Advanced PT8 post training

[introvert]

I'm looking for suggestions: videos, books, etc for Pro Tools 8. Looking for a colleague who's decent in PT but hasn't sorted out some things (trickier routing, surround mixing, etc). Working in a game sound environment, so things focused more on post and sound design are useful.

Any suggested books, videos, web sites or other educational sources? There are a lot of books and vids out there, but I don't know what's good and what's not and most sites don't have any user reviews posted.

Thanks!

-Mark

[mikevarela]

well, most of this comes as a trial by fire exercise. Apprenticeship is worth everything... I find that no matter how many books I read (I'm not discounting study.. I've got a library to prove it), the real honest skills come from on the job training.

I think it all coalesces when the theory (books), practice (work) and knowledge (elders) comes together here and there on projects, you get a few uh-ha moments and realize you don't know s*$t, but that you know more than you thought.

It's a life long thing...

That being said, of the few recent books I've read, Tomlionson Holmans's Surround Sound book was both concise and informational. I'd recommend that.

[breaktheory]

Originally Posted by introvert

I'm looking for suggestions: videos, books, etc for Pro Tools 8. Looking for a colleague who's decent in PT but hasn't sorted out some things (trickier routing, surround mixing, etc). Working in a game sound environment, so things focused more on post and sound design are useful.

Any suggested books, videos, web sites or other educational sources? There are a lot of books and vids out there, but I don't know what's good and what's not and most sites don't have any user reviews posted.

Thanks!

-Mark

I've always found the macprovideo.com stuff to be good - they keep it light so you don't feel like you're watching paint dry.

[introvert]

I'll check out macprovideo.com.

This is a guy who understands surround and has worked in it before in other DAWs, but is newer to PT. I'm looking for PT-focused learning materials that will help him get the most out of the app. He's been working as an audio professional for years now, just getting to grips with PT

[artmanuk]

this is a great little tutorial on automation in Pro Tools, most examples they give are for music, but definitely it's helpful for film.

Pro Tools 8 HD Automation Secrets - Training Videos for Digidesign's Pro Tools by Groove 3 Inc.

[Etch-A-Sketch]

If he is specifically looking for Protools training, he honestly should look at Avid/Digidesign certified instruction. If he is in Dallas near you, here are some schools he should look into.

Tell him to try and take classes with a (P) as the suffix. those are curriculum showing how to use protools in a Post production specific environment. Usually, you need to take 101, 110, and 201 before you can get to 210P. At the 210 and 310 level, you can choose to take EITHER P (for post) or M (for music). You aren't required to take both, although you can if you want to. If he isn't all that familiar with Protools he should try to take the 101, 110 and 201 classes as it will cover a lot of basics like IO routing, layout of the edit and mix window, etc. Things he will need when he starts getting into more advanced concepts like bussing for effects and stems and grouping tracks with show/hide ot make the session easier to navigate.

The difference between the M and P... for example, in 210M you learn how to setup and assign mulitiple ins/outs for tracking a rhythm section and you learn how to setup and use midi. In 210P you learn things like keyboard shortcuts for editing dialogue and sound effect, how to spot sounds and use of sync markers as well as how to setup and change timecode and sync to timecode.

These are just a few of the many topics covered in the classes. Each class is 3 days long, and covers about 1 chapter in the course book every hour. And the classes are updated along with the software. So when you take the class you are working with the latest software version.


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[top]ProMedia Training - Dallas

2015 Midway Rd, Ste 107
Carrollton, Texas, 75006

Contact:
Phone: 888-277-0457
Email: admissions@protoolstraining.com


Courses Offered
Pro Tools 101
Pro Tools 110
Pro Tools 201
Pro Tools 210M
Pro Tools 210P
Pro Tools 310M
Pro Tools 310P

----------

[top]MediaTech Institute (Dallas Campus)

400 E. Royal Lane, Suite 100
Dallas, Texas, 75039

Contact:
Phone: 1-866-498-1122
Email: info@mediatech.edu


Courses Offered
Pro Tools 101
Pro Tools 110
Pro Tools 201
Pro Tools 210M
Pro Tools 210P
----------

[Chris G]

I know it's more music related, but check out the groove 3 site and get Kenny gioa's protools videos. He does a lot of stuff that is not commonly known and it will open your mind to new creative ways to use protools in post.

[breaktheory]

Originally Posted by Etch-A-Sketch

If he is specifically looking for Protools training, he honestly should look at Avid/Digidesign certified instruction. If he is in Dallas near you, here are some schools he should look into.

Tell him to try and take classes with a (P) as the suffix. those are curriculum showing how to use protools in a Post production specific environment. Usually, you need to take 101, 110, and 201 before you can get to 210P. At the 210 and 310 level, you can choose to take EITHER P (for post) or M (for music). You aren't required to take both, although you can if you want to. If he isn't all that familiar with Protools he should try to take the 101, 110 and 201 classes as it will cover a lot of basics like IO routing, layout of the edit and mix window, etc. Things he will need when he starts getting into more advanced concepts like bussing for effects and stems and grouping tracks with show/hide ot make the session easier to navigate.

The difference between the M and P... for example, in 210M you learn how to setup and assign mulitiple ins/outs for tracking a rhythm section and you learn how to setup and use midi. In 210P you learn things like keyboard shortcuts for editing dialogue and sound effect, how to spot sounds and use of sync markers as well as how to setup and change timecode and sync to timecode.

These are just a few of the many topics covered in the classes. Each class is 3 days long, and covers about 1 chapter in the course book every hour. And the classes are updated along with the software. So when you take the class you are working with the latest software version.


