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I know that this isn't a question of sorts...but I have to vent. Here I am, almost done mixing my 2 full days of work for a Bossa Nova dispatch listing...and...what do you know! Pro tools decides to freeze, crash, corrupt...all of the above while trying to piece together my session...track by track. Through a little research, it looks like I overlapped one too many groups or fades. Who knows...but I do know one thing: I have until Thursday to turn this baby in! Am I alone here? Or is this just one of many pro tools evil brain stories.

I don't use Pro Tools, but in my experience, the more crossfades one puts in their sessions, particularly across a bunch of tracks, the more one runs the risk of overtaxing their computer. I suggest saving incrementally and occasionally rendering tracks that you are pretty sure you're done with as contiguous tracks so the computer won't have to play the fades back on that track anymore.

I think this may be the case with pretty much any DAW. I don't have this problem with mine (Digital Performer), but I don't heavily edit lots of audio tracks with crossfades.

I hope you can restore your session easily. This is a good case for having incremental backups. I think PT allows you to create them automatically every time you save, right? Might not be a bad idea. Session files are small comparitively, and the space they take up is worth it versus the time necessary to recreate a session from scratch and/or memory!!

Good luck,

Mazz

It's funny you mention this. After posting, and getting back to work and finally getting all of my tracks in order and in the same session again...I found myself Obsessive Compulsively saving. No Joke, every minute or so. And I do think you're right, I had an abnormal amount of cross fades and overlapping groups (sloppy editing and guitar playing).

However, it does look like I'll make the deadline after all. A quick headphone mix tonight (the GF sleeping) and a quick go at it tomorrow and it should be ready. Thanks for the great advice...and for me, my new mantra: Write, Save, save again, Submit, Forget.

sethlit wrote:It's funny you mention this. After posting, and getting back to work and finally getting all of my tracks in order and in the same session again...I found myself Obsessive Compulsively saving. No Joke, every minute or so. And I do think you're right, I had an abnormal amount of cross fades and overlapping groups (sloppy editing and guitar playing).

However, it does look like I'll make the deadline after all. A quick headphone mix tonight (the GF sleeping) and a quick go at it tomorrow and it should be ready. Thanks for the great advice...and for me, my new mantra: Write, Save, save again, Submit, Forget.

Mazz is correct that many crossfades across regions can eat up resources in a hurry. One thing i do with Pro Tools is delete tracks or regions I'm no longer using in the final mix, and re-name the project. That way I can always import a track from an earlier version back into the current mix if i wish, but keeps the current mix a bit cleaner and free of extraneous tracks. It also helps a bit on resources.

That's a solid idea too. I need to make sure to always have a "beginning my mix" save in case things get corrupted. I kept having problems after importing an older session's data. After working and saving to a new file, I wouldn't be able to ever open it. So, I'd be stuck importing the session data again...and again. I think I had some file or session that was ultimately corrupted.
I did finish the bossa, "Bossa for Mandy" (if you feel like listening to it). Thanks for the advice and my new saving routines.

I have to admit though, I've been seriously considering a move to Cubase or something (research needed). I've got a pretty nice setup I7-860 processor with 8gig memory, WinXP. And I want to upgrade to Win 7, but I'm pretty nervous about its compatibility with Pro Tools. Not to mention...it would be nice to audio edit/record in 64 bit, so I can utilize all of my memory (which Pro tools doesn't do). I do use Kontakt 4 and superior drummer 2, which would hopefully be okay with Win7 64bit too. Man! Maybe old school tape with session players is the way to go.

Hi Seth...I gotta give a thumbs up here for Cubase in 64 bit. Only very rarely does it crash (usually from a power blip - yes I have no UPS) and then it automatically restores to what was there just before it crashed.

Not knowing anything about Cubase...do you think there would be a drastic learning curve for me? I'm not sure if you're familiar with your way around Pro Tools or not, but I can't imagine Cubase being TOO different. But of course, I could be way off here. Time for research. Earlier I made the transition from Adobe Audition 3 to Pro Tools quite nicely. The only thing for me though, is my MBoxPro. I imagine the Mbox is not compatible with Cubase, which would mean I'd have to get some AD conversion going on. More money

I know that gear is one thing, while music is another...but I just wanna make sure I can work smoothly/quickly.

hmm...this is a gnarly question...I know zip about MboxPro....Cubase is first and foremost a pain in the ass to install and learn but is rock stable and extremely versatile. I'm working with 5.5 but 6 was just recently released and it claims to be more intuitive. That said Cubase leaves PT in the dust. Just my opinion. I've sat next to PT producers for many many sessions and I say Cubase is an incredible program in comparison. I know nothing about Logic and other DAWs may be this good. I'm way too biased to be of help here.

sethlit wrote:I know that this isn't a question of sorts...but I have to vent. Here I am, almost done mixing my 2 full days of work for a Bossa Nova dispatch listing...and...what do you know! Pro tools decides to freeze, crash, corrupt...all of the above while trying to piece together my session...track by track. Through a little research, it looks like I overlapped one too many groups or fades. Who knows...but I do know one thing: I have until Thursday to turn this baby in! Am I alone here? Or is this just one of many pro tools evil brain stories.

No!!!!!! I thought Macs never did that.

kitchensinkmusic wrote:hmm...this is a gnarly question...I know zip about MboxPro....Cubase is first and foremost a pain in the ass to install and learn but is rock stable and extremely versatile. I'm working with 5.5 but 6 was just recently released and it claims to be more intuitive. That said Cubase leaves PT in the dust. Just my opinion. I've sat next to PT producers for many many sessions and I say Cubase is an incredible program in comparison. I know nothing about Logic and other DAWs may be this good. I'm way too biased to be of help here.

I would rub it in further but I wont.