Pro Tools 9 - blending DI + guitar onto one mono track?

ZV Yoda

Hi folks,

I have a Pro Tools question for guitar recording – what’s the best way to blend a DI + mic feed into one mono track?

I typically use 2 tracks when recording acoustic guitar – 1 x DI and 1 x condenser mic. When mixing, the mic is my main sound (tone/body) and then I bring the DI up under it (for hi end definition/sparkle). Works well for me, but means I end up with 2 tracks for every acoustic guitar.

I’d prefer to have just one track with the blended sound, so now, I just bounce out the blended DI/mic tracks & import them as one (now stereo) track. This gives me the blended sound I want on one track… but because it’s bounced, it’s always in stereo. Plus, it’s a very slow process if I’ve lots of guitar tracks, because I have to bounce each pair individually (I’m on PT9).

Is there any other way to do this? I tried bussing the DI/mic to a 3rd track, but in Pro Tools, I’m not sure if I can monitor the blended buss mix (or can I?)

Same issue for electric guitar – I want to be able to blend my mic’d guitar amp with a DI + amp sim into one blended track.

Quite possible I’m missing something very obvious here, but would appreciate any help.

Thanks

PaulBrewer

A 'better' solution might be record the two tracks then pull back the mic one to match the DI. (the mic one will probably be delayed)

Of course that's an artistic choice .

Then sum and record ?

ZV Yoda

PaulBrewer wrote: »

A 'better' solution might be record the two tracks then pull back the mic one to match the DI. (the mic one will probably be delayed)

Of course that's an artistic choice .

Then sum and record ?

Thanks Paul… although I don’t understand your first statement - are you just suggesting the DI should be more prominent? It’s a bit too scratchy for my liking, so I keep it just under the mic track.

Re the summing part - that's the bit I'm trying to figure out... i.e. in PT9, what's the best way to actually sum the two tracks?
1. Bounce (like I currently do, but it gives a stereo output)
2. Send both tracks to a buss (seems like the most logical solution, except I don’t know how to monitor the buss levels to ensure the right blend)
3. Some other option?

PaulBrewer

I meant pull back along time line.

Neurojazz

Not a pro tools expert here, but watched someone do a fair few projects.

You can group the signals fairly simply i believe - and i remember they also had a 3rd channel which was either the room mic from a distance (to capture the natural reverberation in the room) or emulate it with a large pre-delay on a plugin reverb to make the room sound bigger.

They also re-amped the DI channel to see if they could get another angle/possible use out of the DI.