Audio Sweetening and Premiere

Jeff Anderson

Jeff Anderson

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I've got a short informative video we are in pre-production for for a not for profit so I'm trying to do as much myself to save some costs and get some experience in some things I dont usually do.

Audio wise I'll have one mic boomed and then two lavs on the two main talents. Equipment wise I'm squared away and have someone competent running the mixer and boom. My problems come in post - I normally edit in Premiere Pro 2.0 and would like to keep it that way since I know it really well, but I dont have the option to export to OMF to get the audio into protools. I also have Audition, but wasnt sure how good it was at multitracking.

So here are my questions - do I even need to be taking this audio out to an external editor? I kind of want to just for the experience but if its a complete waste of time then I wont.

Am I going to be stuck checkerboarding all my audio and stretching the audio to have handles, exporting each track as a wav and syncing them all back with the two pops in Audition or Pro Tools? I can export as an AAF but I dont know anything about what that even really means.

And finally - what do I need to use? Audition, Pro Tools? Hardware like a firewire mixer?

And I have no monitors but its on the list of things to get, just havent done the searching yet to see what I need.

Appreciate the input - thanks!
 
You have a mixture of questions there. If you can out put AAF (not AIFF which is an audio file format) then your good to go for Protools. If your editor could import an OMF then they could import an AAF. Well they can if they are with in 4 years of current.

If you wanted to do that and you found a PT editor who was on a system that does not have DigiTranslator or the DV toolkit installed. I would be willing to do the translation for you for free, or maybe a beer if we ever meet. It's quick and easy and I have the system. You sent me the OMF or AAF and I will send them a PT session and files in whatever version they are running. You pay postage both ways.

THe rest I don't really know much about. What do you need to use for what? You can't do audio post with out decent monitors. Headphones will give you a very un-natural sense of what is going on and don't translate well to the real world.
 
Cool. Thanks for the info on the AAF. Sadly Audition doesnt do AAF's or OMF's. Sure would make sense, but it doesnt.

Sorry my last question was kinda vague - just didnt know the usefulness of firewire mixers like the ones from maudio and presonus that interact with ProTools. Monitors are definitely going to be purchased, just dont know which ones and havent looked around yet to see what I need and can afford.
 
Digi is completely proprietary with Protools. They own M Audio and have a version of PT that works with some M Audio interfaces. Those are the only "non" Digi hardware that works with PT. A semi exception is that Apogee makes or made? a box that could replace digi's hardware box. BUT that still required the digi card to connect to so it is/ was only available to users of TDM systems, not Le.
If you want to get a capable PT system fairly cheap them the best deal I have heard about (heard it here on DVX User) is the Academic version of PT. Gives you many of the features of Le with the DV toolkit (normally a $1,250 add on for Le) for $150 and you have to buy an M audio box to work with it. The catch is your in the "M Powered" track of PT and there isn't a good upgrade path if you wanted to move up. Not much of a catch considering the price.

PT will work with a number of control surfaces.
 
Well after looking it all over, it looks like I'll go with the academic version of PT (luckily I can buy through a 501c3 and qualify) and one of the simpler usb m-audio boxes as I'm finding I dont have any need for a firewire mixer or 16 channels at this stage in the game. And the usb means I can take it with my laptop for a decent headphone pre-amp.

Still havent decided on monitors, but leaning towards event tr-6's or something along those lines. Its a small room (10x12) that is getting ready to get some acoustic treatment on the walls and ceiling to see what we can do about the reverb.

Any good books or links on learning to mix dialogue? I'm going to see if I cant find Jay Roses book locally but thought I'd check to see if there were others. Thanks for the help Noiz!
 
One great asset with Pro Tools is the DUC. It's not restricted but if your not using PT your not going to get that much help. It can be a tough crowd since most are working professionals (in the post section anyway) but you can lear a tremendous amount. So that is the Digidesign Users Conference.

http://duc.digidesign.com/

There is a section on sound post.

Event makes some very nice speakers. The 20/20's were sort of the poor-man's Genelec. And they can come powered. I also like Yorkville YSM-1's a lot they also come in a powered version. Both are pretty cheap, like under $300/pair for un-powered versions.
 
I'll look at both of those monitors - I need to head up to guitar center someday at lunch when they arent busy and do some listening. Weekends are kinda hard to hear anything there at all.

I'll check out DUC as well. This is something I would like to learn alot more about so if nothing else it looks like a good place to go lurk. Thanks for the tips!
 
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