Here we have a selection of our latest tips, tricks and quick tips brought together all in one place. All free for you to check out and learn. What’s not to like?
We've compiled these 20 Pro Tools shortcut articles and hot tips to help you speed your way around Pro Tools. Bookmark them today so when you have a second and a coffee in your hand you can improve you Pro Tools chops.
Can you speak Media Composer?. In this article, we share 4 tips for getting what you need to get the best possible audio from Avid’s flagship video editing software into Pro Tools.
In this article, we collect 30 of our favourite shortcut tips for you to peruse and hopefully find something new.
Updated for 2021, in this article we collect together Pro Tools tips for everyone from beginners to more experienced users. If you’ve ever wondered what the keyboard shortcut to create new and duplicate playlists is or whether you should automate that volume using clip gain or volume automation, and what to do if you’ve made the wrong choice, these tips will help.
Most of us are aware of the commonly used keyboard shortcuts for things like New Track, Save Session, making an Edit, etc. However, there are some less well-known keyboard shortcuts in Pro Tools based around the 3 fingered salute and it’s these we are going to focus on in this article.
In this free tip Julian Rodgers explains how you can control faders, sends and pans in Pro Tools either by typing in precise values or with the mouse wheel.
In this article, Damian Kearns helps you wrap your mind around Preference settings in Pro Tools by explaining how he uses them in his audio post-production workflow, by focussing on 5 key Preference tabs in the Pro Tools Preferences window.
To become fluent in managing automation it really helps if you can see what you need to see when you need to see it. This keyboard shortcut really helps speed things up. Find out more in this free tip.
Did you know you can set up favourites for AudioSuite plugins in a similar way as you can AAX plugins? Here’s how to do it.
Of the new features in Pro Tools 2020.11, the stand out feature for me has been Audio To MIDI. It is simple, works well and is genuinely useful. In this article, we show you how it works.
This article focuses on the creative potential within the recently released Pro Tools feature, Folder Tracks. Usually, Folder Tracks are used for session organization; however, with powerful viewing and routing options found within Pro Tools, we can turn this unsuspecting feature into something incredibly creative and powerful.
Here’s a really handy tip which will speed up your editing. When trimming, if you want to trim exactly to the boundary of the next or previous clip, check out this article to learn all about this.
Have you ever used the Add and Replace buttons in the Modify Groups window? They are easy to overlook but are a useful alternative to the Add Remove buttons as you can use Tracks selections in the Mix and Edit windows instead of the Tracks list in the Modify window. Great if you are a control surface user.
Navigating large sessions can be hard work if you’re not used to it. Once the edit window gets deeper than your screen you have a few choices, you can hide some tracks, you can reduce the size of the tracks or you can scroll up and down the edit window. Going straight to the track you’re interested in can be done by using Scroll to Track Command but there is a faster way using the Tracks List in the left hand sidebar.
In this week’s Pro Tools Tip we have two related features, which both combine MIDI data but at different levels.
If your MIDI is always either off the top or the bottom of the editor use these two shortcuts to take control of what you’re seeing.
Did you know that you can use emojis and other symbols when naming tracks in Pro Tools, perhaps a gimmick but for some it may prove useful. Here’s how…
Most of the Pro Tools Preferences are reasonably self explanatory. Some require more explanation. One such Preference which is in plain sight in the Mixing tab of the Pro Tools preferences is “Standard VCA Logic For Group Attributes”. Do you know what that does? Really?
Eventually your carefully crafted work will have to leave Pro Tools and benefit the world by fulfilling its intended purpose. This article highlights the faster, more convenient alternative to bouncing to disk which, depending on your needs might be all you need.
What is it and what can you do with it? Elastic Audio has been around for over a decade and we take for granted the fact that you can manipulate pitch without affecting playback speed and playback speed without affecting pitch.
How can you know the current parameter value at which your cursor is hovering? You can but, although its in plain sight, most of us don’t pay attention to it. Here’s how it works.
In Pro Tools do you know what kind of meter you’ll see on a VCA in terms of meter width? if you combine a 5.1 track and some mono tracks do you see a 5.1 meter or a mono meter on the VCA? Find out how it works in our quiz.
In this article, we explore why you cannot insert Avid’s DownMixer plug-in on a stereo master fader to check a pseudo mono compatibility option.
Do you know how the keyboard modifiers affect what your scroll wheel or trackpad does? Brush up in this free Pro Tools tip article.
It’s not unusual to open an old Pro Tools session, hit play and see the meters dance but hear no sound. Here are the 3 things you should check first. Actually check you monitors are on your volume is up first, but after that check these things first.
To place a clip exactly where you want it you can use Spot mode or cut/copy and paste but there is another way which is quicker and more convenient. Watch the free video to see it in action.
What happens to parameter automation when you Alt+drag a plug-in or a send to a different track? What about if you have Automation Follows Edit switched off while doing this?
Check out this tip in this free Pro Tools video tutorial.
In the Options menu, there is a setting to change your track meters from pre-fader to post-fader. Have you ever changed it? Do you know what it does or why you might want to change it?
Check out this tip in this free Pro Tools video tutorial. It’s obvious once you know but a common mistake made by users of other DAWs when getting to know Pro Tools is to look for a dedicated sample editor as found in many other DAWs.
