Quick Tips – Page 2 – Shie Rozow – Composer, Music Editor

Quick Tip: Software Authorization Codes

These days all software requires entering a serial number and/or activation or authorization code during installation. We have a lots of codes for different products to keep track of, and if we even need to reinstall anything, finding those codes can be a challenge.

If I have a physical CD or DVD installer, I print the code(s) using my label maker and stick the label on the installer disk. For everything else, and as a backup to the physical labels on physical disks, I created a contact in my address book called “Authorization Codes” and I use the notes field to enter all my codes.

It’s super simple, I can simply copy/paste the codes so there are never any typos. My address book syncs across my computers and are in the cloud so my codes are now available to me anywhere at anytime.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

Quick Tip: Color Coding Folders or Files

File Management, Quick Tips

Working on a Mac, I love the fact that I can color-code files or folders in the OS. It’s a lovely feature, and I often use it as I work to mark things as “ready to go,” or “do not use” or whatever else might come up, I use them for lots of different delineation.

I tend to use green to indicate something is good to go, red to indicate something is not to be used or problematic and orange if I have to stop something part way through a process, so I know I’m working on it but it’s not done. I use other colors for specific delineation as appropriate. I find this to be a very helpful tool.

The thing is, it’s easy to forget what each color indicates, especially when I use them to indicate different things in different folders and if projects go on for a while. So I use a simple trick. I create a subfolder labeled, for example “zGreen = Ready to Mix” or whatever green might indicate, and make it the same color.

Here’s a screen shot form a recent projects. In this folder we have ProTools sessions for different cues that were recording using a string section. I needed to edit the strings to create the best possible performance before I could import them to our mix session. As you can see, when I took this screenshot, most were done, a couple hadn’t been touched yet, and one had issues. Plain to see, no need to wonder what the colors mean, and also helpful should someone else need to take over, it’s self exlpanatory.

Color Coded Folders

Quick Tip: MP3s

Quick Tips

Whenever I finish a project, whether I’m composing or music editing, I make MP3s of the complete score and make them available to the entire team. It’s easy to do and everyone appreciates having a copy of the score they helped create.

Quick Tip: Matching Tempi Using Serato Pitch ‘n Time

Pitch 'n Time, ProTools, Quick Tips

Serato Pitch ‘n Time Pro is one of my favorite ProTools plug-ins. In addition to being able to use it speed up or slow down tracks, and change their pitch, it has a very easy way to match tempi of two different tracks. Here’s how it’s done:

For this Quick Tip, I’m using a Drum Loop and a Tambourine Loop.

Here’s what the Drum Loop sounds like:

Here’s what the Tambourine Loop sounds like:

1. Import the two tracks you whose tempi you wish to match. Here’s a screenshot of my 4 bar Drum Loop (blue clip) & a faster tempo 8 bar Tambourine Loop (green clip)

Two Loops

Here’s what they sound like together, quite the train wreck:

2. Create a clip whose bar count matches the clip you want to match. Below is a screenshot showing how I split the 8 bar Tambourine Loop into two 4 bar clips, to match the 4 bar Drum Loop clip. You can see the Tambourine Loop clip is shorter than the Drum Loop clip because it is faster.

Match Bars

3. Open Pitch ‘n Time Pro from the AudioSuite menu. Highlight the tempo you want to match, and click Capture in the plug-in (about half way down on the right). The button will turn orange.

Pitch ‘n Time Capture

4. Highlight the clip whose tempo you want to alter to match the other. You’ll notice the tempo settings in Pitch ‘n Time Pro automatically change.

Pitch ‘n Time Matching Selection

5. Click the Capture button again, to disarm it. Then select augment your clip selection from just 4 bars to all 8 bars (or as much as you want to modify).

Pitch ‘n Time Full Selection

6. Click the Render button in Pitch ‘n Time Pro (bottom right). This will adjust the tempo of the selection. In this example, it slows down the Tambourine Loop to match the slower Drum Loop clip.

Pitch ‘n Time Render

7. That’s it, you’re done. I chose to duplicate the Drum Loop so I have 8 bars of both the Drum Loop & the Tambourine Loop.

