WRITTEN BY jacob cook

Re-recording Mixer, BOOM BOX POST

Before I began learning how to mix professionally, Pro Tools automation was a complete mystery to me.  When working on my personal musical projects you better believe every track stayed the same level through the entire song!  Fortunately I have learned a lot since then.  Working in post production often necessitates at least some understanding of automation, and if you’re mixing, you need to be an expert.

Demystifying Automation

At risk of sounding reductive, Pro Tools and most DAW softwares are just really complicated tape machines.  They usually combine the recording functionality of a tape machine with the mixing potential of a console.  However even when mixing, they are still performing the same function: recording.

In the same way that Pro Tools records audio, it can record automation data. You can even edit that data or manually draw it in.  The most common way I use automation is to trigger volume adjustments on a track fader.  The end result of writing automation is that when you hit play in Pro Tools it will play back the audio clips at the desired position in time, modified by any automation you have written.

This allows you to fluctuate the level, panning and many other parameters every which way throughout your entire timeline.  The possibilities are endless!

Automation Window

The first piece of tech you want to wrap your head around is the Pro Tools automation window.  The top portion of this window allows you to suspend all automation or disable automation write for specific parameters.  For example, I prefer that mute be deselected, so I can solo and mute tracks freely as I’m working to isolate different elements.

The bottom portion of the window contains some handy manual write controls, which allow you to save time writing automation over larger sections of the timeline.  We’ll circle back to these later.

Automation Modes

The next concept that is essential to understand is automation modes.  These are settings activated on each track that determine the way automation is read or written on that particular track.  This specifically refers to writing automation during playback.

Read

Plays existing automation, no new automation is able to be written.

Write

The bulldozer of automation.  Everything is actively writing while playing, including fader positions, pan position etc.

Touch

Automation is only written when you “touch” an automate-able parameter, for example a fader for volume.  After you release your touch, the parameter will return to its position according to the pre-existing automation.  

Latch

Similar to Touch, automation is only written when you touch something, but instead of snapping back to its previous position, the parameter will hold the new position until you stop playback.  

Touch/Latch

A hybrid of the two.  In this mode, the fader operates in Touch mode, with all other parameters acting in Latch mode.

The specific mode you choose will depend on what and how you are mixing.  In Post Production mixing I generally get all of my tracks in roughly the right place and then play through each submix in Touch/Latch mode, writing volume, panning and plug-in automation as I go.

Automation Lanes:

When you are ready to begin writing or drawing in automation in can be helpful to see how Pro Tools represents this data.  Automation Lanes are views for each track that show you the automation that is currently written there.  In order to view them you navigate to the left side of each track and find the drop down menu under the track name.  This defaults to “waveform” but you can select any automation parameter available, including plug in parameters.  Then you will see the automation represented as a horizontal line across the timeline with any number of nodes show how the parameter is being manipulated over time.  When mixing it can be really helpful to live in the volume view so you can easy see and write volume automation.

How to Use Automation

If you are a sound editor and not fully immersed into a mixing workflow, you might wonder how or why automation should be applied in sound editorial.  There is almost endless potential.  To keep things simple I’m going to split it into a few categories and give some examples:

Volume 

Volume is my most often modified parameter in mixing.  As an editor it is an essential tool.  You can and should use it to change fader level for perspective cuts(don’t use clip gain for this!)  You could also use it to adjust the balance of elements within a build.  

One way I use it during the editorial phase is to manage levels of steady sounds.  For example, imagine there is a machine humming away in a room and the camera is focused on that machine at the beginning of the shot.  Then the camera pulls back and we are now focused on character dialogue.  You could use volume automation to pull the volume of the machines sound effect down as the camera trucks back, shifting the sonic focus to the dialogue or other sound effects you are covering.

Panning  

Adding panning automation is one of the easiest ways to prep your sound editorial for a review or the mix stage.  If a sound is intended to draw a character’s attention off screen, use pan automation to place it in the correct position.  If a vehicle is passing by the camera, use pan automation so that the sound’s position tracks the vehicle’s position on screen.  Perhaps you have created a busy ambience of a crowded town square.  Pan some elements to the left and some to the right to create a unique, realistic and asymmetrical soundscape.  

Plug-in automation

When mixing we often have a chain of plug-ins each submix will pass through, in addition to some basic plug in processing on each track.  As each episode is different, these parameters will often need to be automated to meet creative or technical requirements.  A straightforward example would be automating your track EQ plug in during a certain section of the timeline so that a characters voice is Futzed as if playing out of a small speaker or cell phone.  A more complicated example would be automating parameters in a reverb plug in to create a trippy space echo effect.  

All of these examples can be blended and combined to create an exciting soundscape in your edit or mix session.  

Next Level Automation: Preview Mode and Latch Prime in Stop

All of my explanation to this point has focused on writing automation while playing back in real time.  However this is not always the most efficient way to write automation, and does not easily allow you to test or audition automation changes.  Enter Preview Mode.

When you engage the Preview button in the Pro Tools Automation window, Pro Tools suspends all real time automation writing.  Instead it captures the current position of any allowed parameter and holds it until you instruct it how and where to write that automation.  This is most easily illustrated with a couple of examples from my animation mixing workflow.

I use preview mode every time I mix backgrounds and ambiences.  These are often long steady or somewhat repetitive sounds that span an entire scene.  Therefore I would often like them to remain at a consistent level and pan position throughout the entire scene.  Accomplishing this with real time automation writing would be frustrating and time consuming.  To complete this more quickly, I engage preview mode and set my playback to loop.  I select the entire scene and hit play.  Now I am free to mute, unmute and change volume, panning and plug in parameters without automation being written.  Once I am happy with the mix, I revisit my friend the automation window and use the manual write controls to “Write Automation to Selection.”  This command tells Pro Tools to apply the automation it has captured in preview mode to the entire selection, or the entire timeline if no selection is made.

I use the same method when creating processing for character dialogue.  This could be anything from a sci-fi robot to some simple EQ matching.  Using preview mode I can freely change and adjust parameters until I am ready to apply the automation.  

If you really want to work fast you will want to engage the Latch Prime in Stop setting in the Pro Tools mixing preferences.  With this setting engaged you can write automation as if in preview mode, without ever hitting play.  For example if you know a particular clip should be panned off screen to one side, you can highlight that selection in the timeline, make your pan move and apply it to the selection using the manual write command.  No playback required!

Pro Tools’ automation system is a complex beast, but its complexity and granularity is what makes it such a valuable tool.  If you are a new editor I would recommend starting small and incorporating some basic pan automation into your editorial.  After that maybe you can experiment with some basic volume automation.  The more you practice the better your understanding of the tools will become, and soon you will be an automation wizard!

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