Automating plugin effects

There are many scenarios where you may want to change the way something sounds over time. For these moments, we’ll use plugin automation. Plugins can be changed over time with automation just as with volume; the difference is that instead of one fader to work with, you have a plethora of sliders and knobs, depending on which plugin you are using. Sometimes, this means only having a few parameters to consider, such as with the Trim plugin, for instance, or it could mean having many, many parameters, such as for an EQ. Since Pro Tools doesn’t enable plugin automation by default, we’re going to learn how to activate the plugin automation for each parameter and explore the different ways we can manipulate it.

Getting ready

For this recipe, you will need a Pro Tools session with a single mono audio track. No audio clips need to be present, but having one present can help demonstrate the results from plugin automation. You will need to...