If you're new to Multi-Platinum Pro Tools, you may be asking yourself "what in the world is track pocketing or vocal pocketing?" Pocketing is a term for sliding instrument or vocal phrases around in time so that things line up better and feel a little more in the "pocket." Some vocalists, for example, have a tendency to sing consistently ahead of the beat when they are in the studio. Live onstage, not a problem, but for some reason when the red light is on and they are under headphones, everything just feels a little anxious. The flip side of that is a lot of singers lay stuff back behind the beat. Some of this feels good, but too much of it starts to feel lazy and even sloppy. Same thing happens with musicians. This can be especially prevalent when you are trying to record a band or solo musician who's not necessarily a professional studio musician. Again, you can be an awesome live musician and have difficulty in the studio.
Multi-Platinum Track Pocketing and Multi-Platinum Vocal Editing both go into great detail about what specific techniques I use to accomplish this in a musical way. The greatest trick to editing is to make the end product sound better, but NOT EDITED! You don't want a vocalist to sound tuned...you just want them to sound like they had a great day. You don't want the drummer to be perfectly in time for the entire length of the song or the performance can begin to sound very mechanical and stale. There is also the potential for audio artifacts when you're doing detailed editing like this. If you're doing straight ahead chop and move editing, you have to be extremely careful with edit points and cross fade types to avoid bumps, pops and ticks. If you're time stretching, it's easy to introduce very noticeable artifacts like phasiness, metallic sounds, etc.
We show you how to do this type of editing musically and do it seamlessly. Pocketing of some sort is done on most records today, regardless of genre. Some use it for an effect, some do it just to tighten up a great band and yes, some do it to create useable performances out of mediocre or sub par starting performances. Check out our book and first 2 DVDS on editing for the in depth explanations on how to accomplish all of this.
Thanks for visiting Multi-Platinum Pro Tools.
Brady
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Remote Systems
I'm a little late posting this week. I went out of town last Wednesday on a little mini-family vacation. On Monday (two days prior) I got a call to do some tuning/vocal editing on an upcoming record. I was to get the tracks on Wednesday and had to try and figure out a way to keep my family plans in addition to get the job done. The session was at 48K so I loaded up my Mbox and Macbook and we headed out. I was actually able to work comfortably in the car with headphones on and over the course of the weekend, get everything done no problem. I remember just a few short years ago in order to do any type of serious editing, you had to have a tower, a decent sized monitor, some form of a Mix system with multiple cards, and a studio of some sort to work in.
In the last 5 years, technology has changed so dramatically that now, I can work on a record virtually anywhere, anytime under almost any circumstances. The most amazing part of all of that is that I can purchase the hardware necessary to do that for a couple of thousand dollars. If you think about Pro Tools LE for a second. What do you get right out of the box? You get a virtual console and a battery of plugins that would be the equivalent of a great home studio that would cost thousands and thousands of dollars. You've got automation that's easy to use and eliminates the need for recalls or expensive studios. You've got plugins that fit most any need for a reasonable budget. It's mindblowing to think of the possibilities we have at our fingertips.
Every engineer, singer/songwriter, producer, etc. should at LEAST pick up an MBox2 Pro and a Macbook. You'll be amazed at what you'll be able to do with that $2000 investment.
We have heard your comments and suggestions and as a result, in the coming months, Multi-Platinum Pro Tools is going to begin focusing on products for the home studio user as well as the high end professional engineers. Many of you have commented that you are learning a ton of stuff from the book and DVDs, but you don't have the luxury of being able to start with a group of A-Team session musicians and singers. We hear you and have decided to start work on a "home studio production" DVD that will show you how to take a simple guitar/vocal demo and use various tips and tools to build it into a great sounding production without spending thousands on a high end studio and 7 or 8 musicians.
Check back often for updates and upcoming release information. Also, be looking for a big announcement any day now! Keep your comments and e-mails coming. Your thoughts and feedback are extremely valuable to us as we strive to find ways to our products better and better.
Til next week...
Brady
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
In the last 5 years, technology has changed so dramatically that now, I can work on a record virtually anywhere, anytime under almost any circumstances. The most amazing part of all of that is that I can purchase the hardware necessary to do that for a couple of thousand dollars. If you think about Pro Tools LE for a second. What do you get right out of the box? You get a virtual console and a battery of plugins that would be the equivalent of a great home studio that would cost thousands and thousands of dollars. You've got automation that's easy to use and eliminates the need for recalls or expensive studios. You've got plugins that fit most any need for a reasonable budget. It's mindblowing to think of the possibilities we have at our fingertips.
