If you are still slaving around with a mouse while trying to make music you are doing yourself a disservice. Watch this video for Fab’s top, most best-est and life changerific shortcuts and workflow suggestions to turn Slow Tools back into Pro Tools.
Shortcuts covered in this video:
Best Zooming shortcuts for mindless location and easy focus
00:00:07 Good morning children!
Today, we're going to talk about
Pro Tools shortcuts.
00:00:11 Notice on the other DAWs:
they're wonderful of course too,
but we know Pro Tools very well,
so we'd thought we'd share.
00:00:17 Why are shortcuts important?
Because everything
you can do with your mouse,
you can do 5 to 10 times faster
with a shortcut.
00:00:25 Think of it as
touch-typing for Pro Tools.
00:00:27 You can choose to type with two fingers
for the rest of your life,
or you can learn to touch-type
and be much faster
and able to focus on what's important.
So here we go! Our favorite shortcuts!
Pro Tools has some pretty powerful
zooming shortcuts
which you should have as second nature.
00:00:41 There's a lot of them, here's the one
that you're susceptible to use the most.
00:00:44 If you have a clip selected
and you really want it to be big,
Option+F, and that's huge.
00:00:50 Now if you're lost in your session
and you don't really know where you are,
then I would say Option+A, for All.
00:00:56 And then your entire session
is now zoomed for you.
00:00:59 So again, Option+F
focuses on what you're working on,
Option+A gives you a bird's-eye view.
00:01:04 Between the two of them, you can really
know where you are very quickly.
00:01:07 That's very nice.
00:01:08 You can also use the traditional ones,
Cmd+[ or ], or R and T,
but I think it's very nice
to be able to just go:
I'm working on this,
or I'm seeing the whole song.
00:01:18 Very nice.
00:01:20 Also, very crucial. Check it out.
00:01:22 The key command for zoom is Cmd+1.
00:01:25 Fair enough.
You hit it, you see it switch up there,
you click, it zooms.
00:01:30 You can select a range,
and it zooms to that range.
00:01:32 If you hit Option, you can zoom out.
00:01:35 But it goes deeper.
00:01:36 Now I can select Single Zoom.
00:01:39 What that does is it turns the tool
into a zoom for one click,
and then switches back
to where you were before.
00:01:44 For example, say if you're in Multi-Tool
and you're doing selections.
00:01:47 Then you want to focus on this one thing
here, you can hit Cmd+1, zoom on it,
and then you're back
in the Selection tool
without having
to switch out of the Zoom Mode.
00:01:55 That is incredibly practical.
00:01:58 Of course if you get lost,
you can hit Option+A
to see the whole song. A for All.
00:02:05 Pro Tools has interesting ways
of displaying waveforms.
00:02:08 You actually have two considerations:
Track Height, and Waveform Height,
and they're independent.
00:02:12 So for Track Height,
you have Ctrl+Up or Down arrow,
and you can change the Track Height
really quickly.
00:02:18 You don't have to use
the little menus there, they're slow.
00:02:21 Like everything in Pro Tools,
if you use the Option key,
all tracks will follow suit. Very nice.
00:02:27 For the Waveform Height, you can change it
by using Option+Cmd+[ for smaller,
or ] for bigger. Pretty simple.
00:02:35 Now, if you made a mess
and you do not know where you are,
it's easy, you just hit
Ctrl+Option+Cmd+Up arrow,
and Pro Tools will shrink everything down
vertically as much as possible
to fit everything on the screen.
00:02:46 Combined with Option+A
for the horizontal version,
and now you have a bird's-eye view,
in two clicks.
00:02:51 So you can really go from here...
00:02:54 to here... in no time at all.
00:03:00 If you don't have a control surface,
or you're working on a keyboard laptop,
it's very nice to be able to access
all the controls of a track
when it's selected.
So for example, say if you have...
00:03:08 this Master selected.
00:03:10 I hit Shift+M for Mute,
Shift+S for Solo,
Shift+R for Record,
and then if you have Pro Tools HD,
Shift+I will activate Input Monitoring.
00:03:21 If you do not have Pro Tools HD,
Option+K will do that, but only
if the track is enabled for record.
00:03:27 Now, think about it this way.
00:03:30 If you combine this
with the P key command,
and the ; key command that lets you
change the cursor from track to track,
now, say I'm on my main, here...
