In this article we collate 3 popular videos which feature some must-know Pro Tools tips. 15 tips in all, presented both in text and demonstrated in videos. Hopefully there is something new here for every Pro Tools user.

Tip 1 - Add Favourites to AAX and AS Lists

Many people will be aware of the option to add a Default EQ and a Default Dynamics plugin to your plugins menu, allowing quick access to your favourite EQ or compressor. Quick access to specific plugins has been supplemented by the introduction of a plugin search, just click in the plugin slot and start typing the name of the plugin. If you’ve never checked out setting a default, go to the mixing tab of the pro tools preferences and selection from there. The defaults will appear at the top of the list.

What is less well know is that you can do something similar for AudioSuite plugins. This is particularly useful as there is no search for AudioSuite. It’s extremely simple. Just Command-click (Control click on a PC) on the AudioSuite plugin you wish to favourite and it will appear at the top of the list separated by a line from the rest. Multiple plugins can be added. To remove them just Command on the favourite to remove it. If you like this system of favourites you can add AAX plugins to the top of your list in the same way using Command (Control on a PC).

I use AudioSuite a lot when editing dialogue and my favourites are the RX DePlosive and Pro Limiter Loudness Analyser plugins.

Tip 2 - CMD To Slip in Grid

Changing Edit modes is easy enough, use F1-F4 to access each mode. Slip and grid are F2 and F4 respectively. However if you are working in Grid and want to temporarily drop out to Slip you can do it by holding Command while making your edit selection, trimming or dragging you clip. If you them want to move your offset event you can use Relative grid mode to snap your event up and doww the timeline maintaining its required offset from the grid.

Tip 3 - Multiple Outs

People wishing to route audio to more than one place often use a send to achieve it. With the track output set to the main output and a send routing to some parallel processing or a side chain or whatever. If you want to be able to independently control the level feeding the alternative output a send is the right choice but if it is just a duplicate then you can route. To multiple outputs from the track output.

On a Mac hold Control and select a second output or bus. A ‘+’ will indicate that multiple routings exist on that output. You can do this with sends too.

Tip 4 - Toggle Melodyne Editor

The system of tabbed editors at the bottom of the Edit Window for Clip Effects, MIDI and Melodyne adds more potential clutter to the Pro Tools UI so managing those elements which compete for screen real estate is important. Since this video was created Avid have added the facility to detach the tabbed editos and to use them as floating editors, potentiall on another screen but if you want to quickly control the tabbed editor you can toggle it by hitting Option/Alt 8. However the really useful one for me is Option+Ctrl+8 (Alt+Start+8 on Windows) which toggles the Melodyne editor to full height. Being able to quickly pop it up for detailed work and then just as easily park it at the bottom of the screen speeds things up hugely.

Tip 5 - Change Bus Instead Of Output

To use Pro Tools effectively you have to know how to use Option+Shift for ‘Do To Selected Tracks’. Changing routing in this way is a real time saver. However if you want to change all the tracks routed to an output to another output the the fastest way is to do it from the IO setup window.

Just go to the Bus tab of the IO setup window and you can remap the output bus instead of changing all the output assignments in the session. This is possible because Pro Tools uses Mapped Output Busses, All you have to do is find the output you wish to re-map in the bus tab, not the output tab, and change its setting in the Mapping to Output column. For example I often want to change my entire session from routing to my MBOX Studio’s Internal Outputs 1-2 to Internal Outputs 3-4. I could do it by selecting all the tracks routed to 1-2 in. The Pro Tools Mixer but it is far quicker and less likely to introduce errors to do it from the IO setup.

Tip 6 - Cascade Inputs/Outputs

You probably already know that to set the input or output of a track or send you click and select from the drop down menu. To set multiple tracks to the same input or output in one operation, select the tracks and hold Opt+Shift, or Alt+Shift on a PC. And to set for all tracks just use Option/Alt. However did you know that by holding Command+Option (Control+Alt on PC) you can cascade all track inputs or outputs upwards? So for example in a session with 8 mono tracks, using Alt+Command you can set the inputs to these tracks to 1 to 8 across those tracks in a single operation? Possibly even more useful is the addition of Shift to this command which allows you to cascade inputs or outputs to selected tracks only. This is a real time saver when setting up sessions!

