DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post

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Wilson
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DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post

Post by Wilson » Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:05 pm

Hello Gang,

Are there any DAW's with features specifically designed for sound for picture and film/tv post production? I am starting to pick up such work. I am aware of PT HD and Nuendo but can't swing the $2K price tag yet. I use Logic Pro 9.

Thank you all for your bits.
As in music, so in life

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tjcasey1
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Post by tjcasey1 » Thu Jul 30, 2015 3:32 am

Digital Performer is used a lot by audio/video people. I've been using it for years.

If your DAW can open a movie and stay in sync with it, and if your DAW offers different frame rates, then you're good to go. There may be other perks in a particular DAW that you may or may not find helpful, but that's all you need.

My favorite perk with DP is that you can set the start time of your particular sequence. So if the guy sends you a 75-minute movie, you can easily work on a bit of music that needs to start at 39:21;18 exactly.

Since DP has worked so well for me over the years, I really have no experience with any other DAWs. Hopefully others will chime in.

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Post by A.David.MacKinnon » Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:05 am

Every film /tv mix I have attended has been running pro tools.

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Post by kslight » Thu Jul 30, 2015 5:13 am

I use Pro Tools 12 (not HD), I have heard of folks using Logic but I haven't touched Logic for 10 years or so so I couldn't say how it compares...I assume it's probably fine if that's what you are comfortable with.

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Post by ubertar » Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:10 am

Magix Samplitude or Sequoia.

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Post by DrummerMan » Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:34 am

I use logic 9 and it works well. I have considered a switch to Protools only because the external studios I sometime need to track at use it and I get annoyed with all the transferring and re-lining up of tracks (not that it's that hard)
My favorite perk with DP is that you can set the start time of your particular sequence. So if the guy sends you a 75-minute movie, you can easily work on a bit of music that needs to start at 39:21;18
I have heard that you can do this in Logic but haven't been able to figure it out. That would make a huge difference, especially with the forever changing edits in your "locked" picture.
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JGriffin
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Post by JGriffin » Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:20 pm

I just mixed a short film in PT9 (non-HD). All of the sound-to-pix work I do is either on that system or my PT10 HD rig. Both work fine.
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Post by Wilson » Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:04 pm

Thank you guys for all your input.

The work that I am starting to do is more foley, dialog, sound effects, editing, etc. rather than music. I do know most commercial releases are done on PT, but going the PT route feels like I'll be selling my soul to Satan.
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Post by JGriffin » Wed Aug 05, 2015 12:00 am

I understand where you're coming from but I don't really have all that much of a "fuck the man" feel about most audio companies. To me it's like, "screw Stanley and Craftsman, I'm gonna buy an offbrand hammer!" Doesn't matter to me; a tool is a tool and bla bla, you've heard all the pro-PT arguments.

But: I'm doing foley, ADR, dialog editing, sound design and mix to picture for three shorts and a feature right now, on my home PT rig and Satan has not even dropped by for coffee. YMMV. :twisted:
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

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Post by jhharvest » Wed Aug 05, 2015 4:14 pm

Wilson wrote:Thank you guys for all your input.

The work that I am starting to do is more foley, dialog, sound effects, editing, etc. rather than music. I do know most commercial releases are done on PT, but going the PT route feels like I'll be selling my soul to Satan.
:D

Well, it's probably not worth much but I do all my post in Reaper. It does everything that PT used to (i.e. sucks), but on the other hand it's not PT. :shock: I used PT 2 years as a company mandate, and since going freelance I had the choice I just said screw it and decided to do whatever I wanted. So far no client has complained. The couple that have asked get a blank look on their faces when I say I use Reaper, but then I just say that they can send me OMF or AAF or Final Cut XML* with the files and everything good again.

(*Reaper doesn't support these natively - it's another ass to have to dish out for the AATranslator, especially since it's not Mac native. I've also heard that PT is a lot better these days but I'm not desperately needing to change my workflow so? I'm not really advocating Reaper over other programs, just throwing it out there that you can make a lot of stuff work just fine if you really, really want to.)

