Pro Tools Tip #1

By: Jeff Silverman

Track Color Coding In Pro Tools

Color Coding in Pro Tools lets you stay organized throughout each phase of the production process including; tracking, overdubbing, and mixdown. Getting to know this feature of Pro Tools will greatly speed up your Pro Tools workflow, whether you work in music, or post production.

Using colors with Tracks, Clips, Markers and Groups

There two ways to access the Color Palette to use Track Color Coding in your session:

1. Choose Window > Color Palette

2. Double click a track’s color strip in the Edit or Mix views:

Track Color Strip View

(The Color Palette Window)

Once the Window is launched, you can start to make color selections for tracks, clips, groups and markers.

Using the Color Palette Window to apply colors:

1. Utilizing either method 1 or 2 mentioned above, launch the Color Palette Window.

2. Take one of these two actions:

a. Select the current track, marker, group, track clip or Clip in the Clips List that

you want to color Code.

b. In the upper left hand corner of the Color Palette Window, click the Apply to

Selected pop-up Button and select the type of object you want to color code.

Choices include: Tracks, Clips in Tracks, Clips in Clip List, Groups and Markers*.

*Tip: The Markers option will only be active if the; Always Display Marker Colors

option box is checked in the Display page of the Pro Tools Preferences Window.

3. Select the color that you wish to use from the Color Palette. You can also choose: Default,

which will restore the color to its default color setting, or None, which turns off Colors

completely and will leave you with black on grey color scheme for all Audio and Midi tracks

you apply it to.

The Hold Button

Another useful function of the Color Palette Window, is the Hold Button. This function streamlines the process of applying the same color to multiple items such as tracks or clips.

You simply click the Hold button to enable it and the currently selected color will be “locked”. Any subsequent selection of a track, clip, group, etc. will follow the last color selected before the Hold function was activated.