Tip 7 - Jumbo Meters

The metering in Pro Tools is more flexible than it is in some other DAWs. If you right-click on a meter in Pro Tools you’ll find a choice of metering types and if you go to the Metering tab in the Preferences you’ll find you can customise many aspects of the meters’ appearance and functionality. However you won’t find the option to change the meters’ width. If you hold Command, Option and Control and click on a meter they will fatten out to about double their size. I’ve never felt this to be necessary in the Mix window but it also affects the meters in the track header in the Edit window, I find it useful there. Interestingly it doesn’t affect floating fader windows.

Tip 8 - Band Pass EQ Mode

The time-honoured way of tracking down frequencies when EQing by sweeping a narrow boost up and down is something I’ve always found counterproductive. A big narrow boost of any frequency sounds bad and I just find everything sounds horrible, and my perspective on the sound is affected. A far better solution is use of a temporary band pass feature. In EQs which provide it, this feature allows you to solo a band of EQ and audition its frequency and Q without introducing a boost in gain. Because this feature is momentary as opposed to latching it is much easier to drop in and out of, allowing you to focus in on the sound you’re chasing without killing your perspective.

In Avid EQ III hold Control and Shift (Start and Shift on PC) and use the control point or the frequency knob to find your target. You can change the Q in Band Pass mode but the gain is inactive. Helpfully these modifiers have the same effect in Avid Channel Strip’s EQ. If you’re a user of Fabfilter’s Pro Q3 then the same functionality is available by clicking the Solo button, which looks like a pair of headphones, in the filter’s control panel.

If you’re still boosting to find frequencies and haven’t tried band pass mode give it a go.

Tip 9 - Use Shift To Open Multiple Plugin Windows

The behaviour of floating windows in Pro Tools, things like the Transport, Memory Locations and the Big Counter is predictable enough. A great shortcut I use all the time is Command+Option+Control+W (Control+Alt+Start+W on a PC). This closes all floating windows. And if you use it a second time it will bring them all back again - very handy! However Plugin windows and floating fader windows work slightly differently as they all have the square red Target button.

This Target button is used to direct an action at a particular window when there are multiple windows open. If you open a plugin window it will open but it you click on a second plugin it will be replaced by that second plugin’s window. This is a great way to automatically keep window clutter down. However if you want to view more than one plugin (or floating fader) window at a time them you have to untarget the first window before opening the second. A much faster way to achieve the same thing it to Shift+click on your plugin windows to open them without losing the previous window.

Tip 10 - Create 1K Tone Clips

You might already know the keystroke for Consolidate Selection is Option+Shift+3. Consolidate creates a new Whole File Clip on the timeline from an Edit Selection. It’s useful for rendering edits as, unlike using a Clip Group, it creates a new file on disc which can be used elsewhere. However you might not know that if you add Control (Start on a PC) to this keystroke you can create a clip containing a 1KHz sine tone at -20dB. I find this really useful for quickly creating test signals when troubleshooting, it’s faster than instantiating a Signal Generator plugin. It’s not possible to customise the tone which gets created, which is a pity. I’d sometime like to be able to create something else, particularly if I’m going to hear it, 1KHz is no fun to listen to. If you need to bleep out profanity then selecting over the offending words and hitting this keystroke will do the job, though I favour Command+M to mute profanity, bleeps just draw attention to it.

Tip 11 - Show Whole Session In 2 Shortcuts

The fact that it is so easy to change the zoom settings sometimes leaves me puzzled why so many very experienced Pro Tools users favour scrolling both horizontally and vertically over zooming out to locate the desired area and using the many zooming shortcuts to focus in on them.

Zooming in, both horizontally and vertically is very quick if you are comfortable with the appropriate shortcuts. Don’t overlook Zoom Toggle which can be used on selections which span multiple tracks as well as zooming timeline selections on single tracks - particularly useful when Timeline and Edit Selections are linked, which for most of the time they will be in Pro Tools.

