In the practice of creating music using DAW based workflows, I am a big believer in finding a core set of tools that work for you and sticking to them so as to achieve mastery. Naturally you will add new tools as you go along or may change your main toolset. But the vast amount of options can quickly become a distraction from the main goal of creating music. If not careful it is easy to end up always learning a new piece of software and never finishing music. In this article I will take a brief look at Avid ProTools and review some of the features that make it a great choice for music producers who are currently considering which way to go.
Firstly the user interface comes with a fairly strong array of customisation features including main dark vs light choices and further provides colour options across the track, mix channels and clips. There is easy navigation between different windows and options to display or hide several information and edit windows as needed.
It is long established that ProTools is an excellent tool for audio production workflows. This includes fairly typical tasks such as recording vocals, simple guitar tracks, all the way up to hugely demanding recording projects such as big bands and orchestras. So what makes it great for this application? It has all of the standard features that you would expect in a DAW including support for low latency input monitoring which is of course ultimately determined by your audio hardware. It includes fully flexible I/O configuration to manage foldback / monitoring in the software environment. The process for capturing recordings to playlist whist in a looped playback ahead of the subsequent comping exercise where you would select the best take (or parts of takes) is straight forward and easy to use.
The editing capabilities are rich and are extended with the selection of edit modes being useful for different applications. Like all other DAWs the workflow is accelerated wIth an extensive list of default shortcuts. The use of edit groups, the smart tool, clip gain and fade features are all conveniently accessible to speed up workflow. There is a comprehensive list of plugins including third party offerings that mean you have a rich selection of tools at your finger tips to take your project all the way up to mastering and release. These plugins include Celemony Melodyne a long time favourite for some of the detailed corrective work like pitch correction. The ARA integration of this and other tools makes in-application editing seamless. Some of the third party plugins really come to the fore within the ProTools ARA offering – Steinberg’s Wavelab Go and Spectral Editor and Synchro Arts Auto Align are currently the most notable providing some the latest advancements in editing capabilities that can genuinely impact workflow positively.
A wave of new MIDI production tools have made the ProTools package over the last few years. This includes new software instruments such as synth cell, groove cell and play cell. The introduction of some really creative MIDI FX plugins such as BLEASS Arppegiator and 510k Seqund Lite add fresh new capabilities to the electronic music production workflow. The collaborative ‘Inner Circle’ project that seems to be at the heart of some of the third party instrument and FX plugin integrations not only brings some key players to the table including Plugin Alliance, Native Instruments and Izotope but also adds some excitement about working in ProTools. The combination of the regular sonic drop samples mean there is access to good library of sounds to support creativity. The workspace feature within ProTools enable you to manage your audio sample library and more.
There are many other DAW options. I myself started out on Cubasis, then Cubase and for a time Wavelab was my go-to tool for mastering. Along the way I have used Propellerheads Reason, and a spent a little less time in Ableton Live. After Cubase, for many years Logic Pro became my DAW of choice. I began using it under eMagic and was there for its transition to being owned by Apple. In the last few years I have dived into ProTools, now flicking back and forth mainly between Logic Pro and ProTools depending on the project and collaborators. I have completed ProTools 101 and 110 courses which were hugely insightful. I can truly say that there is so much more to the software ‘under the hood’ than meets the eye. It is very much a personal choice to which tool you use. Though there is a comprehensiveness and consideration of the needs of musicians in a lot of the features that make ProTools a great choice which are worth getting to know.
To get started I recommend getting ProTools Intro installed. It is free of charge and will introduce you to the Avid ProTools world. When you are ready to step up to a paid version, if you are a student or qualify for the academic offer, be sure to browse for those prices. You can find out more at https://www.avid.com/pro-tools.
Good luck and happy creating!
