Setting Tempo and Meter in Pro Tools 

In Music, it is safe to say that Rhythm is one of the first things we pick up on as humans: it sets the "pace" of the song. This article shows you how to utilize the core principles of rhythm, Tempo and Meter, in Pro Tools. You will learn how easy it is to set the Tempo, and Meter setting for your song in your Pro Tools session.

Rhythm is perhaps the most foundational component of music. It is set beside the words "melody," "harmony," and "timbre" as one of the primary components that define music itself. In its widest sense, rhythm refers to how movements are patterned over time. It is intrinsically woven into the art of music itself, for music is an art for that evolves over time (as opposed to a painting or statue which exist, as a whole, moment to moment). The term "rhythm" can be narrowed into subsets of information, such as: tempo, meter, and individual rhythms. In this article we are going to define the terms "tempo" and "meter", discuss how they are written via standard music notation, and use Pro Tools’ click track to demonstrate these basic rhythmic concepts.

Tempo

Tempo may be the easiest rhythmic term to understand, for it is simply the speed at which a piece of music is performed. Try to tap your foot at a constant rate, leaving the same amount of space between each one-”we can call each tap a "beat." If you consistently tap twice per second, you will be tapping at a tempo of 120 beats per minute, often written as BPM. Beats per minute is our primary way of denoting our tempo.

If you want to get a feel for different tempos, you can do so by creating a click track in Pro Tools and adjusting your tempo setting. Once you have a session open, navigate to Track > Create Click Track. (it will be at the very bottom of the menu)

Now when you play your session, you will hear a click playing at your designated tempo. A new Pro Tools session defaults to a tempo of 120 BPM, but you can change it by double-clicking on the red triangle in your Tempo ruler.

This will bring up your Tempo Change window. It is here that you can type in different BPM values, thus altering the tempo for your entire session.

Try experimenting with different BPM values to get a feel for slower and faster tempos. When you’re producing a song, adjusting the tempo by just a few BPM can really change the feel and groove of the song.

Meter

While tempo tells us how quickly beats are played in a particular piece of music, meter tells us how exactly those beats are grouped together. The most common meter in popular music is a recurring group of four pulses. If you play your Pro Tools click track on its default settings, you can hear this pattern-”notice how the click begins with a pulse at a certain pitch and then the three following pulses are at a lower pitch. Then the pattern repeats. This is a recurring group of four pulses, with the first pulse being accented. We call this meter 4/4 time or sometimes common time because it is the most common meter.

There is another term that is often used interchangeably with "meter," and that is "time signature." While these two terms refer to the same concept, there is a slight difference between them. Meter refers to the recurring, grouped beat rhythm whereas a time signature refers to the written symbol in music notation that describes the meter. A time signature is written as two numbers, one of them on top of the other: 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.

The number on top refers to how many beats are grouped together before the pattern repeats. In 4/4, the most common time signature, beats are grouped into fours and the pattern repeats. Each repetition of this grouping is called a measure or a bar. So, in 4/4 time there are four beats in a measure.

The number on the bottom of a time signature can be a bit more difficult to grasp. It tells us what kind of note (quarter note, eighth note, half note, etc.) counts as one beat. For example, in a time signature of 4/8, there are still four beats in a measure (as indicated by the number on top), but the bottom number tells us that an eighth note equals one beat, not a quarter note. If the number 2 is on the bottom, that means a half note counts as one beat.

To get a better feel for different meters, let’s use the Pro Tools click track again but change our session meter. In your rulers, you will see a Meter Ruler. Click the "+" symbol to the right of where it says "Meter." (Also, notice that the Default time signature is 4/4).

Clicking the "+" will open up our "Meter Change" window. It is here that we can change the meter of our session. Where it says "Meter:" try changing the top number to 3 instead of 4 and click "Okay." Hit play and listen to how the click track is now grouping the beats. They are grouped into threes instead of fours. Every song is composed in some sort of meter/time signature. While 4/4 is the most common, many songs venture into complex beat groupings, such as 5/4 or 7/4. When composing and producing, try experimenting with different time signatures-”you may be able to come up with some unique melodies that you wouldn’t have otherwise as your brain adjusts to different beat groupings.

As with all things music, this is just the beginning. You can add as many Tempo, and Meter changes across your song as you wish. Not every song stays at the same rhythmic foundation, as is displayed by bands like Radiohead, Outkast, The Beatles, Queen, and many more.

Alex Thomen

Author: Alex Thomen
Expert Certified Pro tools Instructor
ProMedia Training LLC / Los Angeles, CA
888-277-0457 / protoolstraining.com