Pro Tools Exercise Book

First Edition
Exercises
for
Pro Tools
Gilberto Santiago
Doug Fenske
How this
book works.
Introduction
Practice, Practice , Practice!

!
Study practice not only can lead to perfection but also to a
more efficient workflow no matter if your an athlete, musician
,mathematician or in this case an audio engineer or Pro Tools
operator or producer or whatever you want to name yourself.
Like learning how to play tennis or how to ride a bicycle or anything in any field, learning a new software will be challenging
and some times frustrating, trying to transform the ideas and
goals in your mind into operations and reality inside Pro Tools.
!
Pro Tools is the leading audio editing software worldwide, I
am assuming that you know this by now and that might be one
of the reasons that you decided to acquire this book and I hope
to fulfill your expectations in your learning process. Everybody
have their very specific way to learning and this book is just one
of them.
!
I attended the Audio Technology program at SAE in Los
Angeles and before I started learning Pro Tools I had a little of
experience with other DAWs which made me think that learning
the most used Audio software in the world wouldnt be that
hard, but when I started learning it I quickly realize that it was a
rookies mistake.
!
Despite the amazing teachers that I had in school, I feel
like having a more core battery of exercises would prepare me
to be more productive during the classes and quickly I develop
a method of practicing the foundations, shortcuts and ins and
out of the software until I feel extremely comfortable inside Pro
Tools and that lead me to work faster and saving the clients
time when working for other people and saving my time when
working on my projects. Saving the clients time will raise your
credibility and that will bring more work. Saving time on your
productions will give you more free time, and time is the only
commodity that you cant acquire, We have it when we are born
and we start spending it, saving when you are working is a very
wise decision.
!
Being the very complex software that it is, Pro Tools have many
ways of working and this book can only be a start guide to develop your
own workflow. Different engineers have different workflows but once you
know exactly what is going on you can find out the best ways that will fit
your engineering or production style.
How does this book work?
!
The Know it section is a brief explanatory lesson upon the chapter.
Keep in mind that this is a practical book, all the explanations and definitions will be at a basic level, if you want a more depth description I advise you to get a more detailed book or even look for educational programs. Avid provides specific detail certification courses in many countries. you can find more information on www.avid.com/educational
Most books out there will explain you all the details of the software
and will start explain every single little bit piece of information needed to
master the software, but without having a specific way of practicing it can
be easy to forget a lot of what you learned.
!
It all started at Gleenwood Place Studios, the place where I got my
first internship. During the night shifts I had a big amount of time in my
hands and decided to use that to practice my skills in Pro Tools as I had
clearly in my mind that in order to achieve my objectives I would have to
master Pro Tools, or if not master had a very good workflow that would
be enough for me to use and to serve my clients.
!
So in the meantime that I had at the studio when I was not working
I put it up a battery of exercises to practice as much as I could all different session possibilities, from acoustic to electronic, from Voice over to
demos. It did took a lot of creativity to build exercises that reflect the reality. It will also take some creativity for you to put yourself into the situations that some exercises will put you into.
!
Each Chapter is divided into 3 sections: Know it , Do it faster!
and Youre fired!
!
Dont be fooled by our quick guide in the Know it section. The
method developed is very efficient in getting you started and level up
your tracking and editing game.
!
Of course fast editing will come with practicing shortcuts and that
will make you find a best workflow for you, In this book different workflow
will be introduced, and workflows arent copyrighted. Feel free to use it
and gather the maximum information in order to build the perfect platform to use this massive toolbox that is Pro Tools
!
Like mentioned before time is very valuable in this industry so in
each chapter there will be a specific section for shortcuts, despite the inclination to not take a serious look into it. It is strongly recommended that
you keep the keyboard in front of you all the time while reading that section. It should take not more than 3 minutes to read it 3 times with you
hands in the keyboard.I bet you can type your name on a keyboard without looking at it, because your fingers got so used that they memorized
the movements.
!
Specialist say that in order to keep the muscles growing athletes
need to keep changing the routine in their workout. That is because the
muscles get used to a same exercise. On the other hand that is to our
advantage. keeping your finger used to useful shortcuts will come in
good hand during exercises and it will payoff later on ,even if it seems to
be boring in the beginning I promise that getting all the commands in the
tips of your fingers will make you stand out from all the mouse dragging
people.
!
During the course of this book you will find some expressions in
bold that means that that specific expression have a definition or an explanation in the glossary at the end of the book, it is a good idea to go to
the glossary once you find an expression that its marked bold, even if
you know what it is, it will never hurt to have a reminder of some concepts. Its never enough to say that this in an EXERCISE book, so even
the glossary will give you definition but not complex explanations about
the specific subject that you are looking for. If there is any expression or
part in this book that you feel that it was not fully explained, just get a
more completed detailed course like mentioned before and you will find
the answers. Nowadays with all the information online its also very easy
to get all the answers you need online and even more explanations can
be found in online streaming services.
!
The last part of each chapter is the core essence of this book.
YOURE FIRED! Its a pretty common expression in our industry and giving an attention to this section will avoid you from hearing it. The exercises will come in different types, approach and difficulty levels. Also it
will come with time managing charts. Remember that there is a lot of
ways to do different tasks in Pro Tools, so there might be more than one
right answer to the same exercise, As long as you keep in the range of
the correct answer you should be fine.
!
The exercise types in the your fired! section will be Direct Questions , Subjective questions , Day-to-day situations, trouble-shooting. All
of them will be very self explanatory and you wont have problems in understanding what is being demanded.
!
During the exercises we HIGHLY recommend you to use a mouse
click counter and a stopwatch to time your progress, If you keep a track
of your times soon you will see how much you improve , and the fewer
clicks you do on the mouse its a a proof that you are using the shortcuts.
A recommended software is the MurGaa mouse click counter. you can
download it at http://www.murgaa.com/
What if Im not in the latest version of

