Thoughts from the departed?

[David Lawrence]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “David,

… sidetracking (and I think I’ve asked you this before) but I’ll ask anyway:

How was your experience with audio work in PPro?”

Franz,

On my last project, the audio was very simple – just a single mono V/O with stereo background music. Like Chris, I had no issues whatsoever. Everything worked as expected, mixing was easy (I used clip-based keyframed volume curves like I normally would in FCP7). I like the flexibility of different track types and I like being able to specify how to interpret a clip’s audio. It’s a nice improvement over FCP.

On the project I’m just starting, I’ll need to sync some dual-source audio. I’ll let you know how that goes.

The other new tool in CS6 I’m super excited about is Audition. This is new for us Mac people. Audition looks like all kinds of awesome. Just the spectral tools alone are making me drool. I’ve barely cracked the surface and can’t wait to really dig in. Suddenly losing Soundtrack Pro doesn’t feel so bad…

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[Walter Soyka]

[David Lawrence] “The other new tool in CS6 I’m super excited about is Audition. This is new for us Mac people. Audition looks like all kinds of awesome. Just the spectral tools alone are making me drool. I’ve barely cracked the surface and can’t wait to really dig in. Suddenly losing Soundtrack Pro doesn’t feel so bad…”

Audition first came to the Mac on CS5.5.

I know just enough about audio to be dangerous, but I’ve found Audition to be much, much more responsive and stable than STP ever was for me, so now I’m way more dangerous in way less time than I ever was before.

Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events

[Franz Bieberkopf]

David, Chris,

Thanks – I have to say I am still in the sceptics’ camp on this one though to hear such positive things is encouraging. I’m really dragging my feet on trying out PPro (I’ve only spent a few hours in it) (not least because of the Matrox driver / FCP7 / PPro issue).

I’m less enthusiastic about Audition, though I never liked STP – I always felt that those tools should be directly available in the timeline (or at most one special module away from use) and I viewed with great suspicion the path-of-least-resistance approach that Apple took by buying software and producing a “suite”. But I realize I am in a minority there (as many here seem to have great appreciation for STP).

Is Audition at least better integrated? I’ll have to have a look at some videos.

Franz.

[Robert Brown]

[David Lawrence] “On the project I’m just starting, I’ll need to sync some dual-source audio. I’ll let you know how that goes.”

If you haven’t checked out Plural Eyes yet they have a free trial. It makes that stuff really easy.

Robert Brown
Editor/VFX/Colorist – FCP, Smoke, Quantel Pablo, After Effects, 3DS MAX, Premiere Pro

https://vimeo.com/user3987510/videos

[David Lawrence]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “Is Audition at least better integrated? I’ll have to have a look at some videos.”

I’ve only done the most basic testing but it seems to work like the other Dynamic Link applications. Simply select the audio clip on the timeline, then send it to Audition. Any changes saved in Audition are immediately updated in the PrP timeline.

[Walter Soyka] “Audition first came to the Mac on CS5.5.”

That’s right, I forgot about that! I think it was one of those many CS applications I never bothered installing 😉

[Robert Brown] “If you haven’t checked out Plural Eyes yet they have a free trial. It makes that stuff really easy.”

Yep, I’ve tried Plural Eyes with FCP and liked it. Will check out the PrP version.

Now we just need Boris to build SoundBite for CS6…

_______________________
David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
publicmattersgroup.com
facebook.com/dlawrence
twitter.com/dhl

[Franz Bieberkopf]

[David Lawrence] “I’ve only done the most basic testing but it seems to work like the other Dynamic Link applications. Simply select the audio clip on the timeline, then send it to Audition. Any changes saved in Audition are immediately updated in the PrP timeline.”

David,

Is it both flexible and transparent in terms of where processed (rendered) media ends up? (meaning can you change where that file gets saved and can you find it and access it in the finder?)

I really disliked the way STP was set up to hide these files.

Franz.