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Post by tjcasey1 » Sat Aug 15, 2015 6:47 pm

Wilson wrote:Thank you guys for all your input.

The work that I am starting to do is more foley, dialog, sound effects, editing, etc. rather than music. I do know most commercial releases are done on PT, but going the PT route feels like I'll be selling my soul to Satan.
I betcha you'll do fine with any DAW. A scene is a scene - you'll be able to move around the audio like crazy, whether or not it's music. How has Logic been working for you so far? Can you set it up for video work? If you're really familiar with it and it works, you should probably stick with it.

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Re: DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post

Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Aug 17, 2015 9:42 am

Wilson wrote:Hello Gang,

Are there any DAW's with features specifically designed for sound for picture and film/tv post production? I am starting to pick up such work. I am aware of PT HD and Nuendo but can't swing the $2K price tag yet. I use Logic Pro 9.

Thank you all for your bits.
Logic Pro 9 works just fine for post work. You do have to learn to set it up for this task.

Specifically:

1 - Set your sample rate to the correct one for film, usually 48K, but ask your clients what they are using. Bit rate is irrelevant for this, unless they are using antiquated devices which are only 16 bits. Again, ask your clients for their preferred audio format.

2 - Set your SMPTE timecode rate to the appropriate rate. Film is different that TV. Again, ask your clients for what they need, and then set it properly at the beginning of the session, before doing ANY work in the DAW.

3 - Make sure as you set up your SMPTE timecode, that you also set your session START time, so you have some pre roll before their timecode begins, so you have a little of that. IF their movie, for example, starts at one hour 01:00:00;00 then you want to start your Logic session at 00:59:50;00 which gives you ten full seconds of preroll. this is important to ensure your DAW starts playback smoothly, and synchs up properly to any outside video sources, if you ever have to do that, like a betacam deck (yes, they are still around).

4 - Logic Pro 9 can play back Quicktime movies natively. So, you can ask your clients for a smaller size render of the picture, for use in lining up your audio work. Most use Final Cut Pro or some other Video workstation, and most can export Quicktime movies. It is a very common format, even in PCs.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Nick Sevilla
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Post by Nick Sevilla » Mon Aug 17, 2015 9:45 am

Also,
It helps to have something like the Unitor8 mkii, which converts audio SMPTE Timecode into MTC Timecode, which Logic Pro 9 uses for keeping synch with
other devices. But this is only if you know you will be slaving Logic to external tape machines.

Cheers
Howling at the neighbors. Hoping they have more mic cables.

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Re: DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post

Post by JGriffin » Mon Aug 17, 2015 6:27 pm

Nick Sevilla wrote: 1 - Set your sample rate to the correct one for film, usually 48K, but ask your clients what they are using. Bit rate is irrelevant for this, unless they are using antiquated devices which are only 16 bits. Again, ask your clients for their preferred audio format.
It's important to note that a great many video editors still have their NLEs set to 16 bits. It's just not something they think about. So even if the sound mixer and composer were good enough to provide them with 24 bit recordings, what they give to you will be at 16 unless you get to them early enough in the process.
"Jeweller, you've failed. Jeweller."

"Lots of people are nostalgic for analog. I suspect they're people who never had to work with it." ? Brian Eno

All the DWLB music is at http://dwlb.bandcamp.com/

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Another Pro Tools user

Post by jdk90042 » Thu Aug 27, 2015 3:08 pm

I've been on Pro Tools off and on since v3. Switched to Logic for a while and I know a lot of composers use it, but I found that getting frame accurate sync was not so reliable. Working on animation with a lot of 'mickey mousing' score wise, so that was a critical determining factor. Plus mix stages are pretty much exclusively Pro Tools, so I will likely always keep it at least for delivering stems. Heard good things about DP and am looking to have that ready as a good backup. Logic seems to have changed a lot again, seemed to be veering back towards a prosumer app, but people still seem into it.

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