Here’s a quick tutorial on using the ProTools Identify Beat command (also known as Tempo Mapping).

ProTools Identify Beat Tutorial from Nick Daley on Vimeo.

A quick video to show you some useful track mode keyboard shortcuts in protools. These work in ProTools 8.0 and above, I have not tried them in 7.

Record arm a track (your cursor must be placed on that track): Press Shift + R
Place track into input mode: Shift + I
Place track into mute: Shift + M
Place track into solo: Shift + S

ProTools: Record arm a track from the keyboard from Nick Daley on Vimeo.

As you know, NoiseFreak deals with many clients across the country. I work with individuals and large corporations alike and we operate on a level of mutual respect. That brings me to the lack of respect conveyed by a company I recently dealt with regarding the installation of acoustic absorption in the new studio. A sales rep came to my house and never followed up with me. I do not have people in and out of here every day so it’s not like I can forget who walked through the front door. Take a moment to read the chain of emails below. Keep this company in mind as one NOT TO USE while considering the installation of your acoustic solutions.

** Email Chain begins here (Start from the bottom and work your way up) ***
Read more »

There are a couple of shortcuts that significantly speed up my editing in ProTools. Some of you may already know these but for those who don’t, you’re gonna love it. Here’s a video:

Reaktor, FM8, Absynth and Massive are all on sale for $99 each from November 27th through 30th only (and available from the NI store only). Here’s the link. Happy tweaking!

So today was a nightmare. I got the dreaded DAE  -4 followed by a DAE  -9003 error. This indicates a communication problem with the DSP cards. Digidesign says it could be a faulty Core or Process card which means I’d have to send it in for repair and be out of commission in the mean time.

In the end, I got it fixed but not before some serious headaches and cursing. Turns out my DSP chips are fine (I hope) and it was corrupt preferences (shocking, digi preferences getting corrupt? Noooo).

The Steps I took to get to a resolution:

First I trashed DigiSetup.OSX in my user prefs folder (users/yourusername/library/preferences/) and rebooted. Same problem.
I ran digitest to check the DSPs… it kept crashing and I rebooted, ran the test, rebooted, ran the test, etc. with the same results.
I then trashed DAE Prefs — still a no go.
Turned the machine off, powered down the 96, checked the cable connectors in the back of the machine. Tried again. No go.
This time I deleted all four preference files (com.digidesign.ProToolsHD.plist, DAE Prefs folder, DigiSetup.osx and ProTools v8.0 Preferences).

PRESTO. It works. So all four prefs gone and wiggling cables solved the problem - for now. Ran digitest application and results came back with a passing score. I know I say it again and again that trashing prefs resolves a lot of problems and this case was no different. I’ll be pulling my machine out and dusting the inside just for good measure - after all, dust is a conductor and can fry components if you let it build up long enough.

Here’s a link to Digi’s site about the -9003 error: http://tinyurl.com/y9rn4c8
Here’s another link regarding the -4 error: http://tinyurl.com/y939t4t

And here’s to hoping you (or I) never encounter the -4 error for real!!

- Nick

So I just stumbled across a shortcut that should have been obvious but I don’t think I’ve ever used it. It sits right there in the edit menu (I rarely use menu’s anymore - maybe I should rifle through them from time to time).

“Restore Selection” option+command+z

I clear my selection on accident from time to time so this one will be handy. Thought I’d share.

Sometimes Copy and Paste is just tedious. Sometimes you have so much to duplicate that you’d use up all your undo’s before you finished your intended effect. Two quick key commands, which you may or may not have known about, make some duplicating tasks more productive and less time consuming.

1) Pressing Option + R will repeat your selection a specified number of times.
2) Pressing Option + Command + V will fill your selection with whatever is on the clipboard.

These key commands speed up the process of stutter edits, duplicating your chorus in a song, repeating a kick drum sample, etc. Check out the video below to see them used in context.