Most of the Pro Tools Preferences are reasonably self-explanatory. However, some require more explanation. The really important but awkwardly named stuff is reasonably well known as it’s so important you have to know about it. The example uppermost in my mind is “Insertion Follows Playback” (which prior to Pro Tools 8 used to only be visible in the preferences!). If you’ve been using Pro Tools any length of time you’ll know what it is but to the novice it’s not exactly friendly.

One such Preference, which is hidden in plain sight in the Mixing tab of the Pro Tools preferences is “Standard VCA Logic For Group Attributes”. Do you know what that does? Really?

If the answer was no, it’s very straightforward:

Standard VCA Logic For Group Attributes

When checked, some of the attributes, which can normally be linked in the group attributes, are greyed out. Instead of being available.

The following attributes are affected:

• Volume

• Solo

• Mute

• Solo

• Record Enable

• Input Monitoring

• Object Controls

• HEAT Pre/Post

• HEAT Bypass