How To Use A Tablet With Pro Tools

If you’re grinding away in Pro Tools on rock and metal mixes, you know every click, every bus, and every plugin choice counts. Wasting time on repetitive setup or fighting your tools is time not spent being creative. We got a peek into the Pro Tools universe of legendary producer Jacob Hansen (Amaranthe, Volbeat, Pretty Maids), and he dropped some serious wisdom on optimizing his workflow, from his choice of input device to his intricate busing strategies. This isn’t just about shaving off a few seconds; these habits compound, potentially saving you days of work over a year.

Want to see how pros like Jacob build their mixes from the ground up, explaining every decision live? Check out URM Enhanced for full multitrack sessions and in-depth tutorials.

Ditching the Mouse?

First up, something you don’t see in every studio: Jacob Hansen navigates Pro Tools with a pen and tablet, not a mouse or trackball. Sounds a bit out there for audio, right? But his reasoning is solid.

Back when he first jumped into Pro Tools around 2001 (coming from an all-analog, tape-based world), the mouse was an instant pain point. After just one day of intense editing, his hand was wrecked. Having done some graphic design work with a pen tablet for a magazine using Photoshop and QuarkXPress, he realized the pen offered a more natural, direct interaction. With a pen, you point, and you’re there – no dragging a cursor across the screen.

The benefits?

• Ergonomics: For Jacob, it’s significantly more comfortable for long 8-hour sessions, even after years of use. He mentions that while he sometimes has to consciously loosen his grip when excited, it’s a world of difference from mouse-induced strain.
• Precision & Speed: Once accustomed, the direct mapping of the tablet to the screen feels incredibly intuitive and fast for him.
• It’s Contagious: Interestingly, Jacob notes that most of his assistants, though never forced, have ended up adopting the pen and tablet themselves after trying it. It might take a few days to get fully used to, but many find they don’t want to go back.

While he acknowledges personal preference is key (and trackballs are great for others), the pen and tablet setup has been a long-term win for his physical comfort and workflow efficiency. If you’re feeling the strain of constant mousing, it might be worth exploring!

Jacob Hansen’s Pro Tools Busing Blueprint: Routing for Speed and Power

Okay, let’s dive into the nitty-gritty: Jacob’s Pro Tools busing and routing. He usually has all his buses ready to go, often importing them from a template, because why reinvent the wheel every single mix? This isn’t about rigid presets stifling creativity; it’s about having a powerful, flexible starting point—like a solid mix bus setup for metal—so you can focus on the music.

Drum Busing: Control and Parallel Power

Jacob’s drum setup is a masterclass in organized parallel processing and targeted control. This is a critical step after you’ve already performed any advanced drum editing in Pro Tools to lock in the groove.

• Kick Bus: All kick drum tracks (e.g., Kick In, Kick Out, Sub Kick, Samples) are routed to a dedicated Kick Bus for unified processing.
• Overhead Bus (and its Duplicates):
  • The main overheads feed their own bus.
  • He then creates duplicates of this overhead bus. One is for parallel processing, and another is ingeniously used to create a fake ambiance/room track since the session he was demonstrating (Amaranthe’s “365”) didn’t have dedicated room mics. This is a slick trick to add space and depth using existing elements.
• Tom Buses: Toms are sent to two separate buses, likely for different treatment or parallel processing options. This allows for blending different flavors of tom sounds, a process that starts at the source with Jacob Hansen’s specific tom micing technique.
• Drum Reverb Bus (The “Arsenal” Approach):
  • This is genius for speed. Jacob often has a drum reverb bus with multiple different reverb plugins instantiated but inactive. This lets him quickly A/B different reverb types (plates, halls, rooms) without having to constantly load new plugins. He can just activate, listen, and deactivate.
  • While he might have a go-to starting point, having these options ready reminds him to explore, preventing him from just defaulting to the first reverb he loads. For more on how pros select and dial in effects, you can find a wealth of knowledge on Nail The Mix.
• “Snare Out” Bus (The Secret Weapon):
  • This is a clever one. All snare tracks route to a bus outside the main drum bus, aptly named “Snare Out.”
  • Purpose 1: Reverb Send Control: This bus then sends to the main drum reverb. This gives him a single point to control the overall snare level hitting the reverb, and he can EQ or limit this send if the reverb is getting out of control or needs a specific character.
  • Purpose 2: Extra Uncompressed Punch: If the snare needs a little extra oomph to cut through the mix after the main drum bus compression, he can subtly raise the fader of this “Snare Out” bus. Since it bypasses the heavy drum bus compression (which might otherwise just squash the snare more if he raised individual snare tracks), this provides a cleaner, more direct lift. He often has a limiter on this bus just to keep it in check.
• Shells Bus: This is where the core kit elements like snares, toms, and the created room/ambiance track converge. Notably, the kick drum, overheads, hi-hats, and spot cymbal mics do not go to this bus.
• Why Keep Cymbals Separate? Jacob prefers to keep overheads and cymbals relatively uncompressed and natural-sounding. Heavily processing them along with the shells can make them sound “crazy” and overly squashed. Snares and toms, however, can handle (and often benefit from) more aggressive compression strategies.
• Parallel Drum Buses: He also has inactive parallel drum buses, duplicates of the main shells bus, ready for heavy processing to be blended in later.

