Start Pro Tools and open a previous Pro Tools Session containing audio that you can manipulate with plug-ins.
Click “Window,” “Mix” to view the Mix window of Pro Tools.
Click one of the open slots beneath “Inserts A-E” at the top of the mix window to insert a plug-in. Be sure that the slot you are clicking is directly above the vocal track's fader.
Highlight “plug-in,” select “Dynamics,” and then select “Compressor/Limiter Dyn 3.” After doing so, a RTAS compressor plug-in will be inserted onto your vocal track.
Play the track back again with the plug-in inserted. As the track plays back, adjust the knob labeled “Thresh” (threshold) so that the GR (gain reduction) meter on the left-hand side of the plug-in is reading about 6 dBs of gain reduction. If the compressor is doing too much gain reduction, turn the knob to the right to increase the threshold until the compressor is averaging about 6 dB of gain reduction. If the compressor is not doing enough gain reduction, turn the knob to the left to decrease the threshold until the compressor is averaging 6 dB of gain reduction.
Click on the “Gain” knob and increase it to 6 dB to make up for the gain lost through compression.
Exit out of the compressor plug-in by clicking the red button in the top left-hand corner of the plug-in. Doing this will simply hide the plug-in from view, not turn it off.
Play the track back one last time. When played back, the compressor should be affecting the vocal track in real time. If performed correctly, the vocal track should sound smoothed out, more consistent, and have a bit more presence. If you are unhappy with the compression settings, simply click on the compressor plug-in in the mix window and adjust the settings accordingly.
Start Pro Tools and open a previous Pro Tools Session containing audio that you can manipulate with plug-ins.
Click “Window,” “Edit” to view the Edit window of Pro Tools.
Click on the grabber tool in the top left corner of the Edit window. This tool should appear as a hand icon.
Find a vocal track you would like to use a plug-in on and select it by clicking on its waveform. When selected, the waveform should appear to be highlighted.
Click on “AudioSuite” at the top of the page and select “Dynamics.” From this drop down menu, select “Compressor/Limiter Dyn 3.” After doing so, an AudioSuite compressor plug-in will appear.
Click on “Preview” in the bottom left hand corner of the plug-in to play back the audio in the vocal track. As the track plays back, adjust the knob labeled “Thresh” (threshold) so that the GR (gain reduction) meter on the left-hand side of the plug-in is reading about 6 dBs of gain reduction.
Click on the “Gain” knob and increase it to 6 dB to make up for the gain lost through compression.
Click on “Process” when you are happy with the compression settings. After doing so, Pro Tools will process the audio file and create a new audio file with the compression settings applied.
Exit out of the AudioSuite plug-in by clicking the red button in the top left-hand corner of the plug-in. This will close the AudioSuite plug-in.
Play the track back one last time. When played back, the vocal track should sound smoothed out, more consistent, and have a bit more presence. If you are unhappy with the compression settings, undo the AudioSuite processing by clicking “Edit,” “Undo,” and follow the instructions of this section again to modify the AudioSuite plug-in settings.