Pro Tools?
!
The exercises on this book are based on Pro Tools 11 , most of the
same shortcuts can be found from Pro Tools 9 and on, The author as4
sumes that if you are using a version prior to Pro tools 9 you probably
have a stablished workflow but even that you can use and adapt most of
the exercises, just the shortcuts will be different.
!
Also, this book is intended to gave you a hands on , real-life experience and practice sessions, it is required that you take the exercises
very sirously , even if they seem to be a little out of your reality, make
sure to follow the question and do your best when doing the exercises.
Extra content
!
In order to do a better use of this book, make sure to download the
content for each chapter and use in the sessions. The sessions will be
available in PTX files and PTF files you can pick according to which version you are currently using.
The Characters
!
There will be tasks in form of exercises that will be handled to a
character that it will be played by you. You will start as an intern and
along the book you will move up positions. But it will depend on your development, you can also be fired. But Im sure you will give your best to
keep moving on.
!
As much as I understand that this is not a conventional method of
learning, I also know that mixing role-playing practicing with your studies
with keep you interested and willing to do your best.
!
So you think you are ready????
Lets do this!
5
Session
Know it
This looks so complex!

!
Yes, It does but its also not the end of the world. After you domi-
nate most of the concepts you will agreed that its actually pretty straight
forward.
!
You just installed Pro Tools (If you have any problems installing the
software avid has an extensive troubleshooting and installation support,
make sure to contact them) ,have you iLock registered, and now you
are ready to get going. Lets start with some easy concepts about audio
in general. Once you open Pro Tools this screen will show up.
!
You can pick from the top options if you want to create or open sessions and the parameters for the sessions that you can create, including
Sample Rate , Bit Depth and I/O Setting.
!
The best analogy that I have to explain sample rate and bit depth
is digital video. Everybody knows that video is actually a succession of
7
still images that our brain connects and give us the feeling of motion.
The frame rate for Movies for example is 24 frames per second (fps).
Each second , 24 images are captured by you eyes and you brain converts the still images to movement. And each day the quality of those images are evolving from HD to 4K and beyond.
!
Think the same for Digital Audio, Its a succesion of audio pictures that played at a specific frame rate and at a specific resolution
give to our brain the idea of continuously playing sound. The frame rate
is the Sample Rate. 44.1kHz means that each second 44.1 thousand
audio pictures are sent to our hears, and 16 bit is the definition of
each picture.
!
The more frames per second and more high definition the audio
signal has, more quality it carries , but also the size of the file rises so
whenever you are choosing the parameters for your session keep that in
mind.
!
Another screen that you will use often is SETUP>PLAYBACK ENGINE.
!
Here you will chose the interface that Pro Tools will be using as its
core driving engine. Also you have other options to increase and change
the performance of your machine.
!
H/W Buffer Size its a very important tab because that will keep
you from having problems during tracking and glitches during mixing.
While you computer is playing back audio, it is also doing many things,
so in order to receive the audio and process it and play it back, it takes
some time for processing. When you are not recording , its not a a big
deal you input monitoring latency , but if you are tracking for example ,
a vocalist, it can be really hard to be in time when you are hearing everything late on your playback system. Usually to track, you should use a
low buffer size so it can play it back at a faster speed, and when you are
not tracking you can raise the buffer size , giving you more room for plugins and processing.
!
Specially if you just started to use Pro Tools and you are having
some problems even though your machine have a pretty good amount of
RAM and processing power. You will use this very often, also if you will
be working on a laptop, buffer size will come in handy.
!
There are some VERY useful tools also in Pro Tools that you might
want to double check before you start setting up your home studio or session. These few tools will save you time and more important , work!
AUTO BACKUP
!
On Preferences, under the tab Operation, you will find that Pro
Tools have an Auto-backup section
sion in another also you can revert to a previously saved version of the
current session.
!
Save Copy In Will save the whole session and whatever you need
from it in another folder. Pretty much it will create a copy of the folder
that your session is using. You will also have some different options To
save as an older pro tools file, select the audio file type and also what to
copy, It is recommended to mark the box Audio Files to make sure that
you wont have problems opening a session somewhere else. Also if you
are working with a lot of plugins and you want to keep all the settings
you can do that. Its a very useful tools , specially when moving sessions
from one studio to another or handing out sessions to work with other
people that might have a different version of pro tools.
!
It is very wise to mark the designated box and set the amount of
backups that you would like to have it saved. The backup files will be under a backup folder inside the session folder. Also, the saved files are
just regular pro tools files (.ptx), so they are light files, it is to your advantage to have a good amount of backup, you dont want to get that perfect
timber and then lose it because there was a power outrage or something
happened. Dont risk it.
!
By default that box will come marked but it is never too much to
check it.
!
Also talking about keeping it safe , you can save your session in
different ways.The regular save will save on top of the file that you are
using, if you use save as... you will be creating a new PT file, you can
also save as a template so you can use the same settings of the ses-
Do it Faster!
Hi there! My name is Danny Longrhom, Im a

studio manager and I will be helping you. I do not
own you anything and if you dont give the best
of you I can guarantee that nothing will happen.
If you work hard though, and if your lucky it might
work for you! I dont have any spot available in
my studio, but a friend is looking forward to get
an intern just to help with some clerk work , but
you can stay around the assistants and learn! I
just need to make sure that you know the basics.
Wont put my name on the line if you cant even
send an e-mail.
Basics and essentials

