ProTools Basics: Protect your regions! – Locking audio regions in…
Today I have a very useful basic trick for all of you guys started in Pro Tools lately. All the editing pros, you might already know THIS!
ALL the other ones: READ IT: When you’re working on big sessions over a long time, there are regions which you placed and edited carefully and accurate and with one little mistake… they’re gone and totally messed up. (WE had this happening here with one of our new volunteers, that’s how it came to my mind and we decided to create a post about it…)
As an example, here’s a pretty common accident which can mess up your files – the shuffle mode accident.
Below are two regions with a certain space between them.
Now, I’m editing the left file before I notice one thing. I’m still in shuffle mode.
And here’s what happens:
By cutting the left region in shuffle mode, the right region is moved to the left. Of course you can undo this and redo the edit in another mode, but you can avoid this in the beginning by lock your region from accidental movements and edits.
Mark the region you want to lock and click Region –> Time Lock/Unlock or ctrl + ⌥ + L to time lock your region.
The region will be shown with a little lock at the bottom left.
The region is now save from being moved in the timeline. Mark certain parts in your session to keep them from moving and now you can place all your other regions around them.
There’s another way to lock regions even more, edit lock.
Mark your region and click Region –> Edit Lock/Unlock or click ⌘ + L
The region is now saved from all kinds of edits. In the picture below, I’m trying to cut the right region.
When I try to perform any edits, a notification pops up which tells me, I’m editing a locked file.
By pressing Allow, your edit will be performed, although the file is locked.
Save your important edits and placements and keep yourself an others from messing them up. Mark your regions and lock them!
