Here’s a quick tutorial on using the ProTools Identify Beat command (also known as Tempo Mapping).

ProTools Identify Beat Tutorial from Nick Daley on Vimeo.

You’re in ProTools and ready to make a mixout so you highlight your regions and press command+D to duplicate — what the — your midi has shifted away from your audio. This happens if you’ve identified a beat and the tempo before/after that section is different. Rather than go put the midi region back into place by hand, just select the tempo ruler along with the regions you’re duplicating. This will make sure your tempo map gets copied as well. Here’s a quick video to demonstrate.

I thought it might be a good idea to do a video demonstrating how to set your tempo grid in Pro-Tools. I get a lot of questions/comments from people saying they’re not quite sure how to begin with the whole ‘identify beat’ thing. Definitely this beginning step can throw a wrench in your whole project if done incorrectly so I completely understand your frustration. It’s a process that is best learned hands on (and second best learned visually). Read more »