+S
Save
+Q
Quit Pro Tools
++Q
Close Session
+O
Open Session
+N
New Session
10
!
When you are in the quitting screen there are 3 shortcuts
that will be specific for that screen that will make your life faster.
If you just saved and did not make any alteration on the session
Pro Tools will quit automatically.
cancel
+D
Dont Save
Enter / Return
Save
11
Youre fired!
1. Download the session on chapter 1, open pro tools

and do the following exercises. Remember to time
you progress during the exercises.
a) In the following order, close the session , create a new session and name it test 7.25 on the desktop , save that session using save as.. and name the saved file test 7.25.2, after that quit pro tools.
!
Intern: 90 seconds , more than 5 mouse clicks
Assistant: 45 seconds , more than 3 mouse clicks
Head Engineer:Less than 45 seconds,less than 3 mouse clicks
b) Open Pro Tools and using open recent session, open the session test 7.25.2, close that session, and create a new one
name it test 7.26 the session should be 48KHz, 24 bit saving in AIFF. files then quit Pro tools without saving anything.
!
Intern: 2 minutes , more than 10 mouse clicks
Assistant: 1 minute, more than 8 mouse clicks
Head Engineer:Less than 1 minute,less than 8 mouse clicks
c) Open the session test 7.25 by clicking on the ptx file, save
the session, and also make a copy of the session.Then quit
Pro Tools.
12
Intern: 1 minutes , more than 7 mouse clicks
Assistant: 30 seconds, more than 4 mouse clicks
Review your time for each exercise. If you get at least assistant in all exercises go to the number 2. If not go back
and re do it until you have at least 2 out of 3 assistant
timings.
e) ________ will save

f) ________ will Cancel
g) ________ will quit without saving.
3.
Hey! I have a task for you. I need some
help.Im with a client and that asked me for
a different session specs.This is what I
need you to do. In the exercises folder there
is a session called Linkin Midnight I need
you to change somethings in it. The client
want it in a CD quality files and all in WAV.
They are also using Pro Tools 8, Im far
from the studio but I will pass by your house
to pick it up in 1 minute! Ahh, before I forget.
Also save a file called backup in case they
decide not to use what they changed.
2.Complete the blanks

a) The shortcut for quick save is ___________
b) The shortcut to quit Pro Tools is ___________
c) When sending full sessions to other engineers , producers,
etc, a very efficient way of saving the session is using
_________________
d) When __________ , sometimes is better use a smaller
buffer size to reduce __________. When _________ you
can use a higher buffer size in order to use more plugins and
processing.
Time Limit: 1 minute

at this screen.
13
Tracks
Know it
Types
There are some different types of tracks in Pro Tools.
Audio Track: Records Audio and it have a

waveform as a symbol
Aux Track: Its an auxiliary track and its symbol is an arrow pointing down
Master Track: Its the sum of all the other

tracks. It have Sigma as its symbol.
15
Midi Track: Only records Midi Information, Its

symbol is a 5 pin connector.
Instrument Track: Its a Midi Track with an Auxiliary combined. It records MIDI information but
it playback audio.
!
MIDI tracks are tracks that it can only record MIDI information, they take pretty much nothing on processing so they are
very useful in production process. In order to listen to anything
that you recorded you will have to have an aux routed with an
instrument on it. (plugin or hardware)
Instrument Tracks are used to record MIDI, so a virtual instrument, a synthesizer that is connected thru MIDI can be recorded using this type. They come with a built in Aux which
make a lot easier to record virtual instruments.
Stereo vs Mono
!
All the track types , except for MIDI tracks, can be stereo or mono.
Mono is a one channel signal, and stereo is a two chanel signal with one
channel for the left and one channel for the right. You should create the
tracks based on what are you recording.
!
Each track is designed for a specific purpose. Audio
tracks usually are used to record audio content like vocals, a
guitar, a sample, etc.
!
Auxiliary tracks work as a route. You can use them to
sum , subgroup , effects, etc. You cant record on auxiliary
tracks.
!
Master Tracks as a sum of all the tracks in your session.
Unless you are using Pro Tools HD you cant change the input
on the master tracks and either record, mute or solo.
!
For example: If you are recording one microphone for a vocal, That
will be one signal, so the best alternative will be a mono track. If you are
recording a synthesizer that will give you 2 channels on its out. The best
option is to have a stereo tracks. If you are recording a virtual instrument
and it have stereo image, the best alternative its stereo. If you are recording a live piano and you want to give a stereo feeling , like having
the higher notes on the left and the lower ones on the right, you can use
a stereo or two mono tracks panned. Remember that those are very
good suggestions but there is no rule.
16
Do it Faster!
Creating tracks
!
You can create the tracks in two places. One on under the tab
TRACK> New Track , And by the shortcut ++N. You will use this
shortcut a lot, so its a good idea to get your fingers used to it.This window will show up and the following are the specific shortcuts for this
screen. As soon as this screen show up the cursor will be on the number
of tracks , so you can press any number to change the amount of tracks
to create.
++N
Create new track
or
change the amount of tracks
+ or
Toggle between mono or stereo
+ or
Toggle between track types
+ + or
Toggle between samples or ticks
!
!
You can press the + symbol on the right to create a diferent type
or track , this way you can create many tracks of diferent types in the
same screen. You can also press ++N again and another track box
will open right under the current one.
17
Color
!
You can change the color of your track by clicking in the colored
area at the bottom of each track or on the left side if you are in the edit
window.
!
In this screen you can toggle between the types of tracks using
(tab) to go to next or + to go to the previous.
Other Functions
Name
!
Some other functions are useful regarding tracks , specially for organization. You can rename a track by double clicking on its name. This
screen will show up. You can use the shortcut + or to go to
the next or previous tracks.
!
Here you can pick the color you want to the track. and its proprieties. the button HOLD , keeps a color selected independent of the track
that you select. Useful to match colors. If you want more color visualization in your session you can turn on the colored button. It will color the
whole track and not only the bottom of it. Again its a matter of preference and organization.
Hide
!
If you dont want to see a track on your screen you can hide it by
left-clicking it and selecting hide the track will be hidden on you session
and will appear only in the track listing on you left side, you can leftclicking it to unhide it on click on the dot to its left.
18
Click Track
!
The easiest way to create a click track is going under the tab
TRACK>CREATE CLICK TRACK. You will notice that the click track is
an aux track with a metronome plugin on it.
19
Youre Fired!
1.Complete the table with yes or no.

