A quick and easy guide to using the Pro Tools First spot mode to edit

In this Pro Tools First tutorial, we’ll learn how to make use of the Pro Tools First Spot Mode. In this edit mode, you can instruct Pro Tools First to place a region at a specific point. Pro Tools First will then place the region just where you want instead of you manually dragging the region into place.

To enter one of the four Pro Tools First edit modes, select the mode that you’d like to enter in the top left corner of the edit window:

By clicking on any of these, you will enter a different edit mode. The different Pro Tools First edit modes are: Shuffle mode, Spot mode, Slip mode and Grid mode. The different Pro Tools First edit modes give you different options for the way that you move and edit regions on your timeline. To enter Pro Tools First Spot Mode, simply click on the ‘spot’ edit mode button.

Using the Pro Tools First Spot Mode

By enabling spot mode, as soon as you click on any region it will open the ‘spot dialogue’ box. This allows you to specify the exact location that you would like the region to be placed. So now, instead of dragging a region to a location the way you would do in Pro Tools First Slip mode for instance, you can specify a start point, end point or sync point for a region based on a specific value. Accordingly, you can place regions at very precise locations without having to place them manually at that exact point.

You’ll notice that the dialogue box also provides you with information about where the region was first recorded in the ‘original time stamp’ section. You can use this information to populate the dialogue box if you want to place the region at its original position.

This edit mode offers a very accurate means of placing regions at specific points in the session. Meanwhile, it also offers you the ability to trim regions in the same way that you would in Slip mode. Do you think that using spot mode is something that will come in handy in your sessions? In what ways can you make use of the Pro Tools First spot mode? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

Click here to download your free copy of Pro Tools First.