----------

[top]ProMedia Training - Dallas

2015 Midway Rd, Ste 107
Carrollton, Texas, 75006

Contact:
Phone: 888-277-0457
Email: admissions@protoolstraining.com


Courses Offered
Pro Tools 101
Pro Tools 110
Pro Tools 201
Pro Tools 210M
Pro Tools 210P
Pro Tools 310M
Pro Tools 310P

----------

[top]MediaTech Institute (Dallas Campus)

400 E. Royal Lane, Suite 100
Dallas, Texas, 75039

Contact:
Phone: 1-866-498-1122
Email: info@mediatech.edu


Courses Offered
Pro Tools 101
Pro Tools 110
Pro Tools 201
Pro Tools 210M
Pro Tools 210P
----------

Derek, have you taken these classes - They sound like they'd be handy but I'm skeptical as to how much you can really take in, in 3 days.

[Brent_in_Sydney]

I've also posted quite a few videos for free on my blog:
Pro Tools Professional
Hopefully some good automation and post specific info in there for you that you wont have to pay for!!

As for the Avid/Digi short course curriculum, I've done all the courses to date and highly recommend them. They cover how PT is used in music, film, tv and radio (and now gaming) so you get an excellent cover of the techniques and features that you wont get from a self taught operator with only one area of expertise. IMHO, there are many film features that apply to music, music features that can apply to radio and so on, and by learning them ALL, you have a better chance of applying the right tool to the right job. Who better to teach you how to use PT than the company who makes it? Its DIGI's curriculum...just like microsoft and cisco have accredited training, avid does the same. Definately worth looking into if you're serious about operating at full speed.

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by breaktheory

Derek, have you taken these classes - They sound like they'd be handy but I'm skeptical as to how much you can really take in, in 3 days.

Not only have I taken them, I know several of the guys that wrote them!!! My friend also created the Expert exam and certification. If you look in the Winter 2007 Digizine magazine, you'll actually see a two page interview of yours truly talking about the classes.

They are great, but are very fast paced. some people might get lost if they have absolutely no experience with music, post, recording or editing.

The classes are geared towards teaching how to use protools specifically and how to use protools within different contexts. But the contexts themselves are assumed by the curriculum that you already understand them...

So for example, there is a chapter that talks about how to use Aux sends patch to hardware outputs for headphone sends. but if you've never recorded more than yourself before, the whole concept of multiple headphone cues might be a little confusing. The classes don't really teach you the nuts and bolts of music or post production, the teach you how to do those already learned skills specifically with protools.

Most schools that offer the digidesign certified classes will also have supplemental classes that are probably prerequisites for the PT classes [Most schools will waive the prereq's for working audio professionals so you can just take the PT classes by themselves]. So for example, you might have to take a Microphone and signal flow class, as well as an acoustics class and a basic midi 101 class before you can take some of the PT classes. You might also need to take a couple post prod classes, like intro to post, or dialogue editing, or sfx editing before you can take the "P" classes.

This way you hopefully have a basic understanding of the concepts, and then the PT classes just show you how to apply those concepts to Protools specifically.

So with that in mind, they are really good. And they use real world examples. Most of the music in 101 and 110 comes from the company I work for. and then when you get up into the 201-310 series classes you are working with multitrack recordings from bands like 311 (yes the actual multitrack, donated by the band and label to digidesign for the course) and films like The Fifth Element (again, the original multitrack audio [DX/SFX/MX] and video was donated by the film company to digidesign for the courses).

So, you get at least some "real world" experience using the PT specific techniques, tools and keyboard shortcuts. I highly recommend the classes. The stuff they go over is the same information in the 1000+ page ref manual. But, in the classes you get specific examples and hands on experience in addition to the basic instruction of how a feature works. You also get hands on experience with ALL of the various protools systems, not just the one you own. So you will learn how to use the Procontrol, the C8, C24 and they also have an ICON class available now too. You'll learn how to use LE and HD and you'll learn how to use things like the Mojo and the V10. So even if you don't own certain things, you'll get at least a basic working knowledge of everything digi puts out so you can work with these devices in the future in needed.

I work (and have worked) with protools 12~16 hours a day on average for the last 10 years. I took the courses a couple years ago and I still learned new things about the software. Some of which I use all the time now (like cmd+opt+V, and sync points as just some little examples). So the classes are good for experienced user as well as people new to protools.

[dsteinwedel]

10 years later I'm still finding nooks and crannies in ProTools that come in handy. However, if he's just getting started (and is interested in surround) there are two sections in the big, fat, HD manual I'd have him look at. (Besides reading the whole thing, which is actually pretty helpful, if not boring.)

Focus Keys--provide single keystroke shortcuts for many of the common functions.

I/O Routing & Surround--the manual has a good section on how to set up a session in surround. It might be a little dense but he should find all the needed info is there.

The Hand tool, sync points, & snap-modifier keys. Not sure what these would be listed under in the manual but they are your bestest best friends.

--Dave

[introvert]

I need to update my profile, no longer in Dallas. In Madison, WI now. Looking for classes might not be a bad idea, need to see what's going on around here.

[introvert]

Yikes. PT training may be out of the question. I'm not finding anything in the Madison area and traveling is a bit beyond our budget.

[Etch-A-Sketch]

Originally Posted by introvert

Yikes. PT training may be out of the question. I'm not finding anything in the Madison area and traveling is a bit beyond our budget.

What are you talking about?? There's one right in Madison, WI...

[top]Madison Media Institute

2702 Agriculture Dr
Madison, Wisconsin, 53718

Contact:
Phone: 800.236.4997
Email: mmi@madisonmedia.com


Courses Offered
Pro Tools 101
Pro Tools 110
Pro Tools 201
Pro Tools 210M
Pro Tools 210P