How To Quickly Export Multiple Files Using The 'Between Each Marker' Preference In Studio One

When I first made the move from Pro Tools - one of the first things I noticed was the multiple different options to define the Export Range in Studio One. One of the main options that caught my eye was having the ability the export “Between Each Marker”.

I have always used Markers to define specific areas in my arrangement - so for me, this was like a dream come true. Just imagine being able to print 6 or 7 separate arrangements all offline, without any fussing about. Or even more powerful, how about different chapters in an audio book, or different snippets of a VO. You can literally print 50, 100, 150 (however many you need) and Studio One will render them quickly & with ease - all based on the power of your computer.

I used to have to do these all one by one, and in the case of when I was working in Pro Tools, I was printing back into my session on a new Audio Track! That being said, one thing I quickly noticed was that this feature didn’t quite work as I expected it to (or wanted it to) when using the Export Mixdown option. Hence, I went back to my old process of doing things one by one.

BUT - then I was on a call with my friend Don Baarns - who does a ton of work supporting the Studio One Community in the Audiobooks / Narration / Voice-Over area. Essentially, he let me in on a little secret in that the “Between Each Maker” exporting workflow is actually quite different when using the Export Stems option.

In this video I demonstrate how to use the 'Between Each Marker' preference to quickly export multiple files when working in PreSonus Studio One.

Using this option vs the traditional "Between Loop" format is a lifesaver when needing to export various files according to pre-defined Markers in Studio One. That being said, there is a fundamental difference between the way this feature works with "Export Mixdown" vs "Export Stems".

And once again, a special thanks to my good friend Don Baarns for the pro tip.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Studio One Quick Tip - Using 'Create Ranges On Tracks' To Simplify Automation

Any time I'm doing Studio One training clinics or seminars - I always get stopped by someone whenever I use one particular shortcut in Studio One. So I figured it would be worth covering this feature in detail. In this video I demonstrate the 'Select Ranges On Tracks' function in PreSonus Studio One. More specifically what it does, and how it can be used to simplify editing automation when working.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Working With VCA's In PreSonus Studio One - Part 2 - VCA Automation Demystified

One of the biggest feature requests in Studio One (especially from former Pro Tools users) was VCA Faders. Having said that - Studio One added VCA's in Version 3.

I find that it’s kind of tough to explain to people exactly why mixing with VCA’s is such a killer way to work. The usual responses are something along the lines of “Well how is that different then creating a group?” or “Isn’t that that same as creating a BUS Channel for selected tracks?”

My answer is always the same. Once you fully understand (and start using) VCA’s - it’s hard to imagine NOT having them. So with that being said, I wanted to do a 2 part series that would (hopefully) get people accustomed to using VCA’s and explain some of the advantages in terms of incorporating them into one’s workflow.

Before I go any further - If you haven’t already seen the first video - You can watch Part 1 by clicking here.

In this 2nd video of a 2 part series, I demonstrate how to work with VCA's with respect to automation. More specifically, how to render VCA Automation into source tracks - as well as how to merge VCA Automation (static offsets) when needed.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Working With VCA's In PreSonus Studio One - Part 1 - VCA Basics and Setup

One of the biggest feature requests in Studio One (especially from former Pro Tools users) was VCA Faders. Having said that - Studio One added VCA's in Version 3.

I find that it’s kind of tough to explain to people exactly why mixing with VCA’s is such a killer way to work. The usual responses are something along the lines of “Well how is that different then creating a group?” or “Isn’t that that same as creating a BUS Channel for selected tracks?”

My answer is always the same. Once you fully understand (and start using) VCA’s - it’s hard to imagine NOT having them. So with that being said, I wanted to do a 2 part series that would (hopefully) get people accustomed to using VCA’s and explain some of the advantages in terms of incorporating them into one’s workflow.

In this 1st video of a 2 part series, I demonstrate the basics of VCA's - more specifically how to set them up, what they do, and why they're so incredibly useful.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Workflow Tip - Using Reference Tracks In PreSonus Studio One - Routing and Preferences

Using Reference Tracks

Using Reference Tracks is a great way to maintain objectivity when mixing - but it can also be a huge pain unless your routing is set up to accommodate. Furthermore, unless you’re using a Control Surface of some sort such as the Faderport 8 or 16 - attempting to solo one track whilst un-soloing another with a mouse at the same time is a dead end street..

