Lining up insertion points when comping
 

Hi

I'm trying to comp some guitar takes, I want to end the first one at a point that is not on a bar or anything, just in a random place (ie, it makes sense with the song but does not fall on any milestone). How do I 'line up' the break point in the next take (the one I want to continue) and make a break in this take that 'lines up' with the one above?

Thanks Eric

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

Are you using Slip Mode or Grid?

Using slip can let you set the playback marker at any place along the timeline. If you are going to punch in from there to continue to record use the punch feature on the record button, and set your pre-roll to on and how ever many bars you feel comfy with.

If things are already recorded and you are just editing them together, you can edit the selection that you want in one of the playlists, highlight it, then hold the Option/Alt key and drag to the clip being comped.. It should line up exactly at the same starting point and copies the segment that you want. Use Ctrl if you want to move the slice and not just copy it up.

Hope that helps.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

Hi

Thanks for the response. I'm doing the latter, I'm in slip mode, I have many takes recorded. I appreciate the suggestion, but the later take, the one I would alt/copy onto the main track, is not trimmed to length. In other words, it overlaps the first one.

So the first take goes from 0:00 to 0:28 and some fraction. I want the second take to be trimmed so the beginning of it that would overlap the 1st take is removed, and the second take 'starts" at 00:28 and some fraction, and continues on after that.

I was trying to line the insertion point up with that end of the first take, I also tried using the trimmer hoping it would 'snap' to the end of the first take but doesn't seem to do it.

Thanks for any help you can give!

Eric

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

If you are in slip mode then just slide it to where you want or use the trim tool so move the start (or end) of the clip to where you want them to be.

If you are using cross-fades one two clips then they will each overlap each other anyways, even if you just butt them up end-to-end like with shuffle mode.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

I guess I'm not being clear - what I need to know (I think, unless I'm missing something) is how to trim the *whole* front of take 2. It doesn't just overlap a little, it covers up the whole first take.

What I'm trying to do is trim take 2 in exactly the same place where take 1 ends and I can't figure out how to do that.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

Same thing.

Go to the take that is too long at the end that you want to shorten.

Use the trimmer tool, (it should look like this: [ ), near the center of the clip, (have the track height set at at least medium to make it easy), hold the left mouse button and drag the end of the clip as far back as you like. It's non-destructive so you won't ruin anything and if you go too far, drag it back a bit.

If you have a hard time selecting or understanding the trimmer tool... Look in the Pro Tools Reference Guide that came and installed with PT, (help/Pro Tools Reference Guide)

Look starting on page 515... but the whole guide is filled with everything you'll need to know.

Hope this helps.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

or, in command-focus mode, place your cursor on the exact spot in the second clip where you want it to begin and press "a".

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

in command-focus, that little black a-z button in the upper right corner of the edit window, the "a" key trims the clip from the beginning to wherever your cursor is and the "s" key trims from the end of the clip to wherever your cursor is.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

But *how* do I get my cursor to be exactly in line with where the 1st take ends? That's the essence of my question. I appreciate the comments, but I do know how to trim (though I didn't know the keyboard focus shortcuts), it's the alignment that's the problem.

Or should I not be trying to align them? I'm really just trying to make sure there's no 'gap' between where the first take ends and where the second picks up.

Re: Lining up insertion points when comping
 

Hold down the Control key while trimming. This will trim the region up to, but not over adjacent regions.