LAB TEN IN PROTOOLS
STEREO AND PANNING
TASK: MOVING A MONO SOURCE
WITHIN THE STEREO FIELD
Setting Up a Session
•
After creating the session and importing the files, create at
least three mono tracks, and place Key Jingle in the first track.
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Switch to the Mix window, and begin playback.
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While the track is playing, move the pan slider.
The pan slider in the ProTools Mix window.
Automating Panning
ProTools allows for the automation of the panning process.
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Switch to Edit View.
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From the track’s Display menu, select pan.
Selecting panning automation for a track.
The track will now display panning automation in a similar
way to volume automation; for example, the waveform is similarly
greyed out. However, notice that the vertical scale is left to right,
with the top being left, the bottom right.
A track displaying panning automation.
Using the Grabber tool, it is possible to create breakpoints,
with the amount being displayed in the upper left of the track
window.
Creating panning automation.
•
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Create panning automation using the tools available,
including setting individual breakpoints using the Grabber
tool and drawing in automation using the Pencil tool.
Lab Ten using ProTools
TASK: BOUNCE A PANNED TRACK
•
Continuing in the same session used for the previous task,
delete the existing panning automation, and replace “Key
Jingle” with “Briefcase” in the first track.
•
Create the following panning automation for the six events in
the region:
–
–
–
–
–
–
Centre
Left
Right to left moving
Fifty per cent right
Fifty per cent left
Right/left
“Briefcase,” with the panning automation described above.
•
Switch to waveform view, and select the region, then select
Bounce to Disk. . . from the File menu.
•
When the Bounce dialogue box comes up, select split stereo
as the bounce type and Import into Session After Bounce as
the bounce option.
You already know that split stereo will create two mono files,
one for the left channel and one for the right channel. Import into
session will automatically import the two files into the current
session.
•
Give the bounce the name “briefcasebounce.”
ProTools will play the selection as it creates the bounce file,
and then the files briefcasebounce.L and briefcasebounce.R will
appear in your Audio Region List.
•
Place briefcasebounce.L into track two and briefcasebounce.R
into track three, both at time zero.
•
Compare the two files to each other and to track one original’s
panning automation.
Notice that the first event appears equally in both tracks,
while the second sound event appears only in the left track. This is
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logical because the panning automation for the first event placed it
equally in the left and right channels, while the second event was
panned to the left channel.
•
Mute the first channel, and play tracks two and three.
If you followed the steps above, you might be surprised that
you have lost the stereo quality of the sound events. What
happened?
Consider what ProTools created when you bounced the
original: two separate tracks that constituted the left and right
channels of the stereo image. You moved the two files into two
separate tracks: where is ProTools sending the tracks?
•
Switch tracks two and three to display panning automation.
Both tracks two and three are set to the default pan position,
which is centre. Therefore, both tracks are being sent equally to the
left and right channels, and we are hearing identical signals from
the left and right speakers.
When importing split stereo files into mono tracks, remember to pan
the tracks to the appropriate pan position.
•
Using the Grabber tool, move track two’s first panning
breakpoint to the top (100% left), and move track three’s first
panning breakpoint to the bottom (100% right).
•
Play the two tracks. Pan position should now be restored.
Setting pan position on two split stereo tracks to retain stereo
imaging.
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USING STEREO SOURCE FILES
Importing stereo source files is no different from importing a
bounce that resulted from a panned track. ProTools will
automatically split a stereo file into two mono (split stereo) files
during the import process. Similarly, importing a track directly
from CD will create separate mono files.
Once a stereo file has been split and appears in the Audio
Region List, you can use the files within a session.
The Audio Region list, displaying a mono file
(WrappingMachine), and a converted stereo file (Bulldozer)
that resulted in two mono files, one for each channel.
Stereo versus Mono tracks
It is possible to create a stereo track when you create a new track
(File -> New Tracks…).
Creating a stereo track.
Once a track has been created, there is no way of changing it
from mono to stereo, or vice versa. It is easier to simply delete the
track (select it, then File -> Delete Selected Tracks…).
Stereo tracks allow you to use the split mono tracks of an
imported stereo file together.
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Two mono tracks used to hold the two converted mono files
from a converted stereo file (top); a stereo track holding both
mono files together.
It is thus possible to maintain control over both split stereo
files in one track, and solve many of the complications of dealing
with individual mono tracks. However, unless you are extremely
organized and allocate your stereo and mono tracks beforehand,
you will be in the situation of having to place split stereo files in
mono tracks, even if only temporarily.
Placing the Two Files in Adjacent Mono Tracks
Since ProTools cannot use stereo files within mono tracks, you need
to allocate two mono tracks for the two split stereo files. Although
the pair of files exist separately and independently and can be used
as separate regions, it is easiest to place them in adjacent tracks.
Before placing the files in the tracks, make sure there is space
available for both regions. Remember that dropping a region on top
of another, even accidentally, can cause new regions to form;
therefore, take a second to clear the tracks.
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Moving Both Files at Once to Ensure that
They are Placed at the Same Time Location
After ProTools has imported the files, they will remain highlighted
(selected) in the Audio Region List. This allows you to move both
files simultaneously. If the two regions are to be placed at the
beginning of a session, this is not a concern; however, if the two
regions are to be placed after a certain amount of time, it is
necessary to ensure that they are placed at exactly the same time
locations. Dragging the regions separately and with even slight
carelessness can result in different start times. This loss of
synchronization may be used as an interesting effect (it would be
heard as a stereo delay between the two channels); however, the
stereo image will be lost.
