Pro Tools TV Post Production Template For 5.1 Projects

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Monday 03.08.21
Free Pro Tools TV Post
Posted by Damian
Kearns
Production Template For 5.1
Projects
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Damian Kearns from 217 Audio in Toronto in Canada

reached out o ering to share his 5.1 with stereo fold down
Pro Tools template, that you can download for free. Over to
you Damian…
I have designed what I think is a unique TV production

template for typical 5.1 and stereo fold downs that meets
virtually every delivery requirement I am faced with. The
output busses are all lined up to allow for quick o ine
bounces.
Trusted content from independent   
Most templates I encounter require multiple bounce passes
music and post production experts.
to output the various mix and stems deliverables I am
Copyright (C) 2021
mandated to provide, for TV, lm and internet content. Some
https://www.pro-tools-expert.com/home-page/free-pro-tools-tv-post-production-template-for-51-and-stereo-projects 1/16
4/15/2021 Free Pro Tools TV Post Production Template For 5.1 Projects | Pro Tools - The leading website for Pro Tools users
require VCA’s to be bypassed on a second print pass and

often the templates seem to retro t 5.1 mixing to what
appears to be originally intended as a stereo template. My
aim with this template session was to bring simplicity to an
otherwise complicated process. To that end, I have
abandoned VCA masters, lined up all my desired output
paths so o ine bouncing is as simple as having the path
engaged inside the session, incorporated a simple upmix
plugin that is a ordable, and stuck mainly to Pro Tools stock
plugins to bring a certain universal utility to it.
Why No VCAs?
Brie y, I bypassed the VCA master approach, as my early
years of mixing were spent on Split Buss Consoles, printing
directly to tape and print mastering later. I didn’t really use
VCA masters, as it was just another thing for my forgetful
mind to have to contend with. In those days, I often mixed
without automation so memory and ear was all I had.
This template is really analogous to the model I’ve always

used: Audio tracks, E ects Processing, Sub Masters, and
“Tape Tracks.” The voiceover dips tracks in this scenario are a
new phenomenon, almost akin to a return from tape where
the narration can be mixed into the program. In actual fact,
they are an insert before the Mix is printed. This is how I
bypassed the use of VCA masters.
Why would I do this? So I can print more deliverables at the

same time, and since I often turn groups on and o while I’m
working, to avoid accidentally omitting the layer of
automation VCA’s provide.
Some Background
The output paths are at the top of the list in the IO Setup. If
the fold down path isn’t turned on and active, it can’t be
selected. This avoids the headache of sifting through paths
trying to determine what the output path ought to be.
The use
music and post production of upmixers in this template helps avoid a common
experts.
Copyright (C) 2021 problem I have encountered over and over: When audio is
shouldered between the front and rear channels, it actually

adds gain to the stereo fold down. I’ve seen this push simple
5.1 mixes into noncompliance with broadcast delivery specs
and subsequently, those mixes were rejected. A little tone
and testing and it’s easy to see, the 5.1 and stereo mixes read
more or less identically on any dial norm metre.
In this session, I have used the cheapest upmix plugin

currently available because it’s easy to convince a studio or
production house to spend a little to save a lot. In my
personal version of this template, I use another piece of
software I prefer more. It’s simple to swap things out. In fact,
in my personal template, I use di erent reverbs as well. This
is an easy template to tweak to taste.
I mix o the sub-masters and dips tracks around dialogue

and narration, after rst balancing a preliminary music and
e ects mix. I nd this keeps things very simple. My Dialogue,
BG, SFX and music are typically grouped to allow me to grab
one of the grouped faders and trim things as necessary.
Easter Eggs On O er
The "Easter Eggs" hidden in this template are my Window
Con gurations and my Eucon setup. I don’t expect anyone to
use them but they’re there to be reviewed and edited or
deleted.
The Sync BG path can be used as a second SFX path if B-Roll

audio isn’t a separate requirement. In my current deliveries, I
have this path and its prefader sub-master stem sending to
the 5.1 Mix and SFX Stem, respectively.
Tried And Tested

