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Pro Tools
An InTroducTIon To Pro Tools 11

101:

Frank d. cook

Cengage Learning PTR

Australia, Brazil, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Singapore, Spain, United Kingdom, United States
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Pro Tools 101:
An Introduction to Pro Tools 11
Frank D. Cook
Publisher and General Manager,
Cengage Learning PTR:
stacy l. Hiquet
Associate Director of Marketing:
sarah Panella
Manager of Editorial Services:
Heather Talbot
This guide is copyrighted 2014 by Avid Technology, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved.
no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic
or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, for any purpose without the express written
permission of Avid Technology, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
All rIGHTs rEsErVEd. no part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced,
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networks, or information storage and retrieval systems, except as permitted under section 107 or
108 of the 1976 united states copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
digidesign, Pro Tools, VEnuE, sibelius, and all related product names and logos are registered
trademarks of Avid Technology, Inc. in the united states and/or other countries.

Senior Marketing Manager:

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All images Avid Technology, Inc. unless otherwise noted. The media provided with this book, and
Indexer:
accompanying course material, is to be used only to complete the exercises contained herein. rights
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are not granted to use the footage/sound materials in any commercial or non-commercial produc-
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 15 14 13
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This book is dedicated to musicians, sound designers, audio editors,

mixing engineers, and Pro Tools enthusiasts everywhere
industry leaders of the future.

This edition of the book is also dedicated to my friend,

bandmate, and fellow Pro Tools user, Joel Kelly, who passed from
this world far too soon. Your music brought a bit of heaven to earth;
your smile brought joy to all it reached. You are dearly missed.

Ernie Ruiz.

Joel Kelly (June 7, 1971 to April 2, 2012)

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Foreword
For more than 20 years, Avid has been developing professional training and making it available for various audiences.
Pro Tools training has been offered through multiple venues and has grown to encompass a wide network of Avid
Learning Partners.
Early on, we recognized the growing need for an official training platform designed around Pro Tools certification.
In 2001, we began research and development for this undertaking, meeting with major audio engineering schools and
audio industry leaders. The result was a program that established comprehensive course and exam requirements for
students with an emphasis in either music production or video post-production. Official training centers have since
been established worldwide, offering various levels of Pro Tools certification. The Pro Tools 101 course serves as the
first step toward certification at any level.
In this latest edition of the Pro Tools 101 book, the content has been updated to reflect changes and enhancements
introduced in Pro Tools 11, including the transition of the software to a 64-bit native application. Pro Tools 11 incor-
porates a new Avid Audio Engine, for uncompromised plug-in performance, and a new Avid Video Engine derived
from the engine core of Avid Media Composer.
This edition of the book also covers the long-awaited offline bounce feature, enhancements to the Workspace browser,
and other improved Pro Tools capabilities, such as the increase to 64 levels of undo.
Today, the Avid Learning Partner program supports certification in Pro Tools, Media Composer, Sibelius, ICON, and
VENUE Live Sound systems.
With more than 600 learning partners in over 45 different countries supporting more than 100,000 student enroll-
ments to date, the Avid Learning Partner program is the leading resource for training in Pro Tools software today. The
Avid Certification Directory at www.avid.com offers a searchable database of more than 15,000 certified Pro Tools
Users, Operators, and Experts. Avid continues to work with industry leaders to promote active recruiting of graduates
trained in the curriculum. We are excited to be offering this updated book to complement the Pro Tools 11 release,
and we encourage your participation in our program.
Andy Cook
Avid Learning Partner Program
June 2013
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Acknowledgments
The following individuals have provided critical assistance, input, information, and material for this book and its
many editions over the years.
Avid/Digidesign (current and former): Andy Cook, Andy Hagerman, Eric Kuehnl, Greg Robles, Jim Metzendorf,
Mark Altin, Scott Church, Simon Sherbourne, Tim Mynett, Tom Dambly
Amanda Goodroe, DDB San Francisco
Frank Brooks, DDB San Francisco
Joe Kay, Independent Pro Tools Consultant
Joel Krantz, Independent Pro Tools Consultant
Rob Campbell, formerly at Encompass Audio

Special Thanks
Special thanks to Cathleen Small for diligently editing the manuscript and to Shawn Morningstar for updating the
layout.

