Set "Time Counter" 0:00 Start Marker?

[KingFish]

I know how to re Number bars, and SMPTE offset etc... I have a simple chore that I'm not sure how to do.

I want the TIME counter to start at 0.00 at my START Marker in the session, without "Cut Time" - or "Move song Start to 00:00:000 leaving several bars before the start marker, that would read something like -00:02:45 - or whatever.

I've got couple of bars of pre roll, then the count, and I want the Sub Counter / Time to read 0:00:000 at the downbeat of the song, so that mt Mix notes from the client like "Can you turn the "T" down at 36 seconds, matches my Bounce.

[1m1]

I don't know if there's a way to do that. I use the SMPTE counter for that, and just the System Usage window collapsed down to mask the front part of the counter leaving just minutes and seconds visible. The frames part of the counter is off the screen to the right.

[puphead]

This is a maddening and unfortunate issue that plagues me as well. It seems that there really is no great solution which is really a drag. I came from Dig Performer which, despite it's MANY shortcomings handles this point really well. I only hope that PT gets this together. Below is an exchange I had with Tech Support. they were very responsive - You'll see my question followed by their answer. Hope this helps

Subject
Insert Time

Description
Hi
I have looked everywhere for an answer to this, including the DUC and there seems to be some confusion on this point.
How do I insert time (bars/beats) at the beginning of my session and have the clock go to negative numbers, so that when I reach bar 1 I am at 0 minutes and seconds? I have tried dragging all my tracks to the right, which does add time in front of my session, but the clock will not offset so my realtime counter is inaccurate. I hope this is clear. Thanks.

Discussion Thread
Entered By : Digidesign-Avid Customer Success Entered on : 8/6/2009 12:32 PM
Hi,

You can have negative bars but you can't have negative time. This is why the default start time in Pro Tools is one hour. This is how most post sessions are set so that can add time before the start if need be.

"I have tried dragging all my tracks to the right, which does add time in front of my session, but the clock will not offset so my realtime counter is inaccurate."

If you want to have negative bars all you need to do is use Identify Beat to redefine bar one beat one that the new location.

If you drop the cursor on the first beat of your composition at the new location and hit Command I to open the Identify Beat dialog. If you define this new location as bar one beat one you will get negative bars to the left of the new bar one.

Best regards,
Avid/Digidesign Technical Support

[studiostuff]

I guess I don't understand why you wouldn't call the downbeat TC 01:00:00:00. Then, your client notes would match the TC time (less an hour).

I usually include the two click bars in the chart, so that in four-four meter with a two bar click into the downbeat of the tune... my tune starts on bar three.

I guess I don't see an advantage to using min:sec as the time line, with the start of the tune strictly at 00:00...