Hear the subtle differences between two different plugin settings
Be confident you’re making good sonic decisions
Increase accuracy of tweaked settings
Improve your mixing workflow in Pro Tools
Well, that’s exactly what the Compare Setting function allows you to do! Instant A/B between any two plugin settings.
It’s an often overlooked feature what can make all the difference in your work. It works for both mixing and mastering and in this short video, Ben Lindell will show you how.
00:00:09 I'm gonna be showing you how to A/B
with plug-ins inside Pro Tools.
00:00:13 Usually when I'm A/B'ing a plug-in,
it's just with or without,
bypassed, or not bypassed.
00:00:18 But there's also a cool function
inside Pro Tools called Compare
that allows you to A/B
from one setting to another setting.
00:00:23 Let me show you how.
00:00:25 Here's my track inside of Pro Tools.
Let me pull up the compressor plug-in.
00:00:29 I've been messing with
these settings for a little while now
and I'm pretty happy
with how they sound.
00:00:33 But I want to see
if I can make it a little better.
00:00:37 I also want to be able to compare it
to what I have now.
00:00:40 The first thing I'm gonna do is
save my current settings as a preset.
00:00:44 To do so, I'm gonna bring up
the preset menu and press Save Settings.
00:00:48 Since I'm a keyboard shortcut freak,
I'm instead gonna press Cmd+Shift+S.
00:00:54 This will save it
into my session folder.
00:00:56 So the name doesn't really matter.
Untitled is good enough.
00:00:59 So I'm gonna press Save.
00:01:01 Now I can shorten up my Attack,
and maybe lengthen my Release.
00:01:06 You'll notice that the Compare button
lights up blue.
00:01:09 Now when I press the Compare button,
it's gonna toggle between my new settings
and the settings I saved as a preset.
Just like that!
Let's hear what this sounds like.
00:01:33 As you can see, using
the Compare button makes it really easy
to hear subtle differences
between plug-in settings.
00:01:39 Now let's pull up the EQ plug-in
and try the same thing.
00:01:43 As you can see here, I'm just using
a gentle boost of 1 dB
on a high and low shelf.
I wonder what it would sound like
if I just bump up
both of these shelves a little bit...
00:01:52 Before making changes,
I'm gonna save this as a preset,
again pressing Cmd+Shift+S.
00:01:58 Once again,
Untitled is good enough for me.
00:02:02 I want to hear what this sounds like
with just a little bit more of a boost
on these two shelves.
Let's go up to 2 dB.
00:02:11 As you can see, the Compare button
lit up blue again.
00:02:14 That means it's ready for A/B'ing
between what I saved as a preset
and my current settings.
Let's hear what these two sound like.
00:02:34 The Compare button is
often overlooked by people.
00:02:37 But as I showed you today,
it's a really useful tool
for hearing subtle differences between
two different plug-in settings.
00:02:42 That way, you can make sure
the decisions you're making
are what's best for your song.
So, until next time!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Ben is a NYC based producer/engineer who has worked with artists from MGMT to Soulja Boy, Bebel Giberto to Lloyd Banks, Ryan Leslie, Olivia, Tony Yayo, Red Cafe, Edie Brickell, Carole Pope and hundreds of other artists from around the world. He grew up in Iowa and then attended the University of Miami.
In addition to being a fantastic musician he is also a tremendous geek when it comes to anything technical, be it software, plug-ins, microphones or outboard gear. It's this marriage of musical creativity and technical know-how that makes him an in demand producer/engineer.
