The winner of the last of the four silver iLoks is David Teren who has developed an Automator script that he uses to cut out breaths. Note this is a Mac only tip which uses Automator built into the Mac OS to handle the script and shortcut. It is a handy tool for dealing with those repetitive tasks. This specific macro is handy for editing those nasty rushed radio commercials where the dialog is longer than the allocated flighting duration and so you can cut the breaths out and shorten the gap too.  Here is how you do it - over to you David....

First copy the text below....

## Cut a breath (Ctrl + Alt + C)
tell application "Pro Tools First"
  activate
  tell application "System Events" to key code 120 -- F2 -> Slip Mode
  delay 0.09
  tell application "System Events" to keystroke (ASCII character 127) -- Delete
  delay 0.02
  tell application "System Events" to keystroke (ASCII character 9) using {shift down} -- Shift + Tab
  delay 0.02
  tell application "System Events" to keystroke "L" using {shift down, control down, option down, command down} -- Shift + Cntrl + Opt + Cmnd + L
  delay 0.02
  tell application "System Events" to key code 122 -- F1 -> Shuffle Mode
  delay 0.02
  tell application "System Events" to keystroke (ASCII character 127) -- Delete
  delay 0.02
  tell application "System Events" to key code 120 -- F2 -> Slip Mode
end tell

Open the Automator app.

In the "Choose a type for your document" dialog pane select > Service & click the Choose button.

In the search field type "apple" and select "AppleScript" when it appears...

Drag & drop the selected AppleScript icon into window pane on the right

Select the existing code & replace it with the code copied from above

Change the "Service receives" option to "no input"

Select "Other " in the next field & then select your Pro Tools app

ave the service [Command+S] giving it an appropriate name

Close the Automator App

Create The Keyboard Shortcut

In System Preferences go to Keyboard > Shortcuts
In the left pane select Services
In the right pane select your Automator service (probably at the bottom of the list)

Click the add shortcut button & press the key combination you want to use. Be sure not to use a key combo that will conflict with your version of Pro Tools

Check that the service is available and the Keyboard shortcut is assigned in Pro Tools in the Service menu. If not restart Pro Tools

Using The Service

Select the breath you want to delete & the area you want to shorten

Use your key combo to run the service (Hint: Press & release quickly)

You can use your key combo twice or more times in succession to make longer gaps shorter.

David and I have discussed refining this script so that it could paste in clean room tone in the gaps.  Also you could modify it so that it didn't include the Shuffle command so the gap stayed the same length.  Back in the day I remember do ing this with 1/4" tape, cutting the breaths out but replacing them with clean room tone.

Well that is the last silver iLok awarded and thank you to everyone who has taken the trouble to share their tips and tricks with the community.

Please do continue to send in your tips and tricks and we will share the best ones with the community but the cupboard is bare now, we have given away all the iLoks.