So if we take a look at the 2 above issues, it’s safe to say that even though this concept is a rather simple one. ie: “I want to reference SONG A while I’m mixing SONG B” - It requires a bit of thought to put together a workflow that would allow references to be used. But first, a few more points.

Taking Loudness Into Account

It’s safe to say that a good benchmark to aim for is that of a commercially released track. That being said, if you’re planning on using a track that’s sitting on the current charts - it will most likely have been mastered and have that processing “printed” into the track. This leads to another issue.

Avoiding Double Processing

This is something I’ve spoken about before, but essentially - If you DO have a reference track in your mixing template, and it’s routed directly to your Main Outs, then there is the possibility of double processing your “already mastered” reference track.

What do I mean by this? Well, let’s say that you’ve got a great mix going, and perhaps you’ve got some Mix Bus Processing happening on the Main Outs. (something like iZotope Ozone). In order to get an accurate A/B comparison between your reference track, and your mix, you’d have to first bypass the plug-ins on your Main Outs, and solo your reference track (hopefully after adjusting the fader to compensate for the difference in level if there is any). Furthermore, you’d also want to be able to go back to listening to YOUR mix with the processing on the main outs. Back & Forth, as needed.

In addition, the ears can adjust to a Tonal Balance rather quickly, so in my personal opinion, being able to quickly toggle between your mix and your reference track is imperative to utilizing reference tracks properly. If it takes you 5-10 seconds to go through the A/B process - this isn’t really an efficient approach. Also, there is nothing more evident then the instantaneous epiphany of realizing you’re off the mark.

The Solution

Now that we’ve spoken about the problem, let’s talk about a possible solution that I personally use. Well, it involves some simple routing within your Studio One Song & enabling a preference within Studio One that can help make this process go a little smoother.

In this video, I demonstrate a workflow that can be used to smoothly incorporate using reference tracks when mixing in Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Export Raw Audio Files (Regions) In PreSonus Studio One

If you’re collaborating with other engineer’s, producer’s, songwriter’s, or studio’s - then there’s a good chance that you’ve been asked to deliver “RAW Audio Files” (aka regions) before. If you haven’t - then my guess is that you will be eventually. :)

First off, let’s take a moment to talk about what this term means.. Well, essentially we can think of Raw Audio Files, as the actual files that are created when recording to your hard drive. Another term for RAW files could also be “un-processed” but in my personal experience, the term RAW is used more often. In fact If I had to narrow it down even further, I’d say “Raw Audio Files / Regions Consolidated from Bar 1” is the phrase I’ve heard the most.

Regardless of whether you are recording a vocal, a kick drum, or an acoustic guitar - whatever source is being recorded through the preamp (after it has passed through the A > D Converters) INTO your DAW would be the raw audio. It’s also important to note that the actual gain that the files have been recorded at will have been determined by your preamp’s gain settings, and the level at which you recorded them. So any fader levels and panning done within the console / mixer of your DAW - would not have any bearing on the levels of the files.

There are certain cases where having access to the RAW audio files (vs exported stems) may be preferable, but without getting into too much detail, the main reason would be to have maximum flexibility/control in terms of mixing or producing. Case in point, you’ve done some vocal tracking, and someone has requested that you deliver RAW tracks so that he or she may continue to work on the song, and have full control over any processing that may be added.

“Translation - Don’t do any mixing, I’ll handle that on my end… Just record the tracks as best as you can, and send them to me..”

One last thing to point out, is that I think it’s also important to note that in most cases - even when delivering RAW Audio files, it’s pretty common practice to do some basic house keeping, such as deleting unwanted sections of audio in between phrases, and adding basic fade in’s & fade out’s. But the end goal is to usually render a new contiguous audio file that starts at “Bar 1” with no additional processing.

In this video I demonstrate how to export Raw Audio tracks (Regions) in PreSonus Studio One 4 using a Drag & Drop workflow from the Arrange Window to the Browser.

Although this video was done using Version 4, the same concepts can be applied to previous version of Studio One.

