Occasionally, you may want to work on a project that includes audio from other sources. It may be a commercially available song, or audio track(s) from an internet collaborator, or any number of other sources.

The question then arises; how do you determine the tempo of the audio track(s) provided if it is not provided by the author of the media, and the information is not embedded in the file and available in the Pro Tools Workspace?

My first recommendation is to request the information from the media’s author. If, for some reason, they cannot provide you with that information (if it’s a collaborator, they should be able to provide this information) or you are in some way unable to obtain it, the following tutorial should help you determine the tempo in Pro Tools. You are going to need to know at least what meter the music is in, however, but most people can do that just by listening to the music in question.

1. Create a new session at the sample rate and bit depth at which you want to work. You might also want to set the meter, but that is not really necessary at this point.
2. If Pro Tools is not set to automatically create a click track in new sessions, add a click track.
3. mute the click track (for now)
4. Make sure that the tempo ruler is visible (View->Rulers->Tempo)
5. Make sure that the "Tab to Transient" feature is enabled.
6. Make sure that the transport is set to "Loop Playback" (this makes it easier to determine that you have a proper measure selected later)
7. Make sure that the preference for "Drag and Drop  from the desktop conforms to session tempo" (Setup->Preferences Processing tab) is not set to "All Files" and that the audio file that you are importing is not a REX or ACID file.
8. Create a new audio track in your session of the appropriate type to match the imported file (stereo for stereo, mono for mono)
9. Make sure that the track is set as sample based, not tick based.
10. Make sure that the track has any elastic audio turned off.
11. Drag and drop the audio file you are importing onto the new track
12. Playback Pro Tools to make sure you can hear the audio track
13. Determine, by listening, where the downbeat of the first measure of the imported track is.
14. Place the protools cursor just before that point and press the tab key. Pressing the tab key should place the cursor exactly on the downbeat of the first measure (If not, you need to manually manipulate the cursor so that it is exactly on the downbeat of the first measure)
15. Press and hold the "shift" key and press tab again to select from the first downbeat to the next detected transient. Repeat this process until you have one or two full measures selected. Pressing play while loop playback is selected will loop over this selection and allow you to make sure that the selection is made properly and is "in time". (If it isn’t, you will have to manually adjust the selection in slip mode. You should definitely know how to manually adjust a selection before trying this procedure :)  )
16. Once you have made the selection properly, and are sure that it is looping in time to the tempo of the prerecorded song, open the Identify Beat window (ctrl + I)
17. On the identify Beat window, you need to set the start location at 1:1:000 (since you selected the very first downbeat of the very first measure) and set the Time Signature to the value that it should be for the song you imported (4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc), then set the End Location to whatever measure you selected to (if you selected 1 bar, then it would be 2:1:000, if two then 3:1:000), and make sure you select the same time signature as before.
18. Press "OK"

At this point, you have determined what the tempo is for the selection that you made, and Pro Tools has both inserted it into the timeline for you and moved the song start marker to the first downbeat you selected (also inserted a meter change even if it is not different from the session default). You can now un-mute the click track and check the tempo of the click against the audio. If it does not match, you have done something wrong; either with the selection of the measure(s), or with the time signature selection, or both and you will need to undo and correct.

Many times, especially when music has been recorded to a strict click/metronome, this will be the only thing you have to do as the rest of the song will be at the same tempo as you detected. However, if the original performer didn’t use a click/metronome, and/or the click/metronome from the recorded audio is too far out of sync with the Pro Tools click/clock, or if there are tempo or meter changes within the song, then you will have to go through the song measure by measure and repeat the process. You will need to make sure that when continuing, you not only make sure you make the selection (don’t just select the grid, because that isn’t going to work) and that you indicate on the identify beat window what measure the start and end point is.

