One of the fastest ways to speed up your music production workflow is to learn the keyboard shortcuts of your DAW. Using a mouse to point and click adds up to minutes and hours over the course of project, when you could be pressing a couple of keys on the keyboard. That’s why we’re starting a series of essential keyboard shortcuts that will help you use Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton, Cubase or any other DAW much more smoothly.
Often when mixing or mastering, it’s important to be able to jump around to different parts or sections of a track. If you’re mixing vocals on a song, for example, you may want to be able to quickly jump from the chorus to a verse to hear how they’re interacting with the mix. This is where using markers can be a huge time saver.
A marker is a placeholder in your track that you determine as an important point in the mix. With markers in place, you can quickly navigate to the important sections in your track without having to use a mouse.
A simple application of using the marker tool is putting points at the verse, chorus and bridge of a song. But, you can certainly use markers as extensively as you want. You may, for example, want to put a marker at every important change in the mix, such as the point where drums come in or where the harmony line cuts out.
You can name your markers for even easier organization and navigation using the best sat nav. This can be quite helpful when you’re collaborating with others and trying to communicate about different parts of the track.
Logic Pro | Marker Keyboard Shortcut
In Logic Pro X, the keyboard shortcut to create new marker is ⌥ ’ (hold the option key while striking the apostrophe). You also can navigate to the next left marker (⌥ ,) and to the next right marker (⌥ .).
Pro Tools | Memory Location Keyboard Shortcut
In Pro Tools, markers are called “memory locations.” Creating a new memory location is as easy as hitting the enter key next to the number pad. To quickly move through these memory locations, hover your cursor over the markers timeline and strike the tab key.
Ableton | Locator Keyboard Shortcut
In Ableton, markers are called “locators.” Creating one is as simple as holding control and command while striking the ‘A’ key. Once they are set up, you can MIDI map buttons to toggle between locators using your MIDI controller.
Cubase | Marker Keyboard Shortcut
Cubase will allow you to set markers using command and a number correlating the marker in sequence. (Command 1 to set the first marker, for example.) Once they’re set up, hitting shift and the corresponding number will navigate to that marker.
A quick disclaimer: new versions of your DAW can sometimes mean old keyboard shortcuts are changed. Often an online search can quickly tell you what the most up to date shortcuts are.
Whether you’re arranging, mixing or mastering, having the ability to quickly jump to the different sections of your track without scrolling and clicking will save you time and frustration. By learning the keyboard shortcuts to set markers in your DAW you’ll gain a tool that will benefit your projects for years to come.
So, Why A Membership?
Let’s face it — trying to create professional mixes without the correct knowledge, tools, services, and network is like playing a concert with a broken instrument to an audience of no one.
That’s where the Sage Audio membership comes in — the membership gives you everything you need to create professional mixes consistently.
The membership is the secret to your success — it’s the difference between the 1,929,999,999 of poor-sounding mixes and the .00000002% of mixes that make people say 'WOW!"
There are 7 unique value-points included in your Sage Audio membership.
Let’s go over each one so you can decide if the membership is right for you.
1. Sage Audio University
- SAU Flagship Mixing Course: 23-video in-depth mixing course that reveals the little-known secrets of mixing and matches the needs of the new music industry.
- SAU Flagship Mastering Course: 19-video in-depth modern mastering course that dives into every nuance of making professional-sounding masters.
- SAU Pre-Mastering Course: Concise pre-mastering course that details the latest industry standards for preparing your mixes for mastering.
- SAU is designed for every experience level, ranging from budding mixing engineers to advanced engineers. The techniques and concepts taught can be applied to any DAW to create industry-leading mixes without expensive software or plugins - and free plugin alternatives are suggested throughout each course.
- Each SAU course includes Start-to-Finish session walkthrough lessons for multiple genres so you can follow along with your preferred genre.
- SAU Certification Document, which can be downloaded and showcased on your website and social channels.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
2. Private 1-on-1 Mentorship
- The Sage Audio private 1-on-1 Mentorship gives you direct access to us for advanced mixing feedback, in-depth discussions, and customized guidance that's tailored to your specific needs.
- Unlimited private access to us for advanced mixing feedback, where we provide detailed suggestions for improvement.
- Unlimited private access to us for in-depth discussions to help you improve every aspect of your mixes and masters.
- Customized guidance that’s tailored specifically to your needs.
- Fast communication so you can improve your skills quickly.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
3. Unlimited Mixing Feedback
- Unlimited professional mixing feedback directly from us so you can consistently improve your skills and create professional mixes.
- Mixing feedback is invaluable, and the Sage Audio membership gives you continual direct access to us for real-world feedback so you can improve every aspect of each of your mixes while you're in the process of mixing.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
4. 50 Free Mastered Songs Per Year
- 50 free mastered songs per year with your own dedicated professional mastering engineer so you can get all your mixes sounding like professional songs.
- You get your own dedicated Sage Audio mastering engineer to create custom masters that are specific to you and sound exactly how you want.
- Unlimited revisions with your dedicated mastering engineer. As a standard of our service, we are not happy until you are happy with the sound of your masters.
- All masters are delivered as commercial, industry-standard high-resolution 24-bit HD WAV masters so they will sound clean and clear on every platform.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
5. Community
- The Sage Audio community is a tight-knit community of passionate audio engineers who can provide you with additional real-world mixing feedback, meaningful discussions, networking, collaborations, and more.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
6. 70+ GB of Curated Sage Audio Downloadable Content
- 36 multitrack sessions spanning multiple genres for mixing practice.
- 57 un-mastered mixes spanning multiple genres for mastering practice.
- 62 Recommended Free Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 39 Recommended Paid Plugins List (vetted, tested, and approved, so you don’t have to).
- 71 Sage Audio custom plugin presets to improve your mixes and masters.
- Sage Audio Membership Badge to showcase on your website, social channels, and portfolio.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
7. 800+ Video Catalog
- Access 700+ in-depth Sage Audio mixing and mastering videos - curated and organized into categories so you can easily take a deep dive into all aspects of audio engineering with thousands of hours of concise, expertly crafted Sage Audio videos to continually improve your skills at your own pace.
Yes, I want to join the membership now >