To get the most out of Playlists there are a few shortcuts it’s useful to have under your fingers. Here are our top three…
Have you ever got this error message “End Of Stream Encountered” or “Could not complete Open Session command because of end of stream encountered” We heard about this ‘golden oldie’ making a comeback recently. In this quick tip article we cover 2 reasons why this error message could be popping up when you are trying to open a session in Pro Tools, First, Pro Tools Standard or Pro Tools Ultimate.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to put a clip back in the right place if you accidentally move it using Spot To Original Timestamp
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you why Pro Tools sometimes starts playback from where you clicked and sometimes start from where you last stopped?
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to switch on snap to bars and beats in Pro Tools.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to have more than one plug-in window open in Pro Tools.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how quick it can be to create new tracks in Pro Tools using the mouse.
The idea of applying plug-ins to your tracks is to make things sound better but we've all overdone it at some point and without checking the before with the after we really can’t be sure we’ve achieved what we set out to.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to fix issues in sounds using EQ in Pro Tools.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutorial we show you how easy it is to accurately measure the tempo of audio in Pro Tools.
In a new format we are producing videos offering tips and solutions to common problems in under a minute. In this free video tutoria we show you how easy it is to create reverse reverb using an AudioSuite plug-in.
This Pro Tools tip uses a feature of Pro Tools I think of as aimed at people working in Post Production - I usually associate Time Locking with fixing clips in place against a timecode location or an event on a video track. This tip uses Time Locking it to limit the effect of Shuffle mode to one area of the timeline.
I was talking to a novice user recently who was using Quick Punch to punch in to record because they thought it was necessary to punch in. That isn't what it's for but it did make me think it was a subject worth covering in a quick Pro Tools Tips post. Watch the free tutorial for a demonstration of what makes Quick Punch useful.
This tip is so useful but less well known than it should be, if you track a lot this is an essential. Instead of dragging pre/post roll flags around in the timeline ruler, just click in the clip to set the pre roll to exactly the right place, easy when you know how.
In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert Team Member Julian Rodgers demonstrates a handy keystroke combination to help with moving all the material beyond an edit point in a session while keeping relative sync between tracks.
In this tip Pro Tools Expert Team Member Julian Rodgers considers the different reasons for putting plug-ins in a particular order. When does it make a difference and is it always because of the effect it has on the sound?
Here's a nice tip to allow users to quickly AB alternative plug in chains in Pro Tools. It's very simple but the best ideas tend to be simple...
This is a feature I've used in Pro Tools in music production as a way to repeat a loop for the duration of a section of a song but it is arguably much more useful in this application when pasting sections of room tone which are shorter than the gap they are being used to fill. In this free video tutorial, I am going to explain and demonstrate this feature.
I've been using this little known feature on the stock Pro Tools EQ for years and despite referring to it a lot in the past, I've never done a video demonstrating it in use. Band pass mode is a feature which allows you to solo the band of EQ you are currently adjusting, allowing you to better home in on problem frequencies, see it in use in this free video tutorial.
Keyboard Focus modes allow a great number of one key shortcut commands that can drastically speed up your workflow. In this free Pro Tools Quick Tip from pureMix Mark Abrams shows us how to quickly toggle between the edit, clip and group keyboard focus modes.
In this free tutorial video from pureMix Mark Abrams discusses 4 ways to quickly disable and enable your groups in Pro Tools. Some great time saving advice!
Let’s talk about upward expansion. There is four different types of dynamic processing and upward expansion is one of them, and in my opinion a very good technique to achieve more fullness to your sound. And it seems that people never talk about this, so I think it’s time.
Here are 4 macOS and OSX audio-related tricks that we find useful…
If you have ever had the situation where a Pro Tools session won’t start because Pro Tools can’t initialise the current playback device, you can launch Pro Tools straight into the Playback Engine window by holding the ’N’ key while launching Pro Tools.
Nothing is perfect and no matter how carefully you manage your system, sometimes you’ll find a session you are trying to open just won’t play nice. Pro Tools has had its moments in terms of stability but often Pro Tools is getting the blame for a crash caused by a plug-in.
There are lots of reasons why you might want to drop a marker while recording or playing back in Pro Tools. It’s easy enough, though the shortcut key, Enter on the numeric keyboard, isn’t as helpful as it might be in these days of laptops.
Continuing on from a previous Pro Tools tip on using Control to show only the tracks in a particular group here's an idea which, for me, takes this approach to its logical conclusion.
A mini-flurry of posts on an unusual aspect of clip croups has been prompted by the excellent tip submitted to the podcast by community member Nando Eweg on using clip groups. This tip and an upcoming ADR tip soon to be published by Alan both exploit the slightly counter intuitive fact that a clip group can be created even when it doesn’t contain any clips.
I've been telling students for years that the most important control in any plug-in window is the bypass button. Comparing "with" against "without" is essential, as a result it's necessary to balance the levels of the processed and bypassed signals to make the comparison meaningful. However brick wall limiters intentionally introduce a level change, making comparison impossible.
Spot mode isn't just for Post, I've always used it more than most music people and the way I introduce it to new users is by showing them how spot mode can solve a common problem.
Something I do all the time is drop edit selections on the fly. Rather than looking at waveforms or bar numbers and relating that to what I'm hearing, I just listen.