Extra-Special Thanks
Kudos and extra-special thanks to all Avid Learning Partners and certified instructors, who have tirelessly worked with
us to help shape this program and who have generously provided their valuable feedback for our courseware.

About the Author

The courseware for this book was developed by Frank D. Cook, with contributions from numerous Avid staff and
independent contractors. The book is published through an ongoing partnership between Insource Writing Solutions
and Avid Technology, Inc.
Frank is a bass guitarist and longtime Pro Tools user. The owner of Insource Writing Solutions and NextPoint Training,
Frank has worked in the technical publications and education industries for more than 17 years. As a writer, editor,
technical publications manager, and business owner, Frank has authored and contributed to hundreds of guides, man-
uals, reports, textbooks, and other publications for clients in a wide variety of industries. His writing and consulting
company, Insource Writing Solutions, specializes in documentation for the digital audio industry. His training venture,
NextPoint Training, focuses on advanced training in Pro Tools, VENUE, digital media, and related products and
technologies.
Frank has been a consultant for Digidesign/Avid for the past eight years, helping to define the strategy and to develop
curriculum for Avids official training and certification programs. Frank also teaches Pro Tools courses as an adjunct
professor at American River College in Sacramento, California, and is an Avid Master Instructor.
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74848_00_fm_i-xxiv 7/17/13 10:45 PM Page vii

Contents

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xix

PART I
Background Information 1
Lesson 1
Getting to Know Pro Tools 3
What Is Pro Tools?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Mixing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Post-Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
The Story of Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
In the Beginning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Evolving into Digidesign. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
The Birth of Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Pro Tools Matures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Growth of Avid Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
ICON Integrated Console Environment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
VENUE Live Sound Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Euphonix Acquisition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Pro Tools Becomes an Open Platform. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Where We Are Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Basics of Digital Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Basic Parameters of Sound: Waveform, Frequency, and Amplitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Recording and Playing Back Analog Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Analog-to-Digital Conversion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Recording in Digital Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
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viii Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 11

Pro Tools System Configurations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Pro Tools 11 Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Pro Tools HD Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Included Plug-Ins and Extras . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Cross-Platform Issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Keyboard Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
File-Naming Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Exercise 1 Pro Tools Hardware 25

Audio Interfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Lesson 2
Getting Inside Pro Tools 27
Target Systems. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Pro Tools File Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
File Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
File Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Starting Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Powering Up Your Hardware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Using the PACE iLok System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Launching Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Optimizing Host-Based Pro Tools Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
The Pro Tools Software Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
The Menu Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Main Pro Tools Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Help Menu Items and Tool Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Edit Tool Functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Zoomer Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Trim Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Selector Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Grabber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Scrubber Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Pencil Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Smart Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Edit Mode Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Slip Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
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Table of Contents ix

Spot Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Time Scales and Rulers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Sub Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Ruler Display Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
MIDI Control Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Wait for Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Metronome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Countoff Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
MIDI Merge Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Tempo Ruler Enable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Meter Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Tempo Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Exercise 2 The Software Interface 57

Pro Tools Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Tools and Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

PART II
Working with Sessions 61
Lesson 3
Creating Your First Session 63
Quick Start . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Creating and Configuring a Pro Tools Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Choosing Session Parameter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Creating the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Adding Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Naming Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Deleting Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Adding Audio to Your Session. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
The Playback Cursor and the Edit Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Playback Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Edit Cursor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Setting the Playback Point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Locating the Playback Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Scrolling Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
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x Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 11

Saving, Locating, and Opening Existing Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Saving a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Locating and Opening a Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Exercise 3 Creating a Session 79

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Creating Tracks and Setting the Main Time Scale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Lesson 4
Making Your First Audio Recording 83
Before Recording. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Audio Storage Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Disk Usage Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Preparing to Record. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Creating a Click Track (Optional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Checking Hardware Connections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Record-Enabling Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Setting Input Path, Level, and Pan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Recording and Managing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Organizing after Recording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Return to Playback Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Organize Audio Files and Clips. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Removing Audio Clips and Deleting Audio Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