00:03:42 I can mute it,
and then I can hit P a few times
hit my Bass track, and mute it too.
00:03:49 I do not have to grab a mouse.
00:03:51 Those key commands are P for up,
and ; for down.
00:03:57 I suggest you put
a little sticker on those
because you could use them all the time.
00:04:03 Pro Tools has
some very extensive grouping features.
00:04:06 Here's what you need to know
to get started quickly.
00:04:09 To create a group, you select the tracks
you want to be in the group,
hit Cmd+G, and then name the group.
00:04:14 Now, if I'm doing drums,
current wisdom says that I should
actually call the group Drums.
00:04:20 Also, if you want
to make it easy on yourself,
why don't you select the shortcut
for the group to be a 'd', for example?
You know, 'd' for Drums!
So there you go. Now I'm here,
and I can, without thinking too much,
turn my Drum group on and off by hitting
the 'd' button in my Mix window.
00:04:36 Very practical.
00:04:37 The other thing you need to know
is you can suspend all groups
by hitting Shift+Cmd+G.
00:04:43 Why is that important?
Say for example you're working up here
on the drums,
and you have your Group on.
00:04:49 Anything you're gonna do
is gonna select the group.
00:04:52 If you just need to select the bass drum
for a second,
you hit Shift+Cmd+G and now
you're just selecting the bass drum,
and then turn your Groups back on
and do whatever you want.
00:05:03 For duplication commands,
Avid has had the good taste
of choosing the letter D,
and we're grateful for that.
00:05:09 For example,
if you need to duplicate a track,
you hit Shift+Option+D,
and then you have a nice little menu
that lets you choose
what you want to duplicate.
00:05:17 Say you're in the situation where
you just tracked a badass bass line
and you want to have a double of that.
00:05:23 You can Shift+Option+D it
and say:
I want everything,
Sends, Group assignments,
everything but not the Active Playlist,
so I can track a new track.
00:05:31 And there you go. Very quick.
00:05:33 If you're in the Edit window and you
like this little bass lick right here,
you want to duplicate it...
Cmd+D.
00:05:40 You want to repeat it many times,
Option+R like Repeat, say 4 times.
00:05:43 Boom! Done. Very quick.
00:05:47 I like to start with a blank slate,
so I don't have any template.
00:05:50 So I spend a lot of time
creating new tracks in Pro Tools.
00:05:52 Here's a good way to do that.
00:05:54 With the combination of Shift+Cmd+N
to open the dialog,
Cmd+Right or Left arrow to select
from Mono and Stereo,
and the Up and Down arrows
to select what you want to do,
you can create tracks really quickly.
00:06:05 For example,
do I want 4 Stereo Aux Inputs,
and then, Cmd++ adds a field
and then I create 8 Mono Audio Tracks.
00:06:15 Boom! Gone. And here they come!
Pro Tools has some nice cleaning up
key commands and concepts.
00:06:24 Say I like this bass edit right here,
and I want to commit to it.
00:06:28 I select it. Shift+Option+3 will
consolidate it into one chunk.
00:06:33 Now say I'm happy with this
and I want to export it somewhere else
to use it elsewhere,
maybe in a sampler, or archive it.
00:06:38 Shift+Cmd+K
will let me export it
and gives me lots of options
on what to do with it.
00:06:45 As a way to remember this,
if you select any region in Pro Tools,
it gets selected in the Regions window
down here. 'pBass.'
Then you can go to this menu up here
and Export Regions as Files...
00:06:55 What it does is take this virtual
representation of your audio
and turn it into a solid file
wherever you want on your drive.
00:07:01 It's very easy to export stuff
out of Pro Tools and keep it tight.
00:07:05 Also, in the same category,
to clean up the mess left by 6 months
of working on the same song
across 4 systems,
to remove all unused files,
you can use Shift+Cmd+U for Unused.
00:07:17 You see here, on the right-hand side
in the Regions bin
all the stuff that's unused.
00:07:22 And then you use Shift+Cmd+B for...
I don't really know what,
I call it Blast Off,
and you hit Remove.
00:07:28 Here's a trick.
If you hit Option+Remove,
it won't ask you every single time
all the complicated questions:
Do you want to get rid of this?
Do you want to get rid of this?
And this one, do you really want
to get rid of this one?
If you hit Option,
it'll just remove everything.
