Project Workflow

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Let's follow a sample project through all the phases of creation. Let's say you're the post-production audio engineer. A production company has hired you to complete the audio production once the video shoot has been completed. Someone else will handle the recording of audio during the shoot. You are in charge of anything that needs to be recorded after the shoot, editing of all the audio, and mixing of everything into a final, complete format.

The whole process can be divided into three main phases: Pre-Production (the planning stage), Production (usually referring to filming or videotaping ), and Post-Production (editing and mixing). Even though Pro Tools is primarily used in post-production, it is important to understand all the phases, as they will affect what you do in post-production. Decisions made at the beginning of a project can have a profound effect on the final result. Let's begin with the planning, or pre-production, phase.

Pre-Production (Planning and Preparing)

During pre-production, the key creative and technical people will meet in person or by phone to discuss several issues, including scheduling, deadlines, scripts, creative content, technical personnel, talent, and budgets . Scripts and storyboards will be put together so that everyone can get an idea of what the project calls for.

What Is The Project Going to Be?

First you need to know what it is you're going to create. Is it a short film? A commercial? A feature length movie? A flash movie for the Internet? A corporate training film? All of these projects have different needs and special considerations to keep in mind.

For the purposes of our example, let's imagine your project is going to be a 30-second TV commercial for Supersuds soap. You already know the length by definition. That's a good start. You also know the commercial will be for television broadcast and will probably be mixed in stereo. You will not need surround sound. You are going to be selling something, so vocal clarity is very important. In TV commercials there is usually some music and at least some dialog in the form of narration and/or onscreen characters . You have extracted this much information just by knowing what kind of project you're working on. Amazing!

Next , it's a really good idea to know who is going to be watching this commercial. Having this information can be helpful in how you approach each step in recording and mixing. If the commerical is for kids , for instance, then things are going to be more active in the mix and probably not very subtle. If the commercial is for senior citizens , then maybe a more pleasant and smooth sound is the way to go. You get the idea.

Who Are You Working With?

As you will be working with several people very closely on this project, it's a good idea to get to know them and what their jobs are. Usually a meeting will be held including everyone involved with the project. At that meeting, a script will be presented (check it out in Appendix A) that will describe the commercial in detail. It will have descriptions of the scene, characters, written dialog, and cues for sound effects and music. Now is the time to discuss this project with other members of the creative and technical staff. Discussing the project is important for several reasons. First, you must learn about the creative vision and overall concept that the others have. Learning the vision for the commercial can give you ideas and help you add to its overall effectiveness. Next, you will need to discuss technical requirements for each phase of the production. This can be a real headache later if standards are not agreed to early on.

Your opinions about this commercial might differ from others involved. A meeting can eliminate potential conflicts before they occur. Each member of the team has to work together in order to create the final product. Your job as the post-production sound engineer is but one piece in the puzzle. Creative meetings help the puzzle fit together perfectly .

Here is a list of the primary players involved in creating our fictional commercial:

The Producer. Simply put, the producer is the boss. Typically, a producer runs the business side of the project, dealing with budgets, hiring or firing people, and overseeing the whole project. In the end, producers are responsible for everything. They "produce" the finished product, in our case a commercial. The producer of our fictitious commercial is Susan. She drinks a lot of coffee.
The Director. The director plays a more creative role than the producer, and is in charge of keeping all the technical people working together. The director takes a guiding role during filming, controlling how the talent acts out the script and determining what angles the camera shoots from. A director will also be involved in the editing of the footage and in the audio editing and mixing. He will oversee your work and guide you so that the creative vision remains consistent throughout the entire production. Get to know the director and what he expects from you. For our soap commercial, the director's name is Jack, and he's a really nice guy. He wears sunglasses and is glued to his cell phone 24/7.

NOTE

WHO'S IN CHARGE?

In this example I have simplified the supervisory roles to include only a producer and director. In reality, there may be several other persons involved in directing and controlling the creative process. The client themselves (SuperSuds) might be directly involved in the creation of a television commercial. The ad agency that they hired to create the commercial might also work with you directly. The permutations of creative control in a situation like this are almost endless. For this example the producer will function as a manager of all the people involved and the director will function as the single person with creative control. The politics of this job are going to be easy!
The Production Sound Mixer. The person who records the audio during filming is the production sound mixer. It is a good idea to meet this person and find out how she will record this commercial. Is she planning to use lavalier mics or shotgun boom mics? Will she record to DAT or into the camera in the case of video? What SMPTE time code format will be used? These are questions worth asking at the beginning of a project so that there will be less confusion later. Ideally, the sound mixer will take notes during filming that can be used later in post-production. The notes will typically list which take occurred at what time code number and other useful information, such as what mic is on each channel. The sound mixer for our project is Jodie, and she eats sushi all the time. For our project, Jodie is going to use a combination of lavalier and boom mics and record directly into the camera, as this will be a video shoot. The time code will be 29.97fps non-drop frame.
Video Editors, Film Editors, and Web Designers. A video or picture editor handles the technical aspects of editing the different scenes and camera angles together with the corresponding production audio. When the editor has finished at least a rough edit of your commercial, he will give you the edited audio in some form and a video for you to use in post-production. The transfer process can be simple or terribly complex and difficult. It is a good idea to establish a relationship with the video editor and understand how you will exchange audio and video with him. Our video editor is Justin and he likes cinnamon-raisin bagels. He'll be editing on an Avid system (see Figure 2.10). When dealing with Internet media, the Web designer functions as a video editor. She will create the moving images that you will work with. Flash movies and other Internet media have special requirements that we will discuss in Chapter 7.

