FCP OMF Export for Post Sound

[Ryan Krickow]

Luckily I haven’t started editing yet so it’s not too late. I’m not quite sure I understand the different takes, or different angles question. We’ll have multiple takes but it’s a one camera shoot so never multiple angles of the same shot-I believe that’s what you’re asking. Just to clarify… when we’re discussing ISOs it can stand for both “isolated” video tracks or audio tracks, correct? Finally, does losing the audio track names when Merging clips cause problems for post sound? Thanks, Ryan

[Colin Mcquillan]

I see where the confusion lies. Im my case, all my media is on tape attached to video, from a 6 camera shoot with a production mobile.
In this case, the ISO reels I’m referring to are the isolated feeds from each camera. and the ISO audio tracks are spread amongst the ISO video decks.

You are dealing with a single camera shoot. How is the audio being captured and how is it being delivered to you? How I would go about this depends on whether or not it has picture synced TC attached to it.
Merging pre-edit then using the match frame method I described earlier sounds like a good option, but I worry about how the Media Manager handles this, as well as round tripping to other programs if needed.

Colin McQuillan
Vancouver, B.C.

[Ryan Krickow]

Thanks for getting back to me Colin! It’s an HD shoot with dual-system sound, the camera is running 23.98fps jam synced to the audio recorder running 29.97fps so the timecode should be usable. I’m going to be receiving BWFs which I’ll convert with BWF2XML for editing in FCP. One question here is whether to work with the 4KB Quicktime.mov links created by BWF2XML or batch export Quicktime.mov files from FCP for editing. If I don’t plan on deleting any of the media I shouldn’t have to worry about the Media Manager then, correct? You don’t think losing the name of the audio tracks when merging is a problem for post sound? Ryan

[Colin Mcquillan]

Sorry for the delayed response. Ran into a busy patch.

[Ryan Krickow] “ou don’t think losing the name of the audio tracks when merging is a problem for post sound?”

I’d expect you will loose the metadata attached to the audio files if you merge. How important is the metadata?

[Ryan Krickow] “One question here is whether to work with the 4KB Quicktime.mov links created by BWF2XML or batch export Quicktime.mov files from FCP for editing.”

I always prefer working with actual media, than a reference to the media. I find I run into less software gremlins this way. I would batch the QT’s.

[Ryan Krickow] “the camera is running 23.98fps jam synced to the audio recorder running 29.97fps so the timecode should be usable.”

is the TC, video, and audio a perfect match if you convert the BWF’s in BWF2XML to 23.98 to match the videos frame rate? If so, and you need to maintain the metadata attached to the bwf’s, you don’t necessarily need to merge. Use the match frame method of the clip, but instead of dropping that video clips associated audio, copy the TC from the viewer, load the bwf that matches the clip, and paste that TC into the viewer. set you in point, now F10 it into place. make sense? less confusing that this sounds I’m sure.

Colin McQuillan
Vancouver, B.C.

[Ryan Krickow]

Hey Colin, no problem. The batch exported Quicktime.mov files keep the correct timecode so it might not be too big an issue to lose some of the other metadata. Have you worked post sound on any projects that recorded BWFs? If so, what was their workflow any different? From everything I’ve read 23.98fps picture syncs up with 29.97fps sound so there’s no need for audio timecode conversion. I’m leaning toward merging the mono mixed track with the picture during editing and then dropping the additional tracks in (as you described) at the end so they would keep their name. Does that make sense to you?

One last question on terminology… based on reading various articles on the internet and audio recorder manuals I’ve come to the consensus that what I’d want to ask the production sound mixer for is… a mono mixed track and iso tracks. The mono mixed track would be for picture editing and the iso “isolated” tracks would be the separate tracks for post sound. Am I using the correct language here?

All the best, Ryan

[Colin Mcquillan]

[Ryan Krickow] “. Have you worked post sound on any projects that recorded BWFs? “
Yes. All material was recorded at the same rate though (29.97) so match frame and droping into the timeline was easy enough. My worry for you, and may not be the case, but second for second, your material will match, but what about frame by frame? 01:03:12:21 in 29.97 wont be the exact same frame as 01:03:12:21 in 23.98. When you use BWF2XML to convert your 29.97fps BWF’s it should give you the option to change the TC to 23.98fps. You might want to do this to keep everything matched up once in FCP. Again, test first to make sure it all plays nice together!

[Ryan Krickow] ” I’m leaning toward merging the mono mixed track with the picture during editing and then dropping the additional tracks in (as you described) at the end so they would keep their name. Does that make sense to you? “

Makes sense, and will keep your timeline cleaner while editing the picture. I haven’t done this with “merged” clips, so do a test before you go full at it.

How many audio tracks are you dealing with? I’m working with about 20 audio tracks and 6 layers of video, so adding and organizing the ISO audio at the end is the best workflow for me. If I were only dealing with up to say 4 audio tracks, I would attack it differently. Really depends on what it is I’m editing. Straight forward cuts and dissolves I may link the tracks to the associated video clip and just mute the tracks I don’t want to hear.

Colin McQuillan
Vancouver, B.C.

[Ryan Krickow]

Hey Colin,

Your questions about timecode are the same questions I have! I know that 29.97fps ndf for the audio recorder and 23.98fps for the camera are the correct framerates but I’m not sure how the timecode syncs in FCP.

If I link all the audio tracks with the picture I can’t move them into the Browser (without losing the connection) so I’d have to leave every clip in the timeline (w/ audio linked) if I wanted to lay out all the clips with their audio tracks in the beginning. If I just merge the mix track with the picture in the beginning then once I have the final cut I can link the clips and won’t have to worry about all the extra tracks (even though there won’t be many of them).

Talking to Andreas I’ve realized that I’m not quite sure how to deal with the BWF2XML workflow. The problems are… 1) The OMF produced from a timeline using BWFs converted to Quicktime audio files don’t contain the metadata and 2) Protools doesn’t accept Quicktime movie files. I’m kind of at a loss on this one. Do you know a workflow to get the BWFs to a Protools editor?

Thanks, Ryan