Every engineer, singer/songwriter, producer, etc. should at LEAST pick up an MBox2 Pro and a Macbook. You'll be amazed at what you'll be able to do with that $2000 investment.
We have heard your comments and suggestions and as a result, in the coming months, Multi-Platinum Pro Tools is going to begin focusing on products for the home studio user as well as the high end professional engineers. Many of you have commented that you are learning a ton of stuff from the book and DVDs, but you don't have the luxury of being able to start with a group of A-Team session musicians and singers. We hear you and have decided to start work on a "home studio production" DVD that will show you how to take a simple guitar/vocal demo and use various tips and tools to build it into a great sounding production without spending thousands on a high end studio and 7 or 8 musicians.
Check back often for updates and upcoming release information. Also, be looking for a big announcement any day now! Keep your comments and e-mails coming. Your thoughts and feedback are extremely valuable to us as we strive to find ways to our products better and better.
Til next week...
Brady
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
Monday, July 9, 2007
Mixing DVD/Future Releases
Multi-Platinum Mixing is almost finished now and its really going to be great! Our mixer, John Merchant has been working on the mix and this past week, he and I had a session together where I offered my producer's comments on the mix and we made changes. All of this was recorded and will be a part of the final DVD. After we agreed on the "master" mix, John walked through printing versions. There is so much great information in this DVD, I don't even know where to start. For anyone who's ever tried to mix in Pro Tools or wanted to give it a try, this will be a must-have when it's finished.
We've got a lot of big news coming up within the next month so stay tuned for more as soon as we can release details. What I can talk about is some of our upcoming DVDs that are in the works once the Multi-Platinum Mixing is finished and has been released. We've obviously started our weekly blog and for those of you who don't know yet, we've also released a Pro Tools Tip of the Day Widget. It's downloadable on the Apple page and it's also available on our "downloads" page at Multiplatinumprotools.com. (http://www.multiplatinumprotools.com/widget/index.html) We're getting ready to launch a weekly Podcast as well where you can hear us discuss various topics related to Pro Tools.
Future releases scheduled as of now are "Multi-Platinum Production" where we'll discuss using Pro Tools as a production tool. This DVD will focus primarily on home studio users and what you can do with a Pro Tools system if you want to make your song sound great but maybe you don't have access to the budget or musicians that you'd like so you have to "work with what you've got." I get a lot of people who comment on our videos and the level of musicianship we have even before we edit, tune, etc. I'll agree that having those great musicians makes a HUGE difference, but in Multi-Platinum Production, we'll show you ways that you can make any project sound great. I've also have lots of e-mails about various drum editing scenarios so I'm thinking about doing a DVD entirely on Drum Editing. We'll discuss pocketing to a click, pocketing to a loop, pocketing the band to the drums, even what to do when your band cuts with no click?!?
That's all for now...check back next week for more thoughts and insight.
Thanks,
Brady
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
We've got a lot of big news coming up within the next month so stay tuned for more as soon as we can release details. What I can talk about is some of our upcoming DVDs that are in the works once the Multi-Platinum Mixing is finished and has been released. We've obviously started our weekly blog and for those of you who don't know yet, we've also released a Pro Tools Tip of the Day Widget. It's downloadable on the Apple page and it's also available on our "downloads" page at Multiplatinumprotools.com. (http://www.multiplatinumprotools.com/widget/index.html) We're getting ready to launch a weekly Podcast as well where you can hear us discuss various topics related to Pro Tools.
Future releases scheduled as of now are "Multi-Platinum Production" where we'll discuss using Pro Tools as a production tool. This DVD will focus primarily on home studio users and what you can do with a Pro Tools system if you want to make your song sound great but maybe you don't have access to the budget or musicians that you'd like so you have to "work with what you've got." I get a lot of people who comment on our videos and the level of musicianship we have even before we edit, tune, etc. I'll agree that having those great musicians makes a HUGE difference, but in Multi-Platinum Production, we'll show you ways that you can make any project sound great. I've also have lots of e-mails about various drum editing scenarios so I'm thinking about doing a DVD entirely on Drum Editing. We'll discuss pocketing to a click, pocketing to a loop, pocketing the band to the drums, even what to do when your band cuts with no click?!?
That's all for now...check back next week for more thoughts and insight.
