Essential Pro Tools Keyboard Shortcuts

(Note: I wrote this a few years ago. Other than the preferences dialog looking a bit different, everything here is still totally relevant. Enjoy!)


Everything I'm covering here is in one of the many pdf docs that come with Pro Tools and are available from the Pro Tools menu (in OS X version). I have distilled a lot of information into condensed form, but I don't cover everything here so take a minute to RTFM when you are up to it.

What is keyboard focus? If you notice there are 3 places in the Pro Tools edit window where you see an [az] button: Next to the Group bin, above the Audio region bin, and most importantly right below the zoom arrows. Only one of these can be toggled on at a time. Depending on which one is selected tells PT how to pay attention to your keystrokes. For the first 3 mentioned above, it lets you select regions or groups just by hitting the first letter. Kinda cool, but not that amazing. The last one, the one actually called [a..z] allows you to use keyboard shortcuts in the edit window by hitting one key. This feature has been available on video editing systems for some time.

This feature is unexpectedly powerful and will drastically speed up your workflow. It is on all TDM systems as of version 5.1, and LE systems as of version 6. Some systems come with stickers to put on your existing keyboard. You can buy Digidesign's pre-marked keyboard if you want to spend $200+.



But for most of us, memorizing the essentials is all that is needed.

Before going into the [a..z], let's talk about what the other two buttons do. The one to the left of [a..z] is "tab to transient", which means that if you hit the [tab] key, the cursor will go to the next "hit". This is particularly useful for chopping up drums and other material with emphasized attacks (transients), but has many uses. The one to the right of [a..z] keeps the timeline selection and the edit selection linked together. You usually want this on. If you turn it off you can choose to play the timeline selection or the edit selection (from the operations menu or with [a..z] keys). This is useful when you have an edit selection you don't want to change, but want to listen to another part of the song. There are many other uses, but I don't find that feature helpful too often, so keep that box turned on unless you know what you're doing.

PART II

I've covered basic key commands in tutorial I. This time I'm going to cover a few more esoteric, but equally important key commands.

Often after doing extensive editing to a few bars of material, I want to make everything back into one region. This is easy to do. Simply select the regions as seen below and hit [shift] + [option] + 3.

Before:



Notice I've selected empty space too, that is to make sure that I have a one bar region, so I can easily duplicate it and keep it in time to the tempo map / grid. Duplicate selection is [command] + D. To replicate x # of time hit [option] + R and type in the number of times.

After:



I like to keep a bar of the edits around in case I want to make a change, so I often hit [command] + D once and then consolidate the duplicate.

Another important one has to do with whether or not the playback head inserts to where you are in the timeline or stays where you started from. From the Operations menu, go to Preferences and set yours to match the following. This is my recommended settings, though you may like different behavior, so definitely do what works for you.



Notice that "timeline insertion follows playback" is off. This is essential if you don't want to lose your edit selection every time you hit stop. To toggle this on and off without having to go to the Preferences dialog, just enable your [a..z] button (as explained in previous tutorial) and hit [N]. Generally speaking you want to leave that on. So what if you want to have the cursor go to where you want when listening though?

This is where your arrow keys come in.



The Left and Right arrows center the playhead on the screen or center the left or right ends of a selection on the screen. During playback, the down arrow selects an "in" point ­ or simply inserts the cursor, and the up arrow selects an "out" point of a selection if you have an "in" point. Make sense? Try the following examples and it will be perfectly clear.

1. Hit play, when you reach the spot you want to insert the cursor hit the down arrow. Hit stop and then hit the left or right arrow. You now have you desired location centered on the screen.

2. Hit play, hit the down arrow, wait a few seconds, hit the up arrow.
Now you should have a selection in the edit window. If you zoom out a little, you can then go back and forth between the beginning and end of the selection with the left and right arrows.

See, no need to toggle "timeline insertion follows playback" on and off in most cases if you know these tricks.

To get good at any of these tricks you need to use them. At first learning shortcuts can slow you down a bit, but once you learn then you can easily get 10x faster than without them.

PART II

Okay, a few other things before getting to [a..z]. There are the usual shortcuts that I still find very useful. Knowing these save you a lot of time and make you more creative and productive.

(Note; There are [a..z] equivalents for navigation, but you'll still need to know your modifier combinations, which I go into below.)

Modifiers -- commands you add to actions, such as a [option] + click:

In Edit Window:
[option] reverse direction (flip trim tool, reverse selection process)
[shift] select more

Mixer channels

[option] do x to all (e.g., mute, solo, select, add plug-in, etc...)
[shift] select more
[shift] + [option] do x to selected tracks (e.g., add plug-in, sends...)

Faders
[option] set to zero
[control] temporarily disengage track from group

Basic Commands:
[return] Go to session beginning (return to zero)
[tab] go to next region boundary or next transient if button is on

Not let's add modifiers to basic commands;

[shift] + [return] Select to beginning of session
[option] + [shift] + [return] Select to end of session
[shift] + [tab] select to next region boundary
[option] + [shift] + [tab] select to previous region boundary

Now, let's talk about what we can do with the [a..z] button on.

These are essential:
[T] / [R] zoom in / out
[E] expands selection to large view
[A] trim off before selection
[S] trim off after selection
[D] Fade to start
[F] Fade selection without dialog box
[G] Fade to end
[Z] undo
[X] cut
[C] copy
[V] paste
[B] separate


OK, download the practice session here if you want, and try messing around with the [az] button on.

Notice that if its toggled by "Groups" (in edit or mix window), that hitting the letter associated with a group toggles it on or off. (clicking next to a group selects all of the tracks in that group, btw)

If its toggled by "Audio" or "MIDI" then hitting a letter, or typing the name of a file you're looking for, selects regions that match what you've typed. Very useful when you have a lot of regions.

Now, lets go to [a..z]. Try selecting a region and hitting [E], then [E] again to go back to your original view. Then try using any of the cut, copy, paste commands.

Ok, next drop the cursor in the middle of a region. Try the fade or trim commands. Much easier this way, no?

Finally, try some of the modifiers + commands, e.g., [option] + [shift] + [return]

For example, hold down [option] when you insert a plug-in or assign a bus.

Or try selecting 4 tracks, then holding down [option] + [shift] when you insert a plug-in on one of the selected tracks.

Once you get the hang of it, start trying to use these more and more in your daily sessions and eventually you'll just know them and not have to think about it anymore.

Since everyone works a little differently, I generally tell my students to notice what things you do a lot, and then look to see what the shortcut is for that action. If you learn them you will speed up your work flow, reduce repetitive strain risks, and will start to feel more creative in front of Pro Tools as a result.



All rights reserved © Brian Jackson 2004 (revised 2007)

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Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City