Exporting Stems In PreSonus Studio One - Follow-Up Q & A Video

Its safe to say that although it sounds simple enough, exporting Stems can be a tricky subject. Especially when there’s parallel processing, FX Returns, & Mix Bus Processing involved. That being said - In last weeks video we covered the basics on using the ‘Export Stems’ function in Studio One, and more specifically - the difference between using Tracks vs Channels.

In this weeks video, I wanted to dig down a little further into some of the questions and comments I received from last weeks video "Tracks vs Channels - Exporting Stems In PreSonus Studio One”.

So essentially - a Q & A Video Response that will hopefully help clear things up a bit more for those who had further questions.

Furthermore, last week was all about how to export Stems from your Studio One Song - (and the difference between Tracks vs Channels) whereas this week I wanted to focus more on routing options, and how to go about structuring your Studio One Song to ensure that exporting Stems doesn't become a tedious process. Not necessarily any hard rules - but more along the lines of some guidelines and tips that I’ve picked up over my years of having to deliver stems for various clients.

However - one thing that I do want to mention with respect to exporting Stems, is that the minute you involve ANY Mix Bus Processing (on your Main Outs) the whole entire concept of ‘Stems’ kind of goes out the window.. Or to be more clear, Specifically when dealing with things like Mix Bus Compression, or any dynamics processing that may be potentially reacting to the whole mix vs individual elements.

Case in point: If you have some epic SFX Tracks that are kicking your Mix Bus Compressor or Limiter into overdrive - if you muted those tracks and played back the same mix - you would most likely note that your levels would be different. This is because the tracks are summing together and effecting the cumulative level that your dynamics processing is responding to.

This can also be the case when dealing with saturation as well.. It’s a cumulative effect. So the short answer is that “usually” (not all the time) this is something to be taken into consideration when printing stems. In my personal experience, things like basic EQ curves usually translate pretty well and don’t drastically alter the sonics - unless of course you are aggressively pushing gain or drive to saturate the Mix Bus on purpose.

At the end of the day, your deliverables will usually provide the best insight as to how to deliver your stems, and how to set up the routing in your DAW. So if it’s a matter of having to deliver stems that perfectly match your Stereo Mix Down - there are way’s to accomplish this. And in some cases Getting your stems to come ‘close’ to your final mix might be good enough as well.

But regardless, there is NOTHING worse than getting an email AFTER you’ve mixed a track saying “oh yeah, by the way, we’re gonna need stems printed for this mix” and having to go though your mix and find a way to print stems that even remotely resemble your finished Mix. Needless to say, you will only need to go though this once to see how much of a pain it is. And my guess would be that once you do have to go through this, you will most likely find a way to structure your songs to avoid being burnt a second time.

All in all, Stems are a regular part of my world - I deal with them all the time, but they don’t have to be a pain, as long as you think ahead, exporting stems can be a breeze.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Tracks vs Channels - Exporting Stems In PreSonus Studio One Demystified

Working With Stems

If you’ve spent any time working in a DAW then you’ve most certainly heard of the term “Stems” before. Without getting into too much detail - the concept is actually pretty simple. If you are looking to collaborate with another person, whether that may be a producer, a mixer, or an artist, you will most likely be asked to deliver Stems to them - so that they may import the audio files into their DAW of choice and continue working on the song.

The general concept with Stems is that certain elements may be ‘grouped together’ and rendered out as an audio file. In some cases, this may be quite simple, such as: Drums & Percussion, Bass, Guitars, Keys, Vocals, FX.

In other cases it may be more complex, such as: Kick, Snare, Hats, Toms, Over Heads, Room, High Percussion, Low Percussion, Bass, Acoustic Guitars, Electric Guitars, Lead Vocal, BG Vocals, etc etc..

In addition, Stems can also have different channel width’s as well. Such as 4.0, 5.0, Stereo, Mono, etc etc.. But for the sake of today’s example, let’s keep it simple and deal with stereo.

**Before we move on, I also want to point out that there is another approach to exporting audio files as well, which would be “Raw” tracks.. Meaning that NO processing is applied during the exporting - but this is something that I plan to tackle on another day. For all intents and purposes - let’s assume that we want our Stems to have any plug-ins, Fader level’s, and Panning rendered into the Stereo File.

