Creative Mastermind for Week 4/7: Evan Brooks & Peter Gotcher, Developers of "ProTools"

Good morning and thanks for stopping by The Creative Cabana for your happy, healthy dose of creative goodness to start your week! Each week when I go through different candidates for a Creative Mastermind honor, I try to mix it up the categories so I'm not always profiling photographers, or artists, or any specific profession. Something I haven't address too much of here at The Creative Cabana is the creativity that comes in audio production. In a previous Creative Mastermind post I discussed the developers of the audio mixing program "Audacity". Audacity is a great free program that allows you to do basic audio editing and cleaning for your audio files. If you'd like something a little more industry standard and professional, then I'd like to introduce you to my favorite audio program from Avid known as "ProTools".

ProTools was first launched in 1991 after it's earlier versions of Sound Tools and Sound Designer were making improvements during the 1980s. The developers of ProTools Evan Brooks and Peter Gotcher created it as a diverse audio editing tool but at first was limited by the hard drive technology of the computer at that time. When ProTools came out in the 90s it was starting to advance in better performance, and more options for editing practices. ProTools was built on a multi-track system which means you have the ability to work on more than one audio track at a time. This became a great advancement for audio engineers in businesses like the music industry, radio, motion picture industry, and advertising. In fact, in 1999 Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca" was the first Number 1 single that was produced using ProTools.

ProTools was also used in the development of the interactive video games: Guitar Hero and DJ Hero. I admire this program a lot for it's ability to provide creative access to alter and change audio into whatever you need. I learned ProTools when I was studying Electronic Media Production in college. To me ProTools came naturally to me because I understood how to interpret functions and using my good judgment to determine how I wanted files to sound. I used ProTools in everything from creating Public Service Announcements to promoting special events, and even special news updates for the campus radio station. Here's an example of a promo I created for an Acapella Group known as Take 6. All of the recording and editing that you'll here in this piece was created using ProTools along with my voice narrating. 

I'm deeming ProTools and it's creators this week's Creative Mastermind for their sensational development of a program that allows users to create unique audio pieces. Programs like ProTools provides the tools needed to utilize creative skills to mix, edit, and control sound as we want to interpret it. We can use it to remix our music, edit our interview stories, or create storytelling pieces that reflect a situation. The sky is the limit when it comes to a system like ProTools. If you're studying broadcasting, media production, computer science, or audio engineering chances are that you'll come in contact with ProTools at some point in your life and when you do, be prepared to face it head on with excitement. Embrace your creativity through audio and never fear to do the impossible when creating your masterpieces. 

Congrats to Avid Media and the developers of ProTools! Heres to many more years of creating digital audio production that enhances and drives talent further into the 21st century! If you have a great idea for someone or something that would make a great Creative Mastermind, please share your thoughts by commenting on this post or share it with The Creative Cabana on Facebook by clicking here or on Twitter @CreativeCabana. 

*All images used in this post were collected from Google Images Search Results. I do not own Avid Media or ProTools- these products are the property of their respective owners and developers. I do not own the rights to "Livin' La Vida Loca" or Ricky Martin. The video used comes from the VEVO channel avaliable for display on YouTube and is soley used here for entertainment purposes only. The Take 6 Promo provided in this post IS my personal creation developed for promotional use of the Take 6 concert that was held at Ashland University on December 7th, 2011. I do not own Take 6 or any of their music. No Copyright Infringement Intended.