Key Terms
Specialized loudspeakers designed for professional audio production that provide a flat, uncolored, and accurate representation of sound when playing back audio.
Studio Monitors
The cardinal rule for powering up studio gear
"Last On, First Off!" - Studio Monitors should aways be the LAST thing you power on when starting up and the FIRST thing you power off when shutting down.
Spacebar
This startup window in Pro Tools is used to create new sessions, open recent projects, and configure your audio session's settings before you actually start working in Pro Tools
The Dashboard
This file ends with a.PTX file extention. This file is entirely empty of sound. It is just a set of instructions (a map) pointing to where your audio lives on the hard drive.
Pro Tools Session File
The setting that tells Pro Tools which audio device to use for playback and recording.
Playback Engine
When Setting up a new Pro Tools Session, these two settings determine the overall digital accuracy and fidelity (quality) of your audio recordings.
Bit Depth & Sample Rate
Bit Depth (Amplitude and Dynamic Range)
Sample Rate (Frequency and Time)
One of two main windows in Pro Tools. This window is used for recording, cutting, and moving clips. It features horizontal waveforms and a timeline.
The Edit Window
A completely empty Pro Tools Session created without pre-existing tracks or routing.
A Blank Session
Recorded audio from your Pro Tools Session is stored here
Audio Files Folder
In digital audio resolution, this term measures how many time snapshots (or measurements) are taken per second in kilohertz (kHz).
Sample Rate
This Pro Tools Menu Setting lets you select the device or audio interface that Pro Tools uses for audio playback
Playback Engine
One of two main windows in Pro Tools. This window is used to balance volume, panning, and adding effects to tracks. It features vertical faders and channel strips.
The Mix Window
Creating a new Pro Tools session from one of these will open with preconfigured tracks, I/O Paths, and plugin routing, allowing you to get started in Pro Tools quickly.
A Pro Tools Session Template
This file is responsible for drawing the audio waveforms that we see in the Edit Window of Pro Tools.
WaveCache File (.wfm)
The amount of digital information (bits) used to represent the amplitude of a sample.
This audio file format is recommended in Pro Tools as the industry standard for uncompressed audio recording.
This small floating window provides access to play, stop, record, fast-forward, rewind, return to zero, and go to end buttons.
The Transport Window
The industry-standard, sample rate and bit depth settings for professional digital audio recording in Pro Tools
24-bit, 48 kHz
Your final exported single-audio songs are stored here
Bounced Files Folder
The universal industry-standard uncompressed audio file type.
WAV
If you are hearing distorted sound playing back in Pro Tools, you should try changing this setting to clear the audio buffer and fix the sound issue.
H/W Buffer Size
This Pro Tools keyboard shortcut instantly switches between the Edit Window and the Mix Window.
Command + = (Mac)
Ctrl + = (Windows)
When creating a new Pro Tools Session, we want this box checked so that audio will be stored as a single unified stereo file instead of storing it as two separate mono files (one file for the left channel, and another file for the right channel)
Interleaved
When sending a Pro Tools Session, we want to right click on this component and select compress in order to create a .zip file containing the .ptx file and the associated audio files.
The Pro Tools Session Folder