capability to
record
Accept MIDI
information
Can be moro or
Stereo
Instrument
Track
Aux Track
MIDI track
Audio Track
Master
Track
2) Fill in the blanks.

a)_____________ will open the new track box.
b) Under the tab______________ is one way to create a click
track
c) click track is a a metronome inserted in_________ track
20
d) _____________ is a shortcut to toggle between stereo and

mono tracks in the new track box.
3.Open Pro Tools and create the following sessions.
c) Band Session. Create tracks for , Drums (Kick, Snare and

Over Heads ) , Bass DI , Guitar DI, Guitar Amp, 1 Instrument
track for Synth ,Main Vocal , 1 Aux for Reverb , 1 Click Track, 1
Stereo Master.
Remember to keep track of you mouse clicks and

timing. Rename and Color code all the tracks
a) Stereo Audio track (backtrack), 3 Mono audio tracks (main
vocals and 2 back vocals) , 1 Stereo Instrument track (keys) , 1

Stereo Master track. Name all of them and color code them.
d) Band Session 2. Create tracks for:
Intern: more than 75 , more than 15 mouse clicks
Assistant: more than 45 seconds , more than 6 mouse clicks
b) Drum session. Create tracks for , Kick, Snare Top , Snare

Bottom , Tom , Floor Tom , Over Heads (2 mono or 1 stereo) , 1
Room Mic , 1 Click Track, 1 Stereo Master. Use the pan pots to
create a little image on the toms and over heads if you used
mono tracks.
!
Intern: more than 80 , more than 15 mouse clicks
Assistant: more than 50 seconds , more than 6 mouse clicks
Intern: more than 3 minutes, more than 60 mouse clicks
!
Assistant: more than 1.5 minute seconds , more than 30 mouse
clicks
Head Engineer:Less than 1.5 minute ,less than 30 mouse clicks
-Drums (Kick , Snare, Tom , Floor Tom , Over Heads)

-GTR ( Guitar 1, Guitar 2 , Stereo Acoustic)
-Bass (Bass DI , Bass Amp)
-Samples
- Keys (instrument track)
- Synth (Instrument track)
- 2 Stereo Aux (1 for reverb, 1 for delay)
-1 Main Vocals
-2 Back Vocals.
Named and Color coded.
!
Intern: more than 5 minutes, more than 150 mouse clicks
!
Assistant: more than 3 minutes seconds , more than 100 mouse
clicks
!
Head Engineer:Less than 3 minutes ,less than 100 mouse clicks
21
4.
Hey! The assistant told me that you just pass by
the studio to talk to him now right? So He is very
busy troubleshooting the AC in Studio B. The
thing is, one of our biggest client is coming to the
studio now, to track a demo. Hes is a grammy
winner producer, and he works really fast. He is
heading the studio now so he should be there
anytime. While the assistant try to fix the AC
could you create the session in Pro Tools. He told
me that will be just vocals, he will play the pianos
and drums on a MIDI controller and the guitar,
bass and acoustic guitar on amps and mics. consider that will be a DI and a mic per string
instrument.Also get a channel ready for reverb
and one for delay.Of course, please keep everything organized. If you get everything right, I
might even give you an opportunity here.
Intern:more than 7 minutes,

Assistant: more than 3 minutes seconds , saved.
Head Engineer:Less than 3 minutes, saved , grouped.
22
Transport &
Playback
Know it
Yes, kinda like a car.

!
Transport is the section in Pro Tools that let you Play, Pause,
Stop, Rewind, Fast Forward , Loop , Sync and etc. There is a mini version of the transport window at the top of the edit window. You can activate it or deactivate it by right clicking on the tool bar on the edit window
(even though We dont see a point for not having it there).
!
The Full Transport window is accessible under Window>Transport
or just clicking +NUM1 . If you dont have the full numeric keyboard ,
too bad, it wont work on the regular number 1. The full Transport window
looks like this.
!
Basically the functions are easy to use but can be tricky to
understand.We will cover the main functions on this chapter.
Play and Pause

!
Second most used shortcut (after +S) is spacebar. The spacebar its the play / pause button. The Return if pressed once will stop and
if pressed twice will return to the beginning of the session.NUM3 will
start recording. If you dont have a numeric keyboard this shortcut has 2
different version also. +Spacebar or F12. Keep in mind that your computer will first use what is on the system preferences so If you have
those shortcuts assigned to any command it wont work.
24
!
You can set the place where you want to play by clicking on the top
bar of the edit window OR by clicking with the Selector tool. That line is
called playhead. and It its indicated by the arrow at the top of the edit
strip.
When the Arrow is blue it indicates that there is no track armed.
When the arrow is red it indicates that there is a track armed

(With a track armed you cant use the Loop-Playback mode)
Rolls
!
While recording you cant start or stop the recording without stoping the playhead. To explain this better let me explain the quick punch.
The quick punch mode is a record mode (NUM6) that you can use to
start and stop recording WHILE you are playing. Very useful to punch a
line that you want to re-record.When you are on quick punch mode everything since the playhead is being recorded even if its not showing before
, you can use the trimmer tool to reveal the content
!
The transport section it is one of the most used sections of Pro
Tools , so the ability to master it will give you more control , increase
your speed and precision on your workflow. And like it was said before,
less time cruising your mouse is more time in your hands.
!
In case you want to record from a specific point but you want to
play a certain amount of roll prior to the recording, you can set a Pre
Roll and also a Post Roll for after the recording. You can set your pre
AND your post roll by option-clicking on the left (for pre roll) or right
(for post roll) of your playhead. You can activate the Pre and Post roll
with the shortcut +K
Playback/Record modes
!
There are a couple different record and playback modes in Pro
Tools. Mainly you will be using 2 of the playback modes (normal and
loop) and 2 of the record modes ( normal and quick punch)
!
Normal Playback will play until you press the stop or pause button.
Loop Playback (NUM4) will keep a loop of a selection that you have selected prior.
25
Do it Faster!
+ Numeric 1
Toggle Transport Window
Spacebar or Numeric 0
Play / Pause
Return
Stop / Beginning of session
Numeric 3 or
+Spacebar or F12
Record
Numeric 4
Toggle Loop Playback on/off
Numeric 6
Toggle Quick Punch on/off
+K
Enable/Disable Pre/Post Roll time
+ Click on the side

