed some small graphic anomalies
Fix for detector for classic compressor in CS3 when Side-Chain filter is enabled
Signed installer for Mountain Lion compatibility

They strongly recommend that all users update their software. The new software can be found on our Downloads page.

I know that the team at Metric Halo have been working very hard to make these plug-ins sing, so if you haven’t tried this bundle of AAX plugins that include both Native and DSP versions then I would recommend that you go to their Demo page where you can download a 30 day trial so you can check out these plug-ins for yourself.

The New Pro Tools Expert App Out Now

2012-05-11T21:36:49Z

You asked us for a new app and you also asked us to make sure it wasn’t just for iOS.

We listened and here it is, with the Android version coming first!

Both versions include;

The latest news
Separate music and post production feeds
All the latest YouTube videos
Access to the Podcast directly

The iOS version should be following in a matter of days, subject to App Store approval.

In the meantime, Android users can download their version now, iOS users check back soon.

It is FREE, can we ask that you please take a moment to rate and review it and show us the love!

Get the Android version now.

* If there are enough requests for a Windows Mobile version then we may consider releasing that too.

What Drive Should I Buy For My Pro Tools System?

2012-05-11T19:23:12Z

There’s never been more choice for those looking to buy a hard drive. There are standard hard drives, SSD and now hybrid drives that combine both SSD and a regular drive in one.

First take a look here to see Avid’s hard drive requirements

Then you need to weigh up the following.

How much space you need
How fast you want your drive to be
How much money you have

You won’t be surprised that if you want a lot of 1 and 2 then you need a lot more of 3.

SSD drives are fast, but not cheap, especially if you want a lot of space, for example a 512gb Crucial SSD is around £500 ($800), whereas for that kind of money you could get 2 x 3TB 7200rpm Seagate drives, or any other good drive for that matter. There are hybrid drives, but the jury is still out on them and reviews haven’t been that favourable.

A couple of things to consider.

As most Macs and PCs have room for more than one drive you can get the best of both worlds by having an SSD as your system drive and a standard drive for your media. That’s the system I have, in fact I have an SSD drive for system, then 3 x standard drives for Sessions, Samples and Video.
Pro Tools 10 HD gave us Timeline Cache, which in fact means that the speed of your drive is far less important. I tested this when Pro Tools 10 first came out and ran a session from my Apple Time Capsule over Wifi to see if it would work and it did.

However, some of you will be on a limited budget and will not have HD, so you need to make sure you choose one good drive, except one thing - you should always try and have a dedicated drive for your media.

So here are the things you should make sure of

7200rpm speed
As much space as you can afford
A known brand - your creative efforts are too precious to trust to a cheap Ebay knock-off, especially when you can buy a quality product for less than £100.

Shop around and you can get a bargain - for example I got a 3TB Seagate Barracuda for £108 on Ebay last week.

5 Things A Pro Tools Editor Would Ask A Video Editor

2012-05-11T08:00:05Z

Here is a collection of things I regularly ask video editors to do (or in many cases wish they would do) when preparing to produce OMFs or AAFs so we can complete the sound track lay and dub.

Please put burnt in timecode (BITC) into the guide video, yes I know it takes time but it is a reliable check to know there aren’t any problems like dropped frames
Please make sure that when you use stereo tracks please put the left track on on odd numbered track and the right track on an even track.
Please don’t mix mono and stereo content on the same track. This is a real pain for sound people as you can’t move whole sections of stuff and move them onto the appropriate tracks in our dubbing session. if there is mono content in amongst stereo stuff it really slows us up.
Please be consistent in your track laying. If you have a number of interviews consider putting each interviewee on their own track. This is especially useful if the interviewee makes multiple appearances within a programme. Put music on a pair of tracks and if you need more than one pair then have a second pair of music tracks but please don’t put other stuff on the music tracks. If you can do this you save our client time and money and that is good news.
Please include the sync sound for any cutaway shots and put the cutaway stuff on a dedicated pair of tracks. It really looks bad if we can see activity on a cutaway shot but we have no sound for it.

We appreciate this maybe not what you would ideally like to do as you have limited track space on your GUI, but wouldn’t it be cheaper to get your edit assistant to split the audio tracks into this kind of format and then create the OMF, than us having to spend time working out what belongs to what and splitting it out? The chances are that your edit assistant doing it is going to be cheaper for our client than me doing it.

OK, video editors so how could we help you?

SynchroArts Release Revoice Pro And New Site

2012-05-10T08:00:07Z

SynchroArts probably best known for Vocalign have released a new product Revoice Pro which takes Vocalign on and offers great new features to pull in vocal tracks, not only bringing different takes in time but also in pitch too. The guys have been testing it hard and I have produced a video for them which shows the kinds of things it can do. So check it out and the new web site too.

As you will see from the video its great for vocal work, producing doubled tracks that are both in time and in tune as well as regular ADR work where the pitch feature can be used to bring some of the internation across from the guide to the dub track. Even better it can produce doubled tracks from a single origial, you determine how tight and how in tune. It works either stand alone or has a Pro Tools AudioSuite ‘link’ plug-in so you can take stuff out and back into Pro Tools.

They have some great introductory offers too.

For new customers they are offering Revoice Pro at 25% discount off Recommend Price of $799 (or £499) down to $599 (or £374 ex VAT) until 24th June 2012.

For existing Vocalign customers, you get an extra 10% off, so 35% discount off Recommend Price of $799 (or £499) down to $519 (or £324 ex VAT)

Mixing Basics - Dynamics

2012-05-10T05:00:35Z

Click to watch

In this video we look at why we control dynamics and how we use basic dynamics to shape the sound of a track.

