This free video tutorial brought to you in association with Avid is the seventh in a series, aimed at people who are new to recording or new to Pro Tools. We follow the development of a demo recording from the point of view of someone with no prior experience of recording.

In part 6, we looked at how to overdub MIDI parts using one of the virtual instruments included with Pro Tools.

Part 7 - Mixing

In this video, we introduce the process of mixing. While mixing is a big subject, impossible to cover in a five-minute video, we consider the aim of mixing and look at some ways to simplify the process, especially as after the addition of electric guitars and backing vocals, this demo session has already grown quite large.

Submixing And Bussing

To make it easier to manage large numbers of tracks it can make sense to combine related groups of tracks into sub-mixes. By using a buss (or bus - either is correct), it is possible to route several tracks through a single Auxiliary track. This Aux track can be used to control the apparent level of all the tracks feeding it while keeping their relative levels unchanged.

Plug-ins

By using software plug-ins it is possible to change the character of the sounds you have recorded, Pro Tools ships with almost everything you could need to produce a professional result. Unless you need vocal tuning effects you have all the tools you need, included with the stock plug-ins. There is a huge amount of information about plug-ins on the site.

Additional Resources:

If you want to know more try these additional resources:

• Pro Tools Expert Technical Editor James Ivey has run a series on mixing from first principles:
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Pro Tools Expert Deputy Editor Dan Cooper runs regular 15 minute mix challenges. Although focused on third-party plug-ins the principles can be applied to any set of plug-ins.
• For more information on using busses see this Pro Tools Fundamentals article
• This video introduces a new type of track, the Aux track. To find out more about these see this tutorial: Understanding Pro Tools - Aux Tracks.

 What Will We Cover In The Rest Of This Series?

In the last of this series, we'll look at creating a stereo master to share with the world and hear the track in its entirety.

Part 8 - Output

Come back for part 8 in which we finish "Rosaline".