Creating a Memory Location
To create a Memory Location, click on the Marker in the Ruler window or press Enter on the numeric keypad. If the Marker section is not available in the Ruler, select Markers from View > Rulers menu.
To add a memory location to a specific part of a session, click where you want the marker to be set and press the + symbol beside the Marker in the Ruler.
The name of the marker will be according to the nearest sequential number that is available. If you want to change the name of the marker, double-click and type in the new name for the marker.
You can use the Windows key in Windows or the Control key in Mac to add memory locations. Press the Windows key and move your cursor to the top of the Ruler. The cursor will change to a hand tool with a small + symbol. Click on any area on the marker timeline to create a new marker at the position.
With Memory locations, you can create a selection in one or more tracks and easily come back to that selection.
To create a Selection Memory Location, select a region in one or more tracks and press the Enter key on the numeric keypad.
In the dialog box that appears, select Selection in Time Properties and set the Reference to Bar|Beat or Absolute according to your need. Type in a name for the marker and press Enter. A selection marker for the current selection is available in the Memory Locations dialog box.
You can also create a locator with the general properties of a session such as zoom settings, track heights, track visibility and more.
Before creating the marker, set up the tracks and project settings to the settings to your requirements. Press Enter on the numeric keypad or click on the Ruler and add a marker.
In the marker window, type in a name for the marker and select the General Properties that you want to save. The options available in the General Properties are:
- Zoom Settings: This recalls the zoom settings for the various tracks in a session. It affects audio tracks, MIDI tracks and Instrument tracks
- Pre/Post Roll Times: Recalls the Pre/Post Roll times that you have set up in the Transport Window. Use the Selection property and set up recording sessions with different Pre/Post Roll times. This is very useful during ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement) sessions where you can easily set up different Pre/Post Roll times for various scenes and dialogues
- Track Show/Hide: Saves the visibility of tracks in the session. Use this for easy arrangement of tracks while mixing to reduce the clutter of tracks in the session
- Track Heights: Allows you to save the heights of the tracks that you’ve created. This is very useful when you have to do specific edits at certain track heights so that the editing becomes easier. Grouped along with the Zoom settings, you can easily set up sessions for very specific edits even up to the sample level
- Group Enables: Recalls the groups that you have created in the session. This saves the Active groups and Non-Active groups as well. This helps for editing or mixing when there are many tracks and you want to work on certain groups such as rhythm or strings section. You can group all these tracks together and mute or unmute them according to your need
- Window Configuration: You can choose from any of the Window Configurations that you have created and save it along with this marker. Window Configuration allows you to manage the configurations of all the windows in Pro Tools such as the Mix window, Edit window, Transport window, etc.
Use the Alt key and click on the settings to activate all or none of the settings. Clicking on the settings with Control key alternates between activating the currently selected setting and disabling the rest of the settings.
Pro Tools also allows you to save the marker locations automatically, without having to go through the dialog box and typing in a new name for the markers.
To enable this feature, open the Memory Locations Dialog Box by pressing Ctrl-5 or select it from the Window menu. Activate the Default to Marker and Auto-Name Memory Location options. Default to Marker option will create the markers with the settings of the previously created marker.
Create markers while the session is in play by pressing the Enter key on the numeric pad.
The name of the marker will be according to the name of the previous marker that you created. If you had created a normal marker, the name of the marker will be Location 1, Location 2 and so on.
In the New Memory Location dialog box, you may write some comments on the bottom, so that you will get a clearer idea of what the marker is for and any other important information that is needed.
Recalling Memory Locations
There are many ways to recall a Memory Location. One of the easiest methods is to click on the Marker in the Ruler. Activate the Marker view in the Ruler and click on the marker that you need.
The better option is to use the Memory Locations window. Go to Window > Memory Locations to select the Memory Locations dialog box. Here you’ll find all the memory locations and the selection markers that you have made in the session.
Click on the required marker or selection. The Edit window automatically focuses on the marker that you selected.
You can also recall memory locations based on their number. If the Numeric keypad mode is Classic, press the number of the marker on the numeric keypad and press the full-stop (.) button. If the Numeric keypad mode is Transport or Shuttle, press the full-stop (.) first, then the number of the marker and press the full-stop (.) again.
Conclusion
Memory Locations helps in navigating through a session very easily.
You may save a number of selections and then recall them according to your requirement. In the next part of this series, I’ll show you how to delete, copy and do much more with Memory Locations.
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