LAB FOUR USING PROTOOLS

SIGNAL PROCESSING
IN PROTOOLS
Signal processing works differently in ProTools than it does in audio
editors because ProTools references existing audio files. It cannot,
therefore, use memory to hold the audio data after processing.
ProTools will create an entirely new audio file after processing and
store it in the Audio Files folder within the current sessions folder.

Remember that the same thing happened when you normalized a file. The new audio file is automatically imported into the
session and appears as a region within the Audio Region List. The
name it receives will be a combination of the original source file, an
abbreviated version of the process, and a number referring to the last
iteration of that process. Thus, paper-REV-01 is the first file that used
the reverse process on the source file paper.
You should get into the habit of renaming your processed files
immediately after the process to give them more meaningful names.

ProTools does not have a DSP menu or a Transform menu;

these menus allow users to apply processes that are part of the
audio editor itself. ProTools, in fact, does not contain any actual
processes; instead, it uses plug-insseparate mini-applications
that exist outside of the program and are used by it. They are
software add-ons that give additional functionality to a program.
Plug-ins are used in many different applications. The graphic
editing program Photoshop uses plug-ins as filters to manipulate the
image data of an open image file, while Internet browsers use plugins to do special things with data received via the Internet (e.g.,
Flash or QuickTime). Plug-ins are often created by third parties,
companies other than the program creators. When a plug-in is
called by the host application, in our case ProTools, it will open a
separate window that will display the parameters that can be
controlled within that particular plug-in. Because these plug-ins are
created by many different companies, they can appear quite
different and have a unique look and feel.

Lab Four

PLUG-INS IN PROTOOLS
ProTools comes with a number of AudioSuite plug-ins,
including the following:

EQ (one-band and four-band)

Dynamic
De-Esser)

Delay (short, slap, medium, long)

Pitch Shift

Time Compression

Other (Invert, Duplicate, Normalize, Gain, Reverse, DC Offset

Removal).

(Compressor,

Limiter,

Expander/Gate,

Gate,

The first three are self-explanatory, and they were covered in

Unit Five. Pitch Shift is transposition, and it is related to Time
Compression, which will be discussed later.
Invert inverts the phase of the waveform, making positive
samples negative and negative samples positive. It is used when a
phase imbalance results from the use of multiple microphones in a
recording.
Duplicate will not only copy a region as a new file but also
create a single file from several regions.
Normalize has already been discussed.
Gain allows for an overall increase or decrease in amplitude.
There is no dynamic control, so this is not an envelope function.
Reverse will reverse the audio data.
DC Offset occurs when poorly calibrated analogue-to-digital
converters are used, and appears as a steady line above zero when
there should be silence. This plug-in allows for its removal.
All of these plug-ins are available for use in the creative
assignments. Some will be of little use: Invert, Duplicate, Gain, and
DC Offset. Othersthe dynamic plug-insmay be difficult to use.
Of greatest potential are the EQ, Delay, and Pitch Shift plug-ins.

Time Compression is a purely digital process that was obviously unavailable in the 1950s analogue tape studios. It allows you
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Lab Four

to speed up and slow down material (functions which were available through speed change) without a change in pitch. The process
is necessary in radio, for example, when a thirty-second radio clip
needs to be changed to twenty-seven seconds. With analogue tape,
you could only make the change by speeding up the tape, which
would also perceptibly change the pitch. Digital time compression
is a complex analysis process that separates time from frequency
data and processes only the time data. After experimenting with
the process, you will quickly discover that it is in no way magical
or transparent; the effect will be noticeable outside of a certain
range (perhaps twenty per cent slower or faster than the original).
Using larger compression ratios (half as fast, for example) will
create obvious artifacts. These are not bad in themselves since we
might be interested in the new sounds produced. However,
extreme time compression, like many digital processes, will
introduce digital artifacts that make the sound quite unpleasant.
The Pitch Shift plug-in similarly allows for a change in pitch
without a corresponding change in tempo. The more traditional
pitch/time changes are still possible within the Pitch Shift plug-in
by deselecting Time Correction from the plug-in window.
Using AS Plug-Ins Within ProTools
To use a plug-in within ProTools, select a region or a portion thereof.
Then select a plug-in from the AudioSuite menu. The window for that
plug-in will then open. Below is the 1-Band EQ window:

ProTools 1-Band EQ AudioSuite plug-in.

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Change the parameters using the sliders. For this particular

plug-in, the parameters are:

input levelan increase in a sounds resonance, or Q, can

increase its amplitude, sometimes making it necessary to
lower the gain of the incoming signal

typeselect, from left to right, high pass, low shelf, peak

(bandpass or bandcut), high shelf, and low pass

gainsince filtering a signal reduces its overall amplitude, it

might need to be amplified after the process

frequencythe cut-off point of the filter

Qresonance: the bandwidth of the filter; pertains only to the

peak filter.

You can preview the changes by clicking on the preview

button (1). Some plug-ins, such as Time Compression, do not allow
previewing because they require intensive calculations. Once you
are satisfied with the aural result, click on the process button (2) to
process your file.
The new file will be written to the Audio Files folder within
your current session and given a file name that describes its source
file and the process involved. It will be automatically added to the
Audio Region List and, depending upon the process, it might
replace the original region within the track.

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