Hi Tony,
First of all, thank you for your incredibly informative videos. I’d love to ask you a few questions about the more “boring” parts of the workflow.
Recall
When you finish an analog mix and move into the revision phase, how do you handle that? Do you record each channel back into Pro Tools to do the revisions there? Do you recall your mix bus processing?
Archiving
What do you do once a production is finished? Do you bounce your Pro Tools session down to individual audio tracks, or do you save the session as it was during the mix?
How long do you keep your archived productions, and where do you store them?
Thanks in advance for your answers – I appreciate it
Hi Bernhard. ..
Good questions and yes, the boring stuff is often very important!
RECALL:
When I was regularly on a console and finished a mix my assistant would document everything in great detail. All channel settings, all outboard settings, etc. Note that I was usually on a 70’s API which didn’t have any kind of built in channel recall like an SSL or Neve VR so everything had to be noted with pencil and paper. We got it down to where a recall could be done in about 20-30 mins which at the time was pretty fast.
Once things seemed pretty locked in with mix notes we’d print the output of each channel into Pro Tools along with the effects returns, parallel processing, etc. These stems would not have buss processing. At that point near the end of the project I’d do recalls via stems as adjustments at that stage are quite minimal and not worth a full recall. We’d essentially do a “stem recall” where I’d bring the stems up on the console and calibrate the level of the stems so they’re hitting the console the exact same way as before. Once everything was aligned correctly I’d add in the processing on the stereo buss and compare the stems recall to the mix to confirm it came back exactly the same.
ARCHIVING:
I work off of two drives. One is the master and the other is the backup which I back up to constantly. Once the drives fill up I’ll store them in a drawer in the studio. I keep older drives in boxes in a closet on the rare occasion a label or artist might need something. I don’t do anything to the Pro Tools sessions once the project is done. If I open up the session it will be exactly as I left it previously.. . assuming the plugins still exist! I usually keep backups for many many years out of habit.
-Tony
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Thank you very much for the detailed information. Yes, as you say, it’s the little details that make all the difference—and optimizing the workflow. Thanks again!