HOFA Release Free AAX Pro Tools Plug-in

2012-05-09T11:40:19Z

Not only is it free but this plug-in packs an awful lots of features into it. HOFA could have made several separate plugins and they would have been very useful but this is overflowing with features.

Meter
Firstly it is a level meter, and they have included the EBU R128 loudness spec into it so the middle bargraph can be configured to read Loudness in a range of formats as well as momentary, short term or integrated EBU readings.

Level
There is a fader and also you can trim the left and right channels separately.

Pan
There is an interesting pan option that enables you to bring each side in or out, I suspect it is a new GUI take on conventional pan controls but I like it.

Mid Side (MS)
They have included an MS decoder into it so you can decode MS into LR or vice versa.

Buttons
Amongst the buttons by the side of the fader they have included a mono buton which is really useful to check mono compatibility if you don’t have that feature in your monitoring path.

Conclusion
So free and AAX Native, that’s a double result in my book. Go take a look at their other plug-ins too.

What About This For a Mac Pro Replacement For Pro Tools?

2012-05-09T10:23:45Z

Sonnet Transform a Mac mini Server with Thunderbolt Technology into an Rack Mount Server!

This is what Sonnet say…

In many applications, a Mac mini or Mac mini Server with Thunderbolt technology can easily take the place of a full size server, but the size and form factor can limit its potential. Most importantly, it doesn’t provide slots for PCIe expansion cards to increase its functionality, connectivity, and storage. Sonnet’s xMac mini Server PCIe 2.0 expansion system/1U rackmount enclosure (formerly known as RackMac mini Xserver) addresses these issues and expands a Mac mini Server’s potential in a big way.

Key Features

Adds Connectivity and Capabilities to Mac mini—Connects one PCIe 2.0 x16 (x4 mode) slot and one PCIe 2.0 x8 (x4 mode) slot via Thunderbolt technology to the Mac mini, supports high performance expansion cards

Server Room Ready—1U rackmount enclosure with user-replaceable power supply and fans, built-in cable management featuress

Diverse PCIe Card Support—Supports Fibre Channel, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, pro video capture and playout, SAS/SATA RAID controllers, pro audio, and other PCIe cards

Supports Thunderbolt Expansion—Enables daisy chain connection of additional Thunderbolt technology devices through second Thunderbolt port

Front Panel Operation—Front panel power button activates power switch on Mac mini; USB port enables connection of keyboard, mouse, thumb drive, etc.

Rear Panel Connectivity—Gigabit Ethernet, USB and HDMI ports are mounted at the rear of the chassis for easy connectivity

Energy Efficient—Variable speed fans adjust to the unique needs of each configuration, and the auto power on/off feature insures there is no energy wasted with cards powered on when the system is off

Now it isn’t Pro Tools approved yet, but it does provide an interesting option for high end Pro Tools users. The box is due for release in June and the projected price is $1295 plus you need to buy a Mac Mini but even then, it still isn’t silly money compared to a Mac Pro.

Our Good Friend Mike Aiton Launches Post Production Blog

2012-05-09T08:00:22Z

Mike has launched his new blog with an excellent post on what to say to people who ask you to work for nothing. Although Mike has written it from a post perspective the principles he outlines in his opening post apply to all disciplines.

Today’s rantlet is aimed at independant and short film makers.
I like to start a conversation with any new Director/Producer by putting a few cards down on the table and making a few things clear to manage any expectations and avoid disappointment, and I also often have to remind them of some good universal rules.

I am not a charity and do not work for free - I have been successfully earning my living this way for nearly 25 years (as I am very good at it). I have a family to feed and a mortgage to pay and I like skiing! Please don’t ask otherwise and risk offence.

I will not LOAN you my time and experience and skills while you try to earn money selling your completed film. Ask your bank for money, that is what they do.

If you want a great deal, then you have to be very patient! Good people are busy - and they are worth waiting for!

Please do not try the cliche about “when I get my first feature, it will be you, I promise”. Often production and post productions deals are out of your hands when you hit “the big time” and your hands will be tied.

To read the rest of this post go to Mike’s blog. You might want to sign up especially if you are in the post world, it will be worth reading.

We're Now On Stitcher Radio

2012-05-08T22:42:59Z

Great news! The Pro Tools Expert podcast is now being featured on Stitcher Radio.

You can hear our show on Stitcher SmartRadio, Stitcher allows you to listen to your favorite shows directly from your iPhone, Android Phone, Kindle Fire and beyond.

On-demand and on the go!

Don’t have Stitcher? Download it for free today at Stitcher.com or in the app stores. Stitcher SmartRadio- The Smarter Way to listen to radio. Click here to find out more

How Are You Getting Around Pro Tools? Poll

2012-05-08T19:18:08Z

Some of us swear by a control surface, other’s of us a dedicated keyboard, while other Pro Tools users are shortcut Ninja, so what’s your way of getting around our favourite DAW?

Comments System Updated

2012-05-08T12:12:01Z

You may recall our recent article on the future of forums and the issues facing them right now. One thing we liked the concept of was the ability to vote comments up and down.

Well, hey presto, Disqus have now updated our comments system and given us that feature, so now we can all decide who we want to see more and less of! Be interesting to see how it works out.

50% Off For 2 Days At McDSP With AAX Support

2012-05-08T07:50:14Z

Our buddies over at McDSP have a super deal from May 7th-9th. Buy any HD or Native plug-in at 50% off! These prices are only available May 7-9, so buy that plug-in you’ve been wanting NOW! AAX support is coming soon so take advantage of these incredible savings before they’re gone! All v5 plug-ins automatically include support for AAX. This offer is only valid on individual plug-ins, and not on upgrades or bundles.

v5 plug-ins include support for:

RTAS
TDM*
AU
AAX Native (software update this summer)
AAX DSP* (software update this summer)
*Only available with an HD license

More here