of the playhead
Set Pre/Post Roll time
, or Numeric 1
Rewind
Fast Rewind
. or Numeric 2
Forward
Fast Forward
!
Most of Pro Tools names are still used in fully analog machines.
On tape machines there is 3 heads that are used to write information of
magnetic tape. The erase head , the record head and the play head. And
all the 3 heads are controlled in the transport section of the tape machine.
!
Not having a numeric pad will slow you down. So it is recommended to have a numeric pad to make best use of shortcuts while operating Pro Tools.
26
The best way of viewing the num pad is this:
27
Youre Fired!
1.Answer the questions

a) When the playback arrow is red it means
that?__________________________________
b) On the numeric pad, the number 3
will?___________________________________
c) ON the numeric pad the number 1
will?__________________________________
d) What is pre roll, and what it is used
for?_______________________________________
______________________________________
2.Download the session named Lock and follow

the directions.
a) Open the transport window.
b) turn the autopunch button on
c) Use the track called GTR LEAD to record a punch (
everything should be set already) You should play
from the beginning of the session and punch in on the
28
last bar of the intro and punch out right at the first
verse.
d) Disable auto punch.
e) Set a pre roll of 2 bars before the hook and using a
pre roll. record using the track GTR LEAD the hook.
29
Tools
Know it
Can you please?

!
Of course you know that tools are important, and PRO TOOLS
gives you a great variety of using them. The way this book follow is it
simply the way that the authors find it to be easy and more generic trying
to use the best of each tool for what it does so it can maximize your time
behind the keyboard.
!
Pro Tools as 7 empowering tools. that will be displayed in this section on the top left side of the edit window.In this chapter we will go over
all of them briefly and they will be later covered under a more specific
chapter for editing. Keep in mind that the tools itself have diferent modes
that will not be covered in here now.
ZOOMER : Not that much to talk about it. Click , or select

an area to zoom in and option-click to zoom out.
TRIMMER: The trimmer tool will let you shorten and elongate
regions (trim)
SELECTOR: The Selector will allow you to place the cursor
on any part of the edit window and select, holding and clicking, any part of the session.
GRABBER: The grabber will let you move any regions or
whatever is selected to anywhere you want in the session.
31
SCRUBBER: This tool will let you to audition what is in the

region using the mouse pointer. is not that used in common
production
PENCIL TOOL: The pencil will allow a more precise, (or imprecise) edit on the actual audio wave itself. It will only let
you edit with a very deep zoomed in region.
THE SMART TOOL
!
The smart tool is a combination of the trimmer , selector and
grabber and also a fade tool and a scrubber. Depending on where you
position the cursor it will use one ore another tool. Follow the picture
above to know exactly which area to click to use the tool you need.
!
With that tool, you can use the top part of the region to select and
then use the bottom to grab it and move, and also do edits using the trimmer and fade or crossfade quickly.
!
If you hold the control () on the selector side of the region the
icon will become a scrubber and you can audition the region selector.
!
Once you point the cursor to that area the cursor icon will change
and you will know that you are using a different tool.
ZOOM MEMORIES
!
In case you want to use a specific zoom adjustment, you can use
one of the 5 zoom slots. (numbers 1-5). They already come with a pretty
good standard zoom setting, so instead of going to the zoomer, you can
just use one of the zooms on the zoom memory. Any change that you do
on the zoom slot will keep in that number that you are.So if you click
number 4 and make a zoom adjustment , every time you go to number
for in that session you will have the same zoom setting.
!
RED: Selector
GREEN: Grabber
BLUE: Trimmer
YELLOW: Fade Tool
32
Do it Faster!
!
The different tools can be quickly accessed by pressing + (1 to
7), for example + 1 will select the zooomer and +3 will pick the selector tool. . that goes up to +7 that is the SMART TOOL.
!
With the smart tool selected There are a great variety of shortcuts
that are enabled with the 3 tools. As fast as you get to know and use
them, you will feel much more comfortable in using PRO TOOLS.!
+1
Zoomer
+2
Trimmer
+3
Selector
+4
Grabber
+5
Scrubber
+6
Pencil Tool
+7
Smart Tool
!
If you hold the apple key () and click on the number more than
one time it will toogle between the options of each tool. For example you
can select different types of Pencil by holding the apple key () and
clicking 6 multiple times.
33
!
There are also some conjunction of shortcuts that will help
a lot on the edit process. When for example you want to copy
multiple regions , or change region between tracks without loosing positioning. Practice those AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, they
are very important and will make your edits much faster and
smoother.
!
And if you keep the quick keys activated ( the az box on
the upper right corner of the edit window) You can also use
some even faster editing keys
+ Click and
hold(grabber)
Will duplicate the selected region to where

you drag it
+ Click and
hold(grabber)
Will lock and move the region only vertically
Trim the region until playhead
Trim the region from the playhead on
Fade
+F
Fade options / Batch Fade
+D
Duplicate the selected region
1-5
Zoom memories
34
Youre Fired!
!
To do the following exercises you can use the session Lock downloaded in the previous chapter.
1. Open the session and do the adjustments below using the adequate tool
for each task.
a) Copy the guitar recorded on the first verse and paste
on the second verse.
b) trim the BASS track on the second verse so it only
starts after 4 bars.
c) keep the song without any drums until the first chorus
d) Using the selector , exclude any silence from all the
tracks.
e) Create fades in and out for all the guitar and bass
tracks.
f) Edit the vocals (remove excess of silence) , fades in
and out, cross fade when necessary using the zoom
tool.
35
g) Check for any pops on the vocals and use the pencil
and/or the fade tool to remove all pops and clicks.
2.
Hi There! How is my future assistant going?
So look... Im really busy with some sessions
here with a big client and there is some unfinished edits that I did on the demo of those
boys that came here last week. The thing is
They are asking me all the time about this.
So I need you to do this, and if you do it correctly Ill get you an assistant position. Open
the session Called Flair. Copy the hook chorus to the other hooks. Adjust the volume in
any track that is to loud or too low. Also trim
any silence that is too much and add fades
to all the vocals just to prevent pops. I think
Thats it.

