Audio post software

[Noiz2]

Ok, I'll fix that;
I'm doing this for my own enjoyment. I like learning new stuff. However, I've been ordering off of the Senior Menu at IHOP for a few years now and halfway into the next administration - whether that will be Obama or somebody else - I will be eligible for retirement after close to two decades in IT. So I'm not looking for a second - or third - career. My goal is to be able to produce or create the best possible audio for my videos.

Audio has always been one of my interests, ever since I got to play with a Tandberg Model 11 way back when our fossil fuels were still walking.

I find the concept of "sound design" fascinating. To the point that I recorded myself reading, tried to remove all "extra" sounds to get it as dead a possible, and then tried to add layers of effects to make it sound different. Not too successful, but it was fun. Now I need to learn more, and get some better hardware. And find the software to do all this.

For what little music stuff I do, loops and such, I have Abelton Light.

I'm a Premiere Pro CS5 user, but I also have Sony Vegas Pro 8. I switched to PP since Vegas seems to be headed towards catering to the Sony cameras only and I'm using a DVX and do not foresee ever switching to Sony.

If Windows is what you know stay with it. The only reason I would say go to a Mac is IF you were planning a career path and even then it would depend on what and where you were going.

Pro Tools has a couple of things going for it even for non career tracks. One is it has a lot of users and a great forum so one can usually get answers to problems. It's very capable on a lot of levels But that is also maybe a weakness if your not doing it every day. As Chadfish pointed out Vegas started as an audio program. so that would keep you on familiar ground. If you do go Pro Tools check on academic pricing. I don't know what it is now but it was a very good deal. Even if a school ID is required the discount was a lot more than a class at a JC, and that will get you the ID. I'm not much use on Windows apps since last time I owned a Windows box Win98 was new. I used to use a really nice DAW called SAW.

Is that still the case? I can do Windows and Linux, and probably most versions of Unix. I may even manage VMX if I had to, but I don't do Apple And from the replies here it seems like Pro Tools is the way to go.

See above.

Once I get a feel for what is needed, I can probably cobble something usable together in SQL Express, or look closer at what is available commercially. I'll probably be back with more questions once I get to that point.

A database is really of use mostly if your working at it for a living. We used to just organize by folder structure. That is fine till you have a lot of sounds and speed is an issue. My library is 60,000 - 70,000 sounds right now not counting the sampler stuff and the folder structure is by show so with out a librarian program it would be impossible for anyone else but me to find anything and it would still be difficult for me.

I guess a search on Amazon will give some leads. Now that I have a few software titles to search for I will start there. Unless of course you have a title or two to suggest?

If your broadening one of the few really good books is called The Foley Grail. It kind of blows off Foley artists outside of LA but it is a good look at what Foley is. And it's also a good grounding in what goes into "sound design". They are doing it live but an editor does pretty much the same thing with recordings and library sounds.
There is also an excellent book on dialog editing that I can't remember the name of but it's probably not that interesting if your not looking to do that for a living.
For design stuff there is a lot of info in the "new music" and "Music Concrete" areas. I have a good book on Stockhousen, and there are a few on Psycoacustics that are very interesting.

I just moved and my library is still in boxes.

I've been through the stickies before, but that was a good while ago, so I guess it's time to get back over there. I'll head on over to the Digidesign Users Conference too. I own some M-Audio gear so maybe I can get a deal on the Pro Tools LE or something to get my feet wet. They keep sending me email offers all the time.

Thanks to everybody who have been kind enough to offer up suggestions. You've given me lots of research to do. I'll probably be back with more questions.

The ones on post would be the ones I would look at. As I said see about Academic pricing.

 

[Rippie]

I'm a production guy but I'm filling in doing some post work this week at a facility in town (protools)
and the one thing I love about it is the way its set up. Big plasma on the wall for video, really big computer monitor, desk to the side.

Makes it so much easier to work.
No overlapping windows on the screen, tons of info on the screen at once, etc.

So my (obvious) advice is get as big of a monitor as you can afford. It really does make things easier.

 

[Networker]

Some people learn best by observing, while others learn best by reading. And then there are those that just have to pee on the electric fence for themselves. I'm cool with the reading method so after reading most of the stickies, here is my current wish list on Amazon:
The Book of Audacity by Carla Schroder,
Modern Recording Techniques, Seventh Edition by David Miles Huber,
Audio Postproduction for Film and Video, Second Edition by Jay Rose.

Please feel free to comment or suggest changes to this list.

I'll follow Davefisk's suggestion about Audacity to start with. Then Adobe wants me to upgrade Soundbooth CS3 to Audition CS5. They will let me play with it for 30 days for free and then the upgrade is $99.-. I might do that since the reviews that I have found seems reasonably positive.

I also need to upgrade my Zoom H2 to a better recorder. But that is a different discussion.

 

[Networker]

OH, forgot to add that I can get the ProTools academic version. Haven't looked at how much that is yet, but I have verified that I qualify.

 

[recordingwhiz]

Pro Tools is the industry standard and maintains to be because it IS easy to use, the fact is that these days pretty much all DAWs do the same things (for the most part), the difference being the human interface AKA where the buttons are.

You cannot go wrong learning PT, which is available fairly inexpensively, and the new version doesn't make you use a Digi or M-audio interface. And once you learn it you can pretty much walk into most Post facilities or good recording studios and be able to work your way around. PT is very similar in its HUI (human user Interface) to Digital Performer (Mac).

Audacity is a great way to cut your teeth on how digital wave form editing works, as well as the use of plug ins and off line processes.

Good Luck