ProTools

Post 27 of 90.

My ProTools Digi 002 was waiting for me when I got home last night, so I got cracking on getting it installed and set up. It looks so far like my laptop has sufficient juice to get the job done, but I also realized it's going to take me a little while to get used to using this system. There are so many options and things it can do that it's a bit daunting.

I'm still waiting on the Strike and Autotune software. Those are both backordered and the real test will come when I try to run those.

I'll run a few tracking tests tonight to see if the latency is something I can manage and deal with effectively. The only time I predict it could really bother me is when I track some vocals. I like to have some effects when I track vocals (mostly to shore up my weedy little voice), but the low-latency monitoring option apparently switches off all of the effects, so we'll see. In the "disadvantage into an advantage" department, it may well be that if I put in the work with vocal exercises and microphone technique to make the raw sound as good as possible, it will only be that much better when I mix. Garbage in, garbage out, and all that.

But having some effects on the vocal when you track does help to set a vibe.

I actually felt sad when I packed away my Roland recorder last night. It's been a fabulous piece of equipment, but time has marched on, and I can really see how this new system is a quantum leap above.

But still.......sniffle....into the case it goes, only to return if I want to send old mixes to ProTools to be remastered.

I also ordered a pair of the Bose noise-cancelling headphones, and, man, these things are amazing! I'm presently sitting in my favorite coffeeshop, which normally has so much ambient noise that I can barely hear anything on the earbuds with the volume cranked, but right now I can actually hear my music, and I'm listening at a much lower volume level. I need to save what hearing I have left!