Pro Tools: An Overview- 10 Questions

1)      How do you import audio from outside of your Pro Tools Session?
- From the menu bar at the top of the screen: Files > Import > Audio.
- From there, navigate to the audio files which you wish to import and select them.

2)      How do you add different types of tracks at the same time?
-By clicking on the plus at the right hand side of the New Tracks dialogue box.
- From there, you can choose whether the additional track is Mono or Stereo etc. by scrolling and selecting from the drop down menu’s.

3)      What is the difference between ‘converting’ an audio file and ‘copying’ it into your session?
- Copying is used for when the file format is already compatible with your session parameters.
- Convert is used for when the sample rate or bit depth must be converted to match your session.

4)      How does ‘adding’ an audio file differ from copying or converting?
- Adding is used for when you wish to use the soundfile in that session but you don’t wish to add it to the session’s Audio File’s folder.

5)      Where can you find your input settings to check that they are set up correctly?
- You can select ‘Hardware’ under the setups menu and in the dialogue box that opens after that select the device which you wish to use and check the settings.
- After this, go to Setup> I/O and then the ‘input’ tab to ensure that the inputs are appropriately assigned.

6)      What is the file extension for a new Pro Tools session?
- “.ptx” or “.ptf” in earlier versions of Pro Tools

7)      When working with lots of audio, what is considered to be the best way to store audio files?
- Selecting ‘Save copy in’ from the file menu and under the ‘Items to copy’ menu, check the ‘Audio Files’ box.
- This will make a new copy of the session and also duplicate all audio used in your session.

8)      What speed should an audio file hard drive be?
- An audio hard drive speed should be at 7200 RPM or higher.

9)      There are several things that can affect how Pro Tools runs on a computer. What are these and what absolutely must exist for Pro Tools to run at all?

-  You will need the right operating system with the appropriate computer resources running on them.
- A large, speedy hard drive.
- An external hard drive (to ease transportation and to avoid clogging your internal drive).
- A high-quality audio interface.
- An external audio interface (if you wish to do any real-time recording directly into your computer).

10) Where are the backups of your session stored?

- Pro Tools saves backups of your sessions automatically from time to time and stores them in the “Sessions Backups” folder