Digital Audio Workstations:
Working with ProTools Free
Getting Started | Setups & Troubleshooting | Basic Production | Voice Editing

by Jeff Towne

Ok, so you have a computer, you loaded up some extra RAM, you downloaded the ProTools Free application (or purchased the CD) and you're ready to go. Now what?

Sadly, it's a minefield. Although ProTools Free is an extremely powerful and flexible editing and mixing environment, getting your audio "acts and tracks" into the computer is more complicated than it ought to be. The good news is that I'm confident that there will be an easy solution very soon. The bad news is that we have stumbled into the realm of the early adopter, and will have to improvise a bit until some of the kinks have been worked out.

The trouble starts with PTFree's refusal to accept input from external hardware. I suppose this is a bid to encourage the serious musician or audio producer to spend some money and at least buy an interface that ships with the LE version of the program, or a fully-loaded system. It's frustrating though, because the technology exists right now, but all the parts are not talking to one another.

Complicating things is that many of the newest Mac computers are not shipping with audio inputs of any kind. The presumption is that one will use an external USB device, or pull soundfiles from the internet, or via the CDROM drive. But right now, PTFree will not launch with USB audio selected as the system audio input.

So one is stuck with a couple of work-arounds.

• If your Mac or PC has analog inputs, use those.
• Record audio via a USB device into another program, then save or export as a file type that ProTools will read (SD2 or aiff on the Mac, .wav on the PC.) Then import the audio into PT for editing and mixing.
• If you have access to a stand-alone CD Recorder, record all your tracks to CDR, and then import the audio as a soundfile extracted from the CDR.
• Bite the bullet and spend the money to get a hardware interface (if you have an available PCI card slot.) This won't help if you have a laptop, or an iMac or a Cube.

Can it possibly be worth all the trouble? Yes. Even with all this annoyance, it's still so easy to edit and mix in ProTools Free that you'll still be ahead of the game.

Option One: Analog

Here are the things to keep in mind:

• Built-in or bundled sound interfaces on either platform often use less-than-ideal connectors, such as eighth-inch "mini" plugs, or if you are lucky, RCAs. And the components are unlikely to be the highest quality. Try to make the best of the situation and use good quality cables, and always feed the loudest levels possible without distortion.
• Using built-in sound means that the sensitive processes of analog to digital conversion, and perhaps even microphone preamplification, are occurring inside the computer case, where they are more likely to be affected by electromagnetic interference. You are likely to get some background noise using this process, but you may find that it is at acceptably low level.
• It is crucial that you know what level the sound input is designed to accept. There are three likely possibilities: Microphone level, -10dB or +4 dB. Many computers, including most Macs, have a mic-level input. This is the worst-case, but also the most common. Microphone levels are very low, and need to be amplified before going to the digital converters. Conversely, line-level signals such as would be output from a DAT machine, Minidisc, or mixer are too loud to plug directly into a microphone level input, and will distort.

  Most "consumer" tape recorders and minidisc machines that output their signals on RCA cables or mini connectors operate at -10dB level. Similarly, soundcards with RCA or unbalanced 1/4" inputs and outputs are usually operating at that same level. Pro machines, typically using balanced XLR or Tip-Ring-Sleeve (TRS) 1/4" connectors usually operate at +4 nominal levels. The short version is that the pro machines' outputs are louder.

  Headphone outputs are another flavor altogether, with variable amplification, usually louder than line level. Headphone outputs are notoriously noisy, and should only be used as a last-resort.

  It is crucial to match your levels when transferring audio, to reduce noise levels or overloading of inputs. Let's say you want to get the output of your D7 DAT machine into your iMac, but the input is mic level. In a perfect world you would insert a transformer in-line to knock the level down. But here are some work-arounds:

  Most of the Mackie VLZ mixers have a button on the back that switches the XLR outputs from +4 line level down to mic level. You will need to get a special cable, or use adapters to change the XLR to mini (or dual XLR to stereo mini) but these cables can be purchased, or anyone handy with a soldering iron could make some up for you. Don't have a Mackie VLZ? You can use a simple cable from Radio Shack made to extend walkman headphones, that has a volume control in-line. This is not an electronically perfect way to do it, but it will work. Insert this cable in between your DAT player or Minidisc's line-outs and the computer's stereo-mini mic-in, then adjust the volume control down until the sound is clean, and registering properly on the Pro Tools meters. If you are REALLY desperate, take a stereo mini male to male cable, plug it from the headphone output to the mic-input and turn the headphones WAY down. Not pretty, but it will work in a pinch if your headphone volume knob isn't too dirty.

