Recording a Mic Signal into Pro Tools

This guide will talk you through con­nect­ing a micro­phone in the live room to the mix­ing con­sole in the con­trol room, set­ting a suit­able gain struc­ture, mon­i­tor­ing the incom­ing micro­phone sig­nal via Mix Bus A, and record­ing the micro­phone sig­nal via the chan­nel direct out­put on the mix­ing con­sole into Pro Tools

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Live Room:

1. Enter the live room and con­nect a micro­phone to XLR socket 1 on the stage box.

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Patchbay:

1. Go into the con­trol room and on the XLR patch­bay use an XLR patch lead to con­nect ‘From GR Live Room - 1′ to ‘SSL XL Mic Inputs - 1′. This con­nects the micro­phone from the socket on the stage box in the live room to the mix­ing desk’s mic input 1 which appears on Chan­nel 1.

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SSL XL:

1. On the SSL chan­nel you are using, ensure none of the DAW, 500, Phase or Insert but­tons are pressed in.

2. If the micro­phone requires phan­tom power (i.e. a con­denser micro­phone) turn it on with the phan­tom power switch at the top of the chan­nel you are using.

Always switch phan­tom power on after con­nect­ing micro­phones and off before disconnecting.

3. Ensure the mas­ter vol­ume on the SSL XL Con­sole is turned down, then on the ban­tam patch­bay con­nect ‘Mon­i­tor Out’ L+R to ‘Mon­i­tor’ L+R using a Ban­tam patch cable.

4. Ensure the mix bus ‘A’ but­ton is pressed in on the chan­nel you are using.

5. Push the chan­nel fader up to 0dB.

6. Use the gain con­trol at the top of the chan­nel strip to adjust the incom­ing mic signal.

7. As mix bus A is selected, you will see the incom­ing level on the Mix A VU meter in the mas­ter sec­tion of the desk.

8. If the sig­nal is too ‘hot’ (peak­ing on the level meter), push the pad but­ton at the top of the chan­nel strip to decrease the level.

8. Once you have set the gain level, ensure the ‘CHOP Post’ but­ton is not pressed in. This results in the fader not affect­ing the level being sent to Pro Tools.

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Hearing the Incoming Mic Signal:

1. In the mas­ter sec­tion of the SSL XL Con­sole, ensure Mix A is selected as the Mon­i­tor Source.

2. To hear the incom­ing mic, grad­u­ally increase the Bus A fader to ‘0’, then adjust the ‘Mon­i­tor vol­ume’ to a com­fort­able mon­i­tor­ing level.

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Pro Tools:

1. In Pro Tools, arm the track labeled ‘Audio 1′ by click­ing on the cir­cu­lar ‘record enable’ but­ton — it will flash red to indi­cate it is armed for recording.

2. Press ‘Record’ on the trans­port bar — it will also flash red.

3. Press ‘Play’ on the trans­port bar whilst ‘record’ is also selected and you will see and hear your audio being recorded.

To stop record­ing press the ‘Stop’ but­ton on the trans­port bar.