Since June 2020, I have delivered 40 hours of long format TV
for a variety of clients using this template. I haven’t had a
single rejection or technical note. What’s even better, my
subcontractors nd it very easy to work inside this template. I
Trusted content fromhope
independent
you will too.   
Copyright (C) 2021 I’ve “open-sourced” this template with the hope that other
people might nd it— if nothing else- educational.
Finally, before we get into the template, it was designed in

collaboration with my friend Colin Caddies, re ects our
modern work ow, our friendship and our shared desire to
keep things simple.
Let’s take a look.
I/O Setup - Buss Tab
 

Copyright (C) 2021
IO Setup is the rst place to start. Check out the Bus tab.
(images above to help). Bussing is really at the heart of audio
signal processing and it’s often here that I see in other
people’s Pro Tools sessions, the ad hoc approach to
organizing the most vital part of the delivery path.
The IO is set up in a descending order of importance so that

tracing potential issues should be less time consuming than
in sessions where care has not been taken.
In this template, you will see that all print paths are named
and organized at the top, from 5.1 to stereo, and the mono
print outputs. Why? Because I o ine bounce my outputs.
When I go to print and the o ine bounce dialogue bus
comes up I can just keep hitting the little + sign until I have all
the stem outputs I need and then bounce the les. This way
there is no need to hunt and pick through a murky collection
of ambiguously named busses. The only output busses you
can print through are right there at the top. In fact, if you
have dutifully turned o certain print paths in this template
by making those tracks inactive, the little + sign will skip the
outputs it can’t use.
As we move down through the IO, you see submasters, the

busses that feed the submasters, the monitor paths, the
paths used to feed the DIP tracks—more on this to come-,
the UM upmixing paths, the key paths, the LFE paths, reverb
sends, 5.1 print paths for separate dialogue, sound e ects
and music and nally a DEAD path that goes nowhere.
Track Layout
You’ll see a similar approach
to organization in the track
layout within the session.
All audio tracks have their
Copyright (C) 2021 inputs unassigned to prevent
any unintentional feedback

loops.
The audio tracks are also the

only tracks not solo
defeated. They have various
sends assigned for signal
processing and keying down
(preferentially for me, multi-
band) compressors on the
music from either the
dialogue or the narration.
The dialogue, sound e ects,

music and narration audio
tracks feed their sub auxiliary
tracks unless there’s an
upmixer in the chain.
You’ll see some but not all

SFX tracks are routed to the
UM path for upmixing and
we’ve placed the upmixers
on dedicated aux faders to
allow for music to easily be
upscaled during mixing and
for the SFX unmixed content
to be independently level
adjusted over the other SFX
materials.
I’ve defaulted to making

dialogue and narration audio
track outputs mono but the
bussing is in the IO to
facilitate multichannel
panning.
Note there is a Mono

Narration SUB active in the
session and an optional 5.1
Copyright (C) 2021
Narration sub hidden and
inactive next to it just in case

you need to go bigger.
The submasters do much of

the heavy lifting in this
template. Really, the two
upmixer tracks I’d tend to set
and forget but the
submasters at the top of the
session won’t get away that
easily.
These four aux faders are

where I’d make the majority
of my mix moves. Colin and I
are in agreement that the
track plugins, clip gain and
clip e ects do a very nice job Template Track List
of forming the basis for an
elegant premix and from
here, it’s all faders.
We nd ourselves needing to provide at music tracks a lot

so clip gain atly applied to music clips is the best place to
start and from there, you could either use the UM Music
fader to make all your mix moves or the Music Sub fader to
ride music. My personal opinion is it’s just too easy to leave
the audio tracks alone and mix entirely o the subs and DIPS
tracks.
In my personal derivation of this template, I assign the rst

seven faders of this template to an Artist Mix in the Eucontrol
software and fader 8 would be the “attentioned track.” At any
rate, you’ll notice the majority of the print busses get their
start at the Sub faders.
An Exception
One notable exception might be common elements like SFX,
Trusted content fromdialogue
independent   
or sync bg in the opening titles of a series or
music and post production
commonexperts.
graphics elements. These things ought to be mixed
Copyright (C) 2021 at the track or clip level, without voiceover in, and then
dipped afterwards, using the Dips tracks. In this way,

prefader SFX (or dialogue or SYNC BG) would represent a
perfect mix balance for these common elements. It’s typical
for me to use clip gain on all SFX and BG while editing, so my
prefader balances to the split stems represent a decent
premix.
To VCA Or Not VCA? That Is The Question

