- Exercise 1: Import Audio a New Way
- Exercise 2: Use the Zoomer
- Exercise 3: Use the Grabber in Grid Mode
- Exercise 4: Create a Snare Track and a Hi-Hat Track
- Exercise 5: Use the Trimmer with Slip Mode and Spot Mode
- Exercise 6: Change Timebase
- Exercise 7: Use the TCE Trimmer
- Exercise 8: Use Shuffle Mode
- Wrap Up
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Exercise 4: Create a Snare Track and a Hi-Hat Track
- Create two new tracks. Using the shortcut
+Shift+N/Ctrl+Shift+N, make two new mono audio tracks set to Ticks. Name one “Snare” and the other “Hi Hat.” Make them both
large.
- Drag the Snare. Zoom in to the first bar. Then drag two snare samples from the Region bin to Beat 2 of Bar 1, and Beat 4 of Bar 1 of the Snare
track.
The Event Edit Area
Always keep an eye on the Event Edit area, so you can tell what you’re editing or where you’re placing a region. I consider this one little place the most important of all the areas in the Edit window. This is where you tell Pro Tools where an edit begins and where it ends. Below the Start and End points is the Length indicator.
Use the Selector tool and highlight any track, dragging from one bar to another. Notice that all the Event Edit numbers change according to what you highlighted. The Start and End fields show you exactly where you highlighted—from one point to the other—and the Length field tells you the exact length of your highlighted selection.
- Change the grid value. Let’s use eighth notes now instead of quarter notes for the grid value. Click on the tiny white triangle next to the grid value and choose 1/8 note. Notice that you have twice as many grid lines now, showing that you’re working with an eighth-note grid.
- Drag the Hat. Drag one hat sample from the Region bin to Bar 1, Beat 1 of your Hi Hat track.
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Select the Hat. Choose the Selector and highlight the Hi Hat track from Bar 1 to Bar 1/1/480. Your Event Edit area should look like this:
Notice that the length of the highlight is 480 ticks. Remember that 960 ticks equals one quarter note, so 480 ticks is half of that, or one eighth note. The location 1/1/480 is simply the first eighth note of Bar 1, Beat 1.
- Duplicate the hat. With the one hat highlighted, hit +D/Ctrl+D to duplicate the hat seven times. You should now have eight hi-hats that fill Bar 1. This command will produce a
metrically sensible rhythm only if the hi-hat audio region both starts and ends on the beat.
TIP
You could have also used Repeat, choosing seven repeats, rather than Duplicate. Sometimes it’s helpful to use Duplicate if I’m not sure how many times I need to repeat something and I want to see my region being duplicated visually one at a time. Then I can stop pressing
+D/Ctrl+D when I see that I have the number of duplicates I need. -
Zoom out and highlight. Zoom out now to where you can see all eight bars. (Remember your Zoom Out shortcut,
+[/Ctrl+[). With all eight bars showing, highlight the Snare track and the Hi Hat track from Bar 1 to Bar 2. To highlight
both tracks, hold down the Shift key as you highlight. Notice that the decay of the snare sample is not being highlighted.
Remember to keep an eye on your Event Edit area, which should show that you have highlighted from 1/1/000 to 2/1/000 and that the highlight length is exactly one bar.
-
Repeat the Snare and Hat. This time, use Option+R/Alt+R or Edit > Repeat. Type “7” for the number of repeats and both selected areas will be repeated.
You should now have eight bars of kick, snare, and hi hat.
-
Highlight all eight bars. Another way to highlight is from the Event Edit area by typing in numbers. You must press the Enter key after typing in a number.
You can also use the forward slash ( / )—on the numeric keypad, not the regular keyboard—as a shortcut to the Event Edit area’s Start and End times. Keep pressing / to reach each number field. Using the Event Edit area, make Bar 1/1/000 the Start and then make 9/1/000 the End. Your Event Edit area should show that you have a length of eight even bars. The regions in the tracks should now be highlighted for eight bars as well.
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Enable Loop Playback. With these eight bars highlighted, go to the Options menu and make sure that Loop Playback is checked. When Loop Playback is enabled, whatever you have highlighted in the Edit window will play in a continuous loop.
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Play and save. Now you can audition your continuous loop. Hit spacebar to play. The highlighted loop will play indefinitely until you press Stop.
Now is a good time to save your project (
+S or Ctrl+S)—get in the habit of saving before you go on to the next task.
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