Pro Tools vs. Hindenburg
Windows Key Commands:
Session Set-Up and Navigation
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
New Session
Control N
Control N
Open Session
Control O
Control O
Save Session
Control S
Control S
Save Session As
Control shift S
Control shift S
Zoom In
Control [
Control + (or Control mousewheel)
Zoom Out
Control ]
Control – (or Control mousewheel)
Zoom to Entire session
Control start [
No equivalent: use Control – to zoom
out
Zoom to Selection
Alt F, Control start ]
Control H
Increase Track Height
Shift control +
Decrease Track Height
Shift control –
Adjust waveform height
Control alt [ – or – ]
Waveform height is set automatically
Play/Stop
Spacebar
Spacebar
Play half speed
Shift spacebar
Adjust varispeed at bottom of screen
Preroll
Control K
P
Loop playback
Shift Control L (or start-click on
transport play button)
Shift spacebar
Scrub Audio
Start – click and drag mouse
Control click and drag mouse
Skip to next edit
Tab (if Tab to transients is disabled)
Tab
Skip to previous edit
Alt Tab (if Tab to transients is disabled)
Shift Tab
Go to Start of session
Return
Home (or Fn Control Left Arrow)
Go to End of Session
Alt return
End (or Fn Control Right Arrow)
Recording/Importing/Exporting
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Arm track in Record-ready
mode
Hindenburg
Shift R
Start Record
Command spacebar, or F12, or 3 on
numeric keyboard
Start spacebar
Stop Record
Spacebar
Spacebar
Import Audio
Control Shift I
Control T
Import Session data
Alt shift I
Control T (select session file)
Export Mix
Highlight in and out time then press
Control alt B to bounce-to-disk
Control E (exports all clips in the
session)
Export Selected Audio
Control K (or use bounce as above)
Control shift E
Editing
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
Set Edit In point
Down Arrow
Control 1 – or – I
Set Edit Out point
Up Arrow
Control 2 – or – O
Split audio at Cursor (or
spilt selected area)
Control E
Control B
Cut Selected Area and
close gap
Control X or Delete (in shuffle mode)
Control X
Cut Selected Area and
leave gap
Delete (in slip mode)
Delete
Insert Audio
Control V (in shuffle mode)
Control I
Copy
Control C
Control C
Paste Audio
Control V
Control V
Replace highlighted audio
Control V (in shuffle mode)
Shift control V
Duplicate highlighted
audio
Control D
Control D
Make Crossfade from
selection
Control F (opens fade window), Alt
control F (uses default fade)
Control F
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
Fade Out from cursor to
segment end
Alt G
Control F
Fade In from cursor to
segment end
Alt D
Control F
Consolidate Clips
Alt shift 3
No equivalent – use grouping
Nudge Clip
Fn start < fn start > (on compact
keyboard) + or – (on extended
keyboard )
Control left or right arrow
Change Nudge value
Control alt +/-
Zoom in or out – nudge value
correlates to zoom level. Zoom out for
coarse nudge, Zoom in for fine nudge.
Move clip vertically to new
track
Start drag with grabber tool
Control up or down arrow
Auto-Level selected clip
No equivalent
Control L
Selecting
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
Select from current
segment to end
Alt shift return
Shift END (extended keyboards), Shift
Fn right arrow (compact Keyboards)
Select from current
segment to beginning
Shift return
Shift home (extended keyboards),
Shift Fn left arrow (compact
Keyboards)
Select all segments on
track
Control A
De-Select all segments
Escape
Group Tracks
Shift-click or command-click on track
names to be made a group. Press
Control G
Shift-click or command-click on track
names to be made a group. start-click
on any track name, choose “link
tracks”
Ungroup Tracks
Shift control G to suspend all groups
deselect group name in groups
window
Start-click on any track name in the
group, choose “unlink tracks”
Select contiguous clips
Shift-click on last adjacent clip
Shift-click on last adjacent clip
Select non contiguous
clips
Control click on clips
Control click on clips
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
Group highlighted clips
Alt Control G
Control G
Ungroup selected clips
Alt Control U
Control G
Mute/Unmute clips
Control M
No equivalent
Lock/Unlock clips
Control L
No equivalent
Play selection
Alt [
Shift spacebar
Markers
Shortcut
Pro Tools
Hindenburg
Add marker
Enter (on numeric keyboard) fn
Return (on compact keyboard)
Control Enter
Go to marker
. marker number . (on numeric
keyboard)
Enter numbers 3-9 (and zero)
double-click on marker name in
marker window
Software-Specific Commands:
Hindenburg
Auto-level
Hindenburg automatically adjusts the level of your clips when you import them.