Thanks,
Brady
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Welcome!
Welcome to Multi-Platinum Pro Tools very first blog!
The last 12 months have been a blur and it seems each day has been full of surprises. In that time, we've released a book and two DVDs (just a couple of weeks away from releasing our third) and are already in the planning stages of another book and 2 more DVDs that are even bigger in scope than anything we've released thus far. We're also on the verge of partnering with a major online Music Retail company so I hope to be able to officially announce that partnership very soon. Once that's done we'll be able to reach a much wider audience with a greater range of products. It's been a very exciting year. This blog is one of several new Multi-Platinum offerings that we hope will become a valuable and ongoing resource for our customers. We're also planning a Pro Tools Tip of the Day Widget that you can install on your computer that will offer you valuable tips and secrets and give you important MPPT announcements regarding our products, seminars or new free downloads.
Who am I and why am I doing this?!?
Let me just set the stage with a little info about myself. My name is Brady Barnett and I've been a musician my whole life. I started playing piano by ear when I was 3 and expanded that to piano/keys/drums and percussion as I moved through high school and college. I went to Brevard College in North Carolina and got an associates degree in Piano Performance and then spent 3 years in Boca Raton, Florida studying piano performance at the renowned Harid Conservatory (music division now known as Lynn University Conservatory of Music) under world class pianist and professor Anthony Sirianni . After leaving the conservatory, I moved to Nashville, TN and attended Middle Tennessee State University where I received a double-major in Recording Industry Technology (Bachelor of Science) and Music Business (Bachelor of Music). MTSU has the largest 4 year Recording Industry program in the world and that was where I first developed a love for the technical side of making music. In 1996, I moved to Los Angeles and began working as a freelance recording engineer. I spent a year working at various studios in the LA and Hollywood area including The Enterprise in Burbank, Image Recording in Hollywood and Skip Saylor Recording in Hollywood. After a year, I made the transition to post production and began working at the world's first all digital post production facility called Pacific Ocean Post in Santa Monica. While at POP, I worked on large scale television and radio commercials, and conformed and mixed films for DVD Home Theatre release. POP was one of the pioneers in DVD Streaming technology and it was incredible to be a part of that process.
In 1999, I moved back to Nashville and started working with producer and songwriter, Keith Stegall. At that time, I started working with Pro Tools and became heavily involved in it on a daily basis. For the past 8 years, I've worked on over 50 gold, platinum and multi-platinum records and have learned from some of the best engineers in the business. I've also seen Pro Tools go from an occasionally used editing tool to a dominant platform that is commonly used on records of every genre, on television and movie sets, in radio stations, live recording rigs, etc. You would be hard pressed today to walk into any studio in the world and not find some form of Pro Tools system in use. And if you do happen to find a system other than Pro Tools, you can guarantee that it's certain to be Pro Tools compatible. In this day and age, if you don't know your way around Pro Tools, you almost have to have an engineer there to help run the session for you. ProTools has become an incredibly powerful set of tools that can be used on all aspects of any audio recording project. It has also become increasingly affordable and offered more and more features to entice users of all levels.
As Pro Tools became more and more widely used, I began to find myself having conversations with non-users about why I liked it so much. People saying it was ruining the music industry, lowering the bar of quality, tainting the vocal recording/performance of all the new records, etc. etc. My argument was always the same...that it was not the software or hardware that was causing all the problems, but rather the fact that people simply didn't know how to use it properly. My argument was that if a skilled operator was in charge, you could use it seamlessly in the record making process and actually ENHANCE the records, rather than detract from them! Over the past several years, I've learned to be more and more musical with my editing and tuning and I've learned to use Pro Tools to help me make great sounding projects on any budget. Multi-Platinum Pro Tools was conceived as a means for me to share my years of experience with Pro Tools users of all levels to help them learn the correct ways to use the software. Essentially, I'm offering our clients the opportunity to learn the tricks and techniques I've spent the last 11 years honing by watching over my shoulder as I work through a session.
What can I expect from this blog?
I'm writing this blog to give you some insight into my views on the recording industry, my reasoning for doing things the way that I do, using the plug-ins I do, etc. I will also comment on specific situations I come across in the editing realm and share the way I resolve especially tricky situations. I'll give out lots of tips, tricks and opinions about why I do what I do. Hope you'll join me each week for my thoughts and make sure to visit the Multi-Platinum Pro Tools website each week for updated products and information.
