We had so many community tips last week that we have had to spill over into this week.   

1. Tony Molica - Hi guys.  Just a tip to share with the group.  I am using PT11 on a recent mix with a lot of VIs. I’m on Mac - Westmere, 32Gb of RAM and Apollo quad/firewire.  VI’s in VSL: Trillian and Garritan ARIA Harp and Vienna Orchestra.  Also, I have these VI’s in PT11: Ivory and SD2. When I offline-bounce an MP3, it hovers around 1.4x. But, the result is the Trillian Bass is about 25-30ms late. But when I bounce online (the old fashioned, slow way) - the bass is right-on the beat.  My PT11 hw buffer is set to 128 samples, and there are no buffers set in my VSL plugin.  My point/tip is, don’t blindly trust an offline-bounce! Especially with VI-intensive stuff, or using VI’s in Vienna Ensemble Pro; do make sure you check your offline bounce!
3. Ben Sinclair - When editing production sound or ambiences, you typically checkerboard clips and then extend the top and tail and add fades in and out so that the fades overlap (usually by two frames). A real time saver is to simply checkerboard them and then, using the Object Grabber tool (which is the third type in the drop down menu when you click and hold on the hand or Grabber tool), select all of the checkerboarded clips. Next, press <Alt> and - (which extends the head of all of the clips by one frame) and then press <Command> and + (which extends the tail of all of the clips by one frame). Switch back to the standard Grabber tool, select all of the clips again and press <Command> and F which will bring up the fades window. You can then set a fixed duration for the fades (40ms is one frame @ 25FPS and approx 42ms is one frame @ 24FPS- I usually set it to 80ms when working @ 25FPS for two-frame fades) and press enter. This results in all of clips overlapping by two frames and with fades at the top and tail with the duration of your choosing. I find it extremely useful when editing a lot of B-roll production sound that will play behind the main VO in documentary work but it’s also great for laying up ambiences for TV or film. 
5. DF Tweedie - I didn’t see this on Neil’s recent update on hacking track presets in PT 11 … though I’m still on PT 10.  Basically, I discovered this is not track presets, but track[S] presets. I like control over my multitimbral instruments … a separate MIDI track for each channel and a separate aux for each audio output. Previously, I’d make a session template and then start a project using one with my chosen instrument and routings. Now I can create one instrument ‘tracks preset’ with all the individual MIDI and aux tracks, all routed as desired — using exactly the same method as used for creating a single track preset … and then pop it into any project mid-stream. Wow! It appears that any combination of tracks and routings are viable. Windows7 x64, HD Native 10.  
7. Mario de Arce - A fast and easy way to create tracks in Pro Tools 11 (and this can be done from both the Edit and Mix windows, as well as track list). To create new tracks: Holding Command, double-click on the empty space in the window; this will create a new Audio track. Hold down Option and double-click to create a new Instrument track. Holding Control and double-clicking will create an Aux track and holding down Shift while double-clicking will create a Master track. If you just double-click with no additional key pressed, it will create another of the last track you created. 

Keep sending in your tips via the Contact Us page if you would like to see yours posted on the site and the chance of winning a storm trooper iLok.