The DIPS tracks are interesting. I used to use VCA’s for these
dips but there’s a aw in the logic to that approach, at least
for me.
Half the time, I’d look and see that for one reason or another,
I’d been mixing for a while with the VCA group suspended so
nothing was being written or worse still, I’d print my stems
with the VCA’s bypassed and end up having to reprint.
At any rate, I nd this integral approach completely “Damian

Proof.” They only feed the 5.1 Mix and they are the only
faders besides the Narration Sub that do.
Upmixing
The UM (Upmix) tracks are there to make short work of
pushing things to the surrounds and LFE channels. In the
basic template, we’re going with the ubiquitous Waves
UM226 on the conservative “Stereo Preserve” setting but I’ll
be swapping those plugins for Nugen’s Halo Upmix every
opportunity I get because that plugin sounds better and has
more exibility, including the EXACT button.
Music Pan Automation Group

As a time-saver, there’s a Music Pan Automation Group
(Group P) that will only control all the pans for the 4 MUSIC
stereo tracks. This is particularly useful in cases where mono
compatibility is expressly speci ed in delivery specs.
Trusted content fromSFX Pan Group

Moving down past the audio channels, stopping just long
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enough to point out I built a SFX PAN GROUP just to be nice, I
want to stop just short of the MIX Sub, to talk about the SFX
LFE. I’ve been to places where the hardware subwoofer in the
room will actually shoulder any audio content above its
crossover frequency into the centre channel speaker. Not
good. So here I’ve incorporated a roll-o and very mild
compression to keep things nice and bassy without fear of
unwanted spectral content.
The reason there are two side by side and the second one is
made inactive is I regularly take stereo low-end clips and
dump them into the LFE by option dragging a copy onto
these LFE tracks. You only really need one side most of the
time. I do however encounter situations in lm mixing where
I need multiple LFE channels so this is handy. I do nd myself
using two active LFE channels on my bigger mixes with one
dead track between them to handle the excess from the
stereo les.
5.1 Sub Groups

The 5.1 MIX SUB, M+E SUB, and (Mix) Minus SUB ought to be
identical in terms of processing. We could have created a
group just to control all their plugin settings all at once but
we feel it’s safer to manually copy and paste the MIX SUB’s
Compressor and Limiter settings prior to printing anything.
These tracks are routed straight to their print busses AND to
mirrored fold down busses because of the TONES tracks
located at the end of the session.
Colin is a fan of toning from dedicated tracks as he bounces,

as opposed to bouncing stems and bringing them back in for
destructively adding tones to the head (which is what I
typically do). So I needed a separate path to fold down these
three 5.1 Subs otherwise the 5.1 tones would be additive to
the stereo and mono tones. I’d just like to point out that on
the 5.1 tones tracks, I set the LFE to 50 Hz, which is below the
SMPTE crossover curve.
Trusted content fromDownmix

independent Channels   
music and post production experts.channels are next. Only turn on the ones you
The downmix
Copyright (C) 2021 need and make the others inactive. This aids with the swift
assignment of print tracks in the o ine bounce pop-up

window. We added some trims to the dialogue, SFX, Music
and narration fold downs just in case you need to match any
makeup gain or cut you’ve done on your 5.1 submasters to
keep your stems in line with your mixes.
Meter Track
The meter track is derived only from the 5.1 MIX SUB. Swap
your favourite meter if you want. We’re both in favour of
BS.1770-2/3/4 because of the universality of the standard.
Print Tracks
We added print tracks because we recognize not everyone or
even every gig can be comfortably printed o ine. We also
needed some classy way to monitor.
Attention: Note that the fold down tracks feed these print
tracks so turn on the appropriate fold downs in order to
print! For Mix, M+E and Mix-Minus stereo or mono prints,
these tracks would also require the 5.1 Submasters to be
active. Very important.
The Rest
The rest of the tracks in the session are reverbs and
Soundminer and RX monitor faders. I’ll be adding a Revoice
Pro monitor fader to my version as well, for ADR and other
pitch xes. We both also love Melodyne so I expect Colin and
I will have Melodyne dialogue faders in there somewhere
too.
Overall Levels
Overall levels are currently set to a very conservative peak
level of -7 true peak on all 5.1 and mono subs and downmix
tracks, with the stereo tracks, set at -10.
Trusted content fromCheck Your Delivery Specs

