My Initial Thoughts On Pro Tools 11

So Pro Tools 11 was announced last week and learning more about what it has to offer, here are my thoughts. So far am I not impressed. I really expected Avid to blow our minds with 11, or come out swinging with aggressive pricing. Neither which happened. What we got was the same old Avid. Could Avid really have met expectations? Pro Tools 11 has to be the most highly anticipated DAW release of my generation. So why has Pro Tools 11 disappointed me so far? Lets look at the obvious.

• new features mostly include features other DAW’s had for years
• exclusive new features are nice but no wow factor, or only available with HD
• upgrade cost still way more than other daws.

So starting with my first bullet point, we got what we figured we would get. Mainly 64 bit and offline bouncing. So do this really surprise anyone? I think not. So since I’ve been using these features for years on other daws its not a big deal to me to finally see them come to Pro Tools. I was more so looking forward to new features. The ability to set separate input and output buffer sizes are nice, but not jaw dropping. The gain reduction in the meters are nice but I didn’t see a -db labeling for it and it is only available for HD. Lastly the price. I have never seen Avid run a sale for Pro Tools. And its no question this is a huge release for the them. Its no secret a lot of people will be hesitant to move to pro tools 11 in fear of losing plugin to the new AAX format and other incompatibility issues. (Great thing Avid announced Pro Tools 10 and 11 can live on the same computer.)  So I would think they would do what they can to get as many users possible over to 11. And what better way to attract customers than offering an attractive price? Now I know Avid’s financial situation has been in red for a while and they need all the money they can get, but they have to realize they aren’t the only DAW around anymore. Lets look a basic upgrade pricing from other competing DAWs.

• Cubase v.6 to v.7 ($199)
• Cubase v.6.5 to v.7 ($149)
• Studio One pro v.1 to v2.5 ($149) **which I got for $99 on sale**
• Sonar X2 producer v.1 to v.2 ($119)

To upgrade from Pro Tools 10 to 11 is $299. pretty much the same it has always been. More than the competition. The full price of Pro Tools 11 is $699, which if I’m not mistaken is a $100 more than Pro Tools 10 was. All of the DAWs listed above are cheaper than $699 at full price. Now some may argue that Pro Tools is for “Pro” users justifying the steep price. In my opinion all DAW’s basically do the same thing, and there are plenty pro engineers NOT using Pro Tools. I personally know two Grammy winning engineers not using Pro Tools. One uses Cubase, and the other uses Studio One (thanks to me introducing him to it). However I do feel that Pro Tools 11 gaining features like 64 bit and offline bouncing will help the DAW market because it greatly reduces the gap between other DAWs. This will force innovation as everyone will look to set their product apart from the rest. The next wave of DAW versions will be very interesting!

Though the acting is exaggerated to me, from a marketing and advertisement view I like it. Check out Avid's Introduction to Pro Tools 11 video.

Comment and let me know your thoughts on Pro Tools 11

Studio One 2.5 for 2.5 months: What I've Learned

Studio One 2.5 for 2.5 months update

Miktek C7 unboxing

reverb on hip hop vocals

Here is a video I did showing how I use reverb on hip hop vocals

4 things it takes to get a good vocal recording and 3 things that it doesn't take

Miktek C7

empirical labs mike-e

So people always ask what is the secret to getting studio quality vocals. First thing, there is no secret. To me a great vocal recording comes from the following 4 things, and I will share 3 things I think really doesn't matter when recording vocals.

1. a good mic for the vocal. Your signal chain starts here. Finding the best mic for a voice can be tricky sometimes because you can have a vocalist sound better on a $1,000 mic than a $3,000 mic. But most of the time if you have a really good mic designed for vocals it will handle the vocal your recording with great results.
2. A good mic preamp for the vocal. Just like you have to pick the right mic, you have to pick the right mic pre. Some pres are clean, some are colored. As a engineer its up to you to decide the tone best for vocal and the song. I remember a session a few years ago that +D. Lyles  assisted me on. We used the avalon 737 and U87 for every song that day. One song had an old school feel, so I switched to a darker more vintage pre, the vintech1272. The vocal tone this pre gave matched the song perfectly.
3. A good engineer. Takes more than pressing record and stop for a engineer to record a good vocal take. Everything from levels, to mic placement, to knowing when the vocal is ready sonically to be recorded falls on the engineer. All this comes with practice.
4. an acoustically treated room or booth. You can’t throw a mic up anywhere in a open room and expect great results.

Now that I’ve highlighted 4 things I think it takes to record a good vocal, here are 3 things I would say doesn't matter as much when recording vocals.

1. tracking with compression. If you have a dynamic vocalist then there is nothing wrong with tracking with a little bit of compression. But you don’t HAVE to have a compressor in your signal chain to record a good vocal.
2. A/D converters. A/D converters are important, but not as important as a good mic and pre. If you have those then don’t sweat over A/D conversion. These days even the cheapest of audio interfaces offer decent A/D conversion.
3. DAW. Trust me, your daw choice will NOT determine what your vocal will sound like.

Studio One Tricomp