How do YOU de-breath in Protools?

[T_R_S]

USE THIS

[Daniel Antix]

Originally Posted by T_R_S

USE THIS

i've tried, work well for some voices not so well for others... plus work wouldn't buy it for me.

[Daniel Antix]

Originally Posted by danijel

Well, all I can say is your father did good for you to get the hell out of here! :))
I didn't have time to try the fades/keys thing out, but if I don't get it, I'll ask you for details in a PM, if you don't mind.

sure thing

[Hxd Ped]

Sometimes, I use Beat Detective just for the Fill and Crossfade function. Select everything, hit Fill & Crossfade, done.

It's not a good option for huge edits, but when it works, it's pretty slick.

[3rd&4thT]

I find the first thing I try for a natural sound is just to remove the center portion of the breath - it turns a big inhale into a catch breath, so the VO is still breathing, but only slightly.

This usually works, only rarely do I have to do something else.

3rd&4thT

[Jorn Lavoll]

i'm in a similar situation as the OP.
In for example adobe audition i have lots of one key shortcuts:
- or + 3 db
hi pass to fix plosives
remove a click
filter for bad s'es
etc

so instead of finding a plugin setting, i can quickly just go over the dialogue, highlight a problem and press one key and it is (most of the time) fixed :)

but right now I am mixing 64 episodes of a kids tv show in protools. which is very pleasant program, but I miss my shortcuts.. sometimes i do a cntrlshift K to get a little snippet out of pro tools to fix it elsewhere, but i find myself snipping and fadeing and using the gain tool a bit, which is a little slower than what i am used to.

are there "programmable macros" at all in pro tools? or are all the shortcuts hardwired?

[renec]

I don't think you've been getting advice that's very good so far.

IMO strip silence is pretty rough for de-breathing because it tends to lop off Ks, Ts, and Fs that lead or trail words.

Also, I tend to close the gap on breaths by about 20% of their length, which SS wouldn't do anyway.

Try this:

go to preferences -> operation and look to the bottom right for the "Auto region fade in/out length" set that to 8 ms or so and you'll have taken care of any potential DC offsets automatically.

then when you edit, stay zoomed in pretty tightly and (if you're right handed) put your right hand on the mouse and your left hand with the middle finger on the delete key and the thumb on the left arrow key.

highlight a breath (using the I bar in the multitool), delete, left arrow (which centers the cursor - effectively making an incremental scroll), grab the region and readjust the timing (using the grabber that looks like a hand in the multitool), rinse, repeat.

If you need to scroll further than the arrow key will give you, just click somewhere on the right side of the screen and hit the left arrow key (click-left-click-left) until you are where you want to be.

when you're done, if you want to clean up all of the regions you've created don't consolidate (shift-apple-3) your stuff. Instead, group your regions (option-apple-g) so that later, if you want to, you can ungroup them (option-apple-u).

also, the A, S, and B keys are your friends.

[Jorn Lavoll]

this thread has been helpful to me, although i am not the OP :)

can i throw a new protools noobie question in here? how can i "skip ahead one frame" or "move backwards one frame"

i thought i would find the answer in one of the "grid drop down" thingies, but i havent found anything yet :)

in vegas i would alt+arrow key to move ahead or backwards one frame at the time, and it would jump ahead one frame according to what frame rate the project is.

its not a problem for the animated series i am mixing now, the mouth movement of the characters are very roughly animated and it is easy to get a good "flow", but it would be very useful to know for later :)

[renec]

use the . and , keys, or the + and - keys

[Jorn Lavoll]

those skip one second ahead or back, where.. i know it is most likely obvious somewhere, but where do i set "skip amount" :)

[smurfyou]

Its your nudge value.

[gearaddict]

AES: Waves Tune & De-breath - Rumski Forum

maby this will help....I have never tried it...just trying to help out!!