Bass Busing: Width and Clarity

Even the bass gets some interesting routing to ensure it’s both solid and wide. A key part of this is how you balance the bass against the guitars in the mix.

• Main Bass Bus: The individual bass tracks (e.g., DI, Amp) feed a central bass bus where the primary processing (EQ, compression) happens.
• “B Spread” Bus (Stereo Bass Clank):
  • The main bass bus sends to a stereo bus called “B Spread.”
  • This bus uses effects like a short room ambiance and a touch of chorus to widen the clank and attack of the bass.
  • Crucially, Jacob emphasizes that the low-end of the bass remains mono and centered, but this technique adds width and excitement to the upper frequencies, helping the bass cut through on smaller speakers and feel more engaging in the stereo field. He’s not a big fan of pure mono, preferring to spread things out subtly.

Guitar Busing: Parallel Blends and Effects Control

For guitars, Jacob employs a similar philosophy of parallel processing and centralized control for quick adjustments.

• Untreated Guitar Bus (Parallel Dry): All rhythm guitars (e.g., a quad-track setup) first go to an untreated bus. This serves as the “dry” signal for parallel processing.
• Parallel Compressed Guitar Bus: He creates a duplicate of this untreated bus and slaps a compressor on it for a heavily squashed signal. This compressed bus can then be blended with the untreated bus to add sustain, aggression, and density. This is a common and highly effective technique for powerful metal guitars.
• Overall Guitar Bus:
  • Both the untreated and the parallel compressed guitar buses then feed into an Overall Guitar Bus.
  • This final bus is where he applies global EQ adjustments and other processing.
  • It also serves as a master fader for all rhythm guitars, making it easy to automate levels for different sections (e.g., bumping guitars for a heavy riff).
  • Effects Send Hub: This overall bus often has sends to reverbs, delays, and other effects. If a melodic part suddenly appears in the rhythm guitars, he can quickly automate a send to add ambiance or excitement without having to set up new tracks and plugins mid-flow.

The Power of a Prepared Workflow

Jacob Hansen’s approach isn’t about using a rigid, one-size-fits-all template for every song. While he might import track setups, some will have his go-to processing dialed in, while others will be clean slates. The real takeaway is the efficiency gained by not having to manually create the same bus structures, aux tracks, and routing for every single mix.

Those minutes spent fumbling with I/O setups, creating sends, or searching for your favorite de-esser add up to hours, even days, over the course of a year. By having these foundational elements ready, Jacob can dive straight into the creative aspects of mixing, making decisions based on sound, not on setup logistics. He can be an artist, not just a technician.

Want to see these kinds of advanced workflows in action on real-world metal tracks? Imagine looking over the shoulder of producers like Jacob Hansen, Will Putney, or Jens Bogren as they mix chart-topping songs from scratch. With URM Enhanced, you get exactly that – plus the multitracks to practice on, exclusive plugins, and a massive community of fellow producers. It’s the fast track to elevating your mixes.

And if you’re looking to truly understand how to build modern metal mixes that compete, from foundational drum sounds to polished masters, check out our comprehensive guide on how to compress metal snares and vocals to get started. Steal these workflow tips from Jacob Hansen, adapt them to your style, and spend more time making killer music!