Assistant: more than 10 minutes seconds, saved ,
bounced
Head Engineer:Less than 10 minutes, saved, bounced,
Tracks, Renamed.
Oh you know what? Can you also do 3

bounces for me. One with everything, one
just vocals and another vocals dry. Thank
you so much. But keep in mind that they are
coming to pick this today.
36
ROUTING
Know it
What the busss???

!
Pro tools is just a simulation of the workflow of audio in analog stu-
dios. And in the analog world signal is nothing more than electric pulse
running on electric paths or everything that conduct it. Changing that
path is called routing. And in Pro Tools The routing is extremely flexible.
By now you should have notes that the way that the signal comes in is
called INPUT and the way that the signal goes out is called OUTPUT. IT
works like a pipe system. So if we make an analogy using your sink in
your kitchen if the faucet is your channel, the input is the pipe from your
wall and the drain is the output, but lets say that you want to wash your
car using you kitchen faucet (never know the crazy things that people
do) if you attach a hose to the faucet now your new output is the other
side of the hose. You just rerouted the output.
!
Pro Tools works in a very similar principle. In the mix window you
can see the I/O box above each channel. If you click on it you will have
the option to change the input or the output. Or literally pick no input or
output. (that would be closing the water valve for input or shutting the
drain for the output). Changing those routes will affect a lot your speed in
editing and also mixing, but can also bring feedback and blow your
speakers
38
!
In the above example we have 3 tracks with the inputs being, Analog 1, 2 and 3 respectively , All the outputs are set to the Main out. That
could be for example, One acoustic guitar and 2 vocals. Different inputs
but going to the same output. The output in this case is the main out that
is redirected to Pro Tools Main out (Main output of your computer or your
interface) and that usually will be connected to your speaker, So in general everything that is going to that output will go to your speakers.
!
In our analogy is something like this
!
Busses are used to create subgroups, effects, parallel Compression and even bouncing. A bus is just a virtual audio path, and in Pro
Tools you are free to connect it to anywhere you like. Bussing seems a
little complicated but once you get the concept , you will have many different possibilities to your projects.
Lets check this next example. We have a guitar going to the main outs
(output from out computer/interface) and we have the vocals and back
vocals going to bus17-18.The track for Vocal Group (AUX track) has
bus 17-18 as an input and the output as main out 1-2.
!
Remember our faucet analogy, and that we could attach a hose to
the end of the faucet in order to redirect the water flow? Same principle,
You can change the routing to another path. For us in audio, the hose is
called BUS.
39
Making it less complicated.
Sends and FX
!
The same concept on routing is used for Time-based FX in general. Time base effects usually are a simulation of real physic events that
happen in nature like reverberation and echo, but also are a recreation
of analog tools like delay.
!
Everything here is not a rule but it is a really good recomendation
to save you time and processign power on your computer.
!
Now you can control all the vocals using the VOXGROUP1 Fader.
Also you can Mute the whole group. That comes in handy when you
have a large drumset, or synth section or backvocals.
IMPORTANT!
!
If you havent notice, in our group aux channel , the solo button is
grayed out. That is called SOLO ISOLATE, (+click on S) What that
means is, that specific channel will not mute when another solo is engaged. If you dont solo isolate
the AUX channel , every time
Very very quick SOLO crash
you solo another channel in
course.
that group (VOX in our example) you will have to go and
A solo button doesnt affect the track
also solo the subgroup (VOX
is was engaged, in actuality mutes
GRP1).
every other track BUT that one.
You can, for example add one reverb to each track that you want a
reverb to happen. some observations can be made here tough. a) If
too many different types of reverb
are being used it can sound confusing since our mind perceives the reverb as the reverberation from the point that you are listening, So to
many different verbs across your project can make it sound like you are
in a very strange room. b) reverb plugins are known for consuming CPU
power, so having a lot of verbs will eat your processor power like pacman. Solution?
!
You can create an aux track, and set your reverb plugin in that
track. Than you can use a send to chose exactly how much you want to
go to that reverb. Lets take a look.
A send is a copy of the signal of that channel that can be rerouted to
where you want.
40
!
So now, instead
of using 3 plugins we
are using just 1. Lets
go over step by step.
!
When you click on the specific send, a send screen will show up.
You can also control the amount of send by apple-clicking (+click) on
the arrow right next to the send.
!
1. Create an aux
channel and rename it and color
coded if you wish
2. solo isolate it ( to
prevent from muting while soloing
other tracks)
(+click)
!
You have your fader which controls the amount of signal that you
want to send , mute , that will mute just the send a pan pot for the send
and 3 button on top, SAFE , PRE , FMP. We will go over them later.
!
If it still a little confusing to understand lets go back to our water
system analogy and this will clarify.
3. set the input to a

