Sound mixing programs that integrates with Video editors

Gohanto

Gohanto

Veteran
At present, I used Adobe Premiere and After Effects for video (bouncing video between them is fast, easy, and keeps the indiviual clips seperated), Audition to clean up audio, and Premiere to mix and edit audio because there's no way to import synced audio tracks from Premiere into Audition (short of re-editing the entire movie to the frame again in Audition).

This has worked ok, but now I'm looking for more precise audio editing and mixing than Premiere is capable of.

Does anyone know of a program collection that allows you to look at audio tracks synced in a video editing program (via slating) while still keeping the tracks as individual clips (meaning that you don't just render the audio in a video editor and drag it into an audio program).

Or are there any other workflows that let you edit and mix audio outside a video editor?
 
I was under the impression you could do precisely that with Adobe suites to Audition. If you can't, then exporting stems with 2-pops on the beginning and tail should will allow you to import to pretty much any audio program. I do not believe Premiere has tradional OMF or AAF exporting but I might be mistaken.

Ironically I am at the airport to fly out to my father who just got CS3. I will poke around to see how that workflow is integrated. Will let you know if I learn anything.

If you don't get any further Adobe advice here you might do better to post in the Premiere forum.

Good luck
 
I'm not a PC guy, but I believe Avid and Pro Tools will do what you want. Might cost you a lot to get there though.
 
Final Cut suite is really integrated and works as you want. Personally the audio app (Sound Track Pro) I don't think is at the same level as Pro Tools but there is nothing I know of with tighter integration and STP is a very capable application as long as you not trying to do "Hollywood" style 100+ track mixes.
Pro Tools, while my favorite, is designed to work in a more traditional film post work flow. Edit your film, export an OMF (or AAF), import the OMF and then changes in picture are "conformed" in PT with either conforming software or by hand with change notes.
OMF (and AAF) are exchange formats. They are for sending multi track sessions between applications. So your tracks will all open up as they were in the original application.

If I were a picture editor working in FCP and I wanted to do audio work on my projects I would use Sound Track Pro for two reasons. First because of the tight integration (if you follow the proper workflow you can update the STP project to conform with your new picture edit in FCP with no additional software in pretty short order and very little user intervention) and second because STP is very picture editor friendly. Apps like Pro Tools are great audio editors but audio editors (DAW) have a very different orientation than picture editors (NLE) and trying to switch back and forth is a little like working on two computers with different operating systems.
 
Just to follow up, I didn't have the time over the holiday to play with CS3 suite, sorry.

If you are not hung up on using Premiere then, like suggested, FCP Studio will serve your needs fine.

Cheers
 
Here is some additional information from the Logic Pro 8 manual about importing and exporting audio between the two applications. See in particular the note at the end in boldface.

"Importing and Exporting Final Cut Pro XML Files

The Final Cut Pro XML format is used to import and export audio data between Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro. The Final Cut Pro XML format supports automation data.

To export the current project as a Final Cut Pro/XML file:

--Choose File > Export > Project to Final Cut Pro/XML.

This will launch a standard file selector dialog, allowing you to name the export file.

Note: Audio Instrument tracks are always bounced to audio files. MIDI tracks are
ignored. Bouncing will automatically switch to real time mode, if necessary (such as
when an I/O or External Instrument plug-in is used).

To import Final Cut Pro XML files, do one of the following:

--Choose File > Import, then choose the file in the Import dialog.

--Locate and select the file in the Browser, then click the Open button.

Changing or Retaining the Final Cut Pro Sample Rate

The XML import procedure allows you to retain the sample rate of audio files used in your Final Cut sequences. If you import sequences that use audio files with different sample rates, the following dialog appears:

Click one of the buttons to choose if you want to:

--Alter the sample rate of your Logic Pro project to match all imported Final Cut
sequence audio files.

--Retain the sample rate of your Logic Pro project. All Final Cut sequence audio files that use a sample rate that differs from the selected one are converted.

Note: A Final Cut sequence is an arrangement of video, audio, and graphic clips, edit information, and effects—which combined, create a movie. Use of XML to import Final Cut sequences into Logic Pro allows you to exchange multiple audio tracks, with all positional region information, region names, volume and pan automation data, retained."

I hope that is helpful.

Kevin
 
Good info.
This is very close to a standard work flow for film post, basically the same as OMF or AAF into PT or Nuendo.

The standard and usual way the work flows in one directional. Pict -> Audio Post -> Mix -> Final print/ Layback etc.

FCS and poss the Premiere Pro et all suite are actually "integrated" in that you can go both directions to some extent. The drawback to the integration is that you have to work with apps in the suite. If your a one man shop this is a big advantage. If your a working professional working with a team it is often a disadvantage because the integration often comes at a cost of mobility, compatibility and flexibility.
 
While it is true that Logic is not integtrated into the Final Cut suite to the same extent that Soundtrack is, I believe that the Logic manual quoted above indicates that you can not only import a FCP file into Logic, you can also export a Logic project to a Final Cut Pro/XML file, thereby allowing the work to flow in both directions to some degree. This would make sense since both are Apple applications.

Be aware that I have not yet used this workflow, so check out the manual yourself to be sure this is correct.

Kevin
 
It talks about Import, no mention of export.
But STP doesn't send multi tracks back to FCP either at the moment. Since Apple owns Logic it probably talks pretty well with FCP. Of course if you have FCP you have FCS so you also have STP. I don't believe Logic has the conform features that STP does so even if I were going to finish on Logic I might want to do early work in STP just so I could use the conform feature.
Anyway this is not this is not endorsement. I work in Pro Tools and am not a big fan of STP but the question had to do with integrated suites and FCS is an integrated bundle that is very well integrated. If I were a musician scoring a piece Logic would be a lot higher on my list but it started out as a MIDI sequencer and has been working toward being a music DAW. A few people use it for general audio post jobs but it wasn't designed for that and doesn't work as well at those tasks as Nuendo and PT. It does have the basics but I'm not sure if it's a big step up from STP (for audio post, obviously it is for music and scoring) and since STP is already there I'm not sure I would go out and buy a pricey piece of software that may not help me a lot. Also STP works and feels very similar to FCP. So if your a one man band it is relatively easy to move back and forth. That is not the case with PT, don't know about Logic though I suspect that it is closer than PT since it's all Apple but???
 
that is one thing I just can't understand, why adobe has not made it possible to export your Premiere Sequence's audio to a multi track Audition Project, that would be so USEFULL!!!!!, please adobe,


I mean, all the info is in the project file, it can't be that hard?

thanks,
Derrick
 
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