[Daniel Antix]

Originally Posted by postprosound

Daniel,
If i get what you are saying, you are just looking for a quick way to apply these fades so as to prevent the clicks that are sometimes associated with 'hard edits' with no fades.
Please understand i'm going with the assumption that you are 'brand new' to Pro Tools, and if i say something that is obvious to you, i intend no offense.

First, try simply using the smart tool, which allows you to apply fades with the mouse. it's the long rectangle under the Hand, trim, and selector tools. You can also press any two of the F6, F7, or F8, at the same time. Move the cursor around the track and regions, note how it changes.

With it, you can highlight the breath, press delete, and then apply fades as needed.

Some prefer to work with keyboard shortcuts. After you highlight and delete the breath, and with your playhead between the two regions that you want to put fades on: press option + tab. this will take you the end of the first region. then press the comma key, this will move you back one unit of your nudge value. then press the 'G' key for a fade out. Then press tab until you are at the head of the next region, press the period key to move your playhead one 'nudge value' ahead, then the 'D' key to make a fade in. Once you get the hang of it, a person can use this method pretty quickly.

(As a note, the nudge value is set in the drop down directly below the main counter. for post on films, i normally use one frame, YMMV. The fades that we are talking about here do not need to be that long, under normal conditions. )

One other thing; I often scrub to make it easy to make my selections. With the transport stopped, move your cursor to the middle (up and down) of the track you want to scrub. The cursor becomes a capitol 'I' shape. now move it near the area in the region that you think the start of the offending breath is located. press and hold the control key. now move your mouse to the right. This will let you scrub. Keep holding the control key as you find the start of the breath, moving your mouse left and right as needed. When you find that point, with the control key still pressed. hold down the 'shift' key as well and scrub to the end of the offending breath. Let go of your mouse button, then let go of the control and shift keys. whammo, the breath is selected...

Again, if this is something you already know, then oops. if not, then this might make your life easier.

after spending a few weeks getting used to PT's this is pretty muc hthe method i'm using now. got myself some of the keyboard stickers, make's life a bit easier. pretty quick with de-breathing now, thanks for all the input from everyone.

[PostFade]

Daniel,

You're in Sydney.... and not using Fairlight, Aussies greatest audio export!
With the Fairlight I put a mark at the front and a 'split' after the breath and then a macro jumps back to the mark I just laid, makes another 'split' and drops the gain of the new 'clip' by -16db. Ducks the breath without a noticable hole.The macro them enters 'play' and we hear the new resulting piece.
Most things are easier on a Fairlight, if only the post world would investigate it!

[smurfyou]

Originally Posted by PostFade

With the Fairlight I put a mark at the front and a 'split' after the breath and then a macro jumps back to the mark I just laid, makes another 'split' and drops the gain of the new 'clip' by -16db. Ducks the breath without a noticable hole.The macro them enters 'play' and we hear the new resulting piece.

I have a similar approach. I make a range of the breath, then a macro copies that range, pastes it over itself and lowers the gain 8db. Works for de-essing as well.

[jacobfarron]

Am I the only one who automates a fader move?

[Jorn Lavoll]

is it too late to ask another n00b question in here?

I have the region and the file, but i want to slide the content around.
i have a file that is trimmed, it can look like this

[---g---v--d-a-----]

so i want the start and end points to remain the same, but i want to slide the "content" around so that "g" moves to the very start of the region. Is that possible? In Vegas i just point inside the region, hold alt, and drag :)

[minister]

Originally Posted by Jorn Lavoll

I have the region and the file, but i want to slide the content around.
i have a file that is trimmed, it can look like this

[---g---v--d-a-----]

so i want the start and end points to remain the same, but i want to slide the "content" around so that "g" moves to the very start of the region. Is that possible? In Vegas i just point inside the region, hold alt, and drag :)

Control/+ or -

[Jorn Lavoll]

thanks :)

i found that it is actually windows and + / -

cntrl and +- moves the end of the region by the snap value (i guess)
alt and +- moves the start of the region similarly

:)