Using Memory Locations

[ LiB ]

Memory Locations are formatting options and timeline locations for the Edit window. The position, visible tracks, zoom level, and selection boundaries are just a few of the items that can be stored in a memory location. They make it easy to put lots of information inside your session where you need it the most, and allow you to move quickly to key points within your session. They can also be used to resize your tracks and go to a new zoom level, hide tracks and enable groups, or select an area and adjust pre- and post-roll times. There are many uses for memory locations, and I'll only be able to touch on a few within the confines of this chapter. With continued use and experience you will find new uses for memory locations every day.

Creating Memory Locations

To create a memory location, simply press the Enter key while playing, recording, or while stopped . As long as there are no other dialog boxes open at the time, pressing Enter will call up the New Memory Location dialog box, shown in Figure 6.34.

Figure 6.34. The New Memory Location dialog box. You can create a memory location by hitting the Enter key at nearly any time.

As you can see in Figure 6.34, memory locations can affect many aspects of the Edit window's appearance. Three memory locations options exist: Marker, Selection, and None. All three options can include the current zoom level, pre- and post-roll times, visible tracks, current height of visible tracks, and group enabling. The None option is used for saving only appearance information, such as the zoom level and visible tracks, and not timeline information such as location and selection values.

Selection Memory Locations

Creating Selection memory locations saves the current Start and End times as part of the location. Recalling a selection's memory location will move the cursor to the Start time and extend the selection to the saved End time. If you had checked any other options, such as zoom level or visible tracks, these would be recalled as well.

None Memory Locations

Using the None option saves only the data formatting of the Edit window. Whatever aspects you choose can be stored in this memory location. Creating a memory location that hides all other tracks except dialog, resizes the dialog tracks to medium, and disables the dialog group, for example, could instantly set up the Edit window for dialog editing.

Memory locations like this could be created for each type of editing you dodialog, foley, sound effects, or musicso that switching between them does not require a lot of resizing, hiding, and group enabling.

Marker Memory Locations

When creating marker memory locations, the position of the marker is determined by the exact position of the cursor at the moment you press the Enter key. Even if you take several seconds to type a name for the marker, it will be placed at the point in the timeline where you first pressed the Enter button. When stopped, any markers created will be placed at the current cursor location.

A yellow tab will appear at the current cursor location in the Markers ruler with the name of the marker to the right of the tab. You can use the yellow tab in many ways to affect the marker position.

Clicking on the tab once will locate the cursor to the exact marker position.

Clicking and then dragging the yellow tab will move the marker to a new location. This function will also follow the editing mode, whether Grid, Spot, or Slip is used. Shuffle does not affect marker moving.

Option+clicking on the tab will delete the marker immediately.

Double-clicking on the tab allows you to modify the name and characteristics of the memory location.

Using the Cue List to Create Markers

Cue lists are created by viewing video with a time code burn-in window and noting at certain time code values when sound effects are needed. A sample cue list is shown in Figure 6.35. These cue lists can then be transferred to Pro Tools markers for editors to use and follow. The time code value for each cue can be entered into the Main counter window, thereby locating the cursor to that position. Pressing Enter will bring up the create Memory Location dialog box. The name of the cue or description of the sound can be entered as the marker name. This process could be repeated for each cue, resulting in a session that has all the necessary information for editors to use when creating sound effects for the project. The markers are a road map for creating the soundtrack. This is just one example of how using markers can help smooth workflow.

Figure 6.35. A sample cue list.

Here are the steps for creating markers from cue lists:

Enter the time code value for the first cue into the Main counter. (See Figure 6.36).

Figure 6.36. Entering the time code value for the first cue. You must press Enter or Return in order for Pro Tools to locate to this position.
Press Enter to create a marker. The New Memory Location dialog box will open.
Type in the marker name and information that will assist editors. (See Figure 6.37).

Figure 6.37. Entering cue information into the Marker name.
Click OK. The marker will be created. (See Figure 6.38).

Figure 6.38. The newly created cue marker. Notice the yellow line that extends below the marker's tab. This line can be seen on any visible track, helping you to see where the marker lines up on all tracks.

Once all the cues have been entered into markers, the editors of the session have a clear road map for the placement of sound effects, as shown in Figure 6.39. You may also view all memory locations in one window by choosing Windows > Show Memory Locations (Command+5).

Figure 6.39. The entire example cue list has been entered into Markers in Pro Tools. The Memory Locations dialog box (Command+5) displays all memory locations of any type in the current session.

Recalling Markers and Memory Locations

Once markers or memory locations have been created, recalling them or getting to them easily is important. The Memory Locations dialog box (Command+5) is a convenient way to view, organize, and recall markers and viewing setups. Memory locations can be organized by name, location, or type. Each one is assigned a number when it is created. This number can be seen at the left of the Memory Locations dialog box, as shown in Figure 6.39.

The Memory Locations Window

To recall a memory location, simply click on the number to the left of the location's name. This will locate to the marker and/or reformat the data that is viewed in the Edit window to reflect the settings of the location. Any aspects of the Edit window that are not part of the location will not be modified. If the location is just a marker point, then Pro Tools will move to a point where the marker is centered in the Edit window. If the location does not contain a marker but does specify track sizes, group enables, and pre/post-roll amounts, the Edit window's location will not change but the data will be formatted to the memory location's parameters.

It is also possible to recall a memory location by using the keypad. The Memory Locations dialog box does not have to be open in order for this function to work.

Type a period (.) on the numeric keypad, not on the regular alpha keyboard.
Type the number of the memory location you wish to recall.
Type a period (.) again on the keypad. The memory location will be recalled.