However being able to quickly zoom out to get a bird’s eye view of your entire session is just as important as being able to quickly zoom in. To do that I use Option+A (Alt+A on PC) to zoom out horizontally to show the entire timeline and CMD+Opt+Control+Down Arrow (Control+Alt+Start+Down Arrow on PC) to fit all tracks to the screen vertically. Using the up arrow works as well. This is indispensable for me, as long as my session isn’t too big to fit vertically on the screen - many sessions are but mine tend not to.

Tip 12 - Show Automation Using Ctrl+CMD

By default only volume, pan, sends and mute parameters are enabled for automation in Pro Tools, to automate anything else, such as plugin parameters, you have to manually enable that parameter. The long-winded way of doing this is to open the plugin window, click the Plugin Automation Enable button, select the parameter(s) you wish to enable from the left hand column of available parameters and click Add to add them to the right hand column of automation-enabled parameters.

The quick way to add automation parameters is to click on the parameter you wish to automate while holding CMD+Option+Control (Control+Alt+Start on a PC) and add it from the contextual menu which pops up. This same ‘powerclaw’ set of modifiers will automation enable all of the automatable parameters in a plugin in one action if you use it while clicking on the Plugin Automation Enable button.

Every automated parameter adds to the track views available in the edit page and navigation quickly becomes unmanageable unless you know this second tip. You can change the track view to display the automation playlist for any enabled parameter by Control+CMD clicking (Control+Start on PC) on the parameter’s control. So to view your EQ’s Bypass automation, Control+CMD click on the bypass button, to view the Reverb decay Control+CMD click on the decay control. To view track Mute automation, Control+CMD click on the mute button. To return to Waveform view Control+CMD click on the track name. If you have a suitable control surface this modifier is life-changing!

Tip 13 - Temporarily Clear Clips List

The lack of folders in the clips list continues to frustrate many, me included. However if you get to know it, the flat Clips List is surprisingly manageable. One trick I learned years ago is a way to temporarily clear the Clips List and have it only display clips you have created since you cleared it.

The way it works is to use the Find function in the Clips List menu. If you leave the search field blank but tick the Include Subsequently Added Clips box then you will temporarily clear the list but any new files you import or create using Consolidate will be displayed. I use this when importing audio into my Podcast template so that I can import them to my Clips List and drag them to the tracks I want without losing track of them. It’s quicker that renaming clips or re-ordering the list.

Tip 14 - Change Clip Gain Amount

Clip Gain is so useful it’s hard to believe that it was only introduced to Pro Tools in version 10. Admittedly that was over ten years ago but I can still remember using Trim plugins to manage gain!

For easy and intuitive use there is the little fader you get in the bottom left of your clips with which you can dial in Clip Gain with just your mouse. If you can’t see the Clip Gain Info hit Control+Shift and Plus (Start+Shift on a PC). This Control+Shift modifier allows you to access loads of Clip Gain related stuff and for quick gain changes use it with the scroll wheel to change the gain of an edit selection. For more precise control you can use Control+Shift with the Arrow Keys but I’ve always felt the default adjustment of 0.5dB is too fine. You can change it to something of your choice in the Editing tab of the Pro Tools Preferences. I use 3dB.

Tip 15 - Swap 1-5 from Zoom Presets to Clip FX Presets

In the same area of the Editing tab of the Pro Tools Preferences is the option to change the function of the 1-5 keys from Zoom Presets, which personally I never use, to Clip Effect Presets. This I find very convenient. To set up and store some Clip FX presets open the editor, which has moved the the bottom of the Edit Window, set up a setting and store it by Command-clicking (Control-clicking on a PC) on one of the five preset button. When you release the mouse the preset button flashes. That indicates it has been stored. If you change the preference you will get your Clip Effects applied from the 1-5 keys.

I use this for simple things like high pass filters which can be applied to catch mic pops and table bumps. You could also try a polarity invert and a null setting with no parameters active on neighbouring presets for quick phase toggling and polarity checks from the keyboard.

Across these 15 tips I hope there was something you didn’t previously know and which proves useful!