Making Selections and Playing Audio

Being able to play your session in different ways (in addition to being able to play it from the beginning) will enable you to be flexible in your work. In this section, we’ll take a look at the two primary variations: playing a selection and loop playback.

Playing a Selection

Playing a selection may just be the easiest process we’ll discuss in this chapter, but being able to do it correctly is an absolutely essential skill. First, let’s start with a basic playback scenario.

Click on the Selector Tool button.

In this case, we just want to operate in a basic playback mode, so let’s make sure that Loop Playback (which we’ll talk about in just a bit) is disabled. In the Options menu, uncheck the Loop Playback menu item if it is selected.

With the Selector tool chosen, click and drag over any section in your session. (This can be done in a track or in a ruler.) Alternatively, to select an entire clip (as shown here), double-click on the desired clip. The area you select will appear dark.

Edit and Timeline Selections Note that any selection you make in the Playlist (this is called your edit selection) is mirrored in your rulers (this is called your timeline selection), and vice versa. This is a default setting for Pro Tools, and it is useful in the vast majority of cases. If you find that this is not the case in your session, see the section in Chapter 10 called “Edit Versus Timeline Selection.”

Click on the Play button. The selected area will play back one time and then stop.

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Where’s My Play Button? (Another Useful Shortcut) The transport section at the top of your Edit window can be moved, as you saw in Chapter 2, “Getting Around in Pro Tools,” or even hidden completely! No worries—you can press the spacebar instead of clicking on the Play button to play the selection.

Hard Drive(s)

Loop playback does just what it says: It loops, or repeats, any selected area of your session until you stop playback.

Click on Options. The Options menu will appear.

Choose Loop Playback. The option will be checked, and a curving arrow will be shown on the Play button of your transport controls.

Click on the Play button or press the spacebar to begin loop playback of your selection. The selection will repeat until you click on the Stop button (or until you press the spacebar again).

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Another Quick Way to Activate Loop Playback In the transport control section of the Edit window (or in the Transport window), right-click on the Play button and choose Loop from the list shown.

Restore Last Selection [View full size image] Before we close out this chapter, here’s a useful feature in Pro Tools: Restore Last Selection. This feature, like Loop Playback, does just what it says: It re-selects the previous selection you made. You can find this useful little option in the Edit menu. The shortcut is Option+Command+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt+Z (PC).

Good work! Next up...recording!