music and post production
Pleaseexperts.
check your delivery speci cations before blindly
Copyright (C) 2021 printing this way. It’s best to go into a show knowing what
you need to output. This template was designed to take

hours of work and whittle that time down to mere minutes.
But you still have to spend the time guring out what you
need and ensuring your mix and stems will meet or exceed
the delivery spec.
Peak Limiters
If you want to adjust overall peak limiter settings on the Subs,
Dips, 5.1 Sub Masters, stereo or mono fold down tracks,
we’ve actually created groups k-o that will allow you to adjust
any identical plugins in identical slots at the same time.
Since none of the default Pro Compressors, Downmixers and

Limiters on these channels have any automation enabled,
these groups allow a sort of “set and forget” approach to
overall plugin manipulation. Groups k-o are not enabled by
default.
Reverb And Upmixing

Reverb is interesting with upmixers in the chain. To
accurately send reverb from the tracks routed to upmixers,
you really ought to use SEND A on the Sync BG, SFX and
Music audio tracks.
What I did in the latest version of this template is to create

three new purple stereo reverbs that are fed stereo audio
from Send A, and output them to their respective upmixer
tracks. If you’re panning in 5.1 or want to reverb an LFE
channel (people do this from time to time), use Send B and
open up the hidden and inactive 5.1 reverbs for SYNC BG,
SFX and Music.
Note that I only recently added an optional stereo reverb on

Send B for dialogue because I recognize there’s a case for
exactly matching the reverbs used in the BG, SFX and Music
sometimes.
Trusted content fromBlag rightly pointed out that in some instances we need
independent   a 
separate
music and post production path for recreation audio and/or B-Roll audio. This
experts.
Copyright (C) 2021 exists as the SYNC BG path. Simply make all the hidden
SYNCG BG related tracks active and you’ve got this added

functionality.
Gain Structure
One nal word about gain structure. A good deal of time with
tone and audio mix elements was spent checking to ensure
all 5.1, stereo and mono print tracks would fold down
uniformly. The stereo fold downs were quite simple since
there’s a default Downmixer preset for that.
The 5.1 to mono is a two-stage downmix. We’ve got the 5.1 to

stereo and then the stereo to mono instantiation. It’s all been
thoroughly tested with tone and by ear to ensure everything
sounds right.
We’ve placed trims on some of the stereo and mono fold

down tracks in case you need to match any makeup gain or
cut done on the 5.1 Mix, M+E, and Mix-Minus.
Bleeps For Profanity

There is a special Bleep track, which keys down a Pro
Expander on the DIA Dips Track and another for the SYNC BG
Dips Track to enable words to be bleeped in the mix without
e ecting stems. Simply add your 1kHz tone onto the
corresponding bleeps track and it’ll key down the o ending
word or words, only in the 5.1 and stereo master mixes.
Nothing else is changed.
Note: Turn on the 2 bypassed comps or the Pro Expander on

the appropriate Sub to engage the Bleep dipping. If you used
the compressors rather than the default Pro Expander, you’ll
need both of them engaged. It’s worth noting also that
sometimes the Pro Expander mutes the dialogue when the
session is rst open. Just make the plugin inactive and active
again to rectify this. If you’re not in need of it, keep these
plugins deactivated.
Trusted content fromDiscovery

independent Channel Tones   
Tracks at the bottom of the session are the Discovery
Copyright (C) 2021
Channel Tones, as outlined in their latest spec. The 5.1 Mix
and Stereo Mix are at 1 kHz while the other stems have 400
Hz tones. These tracks have been assigned to the
appropriate outputs for the appropriate stems already but as
always, double-check before printing.
Dipped Sends
There are Dipped Sends called 5.1 Print Dia, 5.1 SYNC BG
Print, 5.1 Print SFX and 5.1 Print Music have been made
inactive inside the IO Setup by default, as the typical sends
used are undipped (UD). This keeps the active IO count to a
more manageable number.
Fold Down Paths Added

There are fold down paths from 5.1 M+E and 5.1 Mix-Minus
to directly match the signal ow the 5.1 Mix takes through
the stereo and mono fold downs.
These 5.1 SUBS must be active in order for the stereo and/or
mono fold downs to work. There was an issue in the tones
output in a previous version of this template I used for two
productions that lead me to make this important change.
DOWNLOAD THE FREE 5.1 POST

P R O D U C T I O N T E M P L AT E
Damian is an extremely creative, versatile audio engineer.

