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Archive II, Assistant Station, AudioPages, AudioStation,
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Avid Remote Response, Avid Unity, Avid Unity ISIS,
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Contents
Chapter 1. Whats New in Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD Software Version 12.6 . . . . . . . . . . . 1
New Features and Improvements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
System Requirements and Compatibility Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Conventions Used in Pro Tools Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter 2. Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Clip Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Clip Effects Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Clip Effects Presets and Settings Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Importing Clip Effects Track Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Chapter 3. Miscellaneous Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Key Command for Save As . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
New Edit Window Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
New Clip View Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Editing Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Fades Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Playlist Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 4. In-the-box Dubbing (HDX Only) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
iii
iv
Contents
Playlist enhancements:
Send Overlapped Clips to Playlist preferences
New Edit commands for playlists
Key commands for cycling through playlists
Additional Playlists indicator
In-the-box dubber workflows (HDX only)
Clip-based effects
Key command for File > Save As
New Edit Window indicators in the Edit window
toolbar:
Task Manager Status
Global Freeze Tracks
Session Data Online Status indicator
New Clip View indicators:
Overlap Shadows
Clip Overwrite Indicator
Chapter 1: Whats New in Pro Tools and Pro Tools HD Software Version 12.6
Conventions Used in
Pro Tools Documentation
Pro Tools documentation uses the following conventions to indicate menu choices, keyboard commands, and mouse commands:
:
Convention
Action
Control+N
Control-click
Right-click
Clip Effects
(Pro Tools HD Only)
Pro Tools HD software provides clip-based effects that let you apply non-destructive EQ, filtering, and dynamics processing to any whole audio clip on any audio track. This lets you modify the sound of any single whole
clip or a selection of whole clips on one or more tracks without having to use rendered AudioSuite processing or
having to process entire tracks using plug-in inserts. Clip effects processing uses the same algorithms as the Avid
Channel Strip plug-in (based on the Euphonix System 5 console channel strip effects), and provides similar controls and settings.
Clip effects settings always stay with the clip, which means you can move, and Cut or Copy and Paste clips
along with their corresponding clip effects settings (clip effects settings are also maintained with other edit commands, such as Duplicate or Loop). You can also Cut Special > Cut Clip Effects or Copy Special > Copy Clip
Effects, and Paste Clip Effects settings independently of the selected clips audio.
You can save and import clip effects settings as presets. You can also use your computer keyboard to quickly
store and recall presets just like you can with plug-in inserts and AudioSuite plug-ins.
Clip effects are fully supported with Pro Tools HD software. However, while Pro Tools software can open and
playback sessions and projects with clip effects as well as Bypass, Clear, and Render clip effects (if present),
it cannot edit clip effects. Clip effects use the host processor (Native processing) on all systems.
With Pro Tools HD, clip effects controls are displayed at the top of the Edit window below the
toolbar in the same space as the Universe display
(see Figure 1 on page 3). You can toggle between
Clip Effects display and Universe display, but they
cannot both be viewed at the same time.
The header at the top of the Clip Effects display provides controls for Presets, Compare, and Bypass
controls as well as displaying the name of the selected, whole Clip.
Clip
Bypass
Clip Effects Settings menu
Presets
Compare
Click the Show/Hide icon for the Clip Effects/Universe displays. If the Universe display
is showing, click the Clip Effects icon in the upper-right corner of the display.
If not already shown, reveal the Clip Effects display (see Clip Effects Display on page 4).
Elastic
Audio
committing
Elastic Audio
rendered
rendered
rendering
Clip Effects
rendered
real-time
rendered
rendering
Clip Gain
rendered
real-time
rendered
rendered
rendering
AudioSuite
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
consolidating
audio clips
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
if present
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
rendered
if present
rendered
command
freezing tracks
Clip
Effects
Clip
Gain
Audio
Suite
Fades
Inserts
rendered
Fader
You can independently bypass EQ, Filter, and Dynamics processing in the Clip Effects display. For
example, you may want to apply Dynamics processing, but not EQ or filtering; or, you may want
to apply only EQ.
Click and drag the title bar of the effect you want
to move to the desired location in the signal chain.
(For example, drag the Dynamics section to the
left of the EQ.)
Clip Effects, EQ enabled, Filters and Dynamics
bypassed
played in the upper right corner of the clip depending on which effects are being applied to the clip.
is displayed when the phase is inverted. EQ is displayed when EQ or Filtering is applied to the clip.
DYN is displayed when Dynamics processing or Input Gain is set to any value other than 0.0 dB.
Click the Show/Hide icon in the lower-right corner of the section you want to show or hide.
Clip Effects Status shown
When Clip Effects are cut or copied to the clipboard, the Paste command changes to Paste Clip
Effects in the Edit menu.
To paste clip effects:
Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Effects > Paste Clip Effects.
Clearing clip effects resets the settings for the selected whole clip (or clips) to <factory default>.
Right-click the edit selection and choose Clip Effects > Clear Clip Effects.
EQ controls
Frequency Graph
Input Trim
The Input Trim control sets the input gain for clip
effects before EQ processing. This lets you make
up gain or prevent clipping at the input stage.
