I'm nearly 20 years in but it doesn’t matter how long one uses Pro Tools for, it seems there are some mistakes one can keep making, they fall in the really dumb category, these are my five:
Track Confusion
Creating a mono track instead of a stereo one and vice versa. I must have deleted a million pointless tracks since starting to use Pro Tools. I wish you could switch track types after they have been created, it's possible in other DAWs.
Arms Race
Hitting record and forgetting to arm the track and then getting the message that seems to have the same voice that my wife uses when I miss a turn when driving.
Disappearing Window
During high speed editing hitting the ‘W’ instead of the ‘E’ key and finding the window disappears rather than an edit occurring. No I don’t use focus I use CMD, old habits die hard.
Screenshots!
Hitting the wrong keyboard combo when consolidating regions and ending up with a screen shot… or 10 if I think it isn’t working! How many times have you found a hundred screen shots littering your desktop?
Click Click
Creating my third click track after forgetting I already have two inactive and hidden. I do wish Pro Tools didn't rely on a regular track to make click tracks.
What's Your Pain Point?
We often talk about muscle memory when referring to knowing keyboard shortcuts, they help us to do things fast without even thinking - it seems there is a flip of that coin that means I make the same mistakes again and again.
So those are my 5 face palms, what are your recurring moments of stupidity?