Avid reel naming

[Chaz Shukat]

[reel2reel] “Is something like “001” too simple if one has multiple projects on board, meaning, could it possible cause confusion with other 001’s on a drive?”

Having 2 different reel 001’s from different projects on the same drive will not confuse the Avid. Just make sure there is only one 001 in a single project. You don’t want to duplicate reel numbers within a project. However, it may be confusing to you to have multiple reels of the exact same identification. Obviously, the tapes themselves will or should have some additional identification besides a number, something that relates to the name of the project, so that you can tell one tape 001 from another. So you should duplicate that name or abbriviatite it in the reel number. As far as not being able to use dashes, you don’t need no stinking dashes. It’s just a waste of a keystroke. My only rule about tape numbers is that they must match the number on the tape so there’s no confusion. The other thing you definitely want to avoid is duplicate time code on a tape. That’s something that the Avid will not be able to figure out and will require your manaul supervision and make your life A LIVING HELL!!!!!!

Chaz S.

[Ron James]

[Chaz Shukat] “The other thing you definitely want to avoid is duplicate time code on a tape. That’s something that the Avid will not be able to figure out and will require your manaul supervision and make your life A LIVING HELL!!!!!!”

Chaz,

That’s the case with FCP, too, of course. You have to treat the reel as multiple reels. How would you do this with Avid, call the reel “001a,” 001b,” etc.? That’s what I do with FCP. Actually, FCP is pretty good at rolling back and forth over a break to figure out what’s going on, then starting a new clip and changing the REEL number to b or c, etc. Hasn’t always been that easy, though.

[John Grote, jr.]

Good day,

I would keep the same naming convention that you are using in FCP, but without the dash.
I always find that the more detail I can give about a tape the better. As far as your 001 question, AVID works by seperate projects all together, so when you create a project, what ever you digitize to that project is relavant to only that project. Where as in FCP you can have multiple projects open at the same time.

btveditor out.

[Jon Zanone]

Although Chaz is funny, smart, and a heck of an editor…. 😉

Duplicate time code would be appropriate and easy to manage in the context of, say a multicamera shoot – AS LONG AS you’ve named your tapes differently. Avid not only uses TC and tape name, but date created as a way to differentiate between tapes (and something else I think, but the coffee hasn’t kicked in!). So you COULD have BB-001, with the exact same TC, but because one tape had a different date created, the Avid would know the difference. You’d have to figure it out at that point.

Dashes in an Avid are OK – the PC side doesn’t like things used in file names, which is an OS thing. Macs don’t particularly care what you name your tape.

Chaz is absolutely right – whatever you name your tape, it must make sense to you. You must develop a naming convention that makes sense to you and any other editor working on the project.

If indeed you have TC breaks, you can set your settings/deck preferences/ignore TC breaks – that should do it.

Jon

[Ron James]

I appreciate all the info. Thanks!