Malcolm Boyce wrote:So instead of straying another thread any further, this post got me wondering about what you all are doing:
Mathieu Benoit wrote:macrae11 wrote:As to the combining sessions like you describe, Pro Tools is absolutely stunning at that. You don't edit anything in the actual file, instead it's directly in the main session but it's incredibly flexible and allows you to import or not import whatever you want. It would be much more difficult for me to do my job without this feature.
It's back to the cost of time thing.
I can load up and set up the next song in a bed tracking session with all the previous song's settings/cue mixes intact, make the minor tweaks that I need for that particular song and be up and running within 2 minutes. In Cubase, I'd have slit my own throat already.
This bed tracking workflow you speak of. When tracking bed tracks of multiple songs, what did you do in Cubase VS what you do in ProTools. I'm curious because I don't know either platform that well.
When tracking beds with similar setups, I will have an appropriately titled project open, and unless for some specific reason multiple passes of that "song" will be included in that project. As soon as we are about to move on to another "song", i will save that project, clear all tracks of content and then "save as" the new song's project. Then we pick up right where we left off settings wise, but with a new title. Turnaround time in the seconds scale.
How 'bout you?
Bed tracks are the real crux of the matter for me, because it tends to be the most expensive part of the process if you cosider session musicans.
In Cubase I simply didn't do it. Cubases cue mix routing was always a pain in the balls. The overall flow of the platform was more geared towards the one single user I found. I loved Cubases implementation of MIDI, but it really wasn't made for big sessions with mutliple participants in mind. So I won't even get in to Cubase bed tracking workflow because it was mostly non-existent for me.
In Pro Tools (just like in all DAWs) each session or "project" has it's own file folder that the DAW indexes to find relevant files. So the "save as" method you are describing wouldn't work for me since I like to keep each session's file separate. In Pro Tools I start by opening up a fresh session (soon I'm going to have Nick make a few templates to make that a bit quicker.) and then I start by getting all my tones to "tape". As I do that I get some rough cue mixes set up for each player. I sometimes monitor each cue mix from the control room from time to time to get an idea of what things are like to them if any issues arise.
Once we are ready to start tracking, we record the first take. If subsequent takes are required new "playlists" are created in literally 2 seconds. "Playlists" are essentially lanes used so that various takes can exist at the same time without al being visible at once. You can cycle through your playlists at anytime to hear various takes of any individual track or groups of tracks.
Once you are done tracking. You simply start a new fresh session (in its own file folder) then you import session data from the original session intot he new session. That data can include but is not limited to: Individual tracks, levels/automation, aux sends, inserts, regions and media, ect. You can customize what gets imported too. For example, in the case of bed tracks I import everything except for audio files and then I continue on with the session. The whole turnaround probably took less than a minute.
Rinse and repeat...