Importing Audio Files and Clips Using the Import Audio Command

The Import Audio command lets you import audio files or clips into your Pro Tools session.

To import entire tracks from other sessions, see Importing Session Data.

To import audio files or clips into a session using the Import Audio command:

1 Choose File > Import > Audio.

2 In the Import Audio dialog, locate and select an audio file to display its properties and associated clips.

You can choose to display only a certain file type (such as WAV) by selecting the type from the Show pop-up menu. To display all supported file types, select All Documents from the Show pop-up menu.

In the import list, audio files are distinguished from clips by their icons.

 

File and Clip icons in the Import Audio dialog

On Mac, Sound Resource files must have the “.SFIL” extension to be imported by Pro Tools.

3 To preview a selected file or clip before you import it, click the Play and Stop buttons in the Import Audio dialog.

Adjust the preview volume with the vertical slider. To navigate to a particular location in the file, use the horizontal slider under the Play and Stop buttons.

The Preview Volume control in the Import Audio dialog also affects the preview volume when auditioning clips in the Clip List.

The audition output path defaults to channels 1–2. For Pro Tools systems with more than 2 channels of output, the audition path can be changed in the I/O Setup (see Audition Paths).

4 Do any of the following:

To place a file or clip in the Import list, select the file and click Add or Convert.

To import all files and clips in the current directory, click Add All or Convert All.

To remove a file or clip from the Import list, select it and click Remove.

To remove all files and clips, click Remove All.

Pro Tools lets you add files to a session that are at a different sample rate than your session. In the comments field of the Import Audio dialog, a warning is posted that these files will play back at the wrong speed and pitch if they are not converted.

5 When you have added all audio files and clips to the Import list, you can apply sample rate conversion by doing the following:

Enable Apply SRC.

Specify the Source Sample Rate either by typing a number, or by selecting a sample rate from the pop-up menu.

Select the sample rate conversion quality from the Quality pop-up menu. This setting overrides the Sample Rate Conversion Quality setting in the Processing Preferences page.

6 Click Done.

Press Command+W (Mac) or Alt+E (Windows) to select Done. Press Command+ “.” (Period) (Mac) or Esc to Cancel.

7 If you are copying or converting files, choose a location for the new files. Choose a folder on a valid audio drive, such as the Audio Files folder for the current session.

8 In the Audio Import Options dialog, select where the imported files will go in the session:

 

Audio Import Options dialog

New Track

Each audio file is imported into its own individual track and into the Clip List.

When importing audio into a track, you can also choose the location in the track where the audio file will begin (such as Session Start).

Clip List

Audio files are imported into the Clip List without creating a new track. Imported audio files appear in the Clip List and can then be dragged to audio tracks.

9 If you chose to create a new track, choose a location for the imported file in the track:

Session Start

Places the file or clip at the start of the session.

Song Start

Aligns the beginning of the file or clip to the Song Start point.

Selection

Aligns the beginning of the file or clip to the edit cursor or to the beginning of a selection in the Timeline.

Spot

Displays the Spot dialog, which lets you spot the file or clip to a precise location based on any of the Time Scales.

10 Click OK.