Chapter 25. Basic Mixing; Mixing Concepts; Metering And Calibration - DigiDesign Pro Tools Reference Manual

Chapter 25: Basic Mixing
In addition to the final mixdown, mixing tasks
can occur any time during a recording session.
This chapter covers Pro Tools mixing, including
audio signal flow, output and bus paths, sends,
and signal routing for submixing and mixdown.
During mixing, real-time plug-ins and hardware
inserts provide effects and signal processing (see
Chapter 26, "Plug-in and Hardware Inserts").

Mixing Concepts

Mixing involves making decisions about ele-
ments such as volume levels, panning, and ef-
fects. These mixing decisions are initially based
on what you hear in your studio. While you can
control many variables in your studio (such as
speakers and room acoustics), you cannot con-
trol the listening environment in which your fi-
nal mix will be heard. The following tips include
a few ways to make sure your mix will sound as
good as possible to as many listeners as possible:
Alternate Speakers and Reference
Monitoring Listen to your mixes on a variety of
different speakers, to gauge how well the mix
will translate. By listening to a mix through dif-
ferent playback systems, you are attempting to
anticipate what the intended audience will hear.
Reference Mixes Tapes and discs of rough mixes
let you audition mixes outside the studio in dif-
ferent listening environments.
Format Compatibility Monitoring Stereo mixes
must often be mono-compatible. When you are
mixing in multichannel surround, mixes may
also need to be compatible with stereo or mono
playback systems (see the Pro Tools Sync & Sur-
round Concepts Guide).

Metering and Calibration

Meters provide a visual display of signal levels.
They tell whether signal is getting to a channel,
and how loud or soft a signal is relative to
(above or below) "0."
By calibrating all your equipment to standard
reference levels, a consistent level can be
achieved (and metered) among different record-
ing devices in a studio, throughout a facility, or
throughout an entire production chain of a fea-
ture-length film. For example, a level of
–18 dBFS coming out of a DAT deck should play
and meter at –18 dBFS in Pro Tools.
Use the Calibration Reference Level option
(in the Operations Preferences page) to set a
default calibration reference level when
Pro Tools is in Calibration mode.
For audio interfaces that have trims (such
as the 192 I/O), see the interface's guide for
calibration instructions.
Chapter 25: Basic Mixing 523