chosen bus
4. route using sends
the channels that
you would like to
use that effect.
!
The signal from the guitar goes to the main out but also a copy of
that signal (send in purple) is created and sent to the reverb unit that has
its output assigned to the main out. The result is complete control over
the amount of reverb while you get some more room in your processing.
41
!
One important thing to be said is that is very easy to get messy
with routing. If you assign to many different buses without creating a pattern for yourself it can become a nightmare. This is just a recommendation and not a rule at all. But an easy thing to do is pick a set of buses
for effects and always using for the same things. For example, You can
pick the buses 1-10 to use all your effects and start your grouping and
routing on 11, or you can do the opposite. It doesnt matter, as long as it
keeps the session organized and you or any other engineer that have to
work on the session can understand what is going on routing-wise.
!
You can also RENAME any bus making it easing to select once
you know where you want to go. Naming bus1-2 reveb 1 for example
will make it easier when you want to send your vocals to the verb and
you dont have to wonder if the bus 1-2 was the reverb or the delay.
42
Do it Faster!
!
There arent many shortcuts specifically designed for routing in pro
Tools. But some of the shortcuts that we already studied will help on
making assigning inputs and outputs a lot faster. There are some new
ones that can be used in other ways too.
!
If you remember ,Pro Tools have a DO-TO-SELECTED and a DOTO-ALL command. Those will definitely make your life easier while routing. Also there is a cascade function available. Cascade, will assign the
inputs of all channels selected in decrease order.
!
Lets say that you want to create a subgroup of all your 10 channel
drum tracks and send it to one aux DRUM GROUP. Instead of clicking
on all the outputs one by one and selecting the bus you can select all the
tracks, (click on the first, then click on the last holding shift to select all in
betweens or hold apple while you click on all the drum tracks, if they are
spread throughout the mix) then you can hold shift+option while you
click on the output bus that you want to. For that you can pick any track
that is within the selection. If you want to assign every output you can
just simply hold option while you select the out.
IMPORTANT
!
Keep in mind that routing and assigning cannot be undone,
So if you change any assign by mistake you will have to manually
change it back. that can be a pain in the butt if you have a 30 track
session.
43
!
These shortcuts are for assigning, the click shown is refering to the
input/output/send box
+ click
Assign all tracks
+ +click
Assign selected tracks
++click
Cascade all tracks
+ ++click
Cascade selected tracks
+click (track names)
Select tracks
+click (track names)
Select tracks in between
+click (sends)
toggle the view to a small fader/ assignings
+click (Solo button)
Solo Isolate
+ ++click (Solo
button)
Solo Isolate selected tracks
!
Those are some important keys in making assigning faster and
with a little bit of practice it can become second nature to even the most
complex routing. ++
44
Youre Fired!
!
for each task.
tracks.
tracks.
tool.
45
2.
Thats it.

bounced
Tracks, Renamed.

46
Moving &
View
Know it
Hearing is believing,but seeing can help.

!
By now, you are probably used to moving around Pro Tools screen
and finding the best view possible for your needs. On the other hand,
there are many ways of seeing windows and moving around. It also depends on what peripherals you use, and that is very personal. Some people like the trackball, some are already so used to the multi-touch of the
trackpad and some people cant get rid of the good old mouse. Regardless of what you want to use, the solutions will be very similar.
!
If you are using trackpads or trackballs or any other pointer controller that have their own assignment, you might have some issues if there
is some button that is assigned to a specific task. You computer will consider first the system preferences and then whatever is set inside Pro
Tools preferences.
MOVING
!
First thing you need to master is to move the Edit screen, if you are
used to the multi touchpad this is easy, is a standard 2 fingers swipe
from left to right or from up and down. On the mouse (or trackball) well
use the scrool wheel to move a lot. On the edit window Scrooling up and
down will move the edit screen up and down. If you hold SHIFT while
scrooling you will be moving left to right, easy! No shift , up and down ,
With shift , left and right.
ZOOMING
We already learned that we can jsut use the shortcut +1 to engage
the ZOOMER tool and we can use that to zoom in and out. But there are
48
also different ways to zoom. We will go over the newer Pro Tools shortcuts, but there are different commands for the same functions, we will
cover the easier ones.
leave zoom, otherwise you will be constantly setting your explode track
height.
You can also make the track height to fit the screen pressing
!
Like mentioned before , some of the newer shortcuts from Pro Tool
require the az box to be on. when it is grey is off, when it lids yellow is
on.
!
You can zoom using the keys R and T . This way it will zoom to
where your playhead is located, So a good way of moving around is using the SELECTOR or the SMART TOOL and click where you want to
zoom and literally just press T to zoom in or R to zoom out.
TRACK HEIGHT
!
You can adjust the track height too, in case you want to visualize
the regions on any track better, or maybe all the tracks. Pressing
+ or you will adjust the height of the track you have your cursor on,
If you make a selection of 3 tracks this shortcut will apply to the tracks
you have it selected. You can also change the height of all tracks by adding option to the command. (++ or ) If you were good with fatalities in Mortal Kombat you wont have a problem memorizing those.
TOGGLE ZOOM
++
SCROLLING BAR
!
This bar lays right below the transport and it shows exactly where
you are in the session you can also move around using it.If you want to
can adjust the height of it setting your cursor to the under part of the bar
, or you can hide it clicking on the button on the bottom right corner of it.
MOVING REGION TO REGION
!
Once you are already used to go across all the tracks, now lets
move within the regions without using the mouse. Sometimes you will be
working with tracks that have extensive edits to it and it might be a good
idea to move region by region
!
If you are used to first-person shooter games this will be a little easier for you the keys p , ; , l , represent your arrows to go up and down
the tracks and left to right with regions.
!
The button E its a shortcut to a function called ZOOM TOGGLE, It
will zoom the region you have selected, but when you use it first time in
the session you have to manually adjust, So when you click E it will actually minimize the track and then you can click + or to set the explode track height. Just keep in mind that you have to press E again to
49
WAVE ZOOM
!
The wave itself inside pro tools can have its height adjusted,
++
50
Do it Faster!
!
!
+1
Zoomer
+2
Trimmer
+3
Selector
+4
Grabber
+5
Scrubber
+6
Pencil Tool
+7
Smart Tool
!
51
!
smoother.
!
+ Click and
hold(grabber)

you drag it
+ Click and
hold(grabber)
Fade
+F
+D
++
52
Youre Fired!
!
for each task.
tracks.
tracks.
tool.
53
2.
Thats it.

bounced
Tracks, Renamed.