Done

Here’s what they sound like together once the tempi are matched:

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

Quick Tip: Control, Option & Command Keys in ProTools

ProTools, Quick Tips

ProTools makes excellent use of the Control, Option & Command keys to modify the behavior of things while editing. Understanding what they do while in the arrange window will help speed up your work.

Control Key
The Control key snaps the beginning of a selected clip to the cursor location. This can be useful in two ways:

Quickly move a clip to a specific location. Set the curser at the desired location, the hold down Control and click on the region you want to move & it will snap to the location of your cursor.
Prevent a clip from accidentally sliding out of its position when moving it up or down to a different track. Simply highlight the clip, click Control and drag the clip up or down to the desired track. You’ll notice the clip won’t move sideways because it’s locked to your cursor position, which is the beginning of the highlighted selection.

Command Key
The Command key simply modifies the above Control key behavior so that things line up to the end of a clip or selection instead of the beginning.

Try the above two examples, but this time use Control + Command.

Option Key
The Option key copies clips.

Need to copy a clip to another track or location on the same track? Hold down Option and simply drag the clip to the desired location.

Want to copy a clip to the location of your cursor? Add the Control key: Hold down Control + Option and click on the desired clip. A copy of the clip will snap to the location of your cursor.

Want to make a copy of a clip that ends at the location of your cursor? Add the Command key: Hold down Control + Option + Command and click on the desired clip. A copy of the clip will appear ending at the location of your cursor. You can use this trick to copy loops backwards – click here for my quick tip about looping backwards.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

Quick Tip: Looping Backwards in ProTools

ProTools, Quick Tips

When working with loops, ProTools makes it easy to loop a region. There are two methods. My favorite is to simply highlight the clip I want to loop and click Command + D (Edit Menu > Duplicate) as many times as I want the region to loop.

You can also click Command + Option + L to open the Clip Looping window (Clip Menu > Loop) and use the Clip Looping window to loop the clip as desired.

Both methods work well when looping forward, that is adding loops following the original clip. But what if you want to add a loop backwards, that is add a loop before the original clip? Luckily there’s a key combination that makes this possible.

Hold down Control + Command + Option and then click on the clip you want to loop backwards. It’ll work just like Duplicate (Command + D), except the new clip will appear in front of the one you’re looping.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

Quick Tip: Finding the Tempo of a Track in ProTools

Quick Tips

Here’s a quick and easy way to identify the tempo of a track using ProTools:

1. Import the track into your ProTools session.

2. Create a region (Command + E) of several bars – I like to use at least 4 bars. Be as accurate as you can when identifying a downbeat (see image below).

Separate Clip at Selection

3. Select your new region and Click Command+I (Event menu > Identify Beat…)

Event > Identify Beat

This will open the Add Bar | Beat Markers window.

Command + I

4. In the Add Bar | Beat Markers window, enter the start and stop bar of your selection along with the time signature. In this example I made a region that was 9 bars long at a time signature of 6/8.

Add Bar | Beat Markers

ProTools will automatically move the song start marker to the beginning of your selection and insert the calculated tempo, in this case 96.1398.

Tempo Identified

It’s not uncommon for the tempo to be slightly off. ProTools is sample-accurate and calculates the tempo based on our selection. But us humans are not sample-accurate, so our selections will likely be slightly off.

In the above example, the beat was identified as 96.1398. It is actually 96. You can change the tempo manually if you wish. The longer the selection you use to identify the beat, the more accurate it will be. And here’s For King & Country, the track I used for this example:

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

Quick Tip: Auto-Play? Don’t!

Quick Tips

Many music players allow you to automatically play music when your website loads. If you’re considering using an auto-play feature, please don’t!

Someone may be visiting your site while at work, or in a public space, or while listening to other music, or watching TV, or some other situation where auto-playing would be disruptive, not to mention it’s just plain annoying.

If a visitor wants to listen to music on your site, they know how the click the play button.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or add a comment.

quick-tips

Quick Tip: Software Authorization Codes

Quick Tip: Color Coding Folders or Files

Quick Tip: MP3s

Quick Tip: Matching Tempi Using Serato Pitch ‘n Time

Quick Tip: Control, Option & Command Keys in ProTools

Quick Tip: Looping Backwards in ProTools

Quick Tip: Finding the Tempo of a Track in ProTools

Quick Tip: Auto-Play? Don’t!