if I have Vegas do I need SoundForge

kraz wrote on 10/15/2006, 3:00 AM
I am thinking of upgrading from Movie Studio to full Vegas. I see Vegas 7 claims to have a lot of new audio feature.

The question is - if I only need to do "minor" audio work (raise the volume of parts/ reverbs/ etc) can I use Vegas for my audio production independent of video work.

Second part - in my version of Studio I need to add in an audio editor to make audio changes in my video production - in the new version of Vegas 7 - can I do most of the changes internally?

Thanks
Allen

Comments

newhope wrote on 10/15/2006, 7:31 AM
The audio production side of Vegas is quite comprehensive, after all Vegas was a multitrack audio editng program before it was transformed into a Video/Audio editing program around the time of Vegas 3.

You can do a whole lot more than just "minor audio work (raise the volume of parts/ reverbs/ etc) " it has a reasonably good suite of audio FX, keyframe automation, sends to busses and the ability to mix to stereo and 5.1 (for Dolby Diigtal etc) formats. It can also handle a wide range of audio file types and export a similarly large range of audio file types.

I find it's still useful to have Soundforge for some functions but most of your audio functions will happen inside Vegas without having to refer to any other audio editing program, particularly the "minor" audio work to which you refer.

In short I find it has one of the best integrated audio editing tools of any NLEs for video I've used.

My background is 30 years as a professional broadcast audio post engineer. It literally rivals dedicated audio editing programs like ProTools, which I also use professionally, across a large part of its functions.

Regards
Stephen Hope
adowrx wrote on 10/15/2006, 7:40 PM
I almost never use Sound Forge.

I use Vegas every day for almost all audio tasks 'cept for midi and VST instruments.
newhope wrote on 10/15/2006, 11:24 PM
"I almost never use Sound Forge."

As I said you won't need it for most of your editing but there are functions it can do simply, particularly when identified as your audio editing application in Vegas, that Vegas either doesn't do or doesn't do as easily.

For instance I have a large production music library as high data rate MP3s but when I import them into a mixed WAV/MP3 tracklay I find it causes the playback to stuttuer occasionally so from the timeline I right click on the MP3 music, select Open in Soundforge, in Soundforge I 'Save as' WAV 48KHz then back in Vegas replace the Project media (MP3) with the WAV version of the file which replaces the timeline file with the WAV version as editied.

That's not something I need to do regularly but it is useful to have the function available.

regards
Steve
drbam wrote on 10/16/2006, 6:52 AM
Sound Forge is indispensible for "surgical" levels of editing - like zooming in to an individual sample, fixing clicks and pops, etc. I also use it when I want to save some edit or create a copy of a track or event with efx and other processing. This being said, I use Vegas for about 80% of my editing in a multitrack session.
Peter Vred wrote on 10/16/2006, 10:05 AM
I couldn't live without Sound Forge!
As a "minor" user like yourself, I find it indespensable for editing and modifiying after
the fact.

I have used SF since it first came out, to replace my 2 track Reel-to-reel mixdown machine..
Even if I wasn't a multi-tracker I'd have Sound Forge on my machine.

Great for cleaning up beginnings, endings, volume level matching, mastering,
changing formats, etc.

It's money well spent.

rraud wrote on 10/16/2006, 5:13 PM
I do a lot of audio-for-video post work and always use Sound Forge for clean-ups, ect.,ect.,ect.ect.,ect. so I agree with drbam & Peter, I could not live without it....
Infortunatly SMS does not like fussy pro audio users, so I would not be surprised if they discontinued the full version of SF all together, among their other pro-audio app.s. Hence my recent interest in Wavelab... not to mention Sonar, Nuendo, and dare I say... Protools, aka Slowtools.
kraz wrote on 10/22/2006, 4:40 AM
Thanks for your input - sounds liek for my "minor needs" it should be fine for me.

2 last points

1. (I just got Vegas 6) Does Vegas 7 give a lot more than version 6 had in terms of audio?

2. Can I save files in mp3 and Wav files.


Thanks
Allen
Chienworks wrote on 10/22/2006, 8:01 AM
You *just* got 6? You may be eligible for a free upgrade to 7. SONY Media Software usually offers it to people who purchased the old version within a 30 day span before and after the release of the new version. Call customer service and as.

1. (I just got Vegas 7) I don't really know yet. Sorry.

2. Yes. And also AAC, AIFF, AC3, OGG, RM, MXF, PCA ... and well, just about anything else you install a codec for too.
Peter Vred wrote on 10/23/2006, 7:23 AM
I went from Vegas version 5 to version 7, skipped 6.
Many new, nice, but subtle workflow improvements.
I'm glad I did it.

But not sure how much of those improvements were already in V6.
tazio wrote on 10/23/2006, 3:11 PM
Two words: Batch Converter