He specialises in post-production for television and movies
and has many promotional, pre-production, production
and presentation audio credits. This past winter, Damian
has led the post-production team as lead mixer for "Fear
Thy Neighbour," "Fear Thy Roommate," and "History Erased
(season 3),' as well as the UHN podcast “Behind the
Breakthrough (S2)”.
Read More →

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Rod O'Brien • a month ago

All I can say is....wow
Thanks
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Damian Kearns > Rod O'Brien • 22 days ago

Thanks!
Tim Gale • a month ago

Damian, I absolutely love this. Thank you for sharing. I'm
always looking for ways to make my workflow and templates
better. I never thought about a dedicated Meter track. I'm
going to have to think about that one a little bit more. Much
appreciated!!
Damian Kearns > Tim Gale • 22 days ago

Trusted content from independentThanks Tim. The whole reason I open sourcedthis 
music and post production experts.template was so people could adopt any or all of it,
Copyright (C) 2021 or adapt ideas into their own workflow.
Michael E. Daniels • a month ago

Why I Joined for great content like this
Damian Kearns > Michael E. Daniels • 22 days ago

Thanks!
Brian Mullany • a month ago

This is simply Gold. Look forward to integrating a few things
into my own template. Thanks Damian
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4/15/2021 Free Pro Tools TV Post Production Template For 5.

LATEST | BLOGS | TUTORIALS | FREE PLUG-INS |

Damian Kearns from 217 Audio in Toronto in Canada

I have designed what I think is a unique TV production

require VCA’s to be bypassed on a second print pass and

This template is really analogous to the model I’ve always

Why would I do this? So I can print more deliverables at the

shouldered between the front and rear channels, it actually

In this session, I have used the cheapest upmix plugin

I mix o the sub-masters and dips tracks around dialogue

The Sync BG path can be used as a second SFX path if B-Roll

Tried And Tested

Finally, before we get into the template, it was designed in

Let’s take a look.

I/O Setup - Buss Tab

Trusted content from independent   

The IO is set up in a descending order of importance so that

As we move down through the IO, you see submasters, the

any unintentional feedback

The audio tracks are also the

The dialogue, sound e ects,

You’ll see some but not all

I’ve defaulted to making

Note there is a Mono

inactive next to it just in case

The submasters do much of

These four aux faders are

We nd ourselves needing to provide at music tracks a lot

In my personal derivation of this template, I assign the rst

dipped afterwards, using the Dips tracks. In this way,

To VCA Or Not VCA? That Is The Question

At any rate, I nd this integral approach completely “Damian

Music Pan Automation Group

Trusted content fromSFX Pan Group

5.1 Sub Groups

Colin is a fan of toning from dedicated tracks as he bounces,

Trusted content fromDownmix

assignment of print tracks in the o ine bounce pop-up

Trusted content fromCheck Your Delivery Specs

you need to output. This template was designed to take

Since none of the default Pro Compressors, Downmixers and

Reverb And Upmixing

What I did in the latest version of this template is to create

Note that I only recently added an optional stereo reverb on

SYNCG BG related tracks active and you’ve got this added

The 5.1 to mono is a two-stage downmix. We’ve got the 5.1 to

We’ve placed trims on some of the stereo and mono fold

Bleeps For Profanity

Note: Turn on the 2 bypassed comps or the Pro Expander on

Trusted content fromDiscovery

Fold Down Paths Added

DOWNLOAD THE FREE 5.1 POST

Damian is an extremely creative, versatile audio engineer.

Trusted content from independent   

Tutorial - Using Pro Community Question - Tutorial - How To Use

tags: Post Production, Templates, Pro Tools, Film Sound

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Rod O'Brien • a month ago

Damian Kearns > Rod O'Brien • 22 days ago