Explicit- wrote:dopedee wrote:even the books that say HD are core fundamentals of LE. (Its the exact same program, minus a few features, drop down menus, and functionality with out toolkits.)
The book(s) will all say over and over again but this one feature is HD only. The meat of content is based just as much on LE as it is HD. (A few chapters here an there are based on hardware configuration and requirements for a "complete HD" rig. AKA marketing their products).
I would recommend the course books. (Ie. 101,110,201,210(music),210(post)).
You can find them on amazon for pretty cheap. They are great books and have fairly useful lessons and "workflows" to follow as you knock through the books.
I actually tutor locally for students trying to pass their pro tools hd certification exams, so I know the books inside and out on that alone and beyond the mindless marketing of hardware the books are great source of info. I have seen a lot of people benefit.
At the end of the day its all about signal flow, utilizing your resources, and key commands. Being quick and efficient when working in Pro Tools (or any other daw).
Let me know if you have specific questions as time goes on. PM me.
Thanks. Im gonna look into those books. Im actually not a new user to PT 8 but I am new to vocal recording. I just wanted to educate myself a bit on the subject before just diving in and record quality HOT stinky ****. 
I feel you but if thats the case then its not really about pro tools its more about how to record and mix vocals? This would translate to any DAW or application.
the top most plugin in pro tools is the first in the signal path. Every signal (or source) is different but here is a basic template that i would generally work off.
Filter
desser
compression
eq (in most cases subtractive and or a another larger filter cut(s)). (The boxiness in the human voice is between 300-600hz) dipping the problem areas a few db can clean up your mix 70% imo). Another key thing in relation to EQ is always sweep for problem areas. (narrow the "q" and boost all the way up and then sweep through the freq range and you will here all that super air, hiss, mud, dirt, crap ect.
*Having eq pre or post compression is something that is circumstantial. It has its ups and downs as each will be affected differently depending on their postion in the signal path.
*One more last thing. Straight up learn what the compressor is doing to fully understand whats going on and how it affects your signal. I get quite a few mixes to be mastered and all the pre mixes have very generic plugin presets that dont necessarily do the source justice.
Always put reverb and dly through aux vs applying directly onto the track.
The rest of the stuff imo has to do with how the vocals are recorded. The room, the mic, the source. How close the artist is from what kind of mic makes a huge difference and can play a huge role in how the vocals mixed later on in production. (IE more reverb to a closely miked source with be perceived as farther away and vice versa).
Also how they are layered if any.
My favorite senario whether i use the additional takes in the mixing process or not is this:
1) Main vocal (center pan)
2/3) Ending words (or some solid pattern) dubs LEFT and another take with almost identical RIGHT (the pan can change from hard left to right to 70 or so percent)
4) adlibs (swag, yeahs, uhs, repeat words, live echos) ect. Panned slightly left or right.
Now with those Ill have dly and reverb on the double steps tracks 2,3,4. (different amounts for 2/3 vs 4). Depending on the song of course i will use more or less (sometimes none or just slightly any of the above mentioned). If you get this dialed in pretty well you will notice a HUGE difference in the way your mix sounds when you solo the vocals in and out of the mix.
Also as you probally know in protools if you (CTL click (PC) on the solo button of your auxs you will put them into solo safe mode which will keep them in the signal path when you solo a track routed to the buss).
Pro tools is also a resource hog for most laptops and simple desktops machines. In this case you would start bussing your similar or like tracks to an aux that has all your signal processing (IE not having all your comp, eq, desserr, filters ect on each track, hence saving cpu resources and voices.) But thats a whole other topic.
-18db is 0 in the digital relm.
Hopefully that wasnt a super sloppy explanation and or insight and you can find some use. (or atleast somebody).
*And just for the record these are basic examples as each recording is circumstantial and subjective. Not looking to debate with other folks that may record or mix differently or have different views. Everybody got their own tricks of the trade. A good mix is a good mix and shitty mix is a shitty mix.
