ProTools View Shortcuts

I always learn something when I watch someone record, edit, mix, or otherwise work with audio. I love “Wait! How did you do that?” moments in the studio. But here’s a little trick I discovered by mistake. Apparently I had too much blood in my caffeine system the day I accidentally pressed Control-Option-Command-[.

Before (left): Waveforms extend past the top and bottom of the tracks.

After (right): Waveforms fit inside the upper and lower boundaries of the tracks.

Being able to null the waveform zoom height is significant to me for at least two reasons:
(1) A reference point helps keep perspective.
(2) At the null height (or smaller) the crew cut of digital clipping or over-limiting can be seen.

I shared my joy with the internets and was rewarded with two more quick view changes by Julius Mauranen (@juliusmauranen). The first one is obtained by using Option-A.

Before (left): Work area shows a limited view of the timeline left to right.

After (right): The entire length of the timeline fits in the Edit window from left to right.

The key combo for this view change is Control-Option-Command-Up Arrow.

Before (left): The height of individual tracks prevents seeing all of them.

After (right): All tracks are visible in the Edit window from top to bottom.

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