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by Stephanie Argy Many people who use applications such as Digidesign Pro Tools learn much of what they know about the program through on-the-job experience. But for those who are just getting started — or those who think the seat-of-the-pants approach may have caused them to miss out on useful techniques — Digidesign now offers a standardized Pro Tools training curriculum taught at schools across the country. Guild members are eligible for programs that can help pay for the classes. The Background According to Andy Cook, who heads Digidesign’s training program, for many years the company wasn’t directly involved with education. “We ran pretty lean and focused on product development, rather than on training. But it got to the point where the lack of quality education in the industry was starting to reflect poorly on the product.” He explained that because users didn’t know about all of Pro Tools’ features, they would assume that the program simply lacked those capabilities. To counter those impressions, Digidesign decided to build a training program modeled on that of parent company Avid. Like Avid’s courses, Digidesign’s are offered at independent training centers by instructors who use a curriculum provided by the company. There are currently six classes in the Digidesign Pro Tools curriculum. PT 101 and PT 102 are introductory-level classes that present an overview of the program. After taking those two classes, students can then take higher-level classes, specializing in either music (PT210M and PT310M) or post production (PT210P and PT310P). Digidesign is currently updating the entire curriculum to focus on Pro Tools 6.1 (on Mac OS X and Windows XP), and the company may add additional courses on other topics, such as surround sound, which is barely touched on in the current classes, and troubleshooting techniques. Taking The Classes
To find out exactly what was covered in the courses and whether they would be of use to Guild members, I took the four-course post production series from Joel Krantz at Video Symphony in Burbank. Krantz, a former Digidesign employee who also teaches at Moviola Digital in Los Angeles, played a large role in developing and writing the Digidesign post production curriculum. At the time I took the classes (May and June, 2003), he taught them using Pro Tools v.5.3.1 on Mac OS 9. PT101, a basic introduction to Pro Tools, provides a brief glimpse of most major elements of the program, including the interface, navigation, recording, regions, memory locations, fades, mixing, AudioSuite plug-ins, MIDI and inserts and sends. The three-day course, like all those in the Digidesign curriculum, is built around an imposing textbook that consists of informational chapters interspersed with tutorials. The volume for PT101 runs 369 pages, not counting the three appendices on basic digital audio concepts, Pro Tools hardware and keyboard shortcuts.
PT201, also a three-day class, returns
to many of the same topics, but with
greater sophistication and more emphasis
on configuring the system
and managing sessions. In addition
to covering signal routing, voice allocation,
I/O setup, playlists,
plug-ins and automation, the course
also introduces the use of Digidesign’s
ProControl control surface.
Digidesign advises students to be comfortable with the material covered in the first three classes before they sign up for 310P. Designed to maximize efficiency and speed, the three-day course includes troubleshooting techniques, keyboard shortcuts, audio layback and mixdown, and advanced OMFI applications. Nearly all the work in the class is done using a ProControl with an Edit Pack. While most of the 310P classwork is built around a trailer for The Time Machine, unfortunately the final project involves using the techniques covered in the courses on an amateurish Digidesign promotional video — a very anti-climactic conclusion to the entire training experience, which was otherwise professional, thorough and very enjoyable. Results and Reactions One Guild member who has taken the courses at Video Symphony is Helen Luttrell, a dialogue editor at Miles of Fun Sound. When her facility decided to convert from Fairlight to Pro Tools, Luttrell took the courses to overcome her discomfort with Pro Tools (which she initially dismissed as “Slow Tools”). By the end of the third course, Luttrell said that while she didn’t yet have the fluency that comes only with regular use of an editing tool, she had overcome her apprehension about working with the program. She was so satisfied with what she had learned that she strongly recommended the classes to her colleagues at work, 23 of whom later signed up themselves. To enable students to demonstrate that they have mastered the course material, Digidesign has created a certification process. After completing the first three courses (101, 201 and either 210P or 210M), students can take Digidesign’s "Pro Tools Operator" certification test at a training center — a 50-question multiple-choice test. Although classes are now offered at the 310 "expert" level for both post production and music, 310 certification tests are still being developed. According to Krantz, the test will probably be hands-on, with students expected to show that they can edit and mix at a professional level using Pro Tools.
However, while certification shows that a person knows the software, it doesn’t indicate anything about their creative abilities — the Digidesign courses focus on Pro Tools itself, rather than on craft. "For that kind of training, we’d look to the partnered training center," Cook said, explaining that schools such as Video Symphony, Future Media Concepts and Moviola Digital offer classes on the aesthetic aspects of audio editing and engineering in addition to the Digidesign curriculum. Paying for the Classes All this fun isn’t cheap, though: at Video Symphony, PT101, PT201 and PT310P each cost $995, while PT 210P costs $845. Until earlier this year, Guild members could get their tuition subsidized by H1B grant money, which was distributed by Contract Services, but unfortunately, that program has ended for the year and appears unlikely to be renewed. However, many states have programs that may help finance the classes. In California, the Guild has worked with the State Employment Training Panel and Contract Services to create a different subsidy program for freelance members, similar to the already existing ETP program that funds courses for people working at fixed facilities. Guild members interested in taking a class need to fill out an application that they can pick up from either the Guild or Contract Services. Local 700 has 28 training slots available for freelancers who want to take PT101 and PT201, and another 57 available for PT210 and PT310 (music or post production); a high percentage of these must be used before the Contract Services budget expires on January 30, 2004, in order to demonstrate to the state that the program is worth continuing. In addition to completing the training, students must show that it has been effective by then working 500 hours in six months — if they fail to do so, the school from which they took their training will not be reimbursed by the ETP, and the program itself will probably be discontinued. At the moment, only Video Symphony’s Pro Tools classes are covered by the program, although Moviola Digital offers its own 25% discount to Guild members. (Additional information is available online at www.editorsguild.com/training/westcoasttraining.html.) East Coast members in good standing may be able to get a tuition subsidy of $500 for one course per year from the Guild’s Help Fund. The training facility and course must be approved before taking a class — at the time of this writing, Future Media Concepts offers Pro Tools courses and is on the list of authorized training centers. Please contact Sandy Fong-Ging at (212) 302-0700 for more details or visit www.editorsguild.com/training/eastcoasttraining.html. Conclusion Working under tight deadlines seldom encourages exploration of software tools, and when there is no chance to discover new features, it’s easy to resort to a few familiar techniques. While many sound editors might feel that they’ve moved beyond the need for Pro Tools classes, this curriculum provides the opportunity to thoroughly review every aspect of the program, and encounter techniques with which they may not yet be familiar. |
