Jon Connolly is the most sought-after Pro Tools instructor in the world.
Having been with Avid since the company first started out as DigiDesign in the early ‘90s, he quickly became their Product Specialist in Los Angeles, offering Pro Tools installations, training, and support to major studios like Warner Bros., Universal, Capitol, The Village, Record One, Westlake, and more.
Today, Jon is a Pro Tools Master Instructor for Avid, travelling the world and training Pro Tools users of all levels. He also teaches at the world-renowned Berklee College of Music. In this tutorial, he shows us how to punch in and out of a recording in Pro Tools!
What is a “Punch In”?
A punch in, or simply “punch,” is a way of recording over an existing recording. Pretty easy, right?
Punching is useful for correcting mistakes in the middle of a take, or picking up recording where a good take left off. Rather than re-recording an entire take again, you can choose which parts to fix by using punches.
Creating a Punch in Pro Tools
Start by making a selection of the portion of a take you want to re-record. This tells Pro Tools you’ll only be recording over the given selection. Next, make sure you have Expanded Transport enabled in the Edit Window so you can set your pre-roll. Pre-roll tells Pro Tools to start playback ahead of your selection to give yourself time to find the flow of the song. From here it’s simply a matter of pressing record!
Quick Punch
Quick Punch, accessed from the Option menu, is a way to prevent recordings being cut off if you start performing before your selection. In Quick Punch record mode, Pro Tools actually begins non-destructively recording during pre-roll, which means you can edit your clip with greater precision since there’s more space that’s been recorded.
This is very useful if you’re coming in slightly early before a punch!
