Today’s seminar session is intended as a revision exercise in some of the fundmental concepts of Pro Tools, which will assist you with both the forthcoming Studio Practice assessments in Electric Mayhem and also audio editing briefs to be set as part of the Industry Module. This handout has been prepared using version 8.x of the software and some ofthe screen shots and tools may differ slightly from earlier versions but the general concepts will be the same. You should then work your way through this sheet; exploring each section and learning your own way of operating the software. The core audio to experiment with and complete the tasks can be found on :- Statler/FdSc Core Data/Studio Practice/Level 2/Example Sessions1. Creating a new session Course : FdSc Music Technology Session : Pro Tools Revision Location : S104 Date : 30.11.10 Choose appropriate name. Pro Tools will create the main folder using this name Select file format. The recommended format is Broadcast wav, as this is the most compatible with other systems Select sample rate and bit depth. NB : This cannot be altered once you have set it Select appropriatelocation. Not the desktop!
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To import audio into the session, there are 2 options. You can either import to
Track or Region List.
Import To Track – This will import audio directly to a track and will create a track
based on file information i.e. stereo/mono and filename. This method is good if you want to import prenamed audio and want to use each audio file within the
session.
Import To Region List – This will import audio to the regions list and make the
audio files available to use within the session. No audio track will be created
therefore you will need to create one yourself and then drag the audio from the
regions list to the edit window.
Once you have chosen to import audio by either method, Pro Tools will ask you to
choose the audio file(s) required and either convert if the file type/bit depth/
sample rate are not the same as the session, or just a straight copy if the file has
the same attributes as the session.
Course : FdSc Music Technology Session : Pro Tools RevisionLocation : S104 Date : 30.11.10
Below is the main editing section on the edit window.
Edit Modes
Pro Tools has four Edit modes: Shuffle, Spot, Slip, and
Grid.
Shuffle
In Shuffle mode, you can move, trim, cut, or paste regions freely within a track or
to other tracks, but their movement is constrained by the position of otherregions. If you drag an audio file to an empty track it would position the audio at
the start, if the track is not empty, the new file would snap to the end of the last
existing region in the track.
Slip
In Slip mode, regions can be moved freely within a track or to other tracks. In this
mode, it is possible to place a region so that there is space between it and other
regions in a track. Use Slip mode when you want the editing without any
restrictions to placement in time.
Spot
Use Spot mode to place regions at precise locations. In Spot mode you can specify
a frame location (or a location based on any of the other time formats), capture an
incoming Time Code address, or use a region’s time stamps as reference points
for spotting. This can be particularly useful when performing post production
tasks around SMPTE frame locations.
When Spot mode is enabled, Pro Tools asks you to specify a destination location
when a region is dragged from the Region List.
Course : FdSc Music Technology Session : Pro Tools RevisionLocation : S104 Date : 30.11.10
In Grid mode, regions that are moved, trimmed or inserted “snap” to the currently
selected Grid value. This is basically snap mode in other programs and is goodfor time based work. The grid can be changed to different resolutions for more
accurate editing/positioning, this is demonstrated below.
Task: Experiment with different edit modes, move and import audio in each
mode to consolidate your understanding of each mode. Think of the
usefulness of each mode in particular situations. See if you can work out how to set up the whole given session with each part in the correct place.
Edit Tools
Zoom Buttons : Use the Zoom buttons to zoom in and out vertically and
horizontally on MIDI and audio track material. You can also store and recall
five Zoom presets.
Zoomer Tool : Use the Zoomer tool to select a zoom view in a track. Double
click on this tool to view the whole session. Also when this is selected you
can use the drag box to zoom in on a section see below. Zoom can also beachieved by using Command (Apple) + [ or ] to zoom in and out respectively.
Course : FdSc Music Technology Session : Pro Tools RevisionLocation : S104 Date : 30.11.10