John Keston Classes

Recording Studio Notes

The recording studio (Room 009) at Ai was recently upgraded to Pro Tools HD version 7.4.2 with a Control 24 control surface and a Digidesign 192 I/O interface. A software upgrade to version 8 is planned for the system, at which time I’ll update this post to reflect new steps for using the studio.

Getting Started:

1. After getting a pass card from the Cage, login to the Mac with username: studio and password: studio.
1. You may need to turn on the projector to see the menus.
2. To change this under System Prefs > Display > Arrangment drag the menu bar icon to the preferred monitor.
2. Turn on the Digidesign 192 I/O and wait for it to completely finish its boot process.
3. Start Pro Tools once all the lights have stopped blinking on the 192 I/O.
4. Turn on the Mackie monitors with the button on the front of each speaker.
5. Start a new session in Pro Tools and save it on the Student Drive
6. Start a new track
1. Use tracks 1-8 for microphones in sequence
2. Plug the mics into corresponding inputs on the snake (i.e. 1 -> A1, etc.).
3. Set the “source” on the Control 24 to “mic” for tracks to record from mics.
4. Use the “gain” to adjust the input levels before recording
7. Important: when you are finished turn off the monitors before exiting Protools or shutting down the system.
8. Set the I/O on your tracks based on the following:
1. A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8 for mono mic input tracks (set source to “mic”)
2. A1-2 for analog input from the CD player (set source to “line”)
3. A3-4 for analog input from the DAT deck (set source to “line”)
4. A5-6 for analog input from the Yamaha keyboard (set source to “line”)
5. A7-8 for analog input from the internal Mac sound card (set source to “line”)