Figure 2.10. A video-editing suite. This one has several workstations allowing graphics generation to take place alongside the video editing. Usually a video editor will work with an assistant who helps by loading tapes, editing graphics, and getting lunch !

How Will You Exchange Audio?

In order to work efficiently and reduce the amount of mistakes and confusion, standards for exchanging audio throughout the project must be agreed upon by the technical personnel involved. In today's digital world, you are presented with a maze of options when transferring audio between workstations. Each phase of a project might require a different audio format because of equipment variances, personal preferences, and availability. Gradually the audio exchange process is becoming more streamlined, and A.E.S. (the Audio Engineering Society) is working on new standards that will help. Many manufacturers are currently using the Broadcast Wave format; it allows transfers of audio and edit data easily across different platforms.

Let's take a look at the audio exchange possibilities.

Acquisition. Acquiring and gathering audio is the first step, and the format you choose can speed up or slow down the rest of the project. As far as filming is concerned , the audio format is determined by the recording machine. DAT tapes are the current standard, but looming on the horizon is the ability to record directly to hard disk on location using devices like the DEVA recorder (shown in Figure 2.11) or even by running Pro Tools on a laptop. The TV show Survivor used a Pro Tools Digi 001 system to capture audio on location. A multi-channel system like that allows you to record multiple microphones without mixing them together, thereby giving you flexibility later on. This makes it very easy to transfer those files to another Pro Tools workstation for later editing.

Figure 2.11. The Zaxcom DEVA hard disk field recorder uses the Broadcast Wave file format as one available option.
You will always need to get sounds outside of the filming process for use as sound effects and foley. While a portable DAT machine is still the norm for this, using laptops to record directly to a data format allows for quicker transfer into Pro Tools for editing. When recording to hard disk, be aware of what file format you're using. The native file format for Pro Tools is Sound Designer II (SDII). Pro Tools can also read WAV and AIFF files directly, but it currently can only read either SDII, WAV, or AIFF in one session. You should decide whether WAV, AIFF, or SDII files will be your standard format for this project. Consider what format the video editor might prefer.
As Justin is using an Avid system on the Macintosh platform, you will want to use the SDII format, as this is the native audio format of that Avid system. If, for instance, Justin were using an Avid Symphony system on a PC, then the WAV format would be a better choice.
Audio and Video Interchange. The next format issue is the interchange of audio between the video system and Pro Tools. The simplest way of accomplishing this interchange is to record the audio out of the video-editing system onto a synchronized tape machine and then record that into Pro Tools. As long as proper sync was maintained throughout the process, you now have a mixed version of the audio from the video editor. However, due to the complex nature of your task, this might not be good enough. It is often necessary to have all the source audio files that the video editor used and the information necessary to play portions of those audio files in the correct order so that the audio will be in sync with the picture. This editing information is called an edit decision list , or EDL . You will need a method of transfer that brings across all the source audio files and necessary EDL information so that every editing and mixing option is available to you after the transfer.
NOTE

SESSION DATA AND THE EDL

Each Pro Tools session contains four main items, as shown in Figure 2.12.

