Recording audio is what Pro Tools does best (well, that and editing it). This article guides you through the keyboard shortcuts for creating and recording a new track, as well as playing it back.
To create a new track: Press Apple Command+N (Mac) or Ctrl+N (PC).
To start or stop playing a session: Press the spacebar.
To enable tracks to record:
To record-enable a single track: Click the Record Enable button in either the track’s channel strip (in the Mix window) or the track menu (in the Edit window). The button blinks red when engaged.
To record-enable all tracks: Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (PC) the Record Enable button on any track.
To record-enable selected tracks: Shift-click to select the tracks you want in the playlist and then Shift+Option-click (Mac) or Shift+Alt-click (PC) the Record Enable button for one of the selected tracks.
To start recording in your session (instead of clicking Record and then Play):
Press the F12 key.
Press Apple command+spacebar (Mac) or Ctrl+spacebar (PC).
If you have the Number Keypad mode set to Transport in the Operations tab of the Preferences dialog box, press the 3 of the numeric keypad. Choose Setup→Preferences from the main menu to access the Preferences dialog box.
To stop recording the session: Press the spacebar.
To place a track in Record Safe mode: Apple command-click (Mac) or Ctrl-click (PC) the Record Enable button for the track.
To place all tracks in Record Safe mode: Apple command+Option-click (Mac) or Ctrl+Alt-click (PC) the Record Enable button for any track.
To toggle between Record modes (Non-destructive, Destructive, Loop, QuickPunch): Control-click (Mac) or right-click (PC) the Record button in the Transport window.
To enter and exit recording while in QuickPunch Record mode (while the session plays): Press Apple command+spacebar (Mac) or Ctrl+spacebar (PC).
To set and enable a pre-roll: Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (PC) the track’s playlist where you want to put the pre-roll.
To set and enable a post-roll: Option-click (Mac) or Alt-click (PC) the track’s playlist where you want to put the post-roll.
To stop recording and cancel a take: Press Apple command+. (period; Mac) or Alt+. (period; PC).
