User Manual

Pro Tools Reference Guide1000
Track Freeze
Pro Tools lets you “freeze” audio, Auxiliary Input,
and Instrument tracks. When you freeze a track,
the source material (audio and MIDI) on the track
is replaced with audio that has been processed by
all of the plug-ins on the track (or only up to a spec-
ified insert), including instrument plug-ins. This
process is reversible, so you can “unfreeze” frozen
tracks.
Freezing tracks is useful for freeing up processing
power in your session for other tracks and process-
ing tasks. It is especially useful for exchanging ses-
sions with other systems that may not have all of
the same plug-ins as your system. Rather than
committing tracks as final print tracks, you can
freeze tracks that you want to share but might want
to keep editing while that track is shared or out for
review.
The ability to unfreeze a track lets you go back and
adjust plug-in settings or edit track material (such
as audio or MIDI data to correct a note or rhythm)
and then re-freeze the track.
To freeze (or un-freeze) one or more tracks, do one
of the following:
 Select one or more tracks and choose Track >
Freeze
(or Unfreeze).
 Click the Track Freeze icon in the Track con-
trols so that it is highlighted (or unhighlighted).
 Right-click on the track name and select Freeze
(or
Unfreeze).
When a track is frozen, any plug-ins on the track
are made inactive. On Instrument tracks, the wave-
form of the frozen audio is superimposed over the
MIDI data on the track as a visual cue.
On Auxiliary Input tracks, the waveform of the
frozen audio is shown as a visual cue.
Editing is disabled on frozen tracks. To make
edits, unfreeze the track, make the edits you
want, and then re-freeze the track. For more
information, see “Editing Restrictions on
Frozen Tracks” on page 1002.
Option-Shift-Click (Mac) or Alt-Shift-Click
(Windows) to freeze all selected tracks. Op-
tion-Click (Mac) or Alt-Click (Windows) to
freeze all audio, Auxiliary Input, and Instru-
ment tracks.
Frozen Instrument track, Freeze icon highlighted
Frozen Auxiliary Input track with source audio track
shown—Freeze icon highlighted