Track Compositing Example

In this workflow, you will be introduced to some common track compositing tasks:

Configure a session for this workflow.

Loop record multiple takes on an audio track.

Audition and select the best take.

Copy the best take to the main playlist.

To configure a session:

1 Open an existing Pro Tools session or create a new one.

2 Choose Setup > Preferences, and click the Operation tab.

3 On the Operation page, in the Record section, select the Automatically Create New Playlists When Loop Recording option.

4 Click OK.

To loop record multiple takes:

1 Create a new audio track (stereo or mono), or use an existing track.

2 Make sure the source you want to record is correctly connected and routed to the track input.

3 From the Track View selector, select Playlists.

4 To hear track material up to the start point of the loop, enable pre-roll and set the pre-roll time.

5 Enable Loop Recording by doing one of the following:

Select Options > Loop Playback.

– or – 

Right-click the Play button in the Transport and select Loop.

6 Make sure that Options > Link Timeline and Edit Selection is selected.

7 With the Selector tool, select the loop range on the track.

8 Record enable the audio track by clicking its Record Enable button.

9 Click Record in the Transport to arm Pro Tools for recording.

10 Click Play to start recording.

11 When finished, click Stop to stop recording.

12 If you do not want to make another loop record pass, record disable the audio track.

After you have stopped loop recording, notice that all of the loop recording takes are revealed in Playlist lanes below the main playlist (including the whole audio file clip of all of the loop record passes).

If the Automatically Create New Playlists When Loop Recording option was disabled before you started loop recording, Right-click the clip in the main playlist and choose Matches > Expand Alternates to New Playlists.

To hide the playlist for the whole file clip, do one of the following:

Right-click on the Playlist lane and choose Hide.

– or – 

With the same Edit selection that you used for loop recording intact, Right-click the Track Name or any of the Playlist Lane Names and choose Filter Lanes > Show Only Lanes With > Clips Within the Edit Selection.

To audition alternate playlists:

1 Enable Loop Playback by doing one of the following:

Select Options > Loop Playback.

– or – 

Right-click the Play button in the Transport and select Loop.

2 With the same Timeline selection intact, and and the same pre-roll/post-roll settings enabled, start playback. The main playlist plays back.

3 Click the Solo button for the alternate playlist lane you want to audition. Repeat this step for each playlist lane. (Soloing a Playlist lane only solos the playlist in the track, it does not mute any other tracks in the session.)

To select and copy the best take to the main playlist:

1 Once you have identified the best take, make any changes to the Edit selection. This is the selection that will be copied to the main playlist.

2 Do one of the following:

Choose Edit > Copy Selection To > Main Playlist.

Right-click the selection and choose Copy Selection to Main Playlist.

Click the Copy Selection to Main Playlist button for the Playlist lane.

Press Alt+Start+V (Windows) or Option+Control+V (Mac) to copy the selection to the main playlist.