00:07:44 Pro Tools is a 2-window environment.
00:07:46 Don't try and torture
into a 1-window environment,
it's a waste of time.
00:07:50 The key command you need to know
is Cmd+=.
00:07:54 It doesn't get any faster than that.
00:07:56 If you feel you have too much stuff on
the screen here and you want to see more,
Option+Cmd+M makes the Mixer windows
a little smaller,
so you can have more on the screen
at one time.
00:08:06 Also you can open and close
sidebars at will, just with one click.
00:08:11 Like this. That's very practical,
you can see a lot.
00:08:15 Pro Tools lets you see
one plug-in window at a time by default.
00:08:19 If you want to see several,
all you have to do is hit Shift,
and now you have 2! Or 3!
Pretty simple.
00:08:27 If you're starting to fill up your screen
with too many plug-in windows,
real men do not close their plug-in
windows with the little button up there.
00:08:34 Real men use Option+Cmd+W.
And everything goes away.
00:08:41 As far as navigation goes,
the way Pro Tools works
is it always starts from the same spot,
unless you tell it not to.
00:08:47 It's very practical
if you're focusing on one thing.
00:08:49 For example,
these first two beats of this verse.
00:08:57 I don't have to relocate every time
I want to hear the same thing.
00:09:01 It's also very practical if you have
people on your couch you don't like
while you're mixing, you can do this
for 5 minutes, and then leave.
00:09:12 Works great!
If you want to switch back
to Logic Mode,
where the timeline follows along, hit N.
00:09:18 And now it'll work in Logic Mode.
00:09:22 And then, it moves on from there.
00:09:29 The big N finger syndrome
is also an explanation for this...
00:09:32 If you're a heavy-duty Pro Tools user
and you work fast,
you tend to make selections here
in the timeline,
and then you hit Play.
00:09:41 Then when you hit Stop, if you're
in Logic Mode, the selection disappears.
00:09:45 It can drive a Pro Tools user baddy!
The first thing to do is make sure
that your finger is small enough
and you don't hit N too much.
00:09:53 Here's a good way to think about
Playback selections
and Edit selections in Pro Tools.
It's a little different from other DAWs.
00:09:59 You have a Link Timeline and Edit Mode.
00:10:03 What it means in English is that
you can select this
and Pro Tools will play this
if you're in that mode.
00:10:11 Which is very practical. Now...
00:10:14 Of course, every time you hit Play...
It's gonna play that.
00:10:18 If you disconnect your Edit selections
and your Timeline selections,
by using Shift+/,
now you can have this selected,
but you can play this instead.
00:10:29 There's many applications for this.
But what you need to know
is that the default mode and the way
most people work in Pro Tools is just:
your selection is what you listen to.
00:10:38 Unless you decide
to do something different.
00:10:41 That's a good default mode to work
because if you're listening
to what you have selected,
you always know where you are.
00:10:49 Let's talk about automation.
00:10:51 The first one you need to know is Ctrl+-
which toggles between
Waveform and Volume automation.
00:10:57 To be precise, it will let you toggle
between anything and Waveform,
and then back to Volume Automation.
00:11:02 For example, say you have here
the High Slope control of my Oxford EQ.
00:11:06 It's what I am automating.
00:11:08 Let me do this
so you can see what's going on.
00:11:11 If I'm here and I hit Ctrl+-,
I'm on Waveform.
00:11:13 I hit Ctrl+- again, I'm on Volume.
Very practical.
00:11:16 Another one you need to know is
the Ctrl+Cmd+Right arrow and Left arrow,
which lets you switch between
all the different automation playlists.
00:11:24 Whatever is there will be used
much faster
than using this menu here,
because, you know... it's a menu.
00:11:30 Also, as always in Pro Tools,
anything you do
you can hold Option
and it will apply to all the tracks.
00:11:37 Here's a nugget.
00:11:39 Say you have this phenomenal, incredibly
creative automation pattern right there.
00:11:44 That's all great,
but it's 2 dBs too loud.
00:11:47 What are you gonna do? Oh my God!
All you have to do is select it, select
the volume control here in the playlist,
take it down to where you want it to be.
So we said 2 dBs.
00:11:56 I'm gonna, say... -6.7 for example.
00:11:59 And you hit Shift+Cmd+/. Mmm!
There's a caveat here.
