In the June 2023 release of Pro Tools we saw several enhancements to the functionality of markers. Julian covered this in detail in his article and accompanying video ‘Going Deeper With Pro Tools Track Markers’. One of the key benefits brought about in this update was the ability to add markers to specific tracks. This can be useful for various things, including adding lyrics and performance notes to a vocal performance in a music session or for marking ADR or foley in post.
Track markers can be used to mark a fixed timeline location or a point in a particular clip. Whether the marker moves or not when editing is determined by the Marker Follows Edit Button at the top of the edit window. It’s the second one along in this screenshot. The ability to have a marker associated with a clip may sound quite similar to the Sync Point feature which we’ve had for years. The question is, what are the key differences between clip markers and sync points and when might you use one or the other? Let’s find out by considering a few possible use cases.
Clip Snapping
If you have a clip which is used multiple times in a project, as might be the case with certain sound effects in a post session, you may wish to mark a particular point within that clip. For example, you might mark the transient in a door slam effect as a convenient way of then aligning that part of the clip to specific timeline locations. Using a sync point for this makes sense because sync points snap to the grid when using Pro Tools in Grid mode and you can use the clip snapping shortcut Control+Shift when clicking on the clip to align its sync point to the cursor location. The clue is in the name with sync points. They’re for syncing clips to exact locations.
A track marker would be less suitable in this case because, whilst it can move with the clip when it’s copied, pasted and moved around the timeline, the marker itself can’t be used as a reference point for clip snapping. As always, the front of the clip can still be snapped by Control clicking on it but the actual marked location doesn’t snap to anything. I will mention the fact that you can snap the marker itself to the cursor location by Control clicking on it, but the clip doesn’t move with it.
Adding Comments To Clips
One of the improvements to markers introduced in Pro Tools 2023.6 was in how comments can be displayed. Previously, markers could have comments associated with them but you’d have to actually double click on the marker to view and read the comment. Now, with both timeline and track markers, we can choose to display the comment by clicking on the Prioritise Marker Name vs Comment button in the markers ruler or on a track. In this case, the comment will be displayed instead of the marker name whenever a comment is present.
When adding performance notes to a clip, this is a great feature and something which can’t be done with sync points.
Combining Clip Markers And Sync Points
There’s nothing stopping us using both a sync point and markers for any given clip. Perhaps you need the sync point so you can snap the clip as mentioned earlier, but also want to add comments to the clip such as edit notes. In this case, both can be used, giving us the benefits of each.
Key Differences Between Track Markers And Sync Points
We’ve looked at some use cases for track markers and sync points but it’s also useful to summarise the differences as these can inform your decision on which is best to use in different scenarios.
Sync points are always clip based and are limited to one per unique clip. Track markers can be linked or unlinked from clips with the Markers Follow Edit button at the top of the edit window. More than one marker can be used per clip.
Sync points stay with a clip at all times. Even if you drag a copy of the clip from the clip list to the timeline, it will still retain its sync point. Clip markers won’t do this, but they can be copied and pasted with clips and moved separately in different iterations of the same clip.
Sync points can be used to snap clips to timeline locations. Track markers can’t.
Track markers can include comments which can be displayed in the track markers lane in most track views or overlayed on top of the clip when the track is in markers view, as shown below. Sync points have no provision for comments.
Track markers can be added easily during playback or stop by hitting Command and Enter. Sync points can only be placed at the current cursor position. The shortcut for adding a sync point is Command+ ,
Markers can be used for session navigation by recalling them from the Memory Locations window or from the numpad using the shortcut period number period (eg .4.). They can also be tabbed to and used for making selections by holding Shift while clicking on them. Sync points aren’t used for session navigation.
Final Thoughts
If you were previously just using sync points as reference points, it now makes sense to take advantage of track markers instead. Being track based, you can now have markers which are specific to a certain type of content. In post this is what we’ve been asking for for a number of years because foley, dialogue, SFX and music markers can now be separated from other more general markers for scenes and so on.
Sync points still have a place because of their ability to snap to the grid or to any exact location of your choosing.
We’d love to hear how you use sync points and track markers. Let us know in the comments!