Masters Program - Lesson 4 - Posted on 2014-09-17 by Collin McCombs

Lesson 4 was about Elastic Audio and Elastic Pitch. Elastic Audio is a real-time compression and expansion(TCE) tool and is used to easily manipulate audio. Elastic Audio in Pro Tools analyzes the track or groups of tracks and puts a marker on all the transients. You can then move these markers and warp the audio using the built-in TCE algorithm. Elastic audio is good for correcting prerformances, creating effects, remixing, and working with loops. When working with Elasic Audio you're going to need to know the four modes. The first mode is Monophonic. Monophonic is good if you're working with vocals, bass, single note piano parts, or any single note instrument. The next mode is Polyphonic. Thats good for keyboards, guitars, or any instrument that plays more than one note at a time. After that is Rythmic mode. Rythmic mode is used for percussive instruments like drums and other percussion. Last is Varispeed mode, this works well for creating all sorts of interesting effects. The next part the lesson was about Elastic Pitch. Elastic Pitch is used to transpose an audio track up or down two octaves. Elastic Pitch is engaged by putting the track being used in either Polyphonic or Rythmic mode. After that you go up to the "Region" pull-down menu and select "Elastic Properties". From there you can adjust the semitones until you reach the desired pitch. This lesson was very informative and took me deeper into the workings of Pro Tools. I can't wait to experiment and find my own uses for it.

- Collin McCombs