In this free video tutorial, Pro Tools Expert team member Julian Rodgers demonstrates a quick way to check the length of material left beyond the clip boundary to the beginning or end of the parent file.

Handles

I remember talking to an ex BBC editor who was new to Pro Tools, as large parts of the BBC have tended to use Sadie as their editing platform. She was disappointed that there was no option to view the handles on a clip. Apparently, you could view the outline of the available handles in Sadie, I've never used it but that was my understanding.

There isn't a direct equivalent of this in Pro Tools but this keystroke is close though there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

The "handles" of a clip refers to the parts of the parent file which lie beyond the in and the out points. If you trim the clip boundaries to extend the clip in either direction you are revealing these handles and just looking at a clip on the timeline there is no obvious indication how much if any, data there is available beyond the clip boundaries.

Trim To Start/End

Using the shortcuts demonstrated in this video you can quickly trim out to the start or end of the whole clip file or up the boundary of the next clip on the timeline if there is one or back to the song start.

• Trim To File End - CMD+Ctrl+Y

• Trim To File Start - CMD+Ctrl+R

• Trim To Both Start And End - CMD+Ctrl+T

PC users substitute CMD+Ctrl for Ctrl+Start

Moving the clip on to an empty track is a quick way to check the length of the handle beyond the out point without running up the next clip. If a clip trims out to the Song start then it is almost definitely going to have some more handle available beyond that point.

Watch the free video to see this in action