Wed, 17 Mar 2010 08:32:48 +0000

Musically, the flexibility of virtual instruments within the Pro Tools HD® environment played a large part in Horner’s creative process, allowing him to sculpt sonic textures with little resemblance to terrestrial sounds. “More and more I’ve felt encumbered by traditional Western orchestral music, and have been experimenting with adding instruments that don’t necessarily play Western notes, or utilize Western tunings, or are even considered conventional instruments per se,” he explains.

For scoring mixer Simon Rhodes, the integration of Sibelius® into Pro Tools HD software was key to blending the score’s synthetic and orchestral elements. “Because of the way James is working, much of what he’s creating is being recorded, but not written down,” says Rhodes. “We need a record of what’s being played and what sounds he’s putting in. That’s where using Pro Tools and Sibelius really play a role, to transparently keep track.”

“We use Sibelius to notate what I’ve written and get it to the copyists,” Horner explains. “Much of what I’ve played doesn’t necessarily fall into the realm of standard notation. Sibelius becomes something of a translation tool, and we use it to figure out what I’ve done and reinterpret it so it can be played again by an orchestra… Pro Tools and Sibelius are tools that allow me to be more creative, by allowing me to think about the technology as little as possible.”

“It’s an elaborate yet intuitive workflow,” electronic music arranger Simon Franglen, adds, explaining how after they generate a tempo map from Horner’s cues, he mocks up the non-synthetic elements (which will be later replaced by the orchestra), and then uses a range of plug-ins to lay down the score’s electronic and rhythmic elements to achieve the otherworldly textures of Horner’s vision.

“I tend not to use straight synth sounds, particularly on this score,” Franglen says. “Generally we’re using organic or natural samples or instruments that we’re manipulating and massacring to generate these textures… Pro Tools [8] has become my only MIDI sequencer now. We’re also using Elastic [Time] to maintain flexibility with the tempo map changes. This editing process simply wouldn’t be possible without Pro Tools.”

But the synthetic textures are just one component of the score, as Simon Rhodes explains. “The orchestra is recorded on one Pro Tools|HD rig at 96 kHz, with the synths on a second rig at 48 kHz. We then mix to a third Pro Tools|HD rig, which is recording all the stems for film. We end up with more than 96 tracks of stems, as well as the original multitrack.”



Today mixmike101 starts a series on music demo recording for garage bands and other indie artists. In this series we will discuss basic hardware, audio software, and project studio tips/techniques for new audio engineers or artists to put to work. Major labels might still run sessions/mixes though a professional studio geared up for pro-sound. However, there's a ton of new fun digital gear for the rest of us to capture a great project studio sound.


To start off this tutorial we will bring in the Digidesign Digi003R Rack Factory digital interface for Pro Tools. I'm mainly a Pro Tools guy on a Mac, however this audio info can be adapted to almost any hardware/software/platform configuration. This is a great piece of hardware for starting out in the world of digital audio- with many options for signal flow in/out. You can record the entire band in your home/project studio, garage, or even live! Digi003® Rack+ Factory is ideal for musicians, recording engineers, and producers looking for a pro music recording and production solution that’s basically inexpensive and mobile to boot.

Digi003R Specs:
• Mic Inputs 8 balanced XLR jacks
• Mic Phantom Power: 48V
• Frequency Response: +0.0 / -0.25 dB, 20 Hz - 20 kHz
• Dynamic Range: 103 dB / 106 dB A-weighted
• Gain Range: +18 – +65 dB
• Line/DI Inputs 8 balanced 1/4" jacks
• Aux Inputs 2 balanced 1/4" jacks
• Digital Sample Rates: 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96 kHz
• S/PDIF: 2-channel optical or RCA jack pair
• Digital Optical: TOSLINK max 48 kHz rate
• MIDI: 5-pin MIDI DIN connectors 1 i/o
• Line Outputs: 8 impedance balanced 1/4" jacks
• Monitor Outputs: 4 balanced 1/4" jacks
• Headphone Outputs: 2 unbalanced 1/4" jacks
• Word Clock: 2 BNC jacks
• Host Connection: 2 IEEE-1394a (FireWire400)




Pro Tools LE 8.0 Software:
• Pro Tools® recording, editing, and mixing
• 48 simultaneous stereo audio tracks
• FX plug-ins and virtual instruments
• MIDI sequencing w/editor window
• Elastic Time/Pitch
• Beat Detective™ LE groove analysis and tool
• ReWire support for app's
• Support for the Digidesign C|24™ and Command|8® control surfaces
• 3rd party plug-ins and software options
• Mac and PC compatible



To get a basic session set-up going for a demo recording, here's a screen shot from a pre-production Pro Tools garage band session. One song off this session ended up on a demo cd for the artist. In the setup below you can see the mic/input track assignment is extremely basic and minimalist- not so much to save hard drive space but more importantly to save time in the studio!

Tracks in this demo session setup:
• kick
• snare
• o/h-left
• o/h-right
• scratch vocal
• guitar
• bass

+add a track for click, o/dub vox, and master fader!





This type of 'basic demo recording' cuts expensive time in the studio track/mixing. And new artists need to save money for things like promotion, buying gear, and scouting prospective record labels. Track the band/artist on 3-4 songs allowing them to jam and experiment with song structure- nailing down arrangements to record and play live.

With this easy track setup, new engineers can figure out mic placement and routing to the back of the digital interface. Kick in 1, snare in 2, overheads 3/4 and so on. Search the input options upon opening tracks in the new Pro Tools session and match the mic input list with the new track you add in the edit/mix window. Now arm the tracks, adjust the input volume to prevent clipping, and you're off to the new world of digital recording.

More extended instructions for new session setup, opening/arming tracks, and understanding the mix/edit window- coming soon in future lessons here on the AudioK9 Blog and DigiPro101..

mixmike101