Options getting audio from a (Mac) Avid or Finalcut Pro

rraud wrote on 2/9/2005, 4:37 PM

Can I get some options and opinions on getting audio from a (Mac) Avid or Finalcut Pro project.
I assume I can't open Avid, FCP or PT session files.
I can get the dialogue and music files in .aif or .wav from their Mac.
It will need to go back to the video post house to be laid back to the video.
Their budget is tight so I can't rent a Beta or TC DVCAM deck.
My theoretical solution: Will it work????
- After the final online edit, I will have the video people send me separate timeline dialogue & music files.... including a low res Quicktime movie for reference.
- I should be able to import their .aif or .wav files and process those without compromising the timeline.
- I will send the video people a final mix (.aif of .wav) to load back to they're Avid or FCP.
Any suggestions, options, opinions??
Thanks for any help with this project
R

Comments

JMacSTL wrote on 2/9/2005, 8:35 PM

OMF. Tha'ts the best way. You'll get all audio, plus handles on each cue. You'll need a 3rd party software to convert from OMF to Vegas. i use AVTranser. It's awesome.

jmm

SonyEPM wrote on 2/10/2005, 8:50 AM

If you need to move audio projects to and from FCP/Vegas, EDL Convert Pro 4 works very well.

rraud wrote on 2/10/2005, 2:47 PM

The AVtransfer's $800 pricetag is over my budget at this point.
The EDL/convert is more within it at $250.

However both convert OMFand other files from NLEs to Vegas *.txt format. All my Vegas "session" files are *.veg. Am I missing something here?

I'm also curious as to what kinds of files the Final Cut Pro uses. I assume the audio files are .aif, what about the EDL files, are they, OMF?
Thanks for any info.

I'm still open to other suggestions. on my intial post.

Rednroll wrote on 2/12/2005, 10:25 PM

Another option that is widely used in TV advertising work doing exactly the same type of workflow you're doing is the "2 beep" method, which won't cost you anything for additional software. This method is widely used just for editor/format differences between studios like you're faced with.

The 2 beep method works like this. The Video house lays off "splits". That is a seperate stereo tracks of the Music, VO, and Sound FX's. 2 seconds before the video starts there is a "beep", or click of with a very short duration. I use a 1khz sinewave with a duration of 1 frame and a peak level of -12dB, and this is pretty common for the "2 beep" sound. If you're video starts at 1:00 minute on the timeline, then the "2 beep" is placed on an audio track at 58 seconds (ie 2 seconds before the video starts, thus the name 2 beep). Now the video house should lay off the splits, by soloing the music tracks, Sound FX tracks, and VO tracks seperately, and the 2 beep track is soloed with them so each contains the 2 beep sound. They can now send you the individual tracks as .WAV or .AIF, or even lay them off to CD audio tracks or DAT tape. You then import these into Vegas and align all the tracks, so the 2 beep of each track is at 58 seconds. You then place the first frame of the video at 1 minute. Now you're video and audio should be in perfect sync as it was from the video house. Do your mix and add any additional elements you want, then layoff your mix with one of the 2 beeps and send it back to the video house. Now they do the same thing of placing the 2 beep, 2 seconds before the first frame of the video start and the audio is in sync as it was on your system.