Mike, Dan, and Peter chat through issues from the week's news as well as the usual tips, tricks and questions answered.

New Podcast Sponsor - e-instruments

Thanks to e-instruments who are supporting the podcast this month. This week we are featuring the Session Keys Electric R which has been designed to capture the essence of a vintage 1976 Mark I. Considered to be the defining sound of Soul, Funk and Fusion the 1976 Mark 1 still holds a place in keyboard player’s arsenal to this day. The Electric R has a clean studio sound and a crunchy live sound, as well as a range of effects and e-instruments, have designed the Electric R to be as authentic to the original as it is versatile.

Source Connect Now

As you may know, we are spread out around the UK & Europe when we record the podcast. In the past, we have used a variety of internet based solutions so we could hear each other.  We have settled on Source Connect Now which gives us ISDN equivalent quality audio using a Chrome browser, no software to install. You can get a free account from Source Elements.

Deals

• Save 25% on Zplane ElastiqueAAX Pitch And Time Plug-in for £230. Check out the comparisons between the ElastiqueAAX and other pitch and time manipulation plug-ins, and read what Alan Sallabank has to say.   If you need to change the time and pitch of content, especially if you work in post production then do not miss this deal.  
• Don’t forget to check out the deals from our Partners in the Partner Deals section on our Deals page. 

Talking Points Kindly Sponsored By Universal Audio

Until May 31st you can save up to 60% on classic Neve compressors, EQs and channel strip UAD plug-ins. The “Neve Sound” has been integral to legendary pop, rock, and hip-hop albums for over 40 years. From the sheen of a 1073 EQ to the smack of the 33609 compressor, get the only genuine Neve plug-ins on UAD and Apollo hardware during UA’s Neve Sale!  

• Pro Tools Cloud Collaboration From Avid - 1 Year On - What Is The Story?
• What Was Your First Third Party Plug-in Purchase For Pro Tools

Competitions

• Can You Tell A Real Rhodes Suitcase Piano From A Sampled Virtual Instrument and which do you prefer? This prize draw competition includes a shootout. Listen to 3 examples, and see which one you prefer. One of them is a real 1973 Suitcase, the other 2 are the e-instruments Session Keys S. Enter and win a copy.  
• Win 10 Plugin Alliance AAX DSP Plugins Of Your Choice Our friends at Plugin Alliance have worked hard to support the AAX DSP platform and have 51 AAX DSP plug-ins now. In this competition, one person will win 10 Plugin Alliance AAX DSP plug-ins of their choice and 5 runners up will win one AAX DSP plug-in of their choice. If you have an HDX system you will want to enter this competition…  

Community Feedback Kindly Sponsored by RSPE Audio Solutions

RSPE is proud to announce they are the exclusive US reseller for Non-Lethal Applications Video Slave 3. If the Avid Video Engine isn’t cutting it for you, contact RSPE to learn how Video Slave 3 greatly improve your workflow.

If you are looking to give your studio the power to Create, Edit, Mix, Master and Deliver Dolby Atmos content, then check our friends at RSPE Audio Solutions as for over 15 years, they have been a proud Dolby Professional dealer and installer and they are one or a handful of dealers you can supply the Dolby Atmos Mastering Suite.  

• Boris Milan has been in touch to thank us responding to his question about his Pro Tools Upgrade plans, even though we had three different answers it gave him some valuable perspective about his options and him to reconsider what to do.
• Jamie Dockerty asks if we can look at reviewing the Acustica Audio Plug-ins especially the new Gold and Amethyst3 plug-ins.
• Barry Towndrow wrote to say that a few weeks ago we mentioned a USB hub but didn’t make a note of it at the time.

This Week’s Featured Pro Tools Expert Interview

This week’s featured interview is one from the archives in which Russ chats with producer Fab Dupont about his philosophies of music production.  Fab is the owner of Flux Studios in New York City as well as co-owner of Puremix.  

Questions From The Community

• Chase Ryan’s Cheesegrater Mac Pro died and is now making his Pro Tools a portable setup but his challenge is what to do with his HDX card. He is looking for a single slot PCI-e expansion chassis, but because the HDX card needs auxiliary power there doesn’t seem to be a single slot expansion chassis with aux power, can we help?
• Everett Moran has upgraded to Radar Studio with Pro Tools 12 loaded but is having problems with Pro Tools not working on his Radar Studio and is looking for help because he doesn’t believe iZ or Avid will offer support.

Find Of The Week

• Mike - I was mixing a documentary last week and there were some nasty clunks and bangs in several of the interviews. I wondered if the iZotope De-plosive Pro Tools plug-in added in RX6 would do anything, so I tried it and it worked like a dream.
• Dan - I have finally found a builder to help me with my new studio, he is more expensive but I have finally 
• Peter - UAD Moog Multimode filter XL

Sonnox Community Award

Many of our members work hard to create a positive and supportive community of Pro Tools Experts and along with the great team at Sonnox we think that kind of attitude should be recognised and encouraged.  Together we have chosen to reward those in the community who go the extra mile to help others - be that with a helpful comment, link or video that they share with the community. The winner of the monthly award, chosen by the Pro Tools Expert team will win a plug-in of their choice from the native Sonnox Elite bundle.

The winner for April 2017 is Marcelo Cyro who has been a friend of the blog for a while now and supports the community with helpful comments combined with producing some very helpful tutorials surrounding post production workflow.  Thanks for the great work Marcelo

Listen on to the Pro Tools Expert Podcast on iTunes