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Mastering Memory Locations - Part 1
Efficient navigation in Pro Tools is essential to a transparent creative workflow. Getting where you want to go and seeing what you want to see quickly can save tons of time and help keep you focused on the creative task at hand. This week I want to walk through a vital navigation and organization feature in Pro Tools called memory locations. Memory locations allow you to store and instantly recall certain aspects of your session, such as timeline position, zoom level, track show/hide status and much more, making the navigation of complex sessions a breeze.
Since memory locations are such a huge concept in Pro Tools I have decided to break this topic up into two articles. In this first half I will cover a branch of memory locations called “markers,” a great way to save and recall any point in your session quickly and accurately. In part two we will look at a few advanced memory location workflows, and I will show you some more great tips to help supercharge your speed within Pro Tools.
Markers Are Your Best Friend
The most basic form of memory location in Pro Tools is the marker. A marker is designed to mark a specific point in the timeline, like a bar|beat or timecode position. For example, if I wanted to quickly recall the first chorus of my song at bar 34|1 I could create a memory location “marker” to bookmark that spot for efficient recall in the future.
To create a marker:
1. To make things easier, first make sure your markers ruler view is showing by checking View > Rulers > Markers.
2. Now navigate to the specific location you want to save as a marker, remember the marker is based on the timeline position, not a location within a specific track. In this example I will create a memory location at measure 10|1.
3. To create a new memory location, click on the plus “+” next to the markers ruler, or simply hit the enter key on your numeric keypad (note this shortcut only works from your numeric keypad), or Control-Click (mac) Start-Click (pc) directly on the markers ruler.
4. When the new memory location window appears, check “marker” under time properties, since you will be marking a place in time rather then a selection (in/out point). For reference choose “Bar | Beat” in a relative time scenario like music production, or “Absolute” in an absolute timeline scenario such as audio post. Bar | Beat memory locations can easily shift with tempo changes and stay locked to their relative bar | beat location, while absolute markers stay locked to timecode regardless of tempo. In this example I have named the memory location “Verse 1,” and for now I will leave everything else unchecked.
5. After creating the new marker I can see that it now shows up in the markers ruler, as well as my memory locations window. The memory locations window shows a complete, filterable list of all memory locations within the session, including markers. To show the memory locations window choose: Windows > Memory Locations.
6. To recall the marker “Verse 1” I can simply click on its chevron icon in the markers ruler or click on “Verse 1” in the memory locations window. Memory locations can also be recalled by their specific memory location number by pressing: “Period” – the number – “Period” from you numeric keypad. Basically just remember that you sandwich the location number between two decimal points on your numeric keypad. So to recall the “verse 1” marker, which is memory location #1, I would hit: . 1 . that’s “decimal point” - 1 - “decimal point” on my numeric keypad. If you have a laptop this shortcut isn’t as elegant since most do not have numeric keypads, so if you plan on quickly accessing memory locations get a full size USB keyboard. Pro Tools can hold up to 999 memory locations and each is given a unique number, the memory location number can be manually forced during creation or change later by editing an existing memory location.
7. To edit an existing memory location, Control-Click (mac) or Start-Click (pc) on it in the memory locations window. Even though double clicking will bring up the configuration screen, this also recalls the specific memory location you wish to edit making it impossible to change certain attributes. Markers can also be dragged left/right in the marker ruler, or dragged off the ruler to remove.
Marker Tips:
- Map out your entire session with markers (verse, chorus, bridge) to easily navigate during mixing. Come mix time, you will be able to stay within the mix window while easily recalling sections of the song using the floating memory locations window or the numeric keypad shortcut to navigate the session. This also helps in collaborative workflows, as it is very difficult to navigate a foreign session with out memory locations.
- Use specific marker numbers consistently to refer to parts of your sessions. For example, in every session you create always make verses memory location #11-19. So verse one would be marker #11, verse two #12, three #13, etc. Choruses could then be #21-29. That way no matter which session you are in you can easily remember how you laid out your markers and impress clients with ninja like navigation reflexes. It doesn’t matter what system you decide on, just make one that works for you.
- Include comments with your markers. The comments section of a memory location can be used to tie specific notes to a point in time. Need to edit a drum fill but don’t want to stop the tracking process? Put a marker there and include any notes that you may forget. If you have “tool tip: details” checked in your preferences (Setup > Preferences > Display tab), hovering over a marker for a few seconds will show its comment. Comments can also be set up to display in the memory locations window by checking “show comments” in the memory location window drop down menu (the triangle in the top left hand corner of the window).
Coming up in Part 2:
Stay tuned, in the second half of mastering memory locations, I will show you how to use memory locations to quickly create control surface “scenes” and how you can store even more useful information within memory locations, including zoom settings, track show/hide status, edit selections, group enables, and more.
Pro Tools tidbits:
- Apple has shipped Logic 8, which promises continued TDM/DAE support. Stay tuned for a future Pro Tools corner regarding Logic 8 with PT hardware.
- Native Instruments announces Komplete 5, a complete collection of virtual instruments including their new Kontakt 3 sampler and Guitar Rig 3 guitar amp simulator.
If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback, please send it to brian@audioMIDI.com. I will do my best to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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