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 clip, Jon teaches you how program tempo changes in Pro Tools.
Once you’ve established the basics of creating a click track and selecting the tempo from the MIDI Controls section in the Edit window, you can learn how to program tempo changes to fit the material you’re recording.
The first step is to enable the Conductor Track in Pro Tools, which is the fourth button underneath the MIDI Controls section. You can think of the Conductor Track like you would an actual conductor leading an ensemble of musicians. The click track will respond to any changes indicated by the Conductor Track.
Next, make sure you have the Tempo Ruler visible in the Rulers section of the Edit window. You’ll find Rulers just above the very first track in your session. Click the drop-down menu at the top, and select Tempo.
One of the simplest ways to create a tempo change is to select the bar where you want to insert the change and click the “+” next to the Tempo Ruler. A window will pop up allowing you to type in the new tempo.
For more precise linear tempo edits, you can draw them in manually. Start by expanding the Tempo Ruler by clicking the arrow to the left in the Rulers section. You’ll notice the tempo changes appear as blocks, from which you can draw in tempo information using the Pencil tool.
