Avid Technology : Global Pro Tools Producers Prime Themselves for the 2016 MPG Awards

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Pro Tools?

Comfort - I know where I am with Pro Tools, and it feels very easy to use for me.

How have you and Avid/Pro Tools grown together over the years?

I've been using Pro Tools for 15 years, right the way through my career. When I was 18, I started working at Abbey Road Studios for a work placement. They had Pro Tools rigs and I got to know my way around them. Back at home, I invested in my own Pro Tools LE rig with a 002 rack, and did lots of recordings in my room. Some of the earliest Alt-J recordings were done on my trusty Pro Tools LE rig, but as the years have gone by, I've developed as a producer and now I'm on Pro Tools HDX with two Avid I/Os and various other bits.

What version are you currently using?

Pro Tools HDX with Avid I/O

How do you use Pro Tools? Song writing/composition? Mixing? What is your process and workflow like?

So many different ways. I find the best thing about Avid Pro Tools is that it's so versatile, and I can adapt my workflow to whatever kind of project I'm working on. I'm a big fan of exploring and creating new sounds and I do a lot of co-writing, developing and creating parts, so Pro Tools is great for messing about with sounds. Other times, it's important just to track a live band and I can do all that simply using Pro Tools as it's an amazing tool for mixing down. Also, when I'm writing, it allows me to manipulate the audio that we're recording.

What are your favourite features in Pro Tools?

One has to be the simplicity of the layout - the two windows just make it so straightforward. Others I'd have to say would be the addition of 'clip-gain' a few years ago was handy for mixing purposes and made life a lot easier. The new metering feature allows you to get a sense of what sort of dynamic processing you may or may not need. Ultimately, I use my ears for making these decisions, but it's good to get an idea of the metering.

How has the ubiquity of Pro Tools manifested for you in terms of collaboration and working in various places and situations?

As Pro Tools is found in a large majority of modern studios, it's so simple to take a hard drive out with you, login with an iLok for a choice of plugins and you're away. I can also take Pro Tools out on location for example, recording a session at a country house - we just plug it in, set up a few mic amps and I'm off. The 'inside the box' versatility from a practical point of view really is brilliant.

Do you use Pro Tools with other software or hardware? How does that openness and synergy enhance your process?

Well, the only additional hardware I use are mic amps etc. I run a small project studio, with a headphone amp connected to all the outputs, so I can easily create different headphones mixes for different musicians from inside the box. My set up allows me to record up to 6 different musicians playing live together at any one time.

Do you use a lot of virtual instruments? How has Pro Tools recent support for more and larger VIs impacted your work?

The biggest difference for me is the thinking power with new 64 bit processing that's been noticeable. It means I can have a number of elements of a project running at once. Before, it was sometimes frustrating to pause, bounce down, but thanks to the continuous improvements from Avid, those days are long gone!

How have you used Pro Tools on a recent project and what did you like/dislike?

Well firstly, there isn't anything I dislike - so that's a bonus! On a recent project, I just finished an album with a workflow that was both experimenting and tracking. Pro Tools allowed me to manipulate portions of the sound a lot, so essentially I could break down the arrangement into definite sections - drums, guitar and vocals.

As I said before, Pro Tools allows me to get creative. If I'm going back to make a tweak when mixing in the box, which happens a lot as you near end of project, I can just load the session up and don't have to spend hours recalling parts. Offline bounce is also a really cool feature to have, but most of the time I prefer to listen to mixes as they go down.