Lesson 5
Importing and Working with Media in a Session 97
Considerations Prior to Import . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Bit Depth, Sample Rate, and File Format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Configuration of Stereo Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Importing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Import Audio Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Importing Audio with the Import Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Importing Audio with Workspace Browsers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Batch Importing Audio. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Importing Audio from an Audio CD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Importing Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
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Exercise 4 Importing Audio 107

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Importing Audio to the Clip List. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Importing Audio to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

Lesson 6
Making Your First MIDI Recording 109
MIDI Basics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
MIDI in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Creating MIDI-Compatible Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Sample-Based Operation versus Tick-Based Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Time Scale and Rulers for Working with MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Setting the Session Meter, Tempo, and Key Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Setting the Session Meter . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Setting the Session Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Setting the Session Key Signature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Preparing to Record MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Connecting a MIDI Device . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Checking MIDI Inputs/Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Record-Enabling MIDI-Compatible Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Setting Record Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Using Virtual Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Placing a Virtual Instrument on an Instrument Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Using Xpand!2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Using Boom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Using Structure Free . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Recording MIDI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Viewing MIDI Data on MIDI-Compatible Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
MIDI Clips View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
MIDI Notes View. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Velocity View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
MIDI Editor Window Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132

Exercise 5 Recording MIDI 133

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Configuring the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Creating New Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
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Recording a MIDI Performance (Optional). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Importing a MIDI Performance (Alternative Option) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Lesson 7
Selecting and Navigating 139
Using the Universe View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Resizing the Universe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
The Current View Indicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Moving and Scrolling from the Universe View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Types of Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Timeline Selections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
Working with Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Creating Separate Timeline Selections and Edit Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Making Selections on Multiple Tracks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Using the Tab Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Tabbing to Transient Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Adjusting the Session View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Adjusting Track Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Changing the Track Order . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Using the Zoomer Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Using Zoom Toggle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Changing the Horizontal and Vertical Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Storing and Recalling Zoom Presets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Adding Markers to Your Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
About Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Creating a Marker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
The Memory Locations Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Recalling a Marker Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Deleting a Marker Location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Creating a Selection Using Markers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158

Exercise 6 Configuring the Session and

Adding Memory Locations 159
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Configuring the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Creating Memory Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
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Lesson 8
Basic Editing Techniques 163
Selecting Playback Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Scrolling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Loop Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Using the Edit Modes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Shuffle Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Slip Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Spot Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Grid Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Snap To Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Configuring the Grid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Editing Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Standard Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Pro ToolsSpecific Editing Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
Moving and Trimming Clips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Using the Grabber Tool. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Using the Trim Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Using the Nudge Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Creating Fade Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Fade-Ins and Fade-Outs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Crossfades. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Fade Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Undoing Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using Multi-Level Undo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
Using Restore Last Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
Using Revert to Saved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Restoring from Session Backups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

Exercise 7 Editing Audio 187

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Editing the Drums and Guitar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
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Lesson 9
Basic Mixing Techniques 191
Basic Mixer Terminology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Inputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Inserts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Sends and Returns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
The Pro Tools Mix Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
Configuring the Mix Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
Basic Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Recording Automation (Write Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Playing Back Automation (Read Mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Turning Automation Off . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Viewing and Editing Breakpoint Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
Real-Time Plug-Ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
Real-Time Plug-In Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Real-Time Plug-In Formats. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Plug-Ins Provided with Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Exercise 8 Arranging Audio and

Creating Shared Effects 205
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Arranging the Vocal Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Creating a Reverb Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208

Lesson 10
Finishing Your Work 209
Backing Up Your Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Saving a Session Copy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
Sharing a Session between Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Backing Up Sessions with Gobbler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
Creating a Stereo Mixdown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
Considerations for Bouncing Audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Bouncing to Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
Bouncing to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216
Adding a Bounce File to Your iTunes Library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
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Table of Contents xv

Sharing a Bounce File on SoundCloud . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Sharing a Bounce File with Gobbler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221
Burning Songs to CD from iTunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
Review/Discussion Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Exercise 9 Recording Automation and

Creating a Stereo Bounce 227
Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Recording Automation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
Bouncing to Disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
Finishing Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229

