FCP 6 to Protools – Best way

[Ty Ford]

Hello Patrick and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

If the Pro Tools system handles OMF, I think the files can be exported with that data intact and imported into PT.

Or, you select each audio track in FCP and export it as an individual track from beginning to its end as a wav or aiff file, then import it into a Pro Tools session.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Will Salley]

PT will need to have DigiTranslator installed to read the exported OMF.

Primary System Info
Mac Pro 2×3.2 Quadcore – 10.5.4 – QT 7.5 – 6MBram – nvidia8800GT – SATA internal & external storage – Blackmagic Multibridge Pro (v6.7)- Open GL 1.5.6 – Wacom Intous2 tablet

[Mike Lattimore]

FCP can natively export OMF 2.0 files. I believe the number of tracks are unlimited. HOWEVER, unlike Avid, FCP forces you to export your OMF in one self-contained file (think of a zip file). The only audio files your ProTools guy will receive are those that are used in the timeline. They will be truncated into files at the edit points with short handles (I believe you can dictate to FCP how long the handles are).

For most situations this is acceptable, but should your audio editor need to dig for alternative lines, room tone, etc. that is not part of your timeline, you’ll have to figure out how to get the files over to him in an organized way.

[Peter Groom]

Thats correct Mike, the files are truncated to the timeline length + handle size which is user settable and is for the start and finish of the clip. The file is an embedded .omf file, and yes a Pro Tools needs digitranslator to open it but a pro tool swithout digitranslator is a car with 3 wheels really.

Although I accept Ty’s possible suggestion of exporting track files as .wavs or aifs, this idea is a real donkey as you lose the handle data, at which point you might as well just finish it in the FCP if you insist on tying your hands behind your back and making life harder.

NB Pro tools 8 is out very soon and the upgrade cost from any previous PT to Pt8 is a give away price of only about £150 for an HD system and even less for an Le system, and i think it includes digitranslator as standard now.

I always get editors to give me all wild tracks and music cues used full length on the end of the sequence when they export for a dub, that way i can access all that additional data within the omf timeline.

Peter

[Ty Ford]

[Peter Groom] “Although I accept Ty’s possible suggestion of exporting track files as .wavs or aifs, this idea is a real donkey as you lose the handle data, at which point you might as well just finish it in the FCP if you insist on tying your hands behind your back and making life harder. “

I guess we work differently, Peter. I’ve never really needed handles. If I need some slop for finessing an edit, I just leave that in. I don’t really know anything about donkeys, but I find working with audio in FCP and STP awkward. I know some of this is learning curve, but it would have helped if Apple had conferred with more audio folks instead of computer folks when designing the UI.

If your audio guy will be working on the entire timeline of audio, exporting your tracks as .wav or .aiff beginning at 0:00:00 and running until each one ends works very easily. This even works with PTLE. Slide them to 0:00:00 in PT or PTLE, do your work and export a mix which you slide into place on the FCP timeline. Piece of cake. No digitranslator required.

If you’re working within a production and not from 0:00:00, it’s a different matter. In that case you’d need to bump and slide to resync the ProTools track. Not impossible if you have the original source audio against which to compare, but fiddly. Or, as Peter suggests, use more technology to maintain sync.

If you’re going to be doing a LOT of this sort of work, then it makes sense to have the most affordable and powerful technology to do the job. That’s what a percentage of your hourly rate is for. The billing will pay for the technology expense. If you’re only doing it now and then, the cost of the technology may not be worth it.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Peter Groom]

Hi Ty
If youre doing audio post for Tv or film, you need to use some of the handle on just about every cut.
The last feature film I did had over 5500 audio cuts on the timeline, and by the end of the tracklay there were 75 tracks of raw audio with extended handles, and 18 auxes with verbs and other effects.
I think not having access to the handle information on every cut is missing a real trick and frankly Id rather go work for a bank!
Peter

[Ty Ford]

Hello Peter,

Since Patrick really hasn’t let us know what he’s about, the point is moot.

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar

[Patrick Marrero]

We have decided to try to use the OMF and protools. Thanks for all those who responded.

Patrick

[Keith Mottram]

Although I accept Ty’s possible suggestion of exporting track files as .wavs or aifs, this idea is a real donkey as you lose the handle data, at which point you might as well just finish it in the FCP if you insist on tying your hands behind your back and making life harder.

Not only that you’d have to go through the entire edit removing any pan/ dips/ fades etc. Then rebuild them in PT. If you are working with and therefor exporting 24 tracks, as I am right now, you’d probably just give up. In other words it would be a total turd of an idea…

[Ty Ford]

Hello Keith and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum,

1. Please watch the language here. We’re trying to keep it a nice place.
2. The OP said he was going to get all the tracks to someone working on PT. Presumably that would be without fades. I’ve done it. It works and without ordure.

Thanks for your thoughts,

Regards,

Ty Ford

Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar