Daniel Dehaan

Pro Tools: Working with Playlists

one-sheetdaw-logicdaw-cubasedaw-pro-toolsrecording-session

After a recording session you come home with a Pro Tools project full of takes stacked in playlists. This page covers working with those playlists in Pro Tools — comping, the key commands that make it fast — and how to get the takes into Logic Pro or Cubase with their timing intact if you would rather comp there.

Working with Playlists in Pro Tools

Helpful Key Commands

ActionShortcut
Create a new empty playlistControl + \
Duplicate the playlistCommand + \
Duplicate the current playlist for all tracksOption + Control + Command + \
Copy the selection to the main playlistControl + Option + V
Consolidate the selected clips to a single fileShift + Option + 3
Move the time selection up / down a trackP / ;
Solo the current playlistShift + S
Move keyboard focus to the Groups windowCommand + Option + 3

Exporting Takes from Pro Tools

Whichever DAW you are moving to, the takes leave Pro Tools the same way — via the Clips List:

Into Logic Pro

  1. Export the files via the Clips List (video above).
  2. Open your Logic project.
  3. Make sure the SMPTE start time and tempo map match the Pro Tools session.
  4. Drag the audio files for one instrument or microphone at a time into the Logic session.
  5. In the dialog that opens, choose Create new tracks.
  6. Logic imports the audio onto separate tracks.
  7. Select all of the imported audio, right-click, and choose Move → Move to Recorded Position.
  8. With the audio still selected, right-click again and choose Folder → Pack Take Folder.

Into Cubase

  1. Export the files via the Clips List (video above).
  2. Open your Cubase project.
  3. Make sure the SMPTE start time and tempo map match the Pro Tools session.
  4. Drag the audio files for one instrument or microphone at a time into the Cubase session.
  5. In the dialog that opens (one track or different tracks), choose One Track.
  6. Cubase imports the audio onto that one track, in consecutive order.
  7. Choose Edit → Move to… → Origin. This moves every region to its correct timestamp, layered over each other.
  8. Open Lanes on the track — all of the regions are on one lane.
  9. Right-click the audio track and choose Clean Up Lanes. Your audio is now separated into lanes.

Working with Takes Elsewhere

Logic Pro

Cubase