If you are someone who records music using a daw (Pro Tools, Logic, Cubase, etc.), how well do you know your keyboard shortcuts? And how often do you use them? Keyboard shortcuts are an amazing, and often overlooked way to increase your efficiency in the studio.

I remember years back when I was first starting to record, I primarily used my mouse to find my way around and perform operations. I knew a small handful of basic shortcuts, and I thought I was doing a pretty good job, or at least as good as anyone else. And then I got a chance to visit an established studio and quickly realized how wrong I was...

The engineer at this studio seemed like he was moving at about 500 miles an hour. He was making all kinds of changes and getting things done left and right before I could even figure out what was going on. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t keep up with him. It left a huge impression on me and changed the way I approached recording.

The best way to learn the keyboard shortcuts for your programs is to go a little at a time. Maybe even just try learning 1 a day. In a month you’ll know 30. In 3 months, you’ll know almost 100. Learning these at a slow pace will also give you time to integrate using them in your recording sessions.

You can find keyboard shortcuts for your daw by searching for them in google. (ex. “pro tools keyboard shortcuts”). Also, please remember that your daw’s shortcuts may be different, depending on if you are using a mac or a pc.

Written by: Christopher Bright

Tags: daw, speed, christopher bright

As I’m sure you are all aware, there is a musical alphabet that we all know and love, and it goes as follows...

A,B,C,D,E,F,G

Now this is simple enough. It’s only 7 letters long, and I’ll bet you can you say “A-B-C-D-E-F-G!!” In a fraction a second, with little to no effort. But how fast can you say that sequence backwards?? Take a second to close your eyes and try it out. When you're finished, ask yourself this question: “How hard did I have to think about that?" If you're having to put any effort into it at all, then you're putting in more than you need to. Could you do this as fast as you could saying it forward??

Let’s take this a step further. What’s 3 steps down from G? What’s 4 steps down from F?

The problem this can create is that you end up having to put more thought and effort into playing your instrument than you need to. This can apply to chord progressions,leads, or whatever exercises you happen to be working on. In addition, this can factor heavily into your ability to transpose songs into different keys (which often needs to be done on the fly). Knowing the musical alphabet both forward and backward can significantly improve the time and effort you need to put into these activities. So go practice your G-F-E-D-C-B-A’s and soon, you'll find you'll have one less thing to worry about...

Written by: Christopher Bright

Tags: transposing, guitar, bass, keys, christopher bright