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Mix Tips
Preparing and Organizing a ProTools Workflow
by Matthew Iadarola

In 1983, early in my career, I mixed shows with a non-automated Quad-Eight console and a mono magnetic film analogue recorder. Today, the majority of my mixing is done with ProTools and the Digidesign ICON console, working in 5.1 digital audio, great new tools. The purpose of this article is to describe in detail the mix workflow I employ, primarily on ProTools. Although I use the ICON, this workflow can be used with any ProTools mixing surface. I’ll describe the process used to create the dialogue portion of the first temp mix for 500 Days of Summer, a Fox Searchlight film I recently mixed at Widget Post.

Goals
Any workflow should be designed so that the individual units of the first temp mix can be conformed and incorporated into the second, and so on up to final mix. This process enables the filmmakers to retain any components of a particular mix that they would like to keep, remix what they don’t want to keep and add or delete material as the picture evolves. A ProTools mix can be entirely virtual, and therefore automation for equalization and plug-in settings can be conformed in the session, just as audio regions are conformed.

Session Setup
The first thing I do when mixing on a ProTools system is check the state of a very important option, Automation Follows Edit (AFE), under the Options Menu. If I move a region with AFE checked, the automation moves with the region (see Figure 1). If I move the region with AFE unchecked, the automation is left behind. The need to turn AFE on or off is determined by the task. For example, if during the mix I want to paste a re-edited region to replace a region that was already mixed, I will turn AFE off before I replace the region. This replaces the audio but retains the mix automation. Conversely, if a picture change is made and an editor wants to delete ten frames from the session, I will turn AFE on, so that the automation will move up ten frames along with the audio region.

Figure 1: Automation Follows Edit feature in Pro Tools in checked (on) mode. Note how automation moves with the region.

Next, I copy my personal Plug-in Settings folder into the mix system. This folder contains custom default settings for the plug-ins I use. To do this, open the Library folder within the computer’s system drive and then select Application Support>Digidesign>Plug-in Settings. I copy my folder into the Plug-in Settings folder. Next, I need to point the ProTools temp mix session to my plug-in folder. I open any plug-in window within my session, select Settings Preferences (see Figure 2), and conclude by selecting my folder, “plug-in settings_500days.”

Figure 2: Assigning my plug-in settings folder to be the root settings folder.

Creating the Mix Sessions
I have a variety of ProTools/ICON Mixing Templates, which I use to build different kinds of mix sessions. These templates define the mixing console, including I/O routing, auxiliary sends and returns, output assignments, VCA structure and plug-in defaults. To create a basic dialogue track for a template, I begin by creating a new mono audio track with key commands Command-Shift-N. At the minimum, we will need an equalizer; I like the Digidesign 7-Band EQ 3 (it sounds great on dialogue and maps well onto the ICON control surface). Create an instance (instantiate) of the EQ 3 plug-in. Next, automate all the parameters of the plug-in. Open the plug-in window by selecting the plug-in and then select AUTO in the upper right-hand side of the window. Now add all parameters to the ADD list (see Figure 3). I have an EQ3 default setting entitled DIA.EQ.default that I recall from my plug-in settings folder. ProTools will revert to these default settings only if we set two anchor points for all settings at the very beginning of the session. The first anchor is automatically created at the beginning of the session when the session is created.

Figure 3: Selecting all 7-band EQ3 parameters to be automated.

To set the second anchor point, call up the automation settings window (Command-4), enable all Write Enable options and then select Suspend Automation. This guarantees that ProTools will not play back automation but instead will write the new settings. Press Return to take the cursor to the beginning of the mix, and then make a selection one frame in length by typing “1 frame” into the Length field of the Transport window. Set all your default settings and then write your default settings with the Write to All Enabled command (Option>Command-/). This creates the second anchor point and functional default settings. It’s a simple template track, but the technique is used to create defaults for all automated parameters of the ProTools mix template.

The next task is merging the mix template with the dialogue session to create the mix session. Copy the dialogue edit sessions to the mix system into their own folder, DOS_DialogEdit_Temp1_091408 (DOS stands for Days of Summer). Next, create a new folder to contain the mix sessions:

DOS_Mixd_Temp1_091408. Copy the mix template session into this folder and rename the template to the project DOS_R1_DX_Mixd_Temp1_091408.