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
The last 12 months have been a blur and it seems each day has been full of surprises. In that time, we've released a book and two DVDs (just a couple of weeks away from releasing our third) and are already in the planning stages of another book and 2 more DVDs that are even bigger in scope than anything we've released thus far. We're also on the verge of partnering with a major online Music Retail company so I hope to be able to officially announce that partnership very soon. Once that's done we'll be able to reach a much wider audience with a greater range of products. It's been a very exciting year. This blog is one of several new Multi-Platinum offerings that we hope will become a valuable and ongoing resource for our customers. We're also planning a Pro Tools Tip of the Day Widget that you can install on your computer that will offer you valuable tips and secrets and give you important MPPT announcements regarding our products, seminars or new free downloads.
Who am I and why am I doing this?!?
Let me just set the stage with a little info about myself. My name is Brady Barnett and I've been a musician my whole life. I started playing piano by ear when I was 3 and expanded that to piano/keys/drums and percussion as I moved through high school and college. I went to Brevard College in North Carolina and got an associates degree in Piano Performance and then spent 3 years in Boca Raton, Florida studying piano performance at the renowned Harid Conservatory (music division now known as Lynn University Conservatory of Music) under world class pianist and professor Anthony Sirianni . After leaving the conservatory, I moved to Nashville, TN and attended Middle Tennessee State University where I received a double-major in Recording Industry Technology (Bachelor of Science) and Music Business (Bachelor of Music). MTSU has the largest 4 year Recording Industry program in the world and that was where I first developed a love for the technical side of making music. In 1996, I moved to Los Angeles and began working as a freelance recording engineer. I spent a year working at various studios in the LA and Hollywood area including The Enterprise in Burbank, Image Recording in Hollywood and Skip Saylor Recording in Hollywood. After a year, I made the transition to post production and began working at the world's first all digital post production facility called Pacific Ocean Post in Santa Monica. While at POP, I worked on large scale television and radio commercials, and conformed and mixed films for DVD Home Theatre release. POP was one of the pioneers in DVD Streaming technology and it was incredible to be a part of that process.
In 1999, I moved back to Nashville and started working with producer and songwriter, Keith Stegall. At that time, I started working with Pro Tools and became heavily involved in it on a daily basis. For the past 8 years, I've worked on over 50 gold, platinum and multi-platinum records and have learned from some of the best engineers in the business. I've also seen Pro Tools go from an occasionally used editing tool to a dominant platform that is commonly used on records of every genre, on television and movie sets, in radio stations, live recording rigs, etc. You would be hard pressed today to walk into any studio in the world and not find some form of Pro Tools system in use. And if you do happen to find a system other than Pro Tools, you can guarantee that it's certain to be Pro Tools compatible. In this day and age, if you don't know your way around Pro Tools, you almost have to have an engineer there to help run the session for you. ProTools has become an incredibly powerful set of tools that can be used on all aspects of any audio recording project. It has also become increasingly affordable and offered more and more features to entice users of all levels.
As Pro Tools became more and more widely used, I began to find myself having conversations with non-users about why I liked it so much. People saying it was ruining the music industry, lowering the bar of quality, tainting the vocal recording/performance of all the new records, etc. etc. My argument was always the same...that it was not the software or hardware that was causing all the problems, but rather the fact that people simply didn't know how to use it properly. My argument was that if a skilled operator was in charge, you could use it seamlessly in the record making process and actually ENHANCE the records, rather than detract from them! Over the past several years, I've learned to be more and more musical with my editing and tuning and I've learned to use Pro Tools to help me make great sounding projects on any budget. Multi-Platinum Pro Tools was conceived as a means for me to share my years of experience with Pro Tools users of all levels to help them learn the correct ways to use the software. Essentially, I'm offering our clients the opportunity to learn the tricks and techniques I've spent the last 11 years honing by watching over my shoulder as I work through a session.
What can I expect from this blog?
I'm writing this blog to give you some insight into my views on the recording industry, my reasoning for doing things the way that I do, using the plug-ins I do, etc. I will also comment on specific situations I come across in the editing realm and share the way I resolve especially tricky situations. I'll give out lots of tips, tricks and opinions about why I do what I do. Hope you'll join me each week for my thoughts and make sure to visit the Multi-Platinum Pro Tools website each week for updated products and information.
Brady Barnett
Of Sound Mind Productions /
Multi-Platinum Pro Tools
www.ofsoundmind.org
www.multiplatinumprotools.com
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