The Benefit’s of Stems

There are many different reasons why stems are a preferable way to work. The most obvious being that in the case where someone is using a different DAW - they would quite obviously NOT be able to open up a session from YOUR DAW (we do have AAF options available - but that’s a different article all together). Another good example would be when someone may have the same DAW, but NOT the same plug-ins.

And lastly, In all honesty it’s just a great way to keep things clean, tidy, and simplified when collaborating with others, or archiving your productions. Case in point, if you are 100% completely happy with your drum sound - then why complicate things any further? Just print a Drum Stem and be done with it. Your Drums will now be 1 Stereo track and 1 Fader in any DAW that the stem was imported into.

Conversely if you feel the need to leave your options open, then perhaps it’s better to “Stem Out” the drums into all of the individual elements to allow for additional processing and mixing further down the line.

But regardless, using Stems is a fantastic workflow - that simplifies the production / recording / mixing process immensely.

Exporting Stems In PreSonus Studio One

If we take the above into account - it’s quite easy to see how having different methods of exporting Stems can be useful. And thankfully - Studio One offers a plethora of different options for rendering audio depending on what needs to be accomplished - whether it’s a simple Stereo Lead Vocal Stem with ALL the FX and processing rendered in, or discrete Stems for each element of the Vocal.

The 'Export Stems' option in Studio One is an extremely useful way to quickly render out Stems from your Song. But did you know that there are some fundamental differences between using Tracks vs Channels?

In this video, I demonstrate the key differences between the 2 methods - as well as when (and why) to use one method over the other.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Studio One Quick Tip - When and Why To Enable 'Automatically Add Envelopes For All Touched Parameters'

Editing automation is an essential part of modern music production. But lets face it - it can sometimes be a bit of a pain. I think in general there are usually 2 school’s of thought. Those who prefer to ‘mouse in’ their automation, and those who would rather take a more tactile approach and ‘perform’ an automation pass - either by using the mouse, (clicking and dragging parameters in real time) or a controller.

To be completely honest, I use both methods. If i’m just needing to automate a simple filter sweep, I might opt to quickly draw it in. BUT - in the case where I feel the need to have more control, manually grabbing faders, and performing my automation moves is a great way to achieve that.

But there’s one thing that can be frustrating during this process. That being the need to first “add” an envelope for the parameter I need to automate. Once an envelope has been added, it’s simply a matter of choosing the automation mode, and performing a pass. But if you’re wanting to automate multiple parameters at the same time, you would first have to “add them”.

The great news is that there is a preference in Studio One that takes care of this issue all together - and all you need to do is simply enable it!

In this video I demonstrate the 'Automatically Add Envelopes For All Touched Parameters' automation preference in PreSonus Studio One. More specifically when (and why) to use it - and how it interacts when writing plug-in automation.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Track Based Automation vs Part Based Automation In PreSonus Studio One

Automating your instrument tracks is a fantastic way to add movement and interest to your productions. In fact, sometimes a simple tweak such as a basic filter sweep can literally add a night & day difference to a song!

That being said, it’s also important to have a solid understanding of the different ways in which you can apply automation. Case in point; Studio One allows users to go about this in a couple different ways.. One of them is a pretty standard approach that most DAW user’s would be familiar with - while the other is (imho) a little more modern, (and perhaps preferable in certain circumstances).

In this video I demonstrate the main differences between Track Based Automation vs Part Based Automation (a.k.a. Region/Event Based Automation) when working with Instrument tracks in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Studio One Quick Tip - When and Why To Use 'Collapse All Tracks' In PreSonus Studio One

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been doing my best to put together a series of videos that can be helpful for organizing your Arrange Window when working in Studio One. As many of you may have noticed, I tend to jump around quite a bit with my views - by doing things such as zooming in and out (both vertically and horizontally), as well as expanding and collapsing folder tracks as needed.

There are quite a few different way in which Studio One allows user’s to customize their views, and for this I am grateful. Furthermore, I tend to take full advantage of any view I need in order to accomplish the task at hand. But as soon as I’m complete - I tend to want to quickly return back to my “Zoom Overview” view - with all my automation envelopes hidden, and my folders collapsed.

