DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post
DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post
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.
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
- tjcasey1
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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.
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.
- A.David.MacKinnon
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- DrummerMan
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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)
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.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
- JGriffin
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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.
"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/
"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/
- JGriffin
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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.
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.
"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/
"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/
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.
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. 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.)
- tjcasey1
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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.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.
- Nick Sevilla
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Re: DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post
Logic Pro 9 works just fine for post work. You do have to learn to set it up for this task.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.
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.
- Nick Sevilla
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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
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.
- JGriffin
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Re: DAW's Suited For Sound to Picture and Film Post
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.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.
"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/
"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
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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