ProTools: The Mix

Breakpoint Automation:

An easy and accurate way to write volume, pan and other automation information is by using breakpoint automation. In the lower-left corner of a track's display in the edit window, there is a box that switches the track to display the waveform, volume, mute or pan.

If the channel has aux sends, one can also display the volume or mute status of those sends. Choose to display volume, and the waveform graphic will fade a bit, and there will be a horizontal line across the track indicating 0dB: no boost or cut. By clicking on the line with the grabber tool, you can create "breakpoints" and drag the volume level up or down, accomplishing the same thing as riding a fader. By using this technique, one can more accurately create and adjust volume changes, using visual cues as an aid, and align the volume (or other parameter) to the EXACT time and level where one wants it, not as close as was practical by dragging a mouse or riding a fader.

A simple adjustment would be to drag a music bed down about 12-15dB under a voice. Start the duck before the voice over, and allow it to continue to fade a bit under the start of the voice, to make the transition less obvious. A plain, linear drop in volume often sounds a bit mechanical, so more points can be added along the path, to create a smoother, more natural sounding duck. The best shape of the volume change curve will be different depending on program material and personal taste, but if one tries to approximate more gentle curves, the volume change usually feels more natural.

This same idea can be translated to any volume changes, not just short ducks or boosts, don’t be afraid to make long, gradual adjustments over many seconds, even minutes. The volume automation can be adjusted for any track, including aux channels and master faders, and often making volume adjustments to those grouped channels can be a real time-saver.

Option-clicking with the grabber tool over a node will delete that breakpoint. Dragging the region tool over a range of breakpoints selects them, at which point they could be deleted, by hitting delete, or if one then selects the trimmer tool and drags up or down, the range of events will raise or lower together.

If you change your production by deleting or moving soundfiles around, the automation data that is located fully within the region being moved should move along with the sound, but the reality is that automation often gets glitched during large structure changes. It's generally more efficient to make only rough level adjustments until you are pretty confident of the placement of all your elements, then go in and tweak.

<< part 1 Intro / Real Time Automation

part 3 >> Region Cross-Fades