This is where the Collapse All Tracks Command comes in super handy. :)

In this video I demonstrate the Collapse All Tracks Menu Command In Studio One. More specifically, why it's useful - and when to use it.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Studio One Quick Tip - Using Folder Tracks And Console View Options To Streamline Your Workflow

In last weeks video we had a look at how to enable a preference within Studio One that would essentially “auto create” an Automation Track (in the Arrange Window) for Fx Channels, Bus Channels, and VCA Channels.

If you recall, I made mention of the fact that this is my personal preference to have happen by default. But that being said, I also mentioned that some people may argue that depending on the number of Automation Tracks being created - it may begin to clutter up your Arrange Window.

In this weeks video, I wanted to demonstrate a tip that can help combat that, and essentially gives the user the best of both worlds. The Automation Tracks can reside in your Arrange Window for easy editing - but with the added benefit of being organized in a simple yet effective way. Furthermore, by adjusting a few different preferences in the Console View Options - Studio One allows user’s to customize it’s behaviour to suit their needs based on personal preference.

In this video I demonstrate how to utilize Folder Tracks a Various Console View Options to help maintain a neat & tidy Arrange Window when working in PreSonus Studio One.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Get Arrange Tracks For Bus Channels - FX Channels and VCA Channels In PreSonus Studio One

I personally don’t make any efforts to conceal the fact that I am a former Pro Tools user of many years. In fact, as I’m sure you may have noticed - a lot of my content is created with the intent of showing other former Pro Tools users the “Studio One Equivalent” way of handling specific tasks that they may have been used to doing in Pro Tools.

That being said, when I first made the move to Studio One - one thing that I found really confusing was the fact that if I created a Bus Channel (Subgroup) or an FX Channel - it was not visible in my Arrange Window (by default). There were steps that could be taken to make it show up, but it didn’t happen by default (as would have been my preference). But this was was quite a while back, and as of one of the updates that we got in Version 3 - a preference was added to mitigate the issue.

Now before you start ambushing me with comments like “why would it show up - Its not a track?” Let me just say - YES, I’m fully aware of that. :) Im also fully aware that Studio One is not the only DAW that functions this way. For example: I know that this is also the default behaviour of Logic Pro.

But what I will say is that when you are used to working a certain way (with a 1:1 parity between your Arrange Window & Console) for 15+ years, it’s tough to adapt to not having arrange tracks for all of the Channel’s in your Console. This becomes especially evident if you prefer to work primarily in the arrange window - with the inspector open for basic mixing requirements.

I will also say that 9 times out of 10, if I create a Bus Channel, FX Channel, or VCA Channel - chances are that I have the intentions of automating it’s parameters, be it volume, or plug-in settings. So I’d prefer it’s available by default to do so.

So having said all of the above, if this is something you would prefer - In this video I demonstrate how to set Studio One's preferences so that an Automation Track is automatically created for Bus Channels, FX Channels, & VCA Channels when using PreSonus Studio One.

For those coming from other DAW's such as Pro Tools, this may be preferable to the default behaviour.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Studio One 4 Quick Tip - Using The Automation "Reduction Level" Setting To Smooth Out Automation

Working With Automation

I find in general that there are usually 2 school’s of thought when it comes to automation, or more specifically - when it comes to recording / writing automation. Those who like to draw everything in perfectly, and those who prefer to record it in using a controller, or at the very least using a mouse.

I myself, am comfortable doing either method, but usually prefer to get some sort of hands on control whenever possible.

But have you ever felt like the result of your record pass isn’t quite what you performed?

Too Many Nodes - or Not Enough?

If you are part of the camp that likes to record in your automation manually using a controller of some sort, I’m almost certain that at some point you may have found yourself in either one of these 2 situations:

1. The automation has too many unnecessary nodes (breakpoints)

2. The automation doesn’t reflect the exact performance that was recorded! ie: It doesn’t have enough.

As most of you know - I come from a Pro Tools background, and in Pro Tools, we had a preference that allowed us to deal with this scenario that gave the user the option to “thin out” the automation at varying levels after each pass.

In case you weren’t aware - this is actually something that was recently added to Studio One in one of the final updates to Studio One Version 3’s life cycle.

