Avid Pro Tools Folder Tracks

Modern sessions can be big... like hundreds of tracks big! Yet audio engineers are not given more time. Enter Folder Tracks to better organize, navigate, edit, and automate so customers can deliver higher quality results faster.

For this project, I was the Product Owner and Designer, responsible for all aspects from conception to release.

The Problem

Over the years the number of tracks used in a session had grown significantly and managing these tracks and navigating the session were becoming increasingly difficult.

It was fairly obvious that folders for tracks was the solution for this problem, as this was consistently one of the top user requested features for several years.

Research

Identify Target User

Folder Tracks would benefit customers who work with a medium to large number of tracks, including:

post production
film dubbing
music recording and mixing
music creation
sound effects creation
orchestral recording

As with most Pro Tools features at the time, professionals were the primary targets, but benefits for non-professionals were expected and considered.

Conduct User Research

A number of sources were used to gather details on workflow needs and pain points.

User forums (official and external)
Feature request hub
Customer association (in-person gatherings and surveys)
Beta group

The Pro Tools beta group was particularly valuable, being composed of highly experienced professionals in various roles and fields. I developed close relationships with the group members to continuously validate my assumptions, ensuring that the design was providing real solutions to their problems.

session organization use case notes

Determine Business Value

Pro Tools being an already established product, a specific monetary value was not associated with this feature. However, Folder Tracks was deemed necessary for retaining existing users and maintaining relevancy against competition which already possessed similar functionality.

Challenges

Balancing Various Needs

The users envisioned a wide range of different folder track workflows and functionalities. Prioritization of these thus became a big challenge. Enabling existing functionality in the context of a folder hierarchy became the required goal, while additional enhancements were either rejected or identified as stretch goals.

Considerations for Existing Features

Pro Tools is a massively deep application with many established conventions. Professional users rely on Pro Tools for their livelihood and are understandably sensitive to any change that may adversely affect their finely tuned workflows. Because of this, utmost care must be taken to maintain consistency and prevent breakage of existing features.

Placing tracks into folders may seem simple, but it affects many parts of Pro Tools. Each part had to be considered carefully and interactions with folders fully defined.

Signal routing
Track creation and deletion
Track show/hide, enable/disable
Clip edits
Mix automation
Track groups
Import and export
Track presets
Solo and mute linking
Undo/Redo
Shortcuts and mod key operations
etc.

solo use case notes

solo behavior proposal

Backward Compatibility

Many users and facilities choose to use older versions of Pro Tools for various reasons. It is fairly common for Pro Tools session files to pass through multiple hands, and it is important that the sound of the session not be affected. This meant that a mechanism for preserving routing and mix automation had to be considered for when a session file was opened on an older version of Pro Tools.

Visibility and Screen Real Estate

Folder nesting had to be clearly communicated visually in order to achieve the goal of improving session navigation, but it could not take up too much precious screen real estate. Also screen clutter was a concern in an already information dense GUI.

Edit Window GUI design

Final Design

Workflows Enabled

Much more than a simple organizational tool, many additional workflow enhancements which naturally fit the metaphor of folder nesting, were built into the design.

Members of a folder track can be edited as a group.
Layers of submixes can be visually represented as folder hierarchies.
Special soloing logic for folder tracks and their members enabled faster soloing changes.
Track Presets usability improved.
Navigating a large session became much faster and easier.
Session navigation and management from Avid control surfaces.

Seamless Integration

Folder Tracks leveraged existing Pro Tools conventions and features wherever possible in order to maintain consistency, coexist nicely with existing features, simplify implementation, and maximize backward compatibility. Some examples:

"Routing Folder" tracks were created by modifying the existing "Aux" track type.
- Users already familiar with Aux tracks can easily understand the new track type.
- Solved backward compatibility - Routing Folders would simply revert back to Aux tracks when opened on older Pro Tools versions, thus retaining the sound.
- Simplified implementation.
Soloing rules for folder tracks were integrated into the legacy VCA group soloing rules.
- A single set of rules for both folder nesting and VCA groups prevent collisions and made complex soloing much simpler to manage.
Folder based group editing was reconciled with existing grouped editing behaviors.

Summary

Integral Part of Pro Tools

Since its release in version 2020.3, Folder Tracks have become an indispensable tool for many Pro Tools users. Key bugs were addressed in subsequent releases, along with several small enhancements. User satisfaction appears to be high, with positive reactions far outpacing the negative on user forums and SNS.

Folder Tracks expanded and collapsed

The teams did a phenomenal job implementing such a large change to the core functionality of Pro Tools. The constant interaction with the alpha and beta testers throughout the project was instrumental in ensuring the quality of Folder Tracks, and the early alpha feedback cycle became standard practice. Regular design reviews with all the other Pro Tools Product Designers was also crucial in making key design decisions.

During development I experimented with heavy use of explanatory material, especially in video form. These videos and documents not only smoothed communication with the dev team and external alpha/beta testers, they were then easily repackaged for consumption by other stakeholders including sales, marketing, and internal training.

As expected there we received many requests and suggestion for further functionalities, most of which we were aware of during development. While many of these enhancement requests could certainly increase the usefulness of Folder Tracks, they also indicate that we correctly identified and released the truly necessary/core features.

I am extremely proud of the work that our teams have accomplished in releasing this major upgrade, and to know that every day we're helping audio creatives all over the world realize their visions.

Thank you for reading!

"It’s hard to describe how much this feature transformed and enhanced almost every workflow in Pro Tools, both mixing and editing. The most impressive part is that from day one it felt like it always been there and I truly can’t imagine working without it."

- Andrew Scheps

Multi Grammy Awards winning producer and engineer (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Adele, Jay-Z)

"Folder Tracks in Pro Tools revolutionized the way we work, allowing us to manage large sessions more efficiently and streamlining our workflows"

- Joe Trapanese

Multi award winning composer and producer (Tron: Legacy, The Witcher, Disney Animation)