Note that you can always use Spot mode to assign precise
start times if the two regions do get out of sync.
Setting the Panning Correctly
Set the panning so that the left mono region is panned hard left
(100%) and the right mono region is panned hard right.
Because there is a limited number of audio tracks within
ProTools, it is often impossible to dedicate pairs of tracks to playing
split stereo files only; these tracks may have to alternate with mono
files as well. Of course, this isn’t a problem as long as you take into
account the different panning automation relationships.
Using Groups to Deal with Volume Envelopes
The use of Groups within ProTools will be discussed in Lab Eleven.
TASK: PANNING A MONO SOURCE
VS. STEREO RECORDING
This task explores the difference between using a stereo source
recording and a monophonic version of the same source and using
panning.
Setting Up the Session
You will need to create a mono file from a stereo file. To do this,
you will need to bounce the imported stereo file.
•
Create a new session and import track 32, “City Ambience”.
Place the regions into a stereo track.
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The stereo file in a stereo track
•
Change the track view to Pan Left:
Display left panning control in the stereo track
•
Drag the left panning level to 0 (the middle of the track):
The left track is now panned to the centre
•
Do the same for the right channel. Play the track – it should
sound mono (since you’ve panned both tracks to the middle).
•
Bounce the region to create a mono file:
Select multiple mono. This will create two identical mono files.
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•
Make sure Import After Bounce is selected:
Import After Bounce will place the new file into the Audio
Region List.
•
Create two mono tracks, and drag the new files into the new
tracks:
ProTools created two files, both of which are identical. When
they are imported, ProTools doesn’t know this, and assumes
they are stereo. But remember, they are both the same mono
file.
See? Same files…
•
Listen to either of the mono tracks by soloing them.
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Panning the Track
•
Set the panning to begin at eighty per cent right, then from
four seconds through ten seconds, move the panning to eighty
per cent left, leaving it there for the remainder of the region.
Panning a mono source to give a stereo quality.
•
Listen to the track.
Listening to the Stereo Image
•
Track One should still contain the original stereo file. Solo
track one to listen to it.
TASK: PROCESSING AS A BRIDGE BETWEEN SOUNDS
Setting Up a Session
•
After creating a new session and importing track 56
“Audience” and track 2 “River” from the Soundscapes and
Sound Materials CD, create four stereo tracks and place
“Audience” in track one and “River” in track four.
•
Listen to them both separately.
Processing the Files
We will process both regions through the same setting.
•
With the “Audience” region selected, select select 4-Band EQ
II from the AudioSuite menu.
We want to boost the frequencies above 5 kHz, and cut the
frequencies below 1 kHz. We could do with in two separate
passes using the 1-Band EQ II, or we could accomplish both
at the same time using the 4-Band EQ II.
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Doing two things at once: the 4-Band EQ II allows us to boost
the highs and cut the lows at the same time.
Because the four separate filter/EQs are in parallel, the signal is
sent to the four processes separately, and their results are summed. It
is possible to specify complex, overlapping settings; it is also possible
to specify contradictory settings. For example, you can boost a
frequency range in one peak filter then cut the same range in
another. In order to understand the interaction between the four
filter/EQs, it might be necessary to diagram the effects quickly.
•
Process the file.
•
Select the River region, and process “River” in exactly the
same way, with the same settings.
Change your Audio Region List, renaming and/or deleting
regions as necessary so that it contains the following:
–
Audience (the original “Audience” files)
–
Audience HI (the processed “Audience”)
–
River (the original “River” files”
–
River HI (the processed “River”)
A Dynamic Relationship
•
Place Audience in track one at time 0:00 .
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•
Using volume automation, create a five-second fade-in from
-α to 0 dB starting at time 0:00.
•
Create a ten-second fade-out, beginning at time :20.
Volume automation on “Audience”
•
Place Audience HI in track two at time 0:00 .
•
Set the volume automation to begin a -α , then create another
breakpoint at time :10 at -α (to keep the volume off until then).
Create a ten-second fade-in (-α to 0 dB) from :10 to :20.
•
Create a ten-second fade-out (0 dB to -α), from :30 to :40.
Volume automation in “Audience” and “Audience HI”
Switching Sounds
•
Move “River” (which should still be in track four) to :20
(where the original “Audience” begins its fade-out. Place
“River-HI” at exactly the same location in track three. Use
Spot mode to do this, or watch the Selection area to place the
regions at the same location.
The Selection area – remember it?
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•
With these two regions still selected, Duplicate them
(Command D on the Mac, Control D on the PC) six times so
that they continue to past 1:00.
•
Fade in “River” (-α to 0 dB) from :25 to :35—a ten-second fadein. You will also need to move the first breakpoint on each
track to -α.
•
Fade out ”River” (0 dB to -α) from :41 to :51.
ProTools displays the exact time of your cursor during
editing, which is useful for our task. A red line appears in the
timeline (circled below), and the numbers displayed after Cursor
show the time in the current time scale.
Watch the Cursor display for more precise editing.
•
In the third track, which contains “River Hi”, create a tensecond fade-in (-α to 0 dB) from about :37 until :47. Then
create a ten-second fade-out (0 dB to -α) from :55 to 1:05.
Your session should look something like the one below when
it is displayed with volume automation:
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The above task, with four tracks of volume automation.
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