How do I set a song's start- and end points w/i session?

[jacknprewitt]

Hey all. I have been reviewing the Protools 101 book and also the Pro Tools reference Guide and so far I have not found a solution.

I am running PT9 on a 15" MacBook Pro.

I am trying to set a "start point" for my song that is about 6 measures from the actual beginning of the session and also set an "end point" a number of measures before the ending of the last clip on one of the tracks. I would like to be able to bounce a stereo mix from those two points.

I have typed in the correct measure and beat in the transport window for start and stop points. But when I go to bounce the session it ignores my designated start point and instead starts at the absolute beginning of the session. So I end up with 20 seconds of silence before the song finally kicks in.

Musically, the song starts on on an eight note pickup before the first full measure. I'd like to maintain that structure.

I am sure there are multiple ways to approach this and would be open to hearing all.

One method is no doubt to be able to set a fixed a start- and stop point for the song. That makes the most sense to me, but I'm not sure how to do that.

Perhaps another method is to delete using the trim tool all audio prior to the desired "start point" of my song and the pull the tracks over toward the beginning of the timeline. Or perhaps the solution is to somehow move the timeline taking into account the initial pickup note.

What are my options?

Thanks!

Jack Prewitt
Rochester, NY

[jacknprewitt]

OK! I partially solved my own problem.

'Looks like I was inputting the start and end measure and beat data into the wrong place. I was putting it into the toolbar at the top of the edit window, which looks a lot like the separate and smaller transport window. And that doesn't work. But when I put in my start and end points into the actual transport window---it worked! My stereo bounced track started at the right point and ended at the right point.

Any other ways you might do what I am doing here?

Thanks!

Jack

[tomhartman]

Originally Posted by jacknprewitt

OK! I partially solved my own problem.

'Looks like I was inputting the start and end measure and beat data into the wrong place. I was putting it into the toolbar at the top of the edit window, which looks a lot like the separate and smaller transport window. And that doesn't work. But when I put in my start and end points into the actual transport window---it worked! My stereo bounced track started at the right point and ended at the right point.

Any other ways you might do what I am doing here?

Thanks!

Jack

Because I do multiple mixes and I want them all the same length, I create a "START" marker and an "END" marker. I get the markers window up, then click the start and end marker holding the shift key. This selects the entire range. Last, I hit ENTER to create a final marker I name RANGE and choose "Selection" when making that marker.

Now I can just click the "RANGE" marker and the memorized selection is always available. Sounds more involved than it is

TH

[jacknprewitt]

Thanks Tom,

It does sound complicated, but I'll try that later today. What's good about your approach is that it gets saved and can be used multiple times.

It seems like my approach only works the first time---right after I "set" the start and end points.. After that, the song starts at the absolute beginning when I click the play button.