Pro Tools 7 Upgrade: Is it worth it?

A few months ago, I was exclaiming how much better Mac's are compared to PC's. Mac's seem to run smoother, have been operating systems, are virtually impervious to viruses, and generally look cooler than PC's. And then, I upgraded to iLife '06.

iLife '06 seemed like a cool thing. It would allow me to format video clips for video iPods. Also, it offered advanced features for iMovie HD and iDVD. One of the services my studio provides is basic video editing.

The problem was, once I installed the required OS update (10.3.9) and the new iLife '06 software, things started to not work. Namely, the iTunes and Quicktime elements.

When I contacted tech support for my system, I learned that there was no way to undo the damage other than to upgrade my operating system to 10.4, commonly known as Tiger. And, since I was upgrading to tiger, I might as well upgrade my Pro Tools from 6.4 to 7. Ugh.

Now, I think it's a good idea to stay current. I mean, I would probably have to upgrade to Tiger and PT7 sooner or later. The thing is, I wasn't given the option of staying with my current settings.

In looking at the disclamer for iLife'06, it does say in black and white, clear as crystal, "10.4 recommended." What it doesn't say is that "your system will not function properly unless you upgrade to Tiger." That would have been more helpful, Apple. Thanks.

On the bright side, one of the benefits to all of this is that I'll actually get to use all of the features on iLife '06. It would be nice to be able to use iTunes again, especially because that's how I encode mp3's for client's reference mixes.

A second benefit to the upgrade is that I get a Pultec EQ bundle included in my Pro Tools 7 package. This is exciting because these are really expensive plug-ins, or virtual "boxes" that I can run signals through.

And yes, I am aware that there is an undo upgrade that will take quicktime back to 6.something, but, FYI, that doesn't work with digidesign core audio components. My computer just looked at me and said, "Yeah, right, like that's really gonna happen."

Is it worth it? I don't know. I'll let you know what I think.

Reason vs. The Mouse

Q: Mike, can I use my mouse to input drum patterns on REDRUM? I don't have a midi keyboard.

A: Yes, you can input drum data via a mouse directly into REDRUM on Reason Adapted.

Although, I have to say that there are also a number of more interesting ways to create midi data. The obvious one, and the one you stated, is through a midi keyboard. In this scenario, you'd just perform the passage into a midi file. From there, you could decide on a tempo and sound.

What I've been doing lately is using a Sibelius to create complex chord structures for jazz heads. You know, Eb maj(min) chords. Melodic minor constructions. Stuff that boggles the mind. You can notate the chord pattern and save it as a midi file. Then, when you import it into Pro Tools, you can assign the midi track to output into Reason Adapted. It makes someone with very little proficiency or skill on the piano sound convincing. No Herbie Hancock, but still, it works for my demos.

But, the mouse if fine too.

The Gossman Passion, Post-Mastering Thoughts

I think I can safely say that I'm done with producing the master for this project. Since finishing the mixing about a week and a half ago, I had some difficult decisions to make about how the master should sound. I'm not surprised that I had a second revision done to the first master I had made a week ago. I've only gotten the mastering thing right on the first try a handful of times.

Mastering affects audio mixes in at least three ways. First of all, the overall EQ of the project is determined in this last phase of production. Secondly, some amount of compression and limiting is applied to make the overall volume consistent from track to track. And finally, the overall perceived volume of the project is determined.

EQ can have a large impact on how commercially appealing a CD can be. A lot of country records are typically considered "bright" meaning there's a great emphasis on adding "zing" and "sizzle." This can help make a track stand out against others on a radio program. Alternately, some jazz recordings are often mixed and mastered "dark." It's all about what you are going for. A danger in making something "bright" is that some of the upper frequencies (5K-10K) can hurt one's ears if they are driven too hard. On this Passion, we often notched out some frequencies at around 8K, just to get a handle on some of the "esses." The name Jesus has two big "esses" and those happen quite a bit in this recording.

Compression and limiting is a double edged sword. On one hand, compression can be used to tame elements that are a bit "in front" that shouldn't be. On the other hand, compression can squash the life and natural dynamics out of a mix. Often, compressed mixes sound better on the radio than uncompressed ones. Also, compression applied too heavily can alter the inherent dynamics of a mix. This was one of the mistakes I made in the first master of this project. I jammed the compression down a bit too hard. It sounded good in the mastering room, but when I took it to the car, everything sounded murky and muddy. To fix this, we backed off the gain.

Overall volume is what is adjusted in order to make a record "loud" or "soft." Rap records and a lot of rock records are commonly made "loud" in order to make them stand out. This is good for pop songs and radio oriented things, but for dynamic recordings it doesn't really work that well. In the first pass of this master, I also made the recording far too "loud." This enhanced some of the murkiness and made is sound even more unclear. In the second pass, I opted to make the master "soft." It works so much better in just about every environment I've listened in. When I think about the recordings this project emulates, I realize that those masters are also "soft."

The biggest lesson I learned on this trip to the mastering studio is that "louder" isn't always "better." "Loud" seems to be the mentality among record labels and many producers I know. "Just make it loud," I've heard more times than once. I think a lot can be said for records that breathe. I mean, people still listen to Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall all the time. Those records are quite soft when compared to most of the disposible crap that gets the loud treatment. I guess if you want to make a classic sounding master, the best thing to do is to let the thing breathe. I'm happier now that I've seen the light.