Sometimes you just want to massage that audio, knead it like dough, and stretch it out just a little bit.  We all know that the TCE trim tool can let you shorten or lengthen a region’s duration without changing pitch, but it renders a new file each time you use it.  If you change your mind on the change, you have to un-do it and re-do it differently (if you kept stretching the file over and over without undoing, you’d destroy the sonic fidelity very quickly).  If it’s a long region, you’ll be left waiting a while before that finishes.  And if you need to change duration a few different times within a region, you have no choice but to split it up first.

Elastic Audio, a handy feature of Pro Tools that is typically targeted at musicians, actually addresses many issues quite well for post.  Is sync a little off for that ADR?  Use Elastic Audio.  Do you need to stretch out a few chopped up words in that reality show Franken-Bite to make it sound at least a little more natural?  Use Elastic Audio.  Did they manage to record the set audio for that shot without reference, so it’s drifting?  Use Elastic Audio!  Is someone cut off mid-sentence, and you just want to make that last word a little longer so it feels a bit more natural?  Use Elastic Audio already! Read the rest of this entry »

In the last part we discussed the significance of the main dialog compressor on the dialog chain.  Now let’s cover the last items in the chain: another layer of EQ  and/or a De-Esser, and a limiter. Read the rest of this entry »

The dialog chain refers to the series of plugins and processing through which all of your dialog travels on its way out to your master mix.  This is the place where each mixer creates their own special flavor, and is the source of greatest differentiation between different dialog mixers.  A certain amount of it is taste, another amount definitely hocus-pocus.  But there are key things that can be applied globally to your dialog via your chain that really improve things.  Here are a few of my recommendations for your dialog chain in Pro Tools.

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Oh Apple, we love you.  But sometimes you do frustrating things.  Such is the case with OMFs coming out of Final Cut Pro from sequences that are done at 23.98 FPS.  You’re working at 23.98, your media is at 23.98, and your video output is at 23.98 – so why do you try to trick us Pro Tools operators with OMFs that export at 24F?  What to do?

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In part one we discussed some basics of audio metering, including the relationship of dBSPL in the world around us to dBFS inside the box.  In this part we’re going to take a closer look at how we measure level in Pro Tools, and how it relates to a good finished product.

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It’s a high-definition world these days.  The vast majority of new content for TV is in HD, movies can now be gotten in HD on Blu-Ray, and you can even stream HD content online.  Post production workflows have changed accordingly, and one of the areas of biggest confusion has been the move to 23.976 FPS timecode.

To make matters more complicated, it’s all too common for work picture to be delivered to post sound on a standard-definition format like Beta SP or DVCAM that still has to use 29.97 timecode.  But your final mix is still expected to sync up to that HD master at 23.98!  So you need to work in 29.97 and then convert to 23.98 for final layback.  Do you need to conform anything?  Will there by sync issues?  Will things drift?  What’s the deal?!
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Yeah, me neither.  It’s a tough realization to come to, but when you look at the state of the music industry today you see that maybe it’s for the best.

http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/02/news/companies/napster_music_industry/index.htm

But you like working with sound!  And you dread getting a “normal” job like your parents told you to.  Before I got into post, my dad suggested that I become an accountant!  I’m not even good at math!
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