In this video I demonstrate the recently added "Reduction Level" setting in PreSonus Studio One's Automation preferences. More specifically, what it's meant for - and when (and why) to use it.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Quick Tip - How To Multi-Select Impact XT Pads In Studio One 4.1.1 & Above

I’m a big fan of keeping things simple these days, and hence I find myself turning to the stock plug-ins and instruments that are included with Studio One on a daily basis. So needless to say Impact XT has replaced my use of Battery in about 99% of the cases when I’m looking to trigger a basic kit with drum samples.

BUT!!

I must admit that in one thing that’s always bugged me about using Impact / Impact XT in the past was not being able to select multiple pads and change their outputs together. Not to mention other parameters as well - but mostly, changing the outputs!

Well, in case you happened to miss it, there was one line in the release notes of Studio One 4.1.1 that definitely caught my attention:

[Impact XT] Multiselect for pads (Shift or CMD)

In this Studio One Quick Tip video I demonstrate how to select multiple pads in Impact XT in Studio One Version 4.1.1 & above. This can be extremely useful when adjusting the outputs of multiple pads at once (in addition to other parameters).

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Quick Tip - Gain Staging Virtual Instruments In Studio One 4 Using Macros

The Trouble With Most Virtual Instruments (In My Opinion)

I find that in general, most of the Virtual Instruments that I use (regardless of whether they are soft synths, or sampler type instruments) tend to come in very hot. When I say hot, I mean some of them are literally either clipping or a step away from clipping.

As a side-note, I have created some custom virtual instruments myself, and I opted to "split the difference" and made sure that the levels were nowhere near zero (dbfs) but more along the lines of around -12 or so when played at higher velocities. I personally think that this is a happy medium.

Now as to why VI's output at such a hot level, well to be honest, that's another topic altogether. I've heard some arguments from people 'in the know' that it has to do with noise floor levels when playing back the samples at different sample rates, etc. But in the end, it's an issue that I deal with - and found a way to combat it when working in Studio One that I thought might be useful to some of you.

My Solution To The Problem

I think it's worth mentioning that I'm not trying to re-invent the wheel here, I know lots of people are most likely using a gain plug-in of some sort to tackle the above issue, but what this quick tip is all about is simply automating that process. Which of course just happens to be something that Studio One handles really well via the use of Macros.

In this video I demonstrate how to create a Macro in Studio One 4 that will automatically help gain stage your virtual instruments when needed. In addition, I also outline some other workflow benefits to using a Macro vs manually adjusting the global output volume on VI's.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

Importing A Tempo Map & Markers From Pro Tools Into Your Studio One 4 Song

Picking up from where we left off in last week's video, I thought it would be good to do a "Part 2" with respect to AAF work-flow that talks about how to go about getting any additional information carried over from a Pro Tools Session into your Studio One Version 4 song.

If you did happen to catch the first video, you'll recall me saying that having the audio come over via AAF is great, as it allows us to essentially pick up from where we left off in Pro Tools. The benefit here of course being that we still have access to our original edit boundaries. So no need to consolidate files and find out down the line that you (or someone else) missed a bad edit.

But as you may or may not have noticed - one BIG thing that did not get translated during the process is your Markers, Tempo-Map, and any time signature changes!

Tempo Maps, Time-Signature Changes & Markers

Now first off, let me just state the obvious. If you have a basic song, in 4-4 - at 120 BPM, this isn't really a huge issue. Just recreate your markers manually, and it's not a big deal. BUT - if you have spent a great deal of time adding various Markers with specific names, and detailed tempo changes, it would be a shame to have to re-do them. The good news is you don't have to.

Using MIDI Files To 'Carry' The Information

As someone who has spent a great deal of time collaborating with various other engineer's and studio's, one thing I got into the habit of doing long ago is using MIDI files to carry over information that I wanted to translate to another DAW. Regardless of whether I was handing off my work to another studio, or simply working on my own productions, in most cases the material I work on can get pretty complex with respect to tempo changes and time-signature changes, so I really don't want to have to repeat that work, or hand someone else a session where they have no clue what's what.

So essentially this is pretty much the last step I take when exporting content, and this is something I do regardless of whether I'm printing consolidated stems, or using AAF work-flows.

MIDI Files & Markers

One thing that you may find is with specific DAW's, (not going to name any name's here - they all have a different approach) not all the information you would expect to translate over - comes across. A really good example of this would be with respect to Marker's.

