LAB EIGHT USING PROTOOLS

TASK: ABSTRACTING TEXT

Setting Up the Session

Create a new session in ProTools.

From the Soundscapes and Sound Materials CD, import track 59,
Dr. King,. Use only the left (or right) tracks we will be
working in mono.

Create at least three tracks, and place Dr. King into track
one. Listen to the region.

Separate the first three phrases into regions. Discard the

remaining text.

The first region should contain Now I believe the words of

Dr. King (yeah); this will be referred to below as Believe.

The second region should contain If I helped somebody

(yeah); this will be referred to below as Help.

The third region should contain As I travel on (yeah); this

will be referred to below as Travel.

The three regions as they should now look.

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Processing Text

Reverse Believe by using the AudioSuite plug-in.

Selecting a region, then selecting Reverse as the AudioSuite

process

Select Travel and pitch shift it (with time correction) down

three semitones.

Selecting a region, then selecting Pitch Shift as the AudioSuite

process. Shifting down 3 semitones, and making sure Time
Correction is set.

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TASK: COMBINING SIMILAR TRANSFORMATIONSDIRECTION

Using AudioSuite to Process the File

Create a region (Command R, or Control R on Windows) for

each of the separate smashes. Drag them into a track, one after
another, and reverse each one, placing them in an adjacent
track. Remove the original.

Five regions, renamed s1 s5. Option dragged to the next

track (to copy them), then each reversed.

Drag one of the reversed regions into a clear track, immediately followed by same version in its original forward region.

A reversed sound object, immediately followed by its forward

version.
Combining Processes

Select the forward region and pitch shift it, without time
correction, down seven semitones. Before processing, select
Use in Playlist to make ProTools place the processed version
in the place of the original.

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Pitch shifting a selected region without time correction

Select the pitch shifted region (add an extra two seconds to the
selection after the region, to allow the reverb to continue), then
use the D-Verb plug-in to add reverb.

Adding reverb to a selected region. Note the extra two seconds

in the selection, which matches the two second reverb time
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The reversed region, followed by the pitch-shifted,

reverberated region

TASK: COMBINING SIMILAR TRANSFORMATIONSTRANSPOSITION

After importing the earlier file and making six pitch shifts and
renaming each region after the pitch shift.

Create six tracks in order to hold the original and the five
processes on separate tracks.

Drag each region into its own track so that they all start at
time 0.

Select the Shuffle tool, and drag the same regions once again
into their respective tracks. Remember, this tool places a
region butt-end against the previous one, so you dont have to
place each precisely after the previous region.

Select volume view, then select the Pencil tool. Create a

unique and slowly evolving volume automation envelope for
each track.

Combining the same process with different settings to create a

dynamically varying gesture.
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TASK: CREATING AND VARYING A RHYTHMIC LOOP

Setting Up the Session
After importing Tracks 39 and 47 (Chisel and Wrapping
Machine) into a new session:

Drag Chisel into the first track, and zoom in to display the first
three seconds.

Highlighting the first four rhythmic in the Chisel region.

Select four events for a potential loop.

From the Operations menu, select Loop Playback.

Loop Playback will continuously play the current selection.

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Moving the selection: use the Selection Tool, and shift-drag to

change the start and end points

Lab Eight using ProTools

Watch the Selection area to make sure that the selections

Length (duration) stays the same.

The Selection area in ProTools

From this selection, create a region. Rename the region

Loop1. Then use the Shuffle mode to drag about ten of
these regions into the second track. Delete the original
Chisel region from track one.

Changing One Element in the Loop

Select the fourth region in the track, and use the AudioSuite
Pitch Shift plug-in to transpose it down one semitone. Make
sure that both time correction and Use in Playlist are selected.

Pitch shifting a selected region in the loop

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Adding an Accent

Highlight the third region and note its start time in the time
display. In my session, the time is 2.670 seconds.

Switch to Slip mode, and drag another Loop1 into an empty

track at that exact time location.

Adding a region to the same time location in another track.

Select this region and use the AudioSuite Pitch Shift plug-in to
drop it down twelve semitones, or one octave. Again, make
sure both time correction and Use in Playlist are selected.

Processing an adjacent region.

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Beat Matching

Select the Wrapping Machine loop, and choose Time

Compression/ Expansion from the AudioSuite plug-ins.

Enter the length of the first loop region in the Destination

Length box, and press the Enter key. In my case, the length
was 1.335 seconds.

Parameter settings for matching the duration of the second

region to the first.
The plug-in will calculate the expansion ratio. In my case, it
ended up being 1.608:1.

Click on the Process button, making sure that Use in Playlist

is selected.
The two tracks should now have regions of identical lengths.

The upper region is time-expanded to match the lower.

Use the Shuffle mode to drag more copies of this region into
the track.

Create an interesting volume automation relationship between

the two tracks. Here is one simple example:
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A dynamic, rhythm-based relationship between two beatmatched tracks.

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