Open this mix session and bring in the dialogue editor’s tracks using Import Session Data, Option>Command-I. Link to the audio in the DialogEdit folder instead of copying it (see Figure 4). This avoids duplicating the editor’s original audio files. Only newly created audio will be saved into the mix session’s audio folder. Copy and rename unit tracks from the template to match the track layout and naming scheme of the imported tracks.

Figure 4: ProTools Import Session Data window with dialogue editor's session being assigned to new tracks.

Next, copy all the regions and volume automation from the editor’s tracks to the template tracks (with AFE turned on). To do this, select all the regions on the editor’s track and use the Grabber tool to Control Drag the regions to the new tracks. Finally, carefully delete the original edit tracks, and check that all session I/O routing is correct. Be sure to check all session attributes––frame rates, audio file formats, pull-up, etc.––under Session Setup (Command-2) and save the mix session. The mix session is now completed (see Figure 5).

Figure 5: Edit View window showing completed session after all attributes have been reviewed and saved.

Mixing the Reel
One of the great things about ICON/ProTools mixing is that I can mix with faders or use the pencil tool to draw automation graphs. Sometimes, a musical phrase can be mixed more accurately by drawing the volume automation up on the first note with the pencil tool rather than pushing up the fader. In any case, temps are fast, so you can pick the technique that is the best compromise between speed and quality.

Turning Back Over to the Editor
In order to prepare the mix session to turn it back over to the dialogue editor for the next conform and mix, we first create a turnover session folder for the sessions we are about to create. I create a turnover session folder for the new sessions, naming it DOS_Turnover_DX_Temp1_091408. Then, I open the mix session from within the mix folder, set all mix session automation to Read and then select Show All Tracks and Sort Tracks by Type under the Tracks Bin on the far left of the Edit window (sorting makes it easier to view the different flavors of tracks in the session). Delete all unused tracks and then clear unused audio from the session. To clear audio, go to the Region List Menu and choose Select Unused Regions, and then Clear Selected, choosing the option to Clear from the session rather than from the drive.

Make sure the session will open on the editor’s system and can be easily monitored. For example, the editor’s ProTools system does not have the DSP power to open a mix session until I deactivate all my plug-ins. This is done one insert row at a time by selecting all tracks (Option-Click the Track Names in Mix View) and then holding down Shift-Control and Option-Command while clicking any plug-in in an insert row. Deactivated plug-in names will be italicized.

It’s also in the mixer’s interest to disable the 5.1 monitoring paths in the I/O setup and create a monitor path for the editor when the mix is turned over to him or her. If mix routing is changed by the editor, it could cause the deletion of all pan automation. I create an editor’s monitor path by going to Setup/(I/O)/Bus/New Path/Stereo and naming the new path Edit Mon. While I/O is open, I also deactivate all 5.1 outputs by un-checking the associated paths. Then I go back to mix view and instantiate the Edit Mon auxiliary send in each auxiliary return (such as the dialogue return, reverb return etc.), thereby creating a post fader stereo editor’s monitor.

Next, initiate a Save Session Copy In, making sure to keep the Copy Audio Files box unchecked (to avoid duplication) and choose the turnover session folder as the destination. We finish by copying the Audio Files Folder from the mix session (all the newly created audio from the mix) into this turnover session folder. We don’t copy the original Edit Audio to the turnover session because the editor already has this audio. We then copy all the turnover sessions to the editor’s drive and check to make sure everything will open and that all the audio regions link and the headphone monitor works. We’re done!

This is an effective recipe that any mixer can easily follow, modify or reinvent. If you have any questions regarding this process or ProTools/Icon Mixing, e-mail me at ihear@mac.com. May all your regions link, and all your conforms be in sync. l

Re-recording mixer Matthew Iadarola has mixed over 150 feature films during his 25-year career in sound, most recently The Secret Life of Bees for Fox Searchlight. He is also a teacher at the Recording Institute of Technology in Hollywood.

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