Technical Manual for the Basic

Use of Pro Tools® First

Daniel Parks
Kelly Parks

EH 301-05

Dr. Joseph Robertshaw

4-21-2019
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Table of Contents

Section 1: Introduction Page 2

Section 2: Project Creation Page 3
Section 3: Importing Audio Page 6
Section 4: Track Options/Controls Page 8
Section 5: Track Fade Creation Page 18
Section 6: Exporting Projects Page 22
Section 7: Glossary Page 23
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Section 1
Introduction

Pro Tools® is a software application that is used by many people with varying levels of
expertise. From amateurs and hobbyists to professional audio engineers and designers,
Pro Tools® is the “go-to” application for getting the job done. Pro Tools® comes in a
variety of versions ranging from the most basic, which is called Pro Tools® First, to the
most advanced which is called ProTools® Ultimate. Each version comes with its own
set of features. For every tier, each version adds more features, such as the ability to
record a larger number of tracks per project, more audio effects, more plug ins, more
storage options, more forms of technical support, etc. Each version is also priced
accordingly. Pro Tools® First is free and Pro Tools® Ultimate is priced the highest. For
this manual, the free version of Pro Tools® will be used.

This manual will provide a basic tutorial of track creation and editing. It will cover
importing audio to be used for the track as well as editing options including, copying
and pasting, trimming, fading, and more. It will then provide the steps used to export the
finished track as a format that can be used in other projects, or as a standalone file.
There are many keyboard shortcuts for several functions, but they will not be covered at
this time. The last section of this manual will cover some terms that may not be familiar
to the beginning audio editor.

All steps in this manual assume that Pro Tools® First has been downloaded and
installed on the user’s machine of choice. It also assumes that an Avid account has
been created by the user and that the user has log in credentials in place for that
account.
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Section 2
Project Creation

When opening Pro Tools® First, the user will be greeted with a sign-in dialog box. Enter
the login credentials that were decided upon during the Avid account setup process
here. Once the credentials are entered, click “sign in”.
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Once signed in, the “Dashboard” box will pop up.

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Be sure the “CREATE” option is selected at the top left of the pop-up. In the “Name”
section, type the desired name of the project and then click the “Create” button in the
bottom right corner of the project creation box.

1.
2.

3.
3.

After clicking the “Create” button, a “Welcome” dialog box will pop up. Click on the “OK”
button to proceed. If interested in upgrading to a different version of Pro Tools®, click
the “Learn More” button to be taken to Avid®’s website.
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Section 3
Importing Audio

In the upper left corner of the screen, click “File”, then click “Import” in the drop-down
menu.
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A pop-up box will appear. From this, select the area of the computer from which the
audio files will come. Locate the desired file(s), click to highlight, then click “Open.”

1.

2.

3.

If additional audio files are needed, follow the previous step as many times as
necessary until all audio files have been imported. Notice that for each new audio file
being imported, a new track is being created. Also notice, there are two identical
waveforms for each track. These represent left and right speakers, also known as:
stereo sound.

Tracks

Waveforms
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Section 4
Track Options and Controls

When working with multiple tracks, there are three buttons labeled “I”, “S”, and “M” for
each track. The “S” button is for soloing a track, which means that only that track will play
and all others will be muted during playback. The “M” button mutes each track
individually. The “I” button is for turning input monitoring on or off. Input monitoring is not
covered in this guide.
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When working with multiple tracks there may be a need to scroll down to access some
of them.

There are a few ways to play tracks in the workspace. This can be done by clicking either
of the “play” buttons represented by a triangle, or by simply pressing the spacebar on the
keyboard to start and stop playback.
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To move tracks, select the grabber tool near the top left of the screen, located below
the “AudioSuite” tab. The pointer will change to a hand icon. Tracks can now be clicked
on and the content dragged to any place within the track itself. It can also be moved to
another track entirely.

To duplicate a track, or any section of it, highlight using the selector tool, located to the
left of the grabber tool. Use this to highlight the section of track to be copied.
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Once highlighted, right click and select “Copy”.

Right click within the same track and select “Paste.” The copied selection of audio will
then appear within the track.
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To delete part of a track, highlight using the track selector tool.

Press the backspace or delete key on the keyboard or click edit in the upper left corner
and select cut.
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To adjust the volume on a track, use the volume panel. While the track is playing in
the background, grab the slider of the track to be adjusted (in this case, track 4) with
the cursor and pull it up or down to achieve desired volume.
Before:

After:
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To delete an entire track, right click on the track name.

Then click “Delete.”

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Then confirm by clicking the “Delete” button on the pop-up.

To separate (or split) a track, place the cursor at the location of the desired split.
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Right click, then select “separate.” The track will now be in two separate sections of the
same color.

Each section of the track may now be moved to any position desired.
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To combine any two pieces of track together, first move the sections to be combined
using the grabber tool. Next, use the selector tool to highlight both sections.

Right click the selection and choose “Group.” Selections may also be combined by
clicking the “Edit” drop down menu, then selecting “Combine” (not shown here)
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Section 5
Track Fade Creation

To create a fade-in, highlight the section of track to be faded using the selector tool.
Note: By highlighting in the bar at the top of the tracks, all tracks will be highlighted. To
fade an individual track, only highlight a section of that specific track.

Next select “Edit”, then “Fades,” then click “Create.”

1
.

2 3
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For the sake of ease, the first time, click “OK” without making any adjustments. It is in
this pop-up box that all fade options are found, such as how fast the audio fades in or
out and how linear the fade should be.

Notice all the tracks now have the same fade in.
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To fade out, fade the third track. Highlight the section to be faded as before, but ONLY
on the third track.

Select “Edit,” then “Fades,” then “Create.”

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This time change the curve by grabbing the bar with the cursor, then dragging it up or
down (in this case, down), then click “OK”. Doing this adjusts the linearity of the fade. In
this example the fade will be very dramatic at first, then it will slow as the track
progresses.

Notice the curve on track three matches the curve created in the “Fades” pop-up
window.
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Section 6
Exporting Projects

Click “File,” select “Export,” then click “Audio Mix.”

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2 3

Confirm the “File Type” is set to WAV, the “Format” is set to Interleaved. Then verify the
“File Name and choose the “File Location.” Next, click “Export”. If mono is the preferred
format, change the format from Interleaved to mono before clicking “Export.”
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Section 7
Glossary

Fade In/Out----------- Escalating or De-escalating the volume of a track over time

Format----------------- In this case, refers to how the audio file will be exported, either as
an interleaved single file for left and right output, or as two
separate files
Interleaved------------ Incorporating left and right speaker outputs into one file as
opposed two separate files
Mono------------------- All sound is outputted through a single speaker
Stereo Sound-------- Sound is outputted through a left and right speaker
Track------------------ An editable piece of audio that has been recorded
Trim------------------- The process of removing sections of audio from a track. This is
different than separating in that the trimmed piece of audio is
removed entirely
WAV--------------------- Media file type similar to .mp4, .mp3, .AIFF, .ACC, etc.
Waveform-------------- Representation of sound in an audio track.