To Trim the input signal, do one of the following:
Phase Invert
The Phase Invert button at the top of the Input section inverts the phase (polarity) of the input signal,
to help compensate for phase anomalies that can
occur either in multi-microphone environments or
because of mis-wired balanced connections.
To enable (or disable) phase inversion on input:
Click the Phase Invert button so that it is highlighted. Click it again so that it is not highlighted
to disable it.
EQ and Filters
Clip effects provides a high-quality 4-band parametric equalizer and two separate filters for shaping the
frequency spectrum of your audio.
Chapter 2: Clip Effects
EQ control point
Gain
(y-axis)
Frequency
(x-axis)
Figure 2. Frequency Graph
10
Gain Boosts or attenuates the corresponding frequencies for the frequency band.
11
Dynamics
Dynamics controls
Dynamics Graph
The Dynamics Graph display shows a curve that represents the level of the input signal (on the horizontal
x-axis) and the amount of gain reduction applied (on
the vertical y-axis). The display shows two vertical
lines representing the Threshold setting for the Expander/Gate and the Compressor/Limiter, respectively. Use this graph as a visual guide to see how
much dynamics processing you are applying to the
incoming audio signal.
Expander/Gate Threshold
Compressor/Limiter Threshold
Knee
Output Signal
(y-axis)
Compressor/Limiter Ratio
Compressor/Limiter Knee
Limiter Depth
Input Signal
(x-axis)
Dynamics Graph
12
Hold Specifies the duration (in seconds or milliseconds) during which the Expander/Gate will stay in effect after the initial attack occurs. This can be used as
a function to keep the Expander/Gate in effect for longer periods of time with a single crossing of the
threshold. It can also be used to prevent gate chatter
that may occur if varying input levels near the threshold cause the gate to close and open very rapidly.
Knee Sets the rate at which the Expander/ Gate
reaches full effect once the threshold has been exceeded.
Depth Sets the depth of the Expander/Gate when
closed. Setting the gate to higher range levels allows
more and more of the gated audio that falls below the
threshold to peek through the gate at all times.
Expander/Gate Controls
Threshold Sets the level below which an input signal must fall to trigger expansion or gating. Signals
that fall below the threshold will be reduced in gain.
Signals that are above it will be unaffected. The Dynamics Graph display shows the threshold as a vertical line.
Ratio Sets the amount of expansion. For example, if
this is set to 2:1, it will lower signals below the threshold by one half. At higher ratio levels the Expander/Gate functions like a gate by cutting off signals that fall below the threshold. As you adjust the
ratio control, refer to the Dynamics Graph display to
see how the shape of the expansion curve changes.
Attack Sets the attack time, or the rate at which gain
is reduced after the input signal crosses the threshold.
Use this along with the Ratio setting to control how
soft the Expander gain reduction curve is.
Release Sets how long it takes for the gate to close
after the input signal falls below the threshold level
and the hold time has passed.
Compressor/Limiter Controls
Threshold Sets the level that an input signal must
exceed to trigger compression or limiting. Signals
that exceed this level will be compressed. Signals that
are below it will be unaffected.
Ratio Sets the compression ratio, or the amount of
compression applied as the input signal exceeds the
threshold. For example, a 2:1 compression ratio
means that a 2 dB increase of level above the threshold produces a 1 db increase in output. The compression ratio ranges from 1.0:1 to 20.0:1. Once the Ratio
control passes 20.0:1 the Compressor/ Limiter effect
functions as a limiter rather than a compressor.
13
Depth Sets the amount of gain reduction that is applied regardless of the input signal. For example, if
the Limiter is set at a Threshold of 20 dB and Depth
is set at 0 dB, up to 20 dB of gain reduction is applied
to the incoming signal (at 0 dB). If you set Depth to
10 dB, no more than 10 dB of gain reduction is applied to the incoming signal.
Gain Lets you boost overall output gain to compensate for heavily compressed or limited signals.
14
Release Sets the length of time it takes for the Compressor/Limiter to be fully deactivated after the input
signal drops below the threshold. Release times
should be set long enough that if signal levels repeatedly rise above the threshold, the gain reduction recovers smoothly. If the release time is too short, the
gain can rapidly fluctuate as the compressor repeatedly tries to recover from the gain reduction. If the release time is too long, a loud section of the audio material could cause gain reduction that continues
through soft sections of program material without recovering.
Source
Dynamics processors typically use the detected amplitude of their input signal to trigger gain reduction.
This split-off signal is known as the side chain. Compressor/Limiter and Expander/Gate processing also
features filtering on the side chain. By filtering the
side chain, you can make dynamics processing more
or less sensitive to certain frequencies. For example,
you might configure the side chain so that certain
lower frequencies on a drum track trigger dynamics
processing.
The Source selector lets you set the source for side
chain processing: Internal or All-Linked.
