Academic Catalog

MTEC 70D: PRO TOOLS 210M-AVID CERTIFICATION

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2023
Units: 4
Hours: 3 lecture, 3 laboratory per week (72 total per quarter)
Advisory: Not open to students with credit in MUS 82D.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Non-GE
Transferable: CSU
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Description

Avid Pro Tools Certified course completes skills needed to operate sophisticated Pro Tools systems in professional music production environments. Music production techniques, composing with MIDI, loop editing, sampling in Pro Tools, Beat Detective, drum replacement and augmentation, final mixing and mastering. Collaborate workflows between home studios and commercial recording facilities. Pro Tools keyboard shortcuts for increased efficiency. Practical examples and experience with exercise files from professional recording artists. Successful completion achieves Avid Pro Tools Operator Music Certification.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Configure and program external MIDI devices
  2. Import data from other sessions
  3. Create composites from multiple takes and region playlists
  4. Explain and program virtual instruments
  5. Customize memory locations and windows configurations
  6. Demonstrate professional digital audio editing techniques
  7. Apply synchronization concepts to external analog and digital equipment
  8. Understand how to deliver finished projects using FTP based systems
  9. Understand advanced mixing and automation

Course Content

  1. Preparing for music production
    1. Meter and click tracks
    2. Matching tempos to audio loops
    3. Interacting with external MIDI devices
    4. Importing data from other sessions
  2. Tracking and overdubbing
    1. Working in dynamic transport mode
    2. Tracking audio and MIDI performances
    3. QuickPunch and TrackPunch
    4. Recording and compositing multiple takes
  3. Virtual instruments
    1. Using virtual instruments with control surfaces and MIDI controllers
    2. Avid control surfaces
    3. Automation vs. MIDI CC graphs
    4. Routing multiple outputs from plug-ins
  4. Advanced MIDI production
    1. The MIDI editor window
    2. Real-time MIDI properties in depth
    3. Introduction to the score editor
    4. Editing in the score window
  5. Mixing and automation
    1. Delay compensation and MIDI offsets
    2. Delay compensation and hardware inserts
    3. Writing static mixer settings
    4. Trim automation
    5. Variable stereo pan depth

Lab Content

  1. Track count
  2. Elastic audio settings and rendering levels
  3. Plug-in and bus considerations
  4. Insert tracks and routing importing and exporting file types
  5. Bit rate encoding
  6. Bouncing audio to disk
  7. Consolidating audio clips, etc.
  8. Other items may include subjects such as number of plug-ins per insert track, bus assignments for efficient recording operation, and mastering compression settings

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. When taught on campus: classroom with Pro Tools HDX recording system and 16 channel audio interface, digital control surface, classroom with 30 Pro Tools native recording systems and appropriate, 30 Apple iMacs, Apple Macintosh Mac Pro with at least 8GB of RAM and 24 inch monitor, projection system for video and multimedia content.
2. When taught via Foothill Global Access: on-going access to computer with email software and capabilities, email address, JavaScript-enabled internet browsing software.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Written assignments that analyze, compare, and contrast Pro Tools editing techniques
Hands-on demonstration of Pro Tools techniques, including keyboard commands and operation of a control surface in a recording environment
Tests on mastering, final delivery methods, theory, and techniques as presented in the Pro Tools 210M curriculum

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Lecture presentations and classroom discussion of the techniques for producing audio in Pro Tools
In-class viewing of Pro Tools sessions followed by instructor-guided interpretation and analysis
Presentations of major music production projects followed by in-class discussion and evaluation
Demonstration of techniques for recording, editing, and mixing music in Pro Tools

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Cook, Frank. Pro Tools 210M. 2019.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. Written critiques and analyses of audio production projects, including albums, soundtracks, television, video games, and internet multimedia
  2. Written summaries documenting technical and artistic elements for corresponding submitted assignments and audio projects
  3. Written proposals, session logs, learning outcomes, and reflections supporting submitted musical works and final master recordings

Discipline(s)

Commercial Music