VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

TC

How do I determine what the decibel levels of a Pro Tools track are? I don't see any markings on the waveforms or in the meters that indicate it. For instance, if I wanted to determine the decibel level of the loudest peak in a voice track, how would I do it? I've combed the user's manual and my copy of the Pro Tools Visual Quickstart Guide, but I can't find any direction. I'm using Pro Tools 7 LE.

Thanks.

Tony

COURVO · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject:

Tony,

I'm still discovering all ProTools can do...and I'm not at my DAW to help you look for this right now, but when I've had questions, I've always been able to find answers at the Digidesign Users Forum.

Go to:

http://duc.digidesign.com/

oh, and....don't let Frank F talk you out of ProTools!

Dave C.
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Courvo's "Voice Acting in Vegas" Blog: http://www.CourVO.biz
on your phone at courvo.mobi
702.610.6288
"I'm not a news anchor, but I play one on TV."

Frank F · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:06 pm Post subject:

I wouldn't do that - if you're a glutton for punishment - use ProFools. If you like to have a GUI that needs three hands and two feet to make something happen - use ProFools. If you want more horsepower than is required at a price that is above and beyond the sky - use PT - if not, and you are on a PC - I have some easy to use - simple to understand - very VO friendly (but capable of much more) programs that are designed for what we as VO talent do - at a price that won't make you cringe which I might suggest to look into.

So, if you like ProTools (and yes, I do have a PT program or two on both Mac and PC) - be happy... but don't complain when you can't make it work for your real needs....

Pro Tools is a good program - I just find it disgustingly tedious to use... my opinion and my opinion alone.

Wink

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

TC · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:00 pm Post subject:

brianforrester · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:26 pm Post subject:

I don't have PT running right now... but off of the top of my head, I believe that in 7.0 there was a plugin bundle that included a couple of different noise meters...

When you select plugins, I believe that they are under the "other" tab.

In reality though, I never use it... I simply l look at the waveform and keep an eye on the meter. If it doesn't get into the red (or clip) zone, I'm a happy camper.

Good Luck with it.

Brian
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COURVO · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:37 pm Post subject:

C'mon Frank....TELL US HOW YOU REALLY FEEL ABOUT ProTools!!!

Courvo
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Dave Courvoisier - Las Vegas, NV
http://www.CourVO.com
CourVO@CourVO.com
Courvo's "Voice Acting in Vegas" Blog: http://www.CourVO.biz
on your phone at courvo.mobi
702.610.6288
"I'm not a news anchor, but I play one on TV."

Deirdre · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 10:44 pm Post subject:

You can always find what the peak is by selecting a region, and going to AudioSuite, then More (or whatever the last option is) and in the drop-down menu, choose Gain. Click Find Peak and it will tell you what the highest level is.
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TC · Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:00 pm Post subject:

That's it! Bless you, DB. Now I'll be able to sleep!

donrandall · Guest

Gosh-a-mighty! I'm beginning to feel left out, almost like I'm shirking my duties or just not there for my friends. So many of you are suffering at the hands of pro-tools and I ain't there with ya. I sure hope you will forgive me for not feeling your pain. In the meantime, I'll just keep on keepin' on with a program that works well, is easy to learn and understand and causes me no pain.

marko · Guest

C'mon, Francis lighten up! I love Pro Tools. Granted, it gives me a problem every now and then, but it is an easy to use program and is very stable. Did I mention that it's the industry standard? Wink

Here's a tip to for the PT users. In case you haven't done so yet, learn some of the keyboard shortcuts. Get yourself a programmable wireless mouse, and program some of those functions into the mouse. For example, consolidate section, export section as, zoom in/out. It makes a HUGE difference in the time spent editing.

Deirdre · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 6:31 am Post subject:

Guys-- the Pro Tools bashing

ENDS HERE.

Enough already.

Everyone it entitled to an opinion , but you're not entitled to belittle others.
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Jim Barton · Guest

In Pro Tools I always add a Master track to my recorded tracks, even for mono voice. In the Master track, use a plug-in like Maxim. Or if you have WAVES Native plugs, use the L1 plug-in. These are used as final limiters, and they have a setting that limits the output of your system. For the most part I set my sessions to not go above -1. For some clients I set it to go no higher than -6.5.

Sorry for the poor description of this very simple concept, but it's late on Saturday, and I've been in the sun a long time.

Have a great holiday everyone!

Jim

Chuck Davis · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 6:20 am Post subject:

You can always normalize the track to a pre-determined peak in Audiosuite too. Deeb's gain function "peak-" is the simpliest method. If it's not the level you wanted then "gain" or "normalize" can be the fix...or a plug in on the master fader.

TC · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 10:13 pm Post subject:

Thanks for all the tips. I ran a file through all the processes I wanted to do today, and it worked. I could actually detect an improvement in the audio.

This is very cool. A few weeks ago, Pro Tools was this complex, unapproachable thing that I only saw engineers in fancy studios using. Now I'm actually doing productive things with it.

kgenus · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 9:31 am Post subject: Inspector XL

Inspector XL is one of the most useful tools I've come across for audio analysis. I have mentioned this here before, since that time, the company was bought by Roger Nichols Digital, Inc. It's every meter you would need (unless you're mixing 5.1).

For ProTools.
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