Specifications
Chapter 5: Working with Pro Tools 67
Basic Recording
This section describes how to record audio and
MIDI into Pro Tools.
Routing Audio to a Track
To route audio to a track:
1 Verify the connections to your instruments.
Refer to the guide for your audio interface for
more information about setting up your studio.
2 Create a new track to record on by choosing
File > New Track. Select 1 Mono Audio Track and
click Create.
3 In the Mix window, click the Input Selector on
the new track.
From the pop-up menu, select the input you
want to record. For example, select A 1 if your
audio source is plugged into the first analog in-
put on your audio interface. The menu displays
the names of the inputs as defined in the I/O
Setup dialog.
Setting Levels
Adjust the level of the input at the source (in-
strument, mic pre-amp, or mixer) to set
Pro Tools recording levels. The key to setting
proper input levels is to get a signal as loud as
possible without creating digital clipping. Sig-
nals that get close to the top of the meter in
Pro Tools use more of the full bit range (the 16
or 24 bits that make up each audio sample). The
more you are able to maximize use of this bit
range without clipping, the better your sound
quality.
Recording an Audio Track
To record an audio track:
1 Click the Record Enable button on a track, as-
sign its input, and set the input levels appropri-
ately.
2 Choose Windows > Show Transport to display
the Transport window. Click Return To Zero to
start recording from the beginning of the ses-
sion. You can also record according to a selec-
tion or from the cursor location in the Edit
window.
3 Click Record in the Transport window to en-
able recording.
4 Click Play or press the Spacebar to record on
all record-enabled tracks.
5 Record your performance.
6 Click Stop in the Transport window or press
the Spacebar when you are done recording.
Routing an input to a mono track
Digital clipping occurs when you feed a sig-
nal to an audio device that is louder than
the circuitry can accept. Watch the meters
in Pro Tools while adjusting input levels to
prevent clipping.