You can turn this on or off, and change the reference level in the Menu:
Hindenburg>>Preferences>>Advanced. We highly advise that you leave autoleveling on, it’s a very handy tool. Leveling is automatically applied when a clip
is imported into the timeline, or a recording is made; but that adjustment is
made based on the average levels of the entire clip. After editing a clip, the
resulting average level might be different, especially if you’ve removed any
significantly loud or quiet sections. You can re-apply loudness normalization to
a highlighted clip by pressing Control + L.
You can play audio forward or backward at high or low speeds by using
the J,K and L keys. KL held down together will play the audio quickly in the
forward direction. JK held down together will do the same thing, but moving
backward.
JKL scrubbing
Holding the SHIFT key while using JK or KL will cause the audio to play back
slowly, which is often an easier way to find precise audio events by ear than
scrubbing by clicking and dragging across the audio while holding the control
key.
Select gap between
clips:
Triple Click with the mouse. This is very helpful for selecting a region into which
you can paste ambience or other audio that will smooth the transition between
clips.
Insert Silence
Control + right arrow
Delete Silence
Control + left arrow
Rehearse Edit
Control Shift Spacebar
Clipboard
The Hindenburg clipboard is one of the most powerful components of the
program. It allows neat organization of clips, and efficient movement of clips in
and out of the timeline.
Move clip from
timeline to clipboard
Control + drag clip
Copy selected clip to
clipboard (each
clipboard has its own
number)
Alt + control + (clipboard number)
Copy selected clip to
Favorites
Control alt + 0 (zero)
Copy top clip in
clipboard to timeline
(at playhead)
Alt + (clipboard number)
Markers
Control 3, control 4, control 5, up to 9 (and zero) – set markers numbers 3-0. You
can then jump to markers 3,4,5,6,7,8,9 and 0 by simply pressing that number.
Markers 1 and 2 are always the most recently set in and out points. If you ever
get lost, not sure where in the project you are, pressing 1 or 2 will zoom to the
most recent edit.
Control shift enter – make chapter marker (at playhead).
Pro Tools
Hold option key to apply changes to all tracks.
Hold control key when making fine adjustments.
You can switch between the four edit modes by using the function keys (go to
your computer’s System Preference and make sure you have your keyboard
set to use those function keys as function keys, not as system shortcuts)
F1: Shuffle Mode
Edit Modes
F2: Slip Mode
F3: Spot Mode
F4: Grid Mode
Similarly, you can select the editing tools with function keys as well:
F5: Zoomer Tool
F6: Trimmer Tool
F7: Selector Tool
Tools
F8: Grabber Tool
F9: Scrubber Tool
F10: Pencil Tool
F6 and F7 together will activate the Smart Tool .
Pressing those Function keys repeatedly will change tool modes, such as
standard trim, time stretch or loop for the Trimmer Tool.
Enable or Disable “Tab
to Transients”
This determines whether the tab key jumps to next transient, or to next edit
boundary: Control Alt Tab
Heal Separation
Pro Tools can remove edit breaks if clips have not been moved or otherwise
altered relative to one another. Click and drag to make selection across the
edit, then press Control + H
Strip Silence
Identify quiet sections of audio to remove: Control + U
Jeff Towne has been producing radio programs since he was a teenager, back
then with a portable Marantz cassette deck and a Teac four-track reel-to-reel tape
recorder, and now with digital recorders and computer workstations. After honing
his broadcasting skills at high school and college radio stations, Jeff has spent
over two decades as the producer of the nationally-syndicated radio program
Echoes. At Echoes, he has done extensive recording of interviews and musical
performances, produced documentary features, and prepared daily programs for
satellite and internet distribution. As Transom.org's Tools Editor, Jeff has reviewed
dozens of audio recorders, editing software, and microphones, and written guides
for recording, editing and mixing audio for radio and the web. Jeff has also taught
classes and presented talks on various aspects of audio production. When not
tweaking audio files, Jeff can probably be found eating (and compulsively taking
pictures) at that little restaurant with the unpronounceable name that you always
wondered about.