PART III
Hands-On Projects 231
Overview
Project Introduction and Setup 233
Getting to Know the Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Project 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Project 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Pro Tools System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Installing Project Session Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
System Requirements for Project Sessions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234
Installation Instructions for Session Files. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Project 1
Music Hands-On Project 237
Powering Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Opening the Music Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Locate and Open the Session Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238
Orient the Session Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
Set the Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Connect Monitoring Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Creating New Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Create and Name Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
Save Your Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Working with MIDI Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Add a Virtual Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
Drag in a MIDI Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
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xvi Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 11

Add another Virtual Instrument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

Create a MIDI Clip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Edit MIDI Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Working with Audio Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Import an Audio File to a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Use Clip Looping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Import a Clip Group to a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Insert Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Mixing in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Add EQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Enhance the Guitar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Add Reverb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Mix the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Finishing Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Print the Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
Add Maxim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Add Dither . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Bounce the Song. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Archive Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261

Project 2
Post Hands-On Project 263
Powering Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Opening the Post Project. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Locate and Open the Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264
Orient the Session Windows. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265
Set the Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
Connect Monitoring Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Creating New Tracks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Create and Name a Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Save Your Session . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Importing Media. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Import a Movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Import Files to the Clip List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270
Import Files from the Workspace Browser. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
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Table of Contents xvii

Editing in Pro Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272

Review the Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Add Sound Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273
Change the Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Mixing in Pro Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Remove the Hum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
Add Reverb. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278
Enhance the Knock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279
Save Work in Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Listen to the Automated Mix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281
Finishing Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Bounce the Movie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Archive Your Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

PART IV
Course Completion Information and Appendixes 285
Overview
Information for Course Completion 287
Locating an Avid Learning Partner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Additional Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Course Completion Exam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Certificate of Completion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289
Pro Tools 110 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Appendix A
Avid Pro Tools Plug-Ins 291

Appendix B
AIR Creative Collection Plug-Ins 293

Index 295
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74848_00_fm_i-xxiv 7/17/13 10:45 PM Page xix

Introduction
Congratulations on entering the official Avid training program. This book represents the first step on a journey toward
mastery of your Pro Tools system. The information, exercises, and projects you will find here apply to all Pro Tools
11 systems. Whether you are interested only in self study or you would like to pursue formal certification through an
Avid Learning Partner, this book will develop your core skills and introduce you to the awesome power of Pro Tools.
Avids award-winning Pro Tools technology is embraced by audio production professionals around the world. Get
ready to join their ranks as you unleash the creative power and technology of Pro Tools!

About This Book

This book is designed for the audio enthusiast with relatively little Pro Tools experience. While Pro Tools 101 can be
completed through self study, Avid recommends obtaining hands-on experience through an instructor-led class offered
by one of our authorized training partners. For more information on the classes offered through the Avid Learning
Partner program, visit www.avid.com, click on Support & Services, and then click on a Training link, or go directly
to www.avid.com/training.

Pro Tools 11.0 Edition

This edition of Pro Tools 101 has been updated and improved for Pro Tools 11.0. The material is focused to cover the
basic principles you need to understand to complete a Pro Tools project, from initial setup to final mixdown. Whether
your project involves recording live instruments, preparing MIDI sequences for virtual instruments, looping and
beat-matching audio files, or editing notation and preparing scores, Pro Tools 101 will teach you the steps required to
succeed.

The DVD at the Back of the Book

Included at the back of this book is a DVD-ROM containing media files for the Pro Tools 101 exercises and hands-on
projects. The DVD also contains a sampling of videos covering Pro Tools 11 and other Avid products.

Supplemental Exercises
The Exercise Media folder on the DVD provides media files for the exercises included in this book. The Completed
Exercises folder provides session files of each completed exercise for reference.

Hands-On Projects
The Hands-On Projects folder on the DVD provides content for two projects included in Part III of this book. The
Music Hands-On Project folder includes a session template file and associated media for Project 1, and the Post Hands-
On Project folder includes a session template file and associated media for Project 2. These project folders can be
copied to your hard drive for use with Pro Tools.

