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Topic: Pro Tools Training |
Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 13 Sep 2009 8:26 pm |
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Hi,
Has anyone done any official pro tools training at one of the training centers? I'm scheduled to do 12 days worth of courses pretty soon and just wanted to get some advice from anyone who's done that training. I'm pretty inexperienced with operating pro tools, but have done a lot of production work with engineers who do use it. The training will be on version 8. Does anyone have any advice on what I should try and focus on before I get there? I did buy the official courseware book and have been reading it. I appreciate any help you may have.
Thanks, Jeff |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 13 Sep 2009 9:15 pm
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Hi, Jeff, I've heard mixed reviews on the training courses, I'm sure if you get plenty of one-on-one with instructors you will learn a lot. Make good notes on questions you have to make sure you fill in the blanks.
One thing I can really recommend to anyone studying ProTools is to get John Keane's book "ProTools for Musicians". Instead of the typical dry rehashing of features and settings, John teaches as if you were tracking a real session with typical problems and even musician personalities involved (the drummer doesn't want to hear the guitar player in his headphone mix, so how do you make them both happy?)
His style is informative and humorous, and quite thorough, at least as far as tracking and mixing live music goes.
For much more in depth looks at MIDI recording, virtual instruments, and the features new to ProTools 8, get a copy of Mike Collins' "ProTools 8". Loads of great information, but not well organized, takes a lot of skipping around to get it all. (But with the level of functionality and many possibilities in "8", I don't know how you cram it all into one book)
I would love it if you'd come back after your classes and let us know how it went!
Last edited by Mark van Allen on 13 Sep 2009 9:21 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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John Macy
From:
Rockport TX/Denver CO
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Posted 13 Sep 2009 9:19 pm
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+1 on the Keane book....I have been using it in the classes I teach....
_________________
John Macy
Rockport, TX
Engineer/Producer/Steel Guitar |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 14 Sep 2009 5:19 am
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Thanks for the advice guys. I will totally get those books as soon as I can. I'll be doing the training at the Dallas location from Sept. 16-28 and will let you know how things went as soon as I get back.
Thanks again, Jeff |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 3 Oct 2009 8:04 am
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I just got back from 12 days of Pro Tools 8 training in Dallas. The pace was very fast, but there was loads of great information and techniques that I don't think I could have learned as easily from a book. The instructors were very proficient ,and for the most part, patient with the pace of the class. I just thought I would give a brief update since I said I would. If anyone has any questions about the courses I'd be happy to answer them.
-Jeff |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 3 Oct 2009 11:03 am
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Glad you had such a good experience. Any great tricks you want to share?  |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 3 Oct 2009 3:19 pm
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Mark,
That all depends on what you're using Pro Tools for..
As I found out when I got there, most people just sit in their basement and use drum samples, plug-ins and MIDI to make music.... I don't do any of that.. We record live people! Yeah, imagine that! I'm actually really lucky to get to record and edit all the great bands we have here. That being the case I've pretty much brain dumped all the things I knew I wouldn't use. What do you use Pro Tools for? Is it version 8?
-Jeff |
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Mark van Allen
From:
Watkinsville, Ga. USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2009 9:18 am
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| Hey, Jeff, yeah, I'm on 8 on an LE rig with an 002 rack. I have a really great setup with lots of nice mics and outboard gear, and unfortunately get so much time in recording other bands I hardly record any of my own stuff! I'm a late adopter in general, and waited to get into PT until the file storage got easier/cheaper, but I really like the ProTools platform. Really great for editing. |
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Jeff Valentine
From:
Colorado Springs, USA
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Posted 4 Oct 2009 11:50 am
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Hey Mark,
That's great that you're recording other bands. Yeah, PT has recently become much cheaper for people using LE that it used to be. Are you using Melodyne or VocAlign at all? I've started editing some stuff just the other day for the first time. It's a dixieland brass quintet recording that was done a year ago on PT 7. I'm just using it to cut my teeth on right now so that I get faster with navigating through everything and using the shortcuts. I may have some questions for you if I run into something I can't figure out. I took a lot of good notes and have some great books, but sometimes it's hard to find things in there....
-Jeff |
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