Click Here for Download Info

From the Flux website:

"Turning the central button on the sweet side, decreases the transients amplitude. On the bitter side, the transients amplitude is magnified. Bitter-Sweet also features a control for the signal to be processed. When the main position is engaged, the process affects the stereo signal. If Center is engaged, only the M signal of the internal MS matrix is processed. If stereo is selected, only the S signal from the MS matrix is processed. Three transient detection modes can be selected. A varying period of integration for transients can be accessed. A Link function is available to compensate the output gain regarding the transient processing setting."

(Click here for download info )

From the Flux website:

"Stereo Tool features ultra precise controls of input gain and individual pan for left and right channels. A phase inverter is available for each channel. A global stereo pan and a stereo width settings are also implemented to complete the management of the stereo signal.

Stereo Tool also offers an accurate visual feedback reflecting the signal content. A vector scope display, PPM meters for both inputs and outputs, and a phase correlation meter permanently monitor the signal. "

Coming Soon!

XPand! is a free virtual instrument plugin provided by Digidesign with all new Pro Tools LE systems. If you already have a Pro Tools system, it can also be obtained for free from your local retailer (if they have them in stock, which unfortunately, they probably don’t) and also from the Digistore for only the cost of shipping the disk to you ($10, and completely worth it in my opinion).

The plugin functions as a standard MIDI sound module, with a multitude of standard sounds built in.

There are 28 categories of patches in Xpand, with 1177 patches in all, with the ability to blend the presets and individual sounds and make your own patches.

Click here for a list of the category patches in the XPand! plugin. Click on the patch category for a list of patches.

Here is a list of the 28 different patch categories in Digidesign’s XPand virtual instrument. Click on the category name for a list of patches in that category:

01 Soft Pads (68 patches)
02 Bright Pads (68 patches)
03 Huge Pads (23 patches)
04 Action Pads (57 patches)
05 Ambience + FX (69 patches)
06 Polysynths (73 patches)
07 Synth Brass (17 patches)
08 Percussive (46 patches)
09 Multitrack Arpeggios (31 patches)
10 Simple Arpeggios (27 patches)
11 Soft Leads (51 patches)
12 Hard Leads (56 patches)
13 Acoustic Piano (32 patches)
14 E Pianos + Clav (47 patches)
15 Organs (35 patches)
16 Strings (35 patches)
17 Vocals (34 patches)
18 Brass + Woodwind (36 patches)
19 Mallets (32 patches)
20 Bells (47 patches)
21 Guitars (40 patches)
22 Ethnic (28 patches)
23 Hits (16 patches)
24 Synth Basses (70 patches)
25 Basses (21 patches)
26 Drums (46 patches)
27 Percussion (25 patches)
28 Loops (47 patches)

01 Sweepscape
02 Majestic Glimmer
03 Square Pad
04 Seaspray
05 Wide Lands
06 Silky Pad
07 Smooth Wavetable
08 Warmth Pad
09 Shimmer
10 All Is Good
11 Bell Pad
12 Singing Pad
13 Soft Noiseband
14 X-Mas Pad
15 Slow Swimmer
16 Soft Stringy Pad
17 Big Wave
18 Kapow Pad
19 Soft-Phase
20 Sweeping Overtones
21 Big Symphonic Swell
22 Comin’ In
23 Silent Movie
24 Gentle Bells Sweep
25 Gentle Man
26 Czech Animations
27 Alexander
28 DNA
29 Phaser Pad
30 Darvin
31 Fehler Tron Choir
32 Rhodes Pad
33 Simple Sine
34 Smooth Sweeper
35 Synthetic Woods
36 80s Synth Stack
37 Soft Machine Gun
38 Basic Soft Pad
39 72mm
40 Triangle Bend
41 Marflow The Elephant
42 Green Guys
43 The Alps
44 Wide Strings
45 Distance
46 Airy Pad
47 Cushion
48 Fehler Tron Strings
49 Grand Octave
50 Mellow Band Pass Pad
51 Cuddly Pad
52 Synthistrinx
53 Simple Saw Pad
54 Soft + Squarish
55 Reedy Pad
56 Warm + Fluffy
57 Swoosh Pad
58 Sine Bend
59 Noise Band
60 Organic
61 Basic Detuned Saw Pad
62 Basic Saw Pad
63 Basic Digital Menu
64 Basic Square Pad
65 Basic Sine Pad
66 Basic Triangle Pad
67 Basic PWM Pad
68 Basic Pulse Pad