In my experience, there is usually (again it depends) some little quirk, where for example creating a NEW SONG from that MIDI file will bring over the markers, where as Importing the MIDI file into an existing song will not. And like I mentioned, this isn't always the case, but I've encountered this with at least 2 major DAW's that I've worked with. (Studio One being one of them)

The Magic Of Import Song Data

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Import Song Data is BY FAR at the top of the list for my favorite new features. The reason being because it essentially eliminates the whole concept of "not being able to bring something into an existing song". Again the keyword here being "existng".

Having said all that - In this video, I'll show you how to go about importing your Markers, Tempo Map, and any Time Signature changes from Pro Tools into your newly created Studio One 4 Song. Presumably created using an AAF from Pro Tools - but the work-flow works regardless of how it was created.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Open A Pro Tools Session In Studio One 4 - AAF Workflow

Pro Tools In The Audio Industry

Regardless of which DAW you choose to work in, one thing is pretty much certain. If you plan to make a professional career in the audio production industry - at some point you are going to be dealing with Pro Tools, whether you want to or not. Although some may argue with this statement (and that's completely fine) I'd personally go as far as saying that I cannot think of any other audio software program to date, that has made it's way into so many studio's across the world the way the Pro Tools has.

Now having said that, this does not mean that it's "the best" by any means. As has been said by many others before me, and will be said by many after me - the best software is the one that works for YOU. Another thing to point out is the huge paradigm shift we have seen in the recent years as native processing power has improved leaps and bounds. This in itself has had an impact on the whole concept of DSP powered rigs & accompanying software.

Native vs DSP - More Software Options

I think it's safe to say that at one point DSP powered rigs were absolutely essential in professional music production setups, but now with the reliability of High Speed thunderbolt interfaces such as the PreSonus Quantum, (and many others), this is no longer the case.

So where it used to be the case where people ran Pro Tools because the hardware required them to do so - In my opinion, there are now a lot more professionals running different software with 3rd party interfaces for their needs. Case in point: Studio One 4 Professional paired with a Quantum, a DP88, a handful of external Preamps, and a FaderPort 16 is a pretty Badass setup in my opinion... 

Regardless of all this, the concept remains that you may very well be collaborating on a project with a colleague who is using Pro Tools. and now as of the release of Studio One 4 - we have a convenient & relatively painless way in which we can transfer a Pro Tools session over to Studio One.

AAF - Advanced Authoring Format

Without getting into too much detail, the AAF standard essentially allows users to share their projects and sessions with other's running different programs. I think it's also worth mentioning that the initial roots of AAF has to do with post-production vs music, and it's only really as a by-product that we can use AAF's for transferring music related content. But to be honest, I think that's about where I'll leave off with respect to AAF's, but if you plan on using them, I'd definitely recommend doing a bit of research. There's ton's of information available online.

From Pro Tools To Studio One 4

In this video, I demonstrate how to go about exporting an AAF from a Pro Tools 2018 Ultimate session - which can then be imported into PreSonus Studio One 4. In addition, we will also talk about a couple things to be aware of when working with AAF's in general.

And as always, if you enjoy this content, please - Share, Subscribe, and hit that like button. :)

Cheers, Marcus

How To Import a Mixing Template Into a Studio One Version 3 Song Using Macros

New Features In Studio One Version 4

As many of you know, Studio One Version 4 was recently launched towards the end of May, and along with it, came many highly user-requested features. One of them being Import Song Data. Without getting into too much detail - Import Song Data is an incredibly powerful feature that allows users to choose specific information from external Studio One Songs, and bring it into their existing song. One area where this work-flow really shines is with respect to importing a Mixing Template into your existing song.

What About Users Still On Version 3?

Although this is fantastic news for those who have made the move over to Version 4, not everyone has made the switch. So what does this mean for all the people still trucking along with their trusty Version 3 setup's? Well - have no fear, because there's actually a work-around that can be used for importing a basic Mixing Template by creating a relatively simple Macro.

In this video, I demonstrate a way that users can import a Mixing Template into their Studio One Version 3 songs using a Macro work-around. It's not perfect, but certainly gets the job done for basic Mixing Templates including Bus Channels, FX Channels, track names, plug-ins, and complete FX chains..

**Note - In order to achieve the above workflow - you must be using the most recent build on Studio One Version 3. (3.5.6)