If you're recording long live performances such as concerts or possibly a television show, you could wind up with a multitrack mix with files up to an hour or more long. In the particular case where parts enter and exit, you'll have long spaces in between that require silences in order to keep the mix clear. The problem is that you can't view the length of the region that you have to edit in the tracks window. This makes slicing and adding silences difficult, or at least very time consuming. Pro Tools offers some tools, for lack of a better word, to help.

Let's say you have a multitrack mix for a television show that's 120 minutes long. You have the host's monolog, music cues, bumps, two performers, a feature appearing for 15 minutes, and a headliner for 45, plus a desk segment where all are being interviewed. That means three lavs, a stage mic, a bump mic, and a desk mic all running for 120 minutes straight. In the case of the feature, this means that you'll have 15 minutes starting after 10 or so minutes into the show, and five minutes at the end for the desk segment. The rest needs to be silence.

Here's how to proceed. First, set up "markers" at the beginning and end of each entrance and exit. The Enter key (on numeric keypad, Mac/PC) brings up the marker window. Also, leave the Memory Locate window open so that you can click on a Marker to move you back and forth between long regions. This will enable you to easily and accurately slice at the beginning and end of a long region of unwanted noise or dialog that's too long to see on the screen. Use Apple + E (Mac) Control + E (Win) to slice the region. By using the Smart Tool positioned properly at either the beginning or end of a region will bring up a bracket icon. If you are at the end of the sliced region, the bracket will face left toward the beginning of the region and vice versa. Once that appears, a click on the mouse will select the region. Use the insert silence command Apple + Shift + E (Mac), or Control + Shift +E (Win) to eliminate unwanted noise or dialog. You'll probably want to put fades at the beginning or end of the remaining regions to avoid popping noise or abrupt unnatural-sounding starts and stops. Once again the Smart Tool and Memory Locate window will come in handy. To access the Fades dialog box, type Apple +F (Mac) or Control +F (Win). Easier still, you can skip past the Fade window and apply a fade using the Smart Tool. Place the Smart Tool at the upper half of the track (beginning or end of region), the Fade icon will appear. Just click and drag it over the area you wish to fade. (To apply a crossfade, position Smart Tool at the bottom half of the track.)

Remember, by using the Memory locate window, you can move quickly between segments you need to keep. By having a marker at the beginning and end of those segments, you can slice appropriately, move on to the next region and insert silence via the Smart Tool without having to scroll back to the previous section. Plus you can insert fades as you go, or wait until all silences are inserted then go back and "sweep" the track inserting fades at either end of the remaining regions. Once again, clicking on the appropriate marker icon in the memory locate window will speed this process.