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Rhys May's Deck

Rhys' soundflow package, for 5x3 Stream Deck.

My daily go-to Pro Tools setup, optimised for a 5x3 Stream Deck!

  • **Opens Finder, and common apps such as Pro Tools, Splice and Spotify quickly. **

  • A few simple quick AudioSuite functions on selected clips in Pro Tools such as open Waves Tune on selected clip (good for a quick vocal editing workflow!), Reverse Clip and Active/Inactive selected track(s) toggle.

  • A quick 'colour track' sub-folder palette, for the track colours I most commonly use, including a button to revert to default track colour.

  • 2 sub-folders for quickly loading inserts, for my most commonly used plugins/instruments

  • **Simple 'Task Helper' sub-folder, for functions such as Grouping/Ungrouping clips, and removing plugins on selected track(s). **

  • Izotope RX Audiosuite shortcuts

** And finally........**

  • My simple homemade 'bounce stems' script - Please read before using and if you're unsure, do a 'Save As' for convenience! My daily workflow for group stem bouncing is just to bounce the folders, so there is a degree of prep before using this and it may not work for your specific needs (sorry!). It is **not **for individual tracks and more intended as a quick solution to a generally repetitive task. If your entire session, excluding main mix bus/master tracks are organised into either Routing or Basic folders such as Drums / SFX / Bass / Guitar / Vocals, this should work fine. In order to set this up to auto-print the folders (stems) for you:

  1. For first-time use only, skip to step 2 for all subsequent stem prints! In the 'Bounce Mix' window (Opt+Cmd B), select the relevant File Type, Format, Bit Depth and Sample Rate. For stems, I almost always deliver in WAV, Interleaved, 24-bit and 48kHz but it's your choice. Once you've made your selections, Cmd+Click the small '1' next to Presets, and this will flash, indicating the setting has been saved. This script uses preset '1', so this is a necessary step, otherwise it will use whatever bounce settings may have been used last, which could be incorrect.

  2. Collapse all folders, and inactive (not mute) them all, except for the top one and your mix bus/master or any other Aux/Master tracks that may be outside your folders essential to routing. N.B. This is designed with the intention of keeping the CPU efficient for each folder print, as the offline bounce process in theory will be faster if there are less plugins active and it handles one folder at a time.

  3. In the 'Comments' box of each folder track, type the name of the stem E.G. Song_Drum-Stem_156bpm. This comment text will be the name for each audio file.

  4. Highlight the selection you'd like to bounce, E.G. start to end of song. I usually make a quick 'stem print' selection marker, as stems typically need to be from the beginning of a bar (which the original mix may not be starting from).

  5. Make sure the top folder track is selected, as this is where the script will start and work downwards from.

  6. Press the relevant 'Bounce x Stems' button on the deck and leave it to do it's thing! It will automatically only show the folders once it starts, just in case your master bus happens to be in the middle of your folder stack and interrupts the script. So, selecting Bounce 12 Stems will begin to automatically bounce/inactivate/move down/reactive and repeat, in sequential order for 12 folders. There is a range of 6-15 folders pre-assigned on the deck which should cover almost all situations. You cannot click elsewhere during this time as it may interrupt the script - Go and make some coffee and enjoy!

  7. Your folder stems are waiting for you :) Enjoy!

SIDE NOTES:

  • I usually inactivate my final limiter, or turn down the final output a few dB before printing, depending on if it was a loud mix. If you have tons of headroom, or not much on your master bus adding loudness, this won't be an issue.

  • Any tracks containing sidechaining or other sends that process signals between folders will need to be committed down beforehand, because of the script's efficient use of handling one activated folder at a time. For example, the Kick from my 'Drums' folder is sending a sidechain to Chorus Bass Fuzz in the 'Bass' folder. This won't sidechain as intended so before running the script, make sure the tracks receiving the side-chain signal are committed or frozen so everything plays back properly.

  • This is a tool I use for my personal workflow, so this script may not be fully compatible with yours (but hopefully it is useful!)

How do I get Rhys May's Deck?

Rhys May's Deck  is a package built on the SoundFlow platform. To get it, please follow these steps:

  1. Sign up as a new SoundFlow user if you don't already have an account.

  2. Install the SoundFlow app on your Mac.

  3. Open up the SoundFlow app, click the "Store" tab

  4. Locate the 'Rhys May's Deck' package by searching in the search field.

  5. Click the Install button.