  On the other hand, many Mac Powerbooks and PC soundcards have only line-level inputs, and if you want to go directly in with a microphone, the mic signal must be amplified up to line level, via a mixer or dedicated mic preamp. If you just plug a mic in and crank the levels up later, you will end up with an extremely noisy and "coarse" signal.

  If you are outputting from a studio DAT machine into a -10dB input, again, you will have too much signal and will likely get clipping and distortion. Insert a mixer in-between and try to use an output with proper -10dB levels, often labeled a "tape out". Or worst-case, simply reduce the output levels from the mixer.

• It is almost always a good idea to mediate the input to the computer with a mixer. You need to carefully control the input levels, and few soundcards allow you to adjust the input sensitivity. Leave those on-screen faders alone! They can't help you! They are for output level.

Unsurmountable Sonic Barrier?

Here's a catalog that has a good run-down of available USB interfaces and some surprisingly candid descriptions of problems and incompatibilities.

Firewire interfaces are just starting to appear, and they seem the most promising of all, because they have much more bandwidth and will be able to move more channels of higher resolution audio than USB can. So far, I've only found two models, and neither can record directly into ProTools.

Another program?!?

I think you will find that editing in PTFree will be easier and smoother than in these other programs, but it is a serious annoyance to have to switch programs, and have to convert or even bounce files just to get them in or out of the computer.

The CDR Solution

Once the audio is encoded on CDR, it's a breeze to extract it as a file that ProTools can read. On the Mac, ProTools will do this internally, although it's a perplexingly named and implemented procedure. Under the "Movie" menu, choose "Import Audio from Other Movie". Navigate to the track on the CD, and choose "convert". PT first makes a Quicktime movie out of the file, and then converts the audio from that, asking you where you would like to put it. You can get rid of the Quicktime file once the audio is converted, but along the way, you end up with some extra files, and inefficiently used disc space.

A better option is to use another utility to extract the audio, such as Toast Audio Extractor. This program will allow you to import portions of a track instead of the whole track. Select a track, click on "preview" then use the selector tool to highlight the section you want. Or just click on the track name if you want the whole thing. Under "options' choose SD2 as your file type and "split" instead of Stereo. Click "extract," name it and save it in the audio files folder of your project. Then, in PT, under the "file" menu, choose "Import Audio/track" to get it into your session. Toast for Mac or Easy CD Creator for PC, by Roxio (formerly Adaptec) will do this simply.

The Upgrade

Ready?

Launch PTFree. You may get a dialog box asking you to configure OMS. If you don't have any MIDI devices connected, you can't, so just click "cancel". Under "file" choose "New Session" and name it something unique and identifiable. You should save the session on the hard drive that you wish to record your audio onto. When you create a new session, PT will put make a folder containing your session file, and folders for your audio files and fade files. As you record or import files, be vigilant about always saving the files in the proper folders, it will make archiving much easier, and will lessen the odds that you will accidentally delete or lose track of a needed soundfile.

Similarly, resist the urge to just use the default names for audio tracks "audio1-01-00.r" etc. You will quickly lose track of what that file is, so double click on the file in the clip bin on the right, or in the edit window using the grabber tool. A dialog box will open asking you to name the file. Call it something short but descriptive. As you cut these soundfiles into segments, you will have the option to name the individual sections. You will discover as you work whether you want to do this. Sometimes it makes sense, such as if you loaded all the narration into one file, you may want to name the individual segments with indicators of what they say.

Set Ups

Your general preferences are also located under this menu, but the defaults are a pretty safe place to start.

Record Something

Then, hit the record button on your transport control, then play (or use command-spacebar) and you are recording. Start your source, and you should be on your way. Additional tracks can be recorded at the end of that soundfile, or in another panel.

You may want to plan out your production from the beginning and start recording into tracks in an organized way. A typical arrangement might be to use the top channel for narration. The next can be used only for actualities. Tracks 3 and 4 could be for music or ambience. Additional tracks can be used for layers, work tracks, etc.

As you start to record, you might run into an alert telling you that PT "cannot allocate disc space" which could be that your drive is too fragmented to record audio to in real-time. To fix it, defragment (optimize) your drive. (Back-up first!) Unfortunately, you could be confronted with this message if your disc is just too slow. Not much to do about that beyond adding a faster drive.

Assuming you avoid the fragmentation issue, you should now have a soundfile. Congrats! Now, play around with it, you won't hurt anything, unless you have "destructive record" checked in the "operations" menu. If it's checked, Uncheck it. Read through the PT documentation and get familiar with some of the controls. Play the audio, fling the faders around. Select a segment, separate it, and move it around. You'll get the hang of it. If not--

Until then, check Barrett Golding's great advice, and the Talk section for more tips.

~Jeff Towne
Tools Editor, Transom

Coming Soon:
The Chop Shop

---

Discuss | Email a Friend | Print Page