M-AUDIO Pro Tools Recording Studio - Manual (Page 884)

Pro Tools Reference Guide 866
mix monitoring. For example, when recording a
guitarist, they may want to hear themselves
more in the cue mix than you will want to hear
in the main mix.
Example configuration using sends for cue mixes:
1 Assign each track’s main output to your main
mix outputs.
2 Assign a send (mono or stereo) for each track
and set the send outputs to output paths 3 and 4
on your audio interface.
3 Enable the FMP (Follow Main Pan) button on
all of the sends so that the cue mix has the same
panning as the main mix.
4 Set all of the sends to unity and to post-fader.
This lets you use the same mix for the talent, but
also lets you boost (or attenuate) the level of the
talent’s signal in the cue mix by adjusting the
send level as needed.
5 Choose Track > New.
6 Specify the track type (Main Fader) and format
(stereo), then click Create.
7 From the Master Fader track’s Output Path se-
lector, select output paths 3 and 4 for monitor-
ing the mix.
8 Adjust the Master Fader track’s fader to control
the overall volume for the cue mix.
9 Repeat the preceding steps for additional cue
mixes on additional outputs on your audio in-
terface as necessary.
Dither
Dither is used to minimize quantization artifacts
when reducing the bit depth of an audio signal,
for example, from 24-bit to 16-bit. Quantization
artifacts are most apparent when a signal is near
the low end of its dynamic range, such as during
a quiet passage or a fade-out.
Dither minimizes quantization artifacts by in-
troducing very low-level random noise to a sig-
nal, which smooths out the distortion that can
result when the signal’s bit depth is reduced.
With dither there is a trade-off between signal-
to-noise performance and less-apparent distor-
tion. Proper use of dither lets you get better sub-
jective performance when reducing the bit
depth of audio.
Dither in Pro Tools
There are several ways dither can be used in
Pro Tools. Each has a specific application within
the various operations that could benefit from
using dither.
Dither Plug-ins for Mixdown Whenever you are
mixing down or bouncing to disk and your des-
tination bit depth is lower than 24-bit, insert a
dither plug-in on a Master Fader that controls
the output mix. You can use real-time dither
plug-ins from Digidesign or third-party manu-
facturers.
For important information on using dither
when mixing down or bouncing to disk, see
“Dithering” on page 960.
With Delay Compensation enabled, it is
recommended that you do not use any in-
serts on any Auxiliary Input or Master
Fader tracks you may be using to control the
cue mix volume. Also, you should avoid us-
ing inserts on any record tracks. (Some low
latency inserts may be acceptable depend-
ing on the talent’s preference.)
For more information on Dither plug-ins, see
the DigiRack Plug-ins Guide.