Video Extras
The Video Extras folder on the DVD includes a sampling of Avid video files that provide an introduction to some of
the new features in Pro Tools 11 and overviews of other Avid products.
These video files are provided in a high-resolution format (1280720). For best playback results, you should copy the
files to a local hard drive prior to viewing them.
74848_00_fm_i-xxiv 7/17/13 10:45 PM Page xx

xx Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 11

Course Prerequisites
Most Pro Tools enthusiasts today have at least a passing familiarity with operating a computer. If you consider your-
self a computer novice, however, you should review some basics before beginning this course. You will need to know
how to complete such tasks as:
n Starting up the computer
n Using the mouse, standard menus, and keyboard commands for standard operating system commands
n Locating, moving, and renaming files and folders
n Opening, saving, and closing files

This course focuses on using Pro Tools in a digital audio recording and production environment. The work requires
a basic understanding of recording techniques, processes, and equipment, such as the following:
n Miking techniques
n Mixer signal flow
n Audio monitoring equipment
n MIDI devices

If you are a beginner in the field of audio production, you can supplement this text with independently available lit-
erature or courses on audio recording tools and techniques. Visit your local bookstore, library, or community college
to research available study materials and courses.

Course Organization and Sequence

This course has been designed to familiarize you with the practices and processes you will use to complete a record-
ing project. The material is organized into four parts. Part I provides background information that will help you under-
stand the material that is presented later and put it into context. Part II presents specific processes and techniques that
you will use to complete a project, from creating a new session to completing a final mixdown. Part III provides tuto-
rial-style walkthroughs of various tasks required to complete two hands-on projects using the media included on the
enclosed DVD. Part IV, to be completed at any Avid Learning Partner location, includes information on additional
projects and course completion options.

Part I: Background Information

Part I focuses primarily on background information relevant to Pro Tools and audio production. This part builds a
foundation for using Pro Tools by introducing concepts of digital audio, Pro Tools hardware configurations, Pro Tools
session file structures, and the Pro Tools user interface and tool set.

Part II: Working with Sessions

Part II provides information and instructions for working with Pro Tools sessions to accomplish common audio pro-
duction tasks. This part discusses creating sessions, creating audio and MIDI recordings, navigating within audio and
MIDI recordings, and editing and mixing using Pro Tools.
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Introduction xxi

Part III: Hands-On Projects

Part III is designed to provide you with experience applying the concepts of Part II. Two projects have been selected
to represent typical scenarios and workflows encountered in music and post-production environments. The project
instructions follow roughly the same progression as the lessons in Part II. The instructions are written to allow students
to complete the projects without having first completed Part II, enabling a hands-on learning experience that draws
on Part II as a reference.

Part IV: Course Completion Information and Appendixes

Part IV of the Pro Tools 101 course can be completed in an instructor-led environment at an authorized Pro Tools
training center. In this part of the course, students have the opportunity to work on additional projects using a vari-
ety of Pro Tools hardware and software components.

Conventions and Symbols Used in This Book

Following are some of the conventions and symbols used in this book. Weve tried to use familiar conventions and
symbols whose meanings are self-evident.
Menu choices and keyboard commands are typically capitalized. Hierarchy is shown using the greater than symbol (>),
keystroke combinations are indicated using the plus sign (+), and mouse-click operations are indicated by hyphenated
strings, where needed. Brackets ([]) are used to indicate key presses on the numeric keypad.

Convention Action
File > Save Session Choose Save Session from the File menu.

Ctrl+N Hold down the Ctrl key and press the N key.

Command-click (Mac) Hold down the Command key and click the mouse button.

Right-click Click with the right mouse button.

Press [1] Press 1 on the numeric keypad.

The Avid Learning Partner Program

Pro Tools 101 has been written as a textbook for teaching and learning Pro Tools 11 software. In addition to being
an off-the-shelf guide for consumers, this book is also the official text for the first course in Avids Pro Tools certifi-
cation program. By completing the coursework in this text, you are taking an important step toward certification.
And consider this: Having a certification from Avid just might help you land that next gig, find others with similar
skills and interests, or even obtain your dream job in the industry.
To become certified in Pro Tools, you must enroll in a program at an Avid Learning Partner location, where you can
complete additional Pro Tools coursework and take one of Avids Certification Exams. Detailed information on current
requirements is available at avid.com/training.