00:12:06 If you're on a Mac, make sure you have
your Keyboard Preference pane brought up,
look to Application Shortcuts,
and make sure that
the Show Help menu is deselected.
00:12:14 Otherwise, it won't work.
00:12:16 For plug-in automation,
here's how it goes.
00:12:19 Hit Ctrl+Option+Cmd, select
the parameter you want to automate,
and say Enable Automation for...
LMF here.
00:12:27 Now if you want to see that playlist,
Ctrl+Cmd+Click on the parameter
and it will switch automatically
to that playlist.
00:12:34 This, by the way, works for everything.
It works for pan too,
it works for volume, whatever you want.
00:12:39 Ctrl+Cmd+Click on whatever you want
to automate. It brings it there.
00:12:43 If you're lazy
and want to automate everything,
Ctrl+Option+Cmd, hit this button,
and every parameter in the plug-in
is now automated,
which gives you an interesting
automation list right here.
00:12:54 So if you're automating a reverb,
expect a long menu.
00:12:59 For those of us who enjoy
using Pro Tools on our laptops
with the built-in headphones output,
just because we can,
there's two things missing
because of the keypad not being there:
Loop, and Punch,
at least for me, all the time.
00:13:11 You can get to it by
Shift+Cmd+L for Loop,
and Shift+Cmd+P for Punch.
00:13:20 Here's a cool one.
00:13:22 Say you're on a tracking session
and you have a very nice drum balance,
and you want to send it to the drummer.
00:13:27 Or say you're doing parallel processing
and you want to use the tricks
we showed you
in the Parallel Processing video.
00:13:32 All you have to do is select all your tracks
and then hit Option+Cmd+H,
and it will let you copy
that mix to that Aux.
00:13:41 So Send A, set the Current Value
and the Volume. OK!
Now my mix is up here. That's nice.
00:13:49 These were the Pro Tools key commands
we use most.
00:13:52 You may have some different ones
because they're not all in the manual.
00:13:55 If we missed some, do write to us!
Until then... Et voilà!
Once logged in, you will be able to read all the transcripts jump around in the video.
Fab Dupont is a award-winning NYC based record producer, mixing/mastering engineer and co-founder of pureMix.net.
Fab has been playing, writing, producing and mixing music both live and in studios all over the world. He's worked in cities like Paris, Boston, Brussels, Stockholm, London and New York just to name a few.
He has his own studio called FLUX Studios in the East Village of New York City.
Fab has received many accolades around the world, including wins at the Victoires de la Musique, South African Music awards, Pan African Music Awards, US independent music awards. He also has received Latin Grammy nominations and has worked on many Latin Grammy and Grammy-nominated albums.
He said "make sure your fingers are small enough"
;]
pablo.de
2019 Dec 16
Excelente
Bootz
2019 Jan 14
Always great to get back to these essential tricks! Merci Fab!
Dusan Oravec
2018 Nov 16
Thank you ! you my new Hero! Lot of information, and i like you style, very elegant.
I like you cooking class as well :-)
best Reg. Dusan
alex22watts
2018 Feb 13
Definitely learned some new ones on here and I am an avid (ahem) short cut user. One of my favourite new ones being the last one mentioned here to copy mix levels to any Send. Thanks!
Maxiemixer
2017 Apr 17
Thanks, is a great remainder
sebastian link
2017 Mar 10
I have a lot to learn!
dermitderrotentanzt
2017 Feb 27
Thanks, a lot, Fab!
Your amusing jokes and comments in between make everything even more memorable.
Thanks again, "teacher"!
jim@reevesaudio.com
2016 Feb 16
A short cut overlooked is:
When you are setting up multi-track inputs and you want to have consecutive inputs, I.E., In 1, In 2, In 3, In 4. a time saver is: 1. Select desired tracks, 2.Hold Shift + Alt + Ctl while 3. clicking desired start bus in the I/O input selector field. I.E.,Begin at input channel 3, all remaining selected track inputs will follow consecutively.3, 4, 5, 6. Shift + Alt will select the same input for all selected tracks. Adding the Ctl key modifies this to consecutive.
This also work the same for adding consecutive input busses and output channels and busses alike.
martone
2015 Dec 01
Thanks Fab from Dave Martone! Brand new Protools user here. Video is awesome. it made my head spin at first and will need to go through it many times!
