Pro Tools Key Focus Commands

This is my secret to being a Pro Tools ninja. The commands key focus mode, when enabled lets you perform some functions that would normally take multiple key commands or even use the mouse. The great thing about this feature is that you don't have to hold down any modifier keys or mouse clicks to execute these commands. An example is cut, copy and paste, which normally involves the command key and either X, C or V. With the keyboard focus enabled you just have to press X,C or V to execute those commands.
Once you get used to using these commands you will be flying around with your editing in Pro Tools and all your friends, employers, teachers will be extremely impressed.

Read the article below that explains the different commands or watch the video to see an explanation in Pro Tools.
http://www.macprovideo.com/hub/pro-tools/pro-tools-10-commands-keyboard-focus-mode

Ever wondered what goes on behind a show production?

The International College of Music just paid tribute to the legends of Classic Rock@KLPAC on the 26 & 27th of April 2013, and the entire production was handled by a student team. Yes, a student team indeed!

But staging a big event is never easy as it involves weeks of rehearsals to prepare for the final show . Our student crew consisting of a mixture of students from the CAP (Certification in Audio Production), BMUS (Bachelor of Music), BTP (Berklee Transfer Programe) & FIM (Foundation in Music) programmes worked collectively in pulling off another successful ICOM Celebration Series Concert.

Show production is all about working closely in teams and working hard. Perhaps you could be in the production team for our future tribute concerts?

Here is a snippet of the technical production team hard at work as they pack up to move to KLPAC:

Four things you didn't know about air:

1. Sound is moving air

2. Sound is created with a disturbance of air

3. Sound is heard through a mixture of compressed (high pressure) and rarefied (low pressure) air

4. Sound can only be heard in air besides liquids and solids

Third Ear Anyone?

How do you know Front-Of-House mixing is for you?

Here are five clues to tell you that you desperately want to be a Front of House (FOH) engineer and mix live shows:

1. You always want the best seat in the house not because you want to watch but you want to listen to a fantastic performance!

2. You just like standing in front of big boards or desks that have lights and knobs fitted on them (in true Star Trek control centre style) and oh yes, they also control sound.

3. You secretly wish to say ‘soundcheck, 1, 2,’ just for the fun of saying it since you’ve heard it a number of times before.

4. You always desired to be a puppeteer, but don’t like wires tied to your fingers, as you prefer your fingers to be free yet controlling something.

5. You also secretly wish to be a performer but in this case perform on the board or console for the audience as well as the band each night.

Give these five clues some thought and if you are one of them who has had such hints knock on your mind, then you should seriously drop whatever it is you are doing right now and get yourself admitted into the CAP programe since we will teach you about Front of House mixing!

Kick Drum Enhancement

Getting good bottom end on the kick drum has always been an issue which engineers have struggled with. The ideal situation is to get that bottom end by excellent mic placement but sometimes the ideal situation does not present itself. Luckily, with digital technology this issue can be addressed in the mix.

My technique is to layer a kick drum sample, along with the original kick drum. This can take some time as its pretty much a manual job of splicing, copy, pasting till the desired result is achieved. The most important thing to look out for is phase issues. Make sure the sample and the original waveforms are in phase. In other words, make sure they are reaching their positive and negative peak at approximately the same time. This will involve zooming in and visually comparing the two waveforms.

The following video shows an example of the result of this sample layering technique. The result is subtle as I did not want overpowering low end, but if you use headphones or full range speakers you should notice the difference.

Video Link

Tape Saturation Emulation

By: Rishabh Rajan - Music Production & Technology Faculty

Ever since the audio production world went all digital, there has been a craving for that analog warmth which is associated with using an all analog signal flow along with printing to a multitrack tape recorder. At the same time most people prefer the convenience of digital technology. I could never image life without the undo option. 

Today we can have the best of both worlds with analog emulation and tape saturation plugins. One of my favorite ones is Phoenix II developed by Dave Hill of CraneSong. I find this to be even better than the real thing because with this plugin you can choose how much of that saturation you want. You can even bypass it to compare the result. All this would not be possible with a real multitrack tape recorder. You can add the plugin on all your tracks or just on specific track or on the master buss. 

If you are new to the world of analog emulation, it can be a bit hard to really discern the sound of such plugins. In such situations visualizing things helps a lot. I sent a pure sine wave at 1000Hz through this plugin and in the following frequency spectrum graph you should see what the plugin is adding. 

Normally a sinewave will only register its fundamental frequency on the frequency spectrum graph but here you can clearly see that some additional harmonics have been added. Specifically these are odd harmonics. 

If you want to know more details about how all this works you can read my article reviewing the Phoenix II plugin Phoenix II Review.

The following video gives a demonstration of how this plugin works and what it sounds like.