I’m addicted to markers. They help me organize, plan, and stay on schedule every episode I work on. They also serve as a visual reward where you can see the progress you’re making, deleting markers as you go. In this blog post I’ll give you some tips and tricks on how to use markers to your advantage, and give you some ideas on how it may fit into your workflow.
Personally, I begin each episode by making a marker for each sound in that episode. Every pat, every design moment, every sip of a mug, I mark it. I color code my markers as well; pink for pats, blue for whooshes, yellow for design/everything else. Then I divide the total number of yellow markers by the number of days I have on each episode and that’s how many markers I need to knock out each day (e.g. 500 markers ÷ 5 days = 100 markers/day). I ignore pats and whooshes in this marker count, because 100 pat markers is not equal in time to 100 design markers. I can usually knock out some pats and whooshes at the end of each day after I hit my design marker goal. This works well for me too because my creative juices are drained by the end of the work day, so pats/whooshes are the perfect thing for my focus-drained brain to do in the last portion of the day.
This system allows me to organize my markers alphabetically and cut all similar sounds in one big pass, which is a huge time saver.
Here is a picture of one of my sessions in progress:
The Basics
To create a marker, click enter on your numeric keypad. Or click Function→Enter if you don’t have a numeric keypad.
To delete a marker, hold option and click on a marker (in either your memory locations window or in the main marker ruler at the top of your session). You can also simply highlight a marker in the main marker ruler and hit delete.
To open your Memory Locations window, hit Command →5 (on the numeric keypad). Or go to Window → Memory Locations in your toolbar.
To edit a marker, double click or command click on a marker in either your memory locations window or in the main marker ruler.
Color Coding Markers
When would I use this?
I personally color code to indicate the type of sound (pats/whooshes/design). Sometimes I’ll add a red marker for something I need to record, or a black marker if I have a question for my supervisor about a specific sound.
If you’re marking up a footsteps session, you could color code by character.
Sometimes there’s a sequence of sounds that need to be lined up (say footsteps, wing flaps, etc), so I’ll make a sequence of green markers in my session with which to snap these individual sounds. Making them green helps me differentiate between these temporary sync markers and the rest of my design/pat/whoosh markers. Then I can organize my markers by color in my marker window, and quickly delete all these green markers.
How would I use this?
When creating a marker, you’ll see a section for color, along with quick keyboard shortcuts for setting these colors. Control 1-8, and Command 1-8 allow you to pick between 16 different colors.
You can sort your markers by color within your Memory Locations window by hitting the drop down arrow in the top right of your Memory Locations window, hovering over “Sort By,” and selecting “Color.”
Maybe you hate color coding and you want a rainbow of colors in your session - you can randomize marker color upon creation by going to Setup → Preferences →Display Tab (default 1st tab) →Randomize Marker Color Upon Creation
Organizing Markers Alphabetically
When Would I Use This?
Say there’s an episode where a character is sweating constantly, I can cut every sweat marker in a single pass. Or if a character’s front door is opened 10 times throughout an episode, I can cut all those door markers at once.
How Would I Use This?
If you want to use this alphabetical system, it’s very important that you’re paying attention to how you name your markers. If you name one marker “sweat drip” and the other “drip sweat,” they’re going to be in two totally different places in your marker window once your sort alphabetically. I always name markers by “noun, verb” (e.g. car skid, paper flap, chair sit).
You can organize your markers alphabetically within your Memory Locations window by hitting the drop down arrow in the top right of your Memory Locations window, hovering over “Sort By,” then selecting “Marker Name.”
Marker Comments
When Would I Use This?
Marker comments are a great way to leave notes for yourself, or anyone else, without muddying up your marker ruler. I may leave a comment to my supervisor to indicate a retake that will need to be checked for sync. Or I may leave a comment for myself like “directors asked that this sound be silly and sparkly.”
How Would I Use This?
Simply type up a comment in the comment section when creating a marker. You can double click on a maker (in either the memory locations window, or in the marker ruler) to view your comments. You can also view comments as a column in the memory locations window.
Changing Marker Auto-Naming When Playing
When Would I Use This?
I always keep this option unchecked. I’m particular about how my markers are named, so I always want the New Memory Location window to pop up so that I can name and color my markers. But you may just be going through and making markers every time a dog barks in your episode, and not really need to name your markers. You may just want to keep the video going without having the New Memory Location window pop up. If this option is checked, your markers will be named automatically, in numerical order “Location #”. This is only relevant while the session/video is playing. If paused, a New Memory Location window will always appear.
How would I Use This?
To change this setting go to Setup → Preferences → Editing Tab (3rd tab) →Auto-Name Memory Locations when Playing
Converting a Spreadsheet to Markers
When Would I Use This?
I personally have never done this, but I know people who have. It’s helpful for when you have a lot of notes, either written out on a spreadsheet, or even in Frame.io, and you want to get all of those notes into your session as markers instead of having to refer to another source.
How Would I Use This?
EdiMarker is an application that allows you to load markers into Pro Tools using data from a text file. Again, I’ve never used this application, but if you think this might be helpful in your workflow, give it a try!
Converting Markers to a Spreadsheet
When Would I Use This?
Not all pro tools are created equal - some versions don’t have the option to color your markers or sort alphabetically. I used to export my markers as a text and upload them into an excel sheet whenever I needed to record footsteps so that I could sort them alphabetically and color them by character.
As a side note, before I had a version of Pro Tools that allowed me to color code and sort by color/marker name, I would name all my pats starting with “@@” and all my whooshes starting with “~~” so I could easily pick them out of my marker list and still complete my pats/whooshes in a big pass.
I’m sure there are many other ways you could use this - say you’re spotting with a director, and you’re marking their spotting notes in a session. Then you want to send those notes to the dialog editor, foley editor, sound effects editor, and mixer. You could export the markers into a spreadsheet, and color categorize the notes for each person on the team.
How Would I Do This?
I have this all detailed in this blog under “Exporting Markers As Text”
Did I miss anything? Tell us how you use markers in your workflow!
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