Curriculum and Certification Levels

Avid offers three levels of certification associated with Pro Tools training: Pro Tools User, Pro Tools Operator, and Pro
Tools Expert. The 100-, 200-, and 300-level Pro Tools courses are designed to prepare candidates for each of these
certification levels, respectively.
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xxii Pro Tools 101: An Introduction to Pro Tools 11

User Certification
The User certification program prepares individuals to operate a Pro Tools system in an independent production envi-
ronment. Courses associated with User certification include Pro Tools 101, Introduction to Pro Tools, and Pro Tools 110,
Pro Tools Production I. These core courses can be complemented with Pro Tools 130, Pro Tools for Game Audio.

Operator Certification
The Operator certification program prepares engineers and editors to competently operate a Pro Tools system in a
professional environment. Candidates can specialize in Music Production, Post-Production, or both.
Courses associated with Operator certification include Pro Tools 201, Pro Tools Production II, Pro Tools 210M, Music
Production Techniques, and Pro Tools 210P, Post Production Techniques. A live sound certification option is also avail-
able at the Operator level.

Expert Certification
The Expert curriculum offers professionals the highest level of proficiency with individual or networked Pro Tools systems
operating in a professional, fast-paced environment. Candidates can specialize in Music Production, Post-Production,
and/or ICON worksurface techniques.
Courses associated with Expert certification include Pro Tools 310M, Advanced Music Production Techniques, Pro Tools
310P, Advanced Post Production Techniques, and Pro Tools 310I, Advanced ICON Techniques.

Courses Offered in the Training Program

Avid Learning Partners offer three levels of coursework to help you become proficient using Pro Tools: 100-level, 200-
level, and 300-level.
n 100-level Pro Tools courses provide the foundational skills needed to learn and function within the Pro Tools
environment at a basic level. The goal of the courses at this level is to help individuals start working on their
own projects in Pro Tools.
The 100-level VENUE coursework covers essential skills for operating a VENUE system in a live sound envi-
ronment.
n 200-level courses build the fundamental skills needed to competently operate a Pro Tools HD system, control
surface, or VENUE system in a professional environment. Pro Tools coursework at this level involves a study of
production essentials and post-production and/or music production techniques.
VENUE coursework at the 200-level involves comprehensive hands-on training on a VENUE system, includ-
ing system hardware and software configuration.
n 300-level courses focus on advanced operation of Pro Tools systems for music or post-production. Coursework
involves working in real-world scenarios through example exercises from advanced music production projects
(Music Production track), TV and film production projects (Post-Production track), or direct hands-on work-
surface techniques (ICON Worksurface track).

Avid Course Configuration

The coursework for the Avid Learning Partner program has evolved and expanded over the years. Avid uses a version-
specific approach to course design, enabling authorized training partners to teach classes based on products and soft-
ware versions that meet their particular needs and training environments.
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Introduction xxiii

Audio Curriculum
Avids audio coursework includes programs supporting certification in dedicated focus areas, including Pro Tools,
Worksurface Operation, and Live Sound. Available Pro Tools certification paths are illustrated below. Course com-
ponents are designed to be completed individually and in sequence. However, individual training partners may offer
the same content through slightly different class configurations.

Figure FM.1 Avid audio certification options

Source: Avid.

Descriptions of each of the courses offered through the Avid Learning Partner Program are available on the Avid
website. (Go to www.avid.com/US/support/training/curriculum.)

Pro Tools User Certification

Pro Tools 101 is the first course of study in the training curriculum targeting User Certification. The User Certification
training materials (100-level coursework) prepare students to operate a Pro Tools system in an independent production
environment. Following completion of the User Certification coursework and certification exam, students can proceed
to the 200-level courses to pursue Operator Certification.

How Can I Learn More?

If you want to learn more about the Avid training, please check out our official online resource by going to
www.avid.com/training. There you will find information about our training partners, specifics on the various certifi-
cation options available, and detailed course descriptions for each course offered through the program.

DVD-ROM Downloads
If you purchased an ebook version of this book, and the book had a companion DVD-ROM, you may download the
contents from www.cengageptr.com/downloads.
If your book has a DVD-ROM, please check our website for any updates or errata files. You may download files from
www.cengageptr.com/downloads.
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