[Chris Harlan]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “David, Chris,

Thanks – I have to say I am still in the sceptics’ camp on this one though to hear such positive things is encouraging. I’m really dragging my feet on trying out PPro (I’ve only spent a few hours in it) (not least because of the Matrox driver / FCP7 / PPro issue).
“

I just finished something with 14 tracks of audio, with multiple audio configuration exports. So, here’s my take a little more specifically. I really like that I can edit audio at both the clip level and the track level. Its nice to be able to adjust dialog and and sfx as I go, and then come along and rubber-band everything as I mix. I very much like the new mixer, and love having sends to sub-mixes. It is also nice to have a master track that can be key-framed. I’m still getting used to the approach that Pr6 takes to multichannel, and it seems a bit convoluted compared to the way FCPL worked, but that may be me.

Things I’d like to see: More flexible Sends, Plugin implementation at track level, Plugin implementation on the mixer, and Channel output control from the mixer that also can be altered after the timeline is created.

I still have more to learn, so that’s it for now. As to Audition, I like it, but haven’t messed around enough with it yet. My gut tells me I’ll still probably use Logic or ProTools, but I haven’t really given it a chance.

[Chris Conlee]

[Dustin Parsons] “I’ll learn it if I have to but every time I go back and give it a shot I can’t shake the feeling that this is an old, slow, unintuitive program that, no matter how many version I skip before trying it again, doesn’t seem to change much”

You know why? Because it’s been doing high end film and video work for 20+ years and doesn’t need a “reimagining,” despite Apples’ feelings to the contrary. Honestly, I’ve used probably a dozen NLEs over the years, including MovieShop and Toaster Flyer on the Amiga, and D/Vision Pro on a 486. Speed Razor, Premiere Pro, Incite, Avid, Final Cut Pro, Lightworks, you name it. There isn’t an NLE out there that’s faster, in my opinion. Once you know what you’re doing, it as well designed as any editor I’ve used. Everything is right at your fingertips.

It may not be new and flashy looking, but after you understand it, you’ll never say it’s slow again.

Chris Conlee

[Chris Harlan]

[Chris Conlee] “You know why? Because it’s been doing high end film and video work for 20+ years and doesn’t need a “reimagining,” despite Apples’ feelings to the contrary. Honestly, I’ve used probably a dozen NLEs over the years, including MovieShop and Toaster Flyer on the Amiga, and D/Vision Pro on a 486. Speed Razor, Premiere Pro, Incite, Avid, Final Cut Pro, Lightworks, you name it. There isn’t an NLE out there that’s faster, in my opinion. Once you know what you’re doing, it as well designed as any editor I’ve used. Everything is right at your fingertips.

It may not be new and flashy looking, but after you understand it, you’ll never say it’s slow again.”

I agree. Its a great editor. I’m having a lot of fun getting back into it. About the only things I see that I would like improved–and there have been so many improvements since I was last aboard–are a slight reworking of the audio (I’d like more realtime tracks, and a master track for the mixer that could take assignable plugins) and I would like AMA to be a little faster. I’m very happy with it and glad I picked up a couple of seats while the picking was good.

[Chris Harlan]

[David Lawrence] “The other new tool in CS6 I’m super excited about is Audition. This is new for us Mac people. Audition looks like all kinds of awesome. Just the spectral tools alone are making me drool. I’ve barely cracked the surface and can’t wait to really dig in. Suddenly losing Soundtrack Pro doesn’t feel so bad…”

I just took the spot I finished this afternoon and spent a couple of hours messing with it in Audition. I have to say, I like it. Its a stripped-down DAW that fits very nicely with video. The built in EQ strip on each track and all of the buses is fun and easy to use. Its close enough to Pr’s own internal mixer that it just feels like a more robust version of the same. I wouldn’t be surprised if Pr 7 has Audition fully integrated as its mixer. After playing for a while, I’m pretty certain this is how I will mix Pr spots. I wish Protools and MC were this tight.