This method provides quick access to any memory location. In order to use the keypad method without the Memory Location dialog box open, you must have the number of the location memorized. I typically set up formatting locations that I commonly use in the first few numbered locations. They are more easily remembered . Markers in the timeline can be accessed via the Markers ruler.

The Markers Ruler

The Markers ruler contains only memory locations that have marker values in them. Selection and None locations are unavailable in this ruler.

The Markers ruler behaves in very much the same way as audio tracks when it comes to editing. Selections can be made within the Marker ruler just like with other tracks. Markers can be cut and pasted to other areas of the Marker ruler as well.

If you click on a marker tab while in play, the audio is interrupted and playback starts at the marker point. If you are in stop, clicking on a marker tab will locate the cursor to that spot without playing. If you click somewhere within the Markers ruler but not on a tab, the cursor will appear there but only inside the Markers ruler. You can then use the Tab key to move to the next marker or Option+Tab to move to the previous one. The Shift modifier works as well in the Markers ruler, allowing you to select larger areas of the timeline using markers as in- and out-points. Tabbing through markers can move you through a session accurately and quickly to points of interest.

You can also use markers to cut and copy large sections of audio and paste them in other locations. This can be useful when you're asked to conform to a change in the editing of the video. If the editor has suddenly decided to add three more seconds of video starting at a specific time code, you will need to move all the audio from that point on by three seconds to accommodate the new video. This is called conforming to picture changes and is covered in more detail later in this chapter.

NOTE

PERFORM A SAVE AS OPERATION

When you are about to drastically modify a session, it is wise to save the file under a new name so that if something goes terribly wrong, you can return to the previous session. Use the File > Save As function and rename your session, perhaps using a numerical modifier at the end to signify a new versionDialog Session 2 for example. This should also be done periodically upon reaching certain milestones in a project. When the foley editing is complete, rename the session so that you can always return to a completed foley session if you need to. Also, it can be helpful to be able to import data from an older session without opening the session, reclaiming only the data you need.

Here is how you could use markers and the Markers ruler to insert three seconds of silence across all tracks at a given point in the timeline:

Perform a Save As operation and give your session a different name.
Create a marker at the point at which the new three seconds of video has been added.
You could name the Memory Location insert 3 secs or something else descriptive.
Enable the default group ALL . Make sure that every single track in your session is visible. Otherwise, this editing operation will be performed only on visible tracks, leaving others unchanged and out of sync with the picture change.
Click in the Markers ruler ahead or to the left of the insert 3 secs marker. You will see a small cursor flashing in the Markers ruler.
Now Shift+Click in any track. The cursor should blink across all tracks plus the Markers ruler.
Press Tab. The cursor should be right on top of the Edit marker, blinking across all tracks and the Marker sruler, as shown in Figure 6.40. You will not be able to see the cursor flashing in the Marker ruler anymore, as the yellow tab blocks this from view.

Figure 6.40. The cursor is now located at the marker and across all tracks including the Markers ruler.
Press Option+Shift+Return. This extends the selection from the cursor position to the end of the session. When you move this audio three seconds later, you want everything from that point until the end of the session to move as well. You should see all tracks and the Markers ruler highlighted from the insert 3 secs marker until the end of the session, as shown in Figure 6.41.

Figure 6.41. By using Option+ Shift+Return, everything from the insert 3 secs marker to the end of the session has been selected, including the Markers ruler.
Choose Edit > Cut or press Command+X. All audio and markers to the right of the marker should be gone. Don't worrythey are now in the clipboard memory and all you have to do is paste them at the new location three seconds later.
Enter the new SMPTE location into the Main counter three seconds after the edit point and press Enter (or Return). This will move the cursor to the right place for pasting the audio back into the session.
Choose Edit > Paste or press Command+V. All the audio and markers should now be in a new location exactly three seconds later than the original position, as shown in Figure 6.42.

Figure 6.42. All the audio and markers that were removed in Step 9 are now exactly three seconds later than before, in order to accommodate the picture addition. The three-second gap has been selected to make it easier to see.

Note that unless you require makers to move with your edit, several other ways to move a large selection rather quickly do exist. First, you could use the ALL group to select an area on all tracks. Enter Spot mode and click on any region in the selection. Type +300 into the Spot dialog box, then press Enter; the selection will be moved three seconds later (to the right). To clarify: if you typed in +314 into the Spot dialog box, the audio would be placed three seconds and 14 frames later. There is no need for the semicolon. You could also enter a whole new time code value in the Spot dialog box to achieve the same result. You could even move the selection in Relative Grid mode, set to 1 second.

There are many ways to slice a fishor to edit in Pro Tools. Depending on your style and needs, you will find methods that work the best with experience.

NOTE

MARKER PLACEMENT

Make sure your markers are exactly on a frame boundary. If the marker lies somewhere between frame boundaries, using them for editing, as in the example, above will result in a big mess. You could easily place audio out of sync with the updated video.

When you're creating markers on-the-fly while playing, they'll be placed wherever you press the Enter key. Even if you're in Grid mode, markers created on-the-fly will not be restricted to grid values. Very rarely will markers created on-the-fly land exactly on a frame boundary, even if the Grid is set to 1 frame. When viewing time code in the Main counter, you will not be able to see sub-frames and will not be able to tell whether you're exactly on a frame boundary by looking at the counter.

The quick fix for this is to enter Grid mode with a value of 1 frame and manually grab each Marker tab and move it until it " snaps " to a frame boundary.

Aligning Regions to Markers

Once you have markers in place they can be used to align audio regions. By placing the grid into Regions/Markers mode, regions will "snap" their starting boundary to markers or other region boundaries.

Placement of an audio region at a marker or at another region's boundary might not be precise enough to achieve a smooth-sounding track. When finer adjustments are needed, the Nudge function comes into play.

[ LiB ]

Using Memory Locations