Internal Uses the amplitude of the input signal to
trigger dynamics processing. With greater-than-stereo multichannel processing, the input signal for each
stereo pair effects only those same channels, and
likewise mono channels are effected only by their
own input signal. For example, with an LCR multichannel format, the processing for the Center channel
is only triggered when the Center channel input sig-
Listen Mode
The Side Chain pane in the Dynamics section provides a Listen button. When enabled, Listen mode lets
you hear the input signal that feeds the dynamic section. This can be either the internal side chain (including the applied filter) or all linked channels of the
source audio.
To enable (or disable) Listen on the Side
Chain:
Command-click (Mac) or Control-click (Windows) the Preset button where you want to store
the current clip effects settings.
High Pass Applies a high pass filter to the sidechain processing at the selected frequency.
Notch Applies a notch filter to the side-chain processing at the selected frequency.
Band Pass Applies a band pass filter to the sidechain processing at the selected frequency.
16
Click OK.
Press Command+Control+15 (Mac) or
Control+Start+15 (Windows) to apply the
number keys to the opposite of what is set for
the 15 Number Keys Control preference (for
example, if Zoom Presets is selected, these
key combinations would apply to Clip Effects
Presets instead). If Commands Keyboard Focus is enabled for the Edit window, press
Command+15 (Mac) or Control+15 (Windows).
Click Open.
Click OK.
17
18
19
Overlap Shadows
When the Overlap Shadows view option is enabled
(View > Clip > Overlap Shadows), overlapping clips
cast shadows over any partially overlapped clips.
This option replaces the Overlap option available in
previous versions of Pro Tools.
20
Copy/Move Indicators
When the Copy/Move Indicators option (View > Clip
> Copy/Move Indicators) is enabled, Pro Tools provides a visual indication of any clips being copied or
moved to an alternate playlist whether or not the track
is in Playlist view. The indicator appears as a blue animated down arrow.
When the Layered Editing option is enabled, any partially overlapped clips are revealed when cutting,
clearing (deleting), or moving the overlapping clip.
Note that if any clip is fully overlapped by another,
larger clip, it is removed from the timeline. In
Figure 3, the clip Audio 1_01 (1) is moved (2) to
fully cover one clip and partially cover another clip
(3). When that clip (Audio 1_02-01) is cleared, the
fully covered clip is gone, but the partially covered
clip is revealed (4).
1
Fully overlapped clip being moved to a new playlist
Editing Enhancements
Layered Editing
Pro Tools provides the option to enable layered editing so that you dont lose partially overlapped clips
while editing. This is true for both audio and MIDI.
To enable (or disable) layered editing, do one
of the following:
Click the Layered Editing button in the Edit Window toolbar so that it is lit (or unlit).
4
Figure 3. Editing with Layered Editing enabled
21
When the Layered Editing option is disabled, overlapped clips remain trimmed to the start or end
time of the overlapping clip. In Figure 4, the clip
Audio 1_01 (1) is moved to cover the middle of a
larger clip (2). When that clip (Audio 1_01) is
cleared, the overlapped clip has a hole punched in it
(3). If Layered Editing is enabled in this case, the underlying clip is completely revealed and healed (4).
Tandem trimming
4
Figure 4. Editing with Layered Editing disabled
Tandem Trimming
Tandem trimming lets you trim the start and end of
two adjacent clips in tandem as long as one clip overlaps the other. When the Tandem Trimming option is
enabled, if the cursor is placed at the intersection of
two such clips, the cursor updates to show two brackets and an arrow to show the direction of the tandem
trim.
Tandem trimming can be used in conjunction with
Loop trimming and Scrub trimming. However, TCE
and Elastic trim do not support tandem trimming.
22
Fades Enhancements
Adjusting Fade Shapes with the
Smart Tool in the Edit Window
Grid Toggle
23
Playlist Enhancements
Send Overlapped Clips to
Playlist Preferences
Pro Tools provides two new preferences for what to
do with fully overlapped clips. Rather than replacing
any completely overlapped clips when editing and
recording, Pro Tools can move any fully overlapped
clips to a new playlist or to the first available (empty)
playlist.
24
Send Fully Overlapped Clips to Available Playlist While Editing Whenever a clip is fully overlapped by another clip when editing, it is moved from
the main playlist to a new playlist (or the first available, empty playlist). This is true for editing on all
playlists, not just the main playlist.
playlist)
Additionally, a clip can be sent to an existing playlist
by Right-clicking on it and selecting Copy To or
Move To.
Move Selection To
The Move Selection To commands cut the current
edit selection and paste it to the selected playlist option (Main, New, Duplicate, or a specific, named
playlist).
25
Copy Selection To
The Copy To commands copy the current edit selection and paste it to the selected playlist option (Main,
New, Duplicate, or a specific, named playlist).
Disable Auto Low Latency for all Record-enabled and InputMonitoring-enabled audio tracks
(blue mode) by doing one of the following:
Route your stem source tracks to your print master track (such as a 5.1 audio track).
Command-Control-click (Mac) or ControlStart-click (Windows) the Track Compensation indicator on the track.
9
Ensure that all plug-ins on tracks that are Record-enabled or InputMonitoring-enabled are
AAX DSP plug-ins. Using AAX Native plugins will result in audible artifacts as they will be
bypassed and unbypassed as you punch in and
out.
10
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