01 Swan Sea
02 Mysterious Bells
03 Bright Bend Up Pad
04 Majestic
05 Bright Sync Sweep
06 Oceanica
07 Pizziwash
08 Scary Choir
09 Sweeper
10 Ocean-Pad
11 Shower Gel
12 Steamy Square
13 The Living Thing
14 Wave Romance
15 Classic 5th Sweeper
16 Bright HPF Sweep
17 Sparkle
18 Airways
19 Bellypad
20 Super Smooth
21 Star Rain Pad
22 Artificially Enhanced
23 Digital Studio
24 Flutronic
25 Big Belly Pad
26 Electric Pad
27 Sawtooth Bend
28 Bright PWM
29 Floater
30 Band Pass Square
31 Bright Octaves
32 Slap Bells
33 Heavy Octaves
34 Big One
35 Soft Fizzle
36 Sweep-Modular
37 Bright Wave Bells
38 Bright’n'Smooth
39 Resolution
40 Thriller
41 Religious
42 Bright Sync Waves
43 Manta
44 Fuzzy Saws 2
45 Fuzzy Saws 3
46 High Pass Sweeper
47 Nice Sweeper
48 Saw + Strings
49 Soft Square Pad
50 Tubeway Armies
51 Square Bend
52 Big Sweeper Pad
53 Digital Cascade
54 Africa
55 Fuzzy Saws
56 Lightfair
57 Phaser Jet
58 Reasonable Pad
59 Strings+Brass
60 Forward And Bright
61 Tune Up
62 Basic Detuned Saw Pad
63 Basic Saw Pad
64 Basic Digital Pad
65 Basic Square Pad
66 Basic PWM Pad
67 Basic Pulse Pad
68 Basic Triangle Pad

01 Majestic
02 Mother Of All Pads
03 Space Is The Place
04 Intro
05 Massive Pad
06 Orion
07 Space Trouble
08 Fat Octave Pad
09 Flight Attendant
10 Bright Breathy Pad
11 Jet Stream
12 Cloudy Choir
13 Epic Pad
14 Heavy Pad
15 Wet Pad
16 Dark Side
17 Celeste
18 Shuttle Trip
19 Smooth Pad
20 Choral
21 Epos
22 Fly Over
23 Full Hand

01 Idea-Pad
02 Spinning
03 Mystery Pad
04 Harmonics Reso Atmos
05 Far Drums
06 Metal With Mandolins
07 Protestnik Vogon Jeltz
08 Stars-Pad
09 Confusion
10 Marimba Sprinkles
11 Santa
12 Cavemen
13 Siddartha
14 Synco Funk
15 TheGoodTheBad&TheAlien
16 Bender
17 Vocoder Loop Pad
18 Sample & Hold Pad 2
19 Chaotic Stream
20 Sequenced Pad
21 Space Medusa
22 Italostyle
23 Space Saga
24 Blades
25 Hollow Phaser Gate
26 Blowing Up
27 Deep Sea Diver
28 Rich Pad + Sparkles
29 Gentle Pulser
30 And More
31 Forwarder Pad
32 Rich Chaos
33 Määh!
34 Square Sample & Hold
35 Laurie
36 The Void
37 Elektronik Measurement
38 Meta Thrill
39 REM
40 Pulsing-Heart-Pad
41 Sample & Hold Pad 1
42 Slow Starter
43 Paranoid Drumming
44 SpaceRace
45 Glittering
46 Into Focus
47 Nephology
48 Pulsing Schwoong
49 Turkish Radio
50 Acid Arp
51 Rhythmic Shift
52 Seconds
53 Soft Signals
54 String Attacks
55 Bright Lights
56 Glittering Pad
57 Translator-Pad