We went to Berklee together! I knew I recognized you!
www.davemartone.com
reddirt
2015 Nov 28
Very well done Fab; you got me engaged and held me.
Been wanting trim automation for so long and here it is ; worth the admission price for me
Cheers, Ross
moosebeats
2015 Nov 01
One of the most useful tutorials for me. I know most of these but still learned a couple handy shortcuts that will help. Thanks Fab!
Dzata
2015 Oct 19
At 8:05 you open and close side bars in one click.
What key command is this? I would love to know as well
buyonnet
2015 Oct 04
Great video. It's a shame I cannot vote 5 stars every time I watch it! Thanks a lot.
theom
2015 Aug 02
Great Tutorial
theom
2015 Aug 02
At 8:05 you open and close side bars in one click.
What key command is this?
Djayart
2015 Jun 06
Top notch. Just missing windows shortcut. Only mac shortcut. My brain Need fews seconds for the conversion ^^
djdrew
2015 Mar 05
Great Stuff!
Alpheus
2014 Dec 08
The tutorials are awesome.....the problem is that I am using windows but they seem to be centered towards apple mac only.
Alpheus
TENMAN
2014 Nov 05
LOVED IT. REALLY LEARNED A LOT. THANKS. MUCH RESPECT TENMAN.
adam447
2014 Jul 22
Thanks for the tutorial Fab - really helpful! I found your site from Graham Cochrane of the Recording Revolution.
Adam S.
godzsinger152@gmail.com
2014 Apr 03
Thanks Fab... I could watch your videos all day!
ahrofficial
2014 Mar 17
very nice! thanks Fab this shortcuts are very nice i like your videos thanks for sharing your knowledge
jhalsey09
2014 Jan 22
Thank you for throwing this key command video together! helps a great deal
egross
2014 Jan 21
As usual with Fab just oustanding, he serves in 15' what other people do in 5 hours :)
French users watch that some keyboard shortcuts do change on french keyboard, the keys being generally at the spot where the QWERTY keys are and therefore replacing some of keys in the shortcuts mentioned :
; : go left right on timeline
Opt + Q (instead of A) for zoom all
Let see if I can beat our in house PT specialist now and maybe show him a new trick :)
michaelpitluk
2013 Oct 24
I didn't know some of these. Thanks! I use this all the time: if you lose your selection, just hit [option] + [command] + z and it will bring back the previous selection.
dlctke312
2013 Aug 03
LOL good way to get rid of people on your couch! Best part...
dlctke312
2013 Aug 03
LOL good way to get rid of people on your couch! Best part...
Remee
2012 Nov 22
Great video !
I've got a cool one for you:
Activate Tab to transient [option] + [command] + [Tab]
Ciao.
strangedays
2012 Oct 11
great but Command+Option+H only Protools HD :(
andrew_ai3
2012 Jun 19
hi is it possible to have this shortcuts on a pdf to download? please. thanks
clubgibson
2012 Jun 10
*copy to send*
clubgibson
2012 Jun 09
I have Pro Tools 10 and the copy send to shortcut "hides others". How can I make it copy send to?
underdub
2012 Apr 12
@ tugito: "how can I instantly zoom to the left side of my selection and then again to the right side of the selection?"
Arrow left and right keys center the ends of the selection.
tugito
2011 Jun 26
Wow... this was by far the best shortcut video I've seen.
I have only one question. When I have zoomed the spot I want (drum editing) with ALT + F (PC) , how can I instantly zoom to the left side of my selection and then again to the right side of the selection? I think there is a way for this...
Great videos.. the best out there.
starting5studio
2011 Jun 12
This was a very easy and quick way to get refreshed and updated in PT for all those who go back and forth between DAW's like myself. This is FAR better than picking up a manual and searching for long periods of time. I find myself having this up in the background while I am editing in PT especially after days of writing in Logic. Great one guys!! Thanks for making life a little bit easier for us.
s5 Sonny
craig z
2011 Jun 11
ha Ha @ "smaller finger for the N key".....
Hey Fab, did you work for Dangerous at the NAB show ( or NAMM?) a few years ago? I may have hung out with you...
111Entertainment
2011 Jun 07
Another EXCELLENT tutorial... as always Fab!!!
Valuable information and a real time saver.
"Thanks Again"
"Touch The World"
F.L. Freeman, Audio Engineer/ Mixer
111 Entertainment LLC