54
GRID &
TEMPO
Know it
All about the timing.

!
Straight to the point. This chapter we will go over the basic edit
modes. this will make a huge difference in your workflow and also give
you enough tools to maximize your speed.
!
We all had frustrating moments trying to select the exact transient
of an acoustic guitar or a synth. and after a lot of auditioning you finally
got to the perfect first sample of the wave that you want to vut it. and you
did, you cut it and you want to copy this to the bridge, how to do it accurately knowing that you are copying maintaining the timing? To get that
right we need to consider a couple things.
!
Absolute position is different than Relative position, that makes
a big difference because often times you are not looking to copy or to cut
a specific region in absolute position to the grid
GRID
!
Grid is the division that appears in the back of Pro tools screen to
help you locate the position of the regions better.
With grid
without grid
56
!
The button to turn on/off the grid is located right next to the transport section.
!
Right next to the Grid button there is the interval that is selected for
the grid. you can simply click on it and change to the interval that will
make you visualize and work more comfortably.If you dont have experience with the notes size all you need to know so far is that it is organized
from bigger to smaller from top to bottom and even though you can pick
if you want your grid to be in minutes and seconds, it is strongly advised to use bars/beats if you are working with music. If you are
working with voiceover or maybe dialogs you might want this grid set to
min:sec.
METRONOME
!
This project is set to 77 bpm. ( it will beat 77 times each one minute). it is a more slow tempo, house music is usually around 128 bpm
and some rock songs go up to 200 bpm. So if you import any song to
your session and add a click track you will note that they are not syncd.
WE need to manually adjust the tempo. you can use a software like
mixed in key to help you decode the tempo of the song. Or you can
manualy find the exact tempo. Its easy.
!
First you need to make sure that you are using a first beat transient
as first reference. So you just need to play and then click on the
tempo number , with the number selected you can tap the letter T
to the tempo. and the session will have that as a set tempo.
!
You learned in chapter 2 how to create a click track easlily by going
under tab tracks and create click track you also remember that the click
track is nothing more than an aux track with a metronome virtual instrument playing on it. Since we are talking about grid and timing, this can
be the perfect time to talk about the metronome.
!
Many times you will be creating all the music by yourself and then
you can set the tempo on your song by the bpm (beats per minute)you
want right before you start or while you are making the first arrangement
, but often times you are sent a track pre made and you are required
maybe to add some acoustic guitar, or a very often situation is that someone made the instrumental and you are recording the vocals.
EDIT MODE
!
If the tempo number is grayed out is because the conductor is on,
we will cover conductor in another opportunity for now lets just make
sure that we can turn it on.
!
Sometimes is it very usefull to make adjustments base on your
grid, but sometimes you just want to be completely free in your selections. Thats why Pro Tools has 4 different edit modes. SLIP , GRID ,
SHUFFLE , SPOT. LEts go over them really quick.
57
SLIP
!
This is the most popular mode to work on Pro Tools, it allow you so
select anything from any point freelty .
58
Do it Faster!
!
!
+1
Zoomer
+2
Trimmer
+3
Selector
+4
Grabber
+5
Scrubber
+6
Pencil Tool
+7
Smart Tool
!
59
!
smoother.
!
+ Click and
hold(grabber)

you drag it
+ Click and
hold(grabber)
Fade
+F
+D
++
60
Youre Fired!
!
for each task.
tracks.
tracks.
tool.
61
2.
Thats it.

bounced
Tracks, Renamed.

62

Pro Tools Exercise Book

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First Edition

Practice, Practice , Practice!

How does this book work?

What if Im not in the latest version of

So you think you are ready????

This looks so complex!

Hi there! My name is Danny Longrhom, Im a

Basics and essentials

Quit Pro Tools

1. Download the session on chapter 1, open pro tools

Intern: 90 seconds , more than 5 mouse clicks

Assistant: 45 seconds , more than 3 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 45 seconds,less than 3 mouse clicks

Intern: 2 minutes , more than 10 mouse clicks

Assistant: 1 minute, more than 8 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 1 minute,less than 8 mouse clicks

Intern: 1 minutes , more than 7 mouse clicks

Assistant: 30 seconds, more than 4 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 30 seconds,less than 4 mouse clicks

e) ________ will save

2.Complete the blanks

Time Limit: 1 minute

Audio Track: Records Audio and it have a

Master Track: Its the sum of all the other

Midi Track: Only records Midi Information, Its

Create new track

change the amount of tracks

Toggle between mono or stereo

Toggle between track types

Toggle between samples or ticks

1.Complete the table with yes or no.

2) Fill in the blanks.

d) _____________ is a shortcut to toggle between stereo and

3.Open Pro Tools and create the following sessions.

c) Band Session. Create tracks for , Drums (Kick, Snare and

Remember to keep track of you mouse clicks and

a) Stereo Audio track (backtrack), 3 Mono audio tracks (main

vocals and 2 back vocals) , 1 Stereo Instrument track (keys) , 1

d) Band Session 2. Create tracks for:

Intern: more than 75 , more than 15 mouse clicks

Assistant: more than 45 seconds , more than 6 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 45 seconds,less than 6 mouse clicks

b) Drum session. Create tracks for , Kick, Snare Top , Snare

Intern: more than 80 , more than 15 mouse clicks

Assistant: more than 50 seconds , more than 6 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 50 seconds,less than 6 mouse clicks

Intern: more than 3 minutes, more than 60 mouse clicks

-Drums (Kick , Snare, Tom , Floor Tom , Over Heads)

Intern: more than 5 minutes, more than 150 mouse clicks

Head Engineer:Less than 3 minutes ,less than 100 mouse clicks

Intern:more than 7 minutes,

Yes, kinda like a car.

Play and Pause

When the arrow is red it indicates that there is a track armed

Toggle Transport Window

Stop / Beginning of session

Toggle Loop Playback on/off

Toggle Quick Punch on/off

Enable/Disable Pre/Post Roll time

+ Click on the side

Set Pre/Post Roll time

The best way of viewing the num pad is this:

1.Answer the questions

2.Download the session named Lock and follow