The elements of a session. Here is what you will find inside a Pro Tools session folder.
1. The Session Document or Pro Tools File (There may be more than one!)
2. Audio Files (in a folder)
3. Fade Files (in another folder)
4. Video Files (in yet another folder)
The Pro Tools session document contains all the information necessary to place all or portions of each audio file in the timeline at certain locations. It also contains mixing information such as volume, pan, and plug-in settings for EQ and compression. This information comprises the edit decision list , or EDL. The same is true for video-editing softwareit must have an EDL in order to know how to play back the video and audio clips. When transferring audio and video data between different editors, it is necessary to also transfer an EDL file so that the receiving editor will have the information necessary to play the audio and video back in the proper sequence.
Back to the list of formats, the most common way to transfer audio between platforms involves using OMFI files ( Open Media Framework Interchange). OMFIs are multimedia files that can contain the audio data, EDL data, and video data in one standardized format. Created by Avid, OMFI files are the standard used throughout the industry. If the video system does not support OMF, things can get complicated quickly. I'll talk more about OMF files and other methods of interchange in Chapter 5, "Recording to Picture." For now, Justin agrees that you should use OMF files for interchange.
Delivery. Once you have completed a final mix of the commercial, it must be put back together with the edited video on the master tape. This is typically called the layback process, or "laying back to tape." Since our commercial is for broadcast video, you will be laying back to videotape. Justin will record, or lay , his finished video edit on a tape, and then your mix will be recorded onto the same tape in sync with the video in order to create the finished master. For this to work, you and Justin must be using the same standards in time code, tape format, and synchronization. Our master tape format for this commercial will be Digital Betacam, using 29.97 f.p.s. ( frames per second) non-drop SMPTE time code. In the case of film, you would have to create a master tape, maybe in a surround format, that can be converted into an optical track for the film print. This is quite a bit more complex, and I'll talk more about film mixing in Chapter 3, "Synchronization and SMPTE Time Code."
Backup and Archival. You must protect yourself from loss of data throughout the project. Hard drives crash and the power occasionally goes out. Backing up daily and keeping copies of your sessions can reduce downtime (and expense!) due to data loss. Once you have completed the project, you need to back up and archive the data in case the producer, Susan, wishes to change something later, or in case the Supersuds Soap Company wants to use the same commercial next year but change the voiceover. There are many possibilities for backing up your data. We will cover all of them in Chapter 8, "Mixing to Picture in Pro Tools." Backup scenarios depend greatly on the hardware you have available. In our imaginary situation, you have a Mac G4 with a DVD burner that will back up to DVD data discs. Justin thought that was a good idea. We'll bring him some bagels next time we see him.

Production (Filming and Recording on a Set or on Location)

The production stage of a project primarily involves filming. Unless you are the production sound mixer, there is not much to do on the set. Nevertheless, other tasks need to be accomplished during this phase.

Keeping in Contact with the Film Crew

During filming you should stay in contact with the film crew to find out how everything is coming along, perhaps even stopping in at a convenient time to actually see how they are recording. Many things can change while filmingthe script could be revised or the whole thing could change creative directions. You never know. It's a good idea to talk to the sound mixer or the director during this period. If the script has changed, now would be a good time to get a current copy.

You have talked to Jodie and everything seems to be running smoothly on the set. A couple of lines in the script have changed, and our director, Jack, now wants a special sound effect for the soapsuds that you will have to create. Good thing you talked to her, since now would be a good time to start creating any special effects.

Creating Cue Lists from Scripts

Now that you have an up-to-date script, let's put together a list of every audio event that is going to happen in the project. This is called a cue sheet or cue list . You can read through a written script and get a good idea of what sounds will be needed and wherefor example, the opening of a door when a character enters the scene, or car sounds if there is a car in the script. You don't need to list absolutely everything, such as rustling clothes and individual footsteps, unless they are specific to the scene. You just want an idea of what the major sound events will be. Storyboards are even more help in this regard, as they provide a visual indication of some of the action and can give you more clues as to what the sound requirements are.

Animation Dialog

Animation is always a special case. During the production phase of an animated production, the first thing you must do is the recording of the dialog, so that animators can draw the facial expressions and mouth movements of the recorded speech. This way, you are creating the production audio in the studio and not on a set. You will learn more about this in Chapter 4.

Gathering Environmental Audio

You can use your laptop or DAT deck to record sounds necessary for any special effects, ambience, and anything else you find on the cue sheet. Ambience is certainly an important sonic area to cover. In your case, you need the background sound of a farmyard, including all the animal noises. Some of these sounds you might find in a sound effect library, but certain ones you might prefer to record yourself in order to make them sound really sharp. The "soapy suds" sound effect is one that should also be really unique, according to our director. You could try setting up a tub of suds in the studio and recording different sudsy sounds.

Let's say you decide to record the background ambience of the farmyard, as you've checked the effects library and nothing in it seems to fit. As the original filming location is in a high-traffic area, it isn't suitable for ambience recording due to the high level of background noise from a nearby highway . You've arranged a time to go to another farmyard that has the animals you need and where the ambience will be appropriate. You might want to use a microphone with a wind baffle, such as the one shown in Figure 2.13.

Figure 2.13. The Sennheiser MKH-416 is a popular shotgun microphone used to record dialog, ambience, and other sounds on the set. It has a very tight, hyper-cardiod pickup pattern that is useful in minimizing unwanted noises from the recording.

Good. I feel like we're getting some real recording done here. Bagel, anyone ?

Post-Production (Re-recording, Sweetening, Editing, and Mixing)

The video shoot went well. You've just had a meeting with Jack and he feels positive that you have a great commercial in the making. You played him your super-sudsy sound and he loves it and feels it will add a new dimension to the spot (a term commonly used to refer to a commercial). Now, it's time for post-production. Post-production is where everything is put together. All of the different camera takes and angles are edited and combined with text and graphics. You record voiceovers , sound effects, and any other audio needed and then assemble them so that they work well with the picture. Let's discuss the cue list first.

Finalizing Cue Lists

Once the video is edited, at least as a rough cut , you can look at it and finalize your cue list. It's a good idea to do this as soon as possible in order to eliminate any sounds that aren't needed and to determine whether any new sounds should be added. Now, the job is laid out for you.

Transferring Audio from the Video Editor

Justin has provided us with an OMFI file as he agreed to do back in pre-production. This OMFI file can be translated into a Pro Tools session using a utility like Digidesign's Digitranslator. This piece of software reads the OMFI file and extracts audio files, session files, and even crossfade and automation data. It will then create a Pro Tools session. This session should have all of the edits that the video editor made to the production audio and any additional audio tracks such as scratch tracks containing music, effects, and/or voice-overs. Often, directors will have the video editor put in these temporary sound elements to help the editing process. They can be used as a guide for placing final sound elements.

Record Any Additional Audio

Our OMFI file contains dialog from the production audio only. You have translated the OMFI into a Pro Tools session and opened it up to see what's there. Everything looks good, but the audio ends around 19 seconds into the spot. After looking at the script again, you realize that the voiceover starts at about 19 seconds. Since Jack and Justin adjust the timing of the video edits to any dialog that occurs, you need to record the voiceover now so they can continue editing.

The following list explores how you will record each audio element in the production. Once this is done, you will start editing everything to fit the video:

Voiceovers. Jack has told you that the announcer 's lines need to last for eight seconds in order for the video edit to work well. This was also planned out during the pre-production phase. It is your job to now make sure that the voiceover fits this space. The voiceover talent is very professional, and within a few takes you have what you need for the ending. The take that Jack liked is 8.5 seconds long, so you need to edit out one breath and change some spacing to make it fit (you'll find out how to do this in Chapter 5). As our final voiceover file is relatively small, you have e-mailed it to Justin in order to keep us on schedule. This has saved a decent amount of time. Pretty cool, eh? Now, Justin owes you lunch.
ADR Dialog Replacement. While filming, the farm was quiet enough that all of the dialog was usable except one piece. The line that both farm boys say together when they come running up to their mother was too far off the boom mic to sound good. You need to replace that line with a new one recorded in the studiothe process called ADR.

You'll need to get the actors that played the farm boys back in the studio to do this. Jack has made some calls and found out that both of them are busy on another gig and won't be available for two days. You don't have that much time, and as there is only one line that needs replacing, Jack has decided to use other actors to read the line for the boys. You should have no problem creating the illusion that the voices you use actually belong to the boys on film. This sort of thing happens often when a director likes an actor's face but not his voice. In our case, we are doing this for more practical reasons. In Chapter 5, I will go into detail about how to set this session up and get perfect lip sync, even using talent that was not in the original filming.
Foley and Sound Effects. Next, you must record and edit the foley sounds and any special effects, such as the "soapy suds" sound you created in pre-production. You will use your cue sheet as a checklist for this step. First, you need barnyard ambience, including chickens, goats, horses, dogs, and miscellaneous birds. The base ambient track that you recorded on location has the general ambience of a rural setting, including wind in the trees, occasional bird chirps, and a couple of distant dog barks. That covers some of what you need. The specific chickens, goats, and horses you will have to get from a sound effects library. The sounds from the library can be placed wherever you choose, which will be helpful in keeping the dialog clear. You don't want a goat "baaahing" over one of the mother's lines, do you?

Even though the script does not specifically say it, you will need the screen door sound when the mother comes out of the house, her footsteps across the lawn, and the boys' running footsteps as they approach her. The end of the commercial shows the family standing outside. You could put more ambience there, but the music and voiceover will overshadow this, and they are really the focus at that point. Don't forget the soapy suds sound when the mother dunks her laundry in the tub. This is a signature sound that will really stand out in the mix. In Chapter 5, I'll go into detail on how to record foley and use a sound effects library to enhance your soundtracks .
Music. Music plays an incredibly important role in film, video, and all sorts of multimedia. It can establish a mood, set the pace, and highlight the action in many ways. In our commercial, the Supersuds music, or jingle, has been adapted into a country style by the composer. Her name is Shirley and she lives in Nashville, so the jingle has a real down-home country sound to it. Shirley has mailed us a CD of the finished music that you will import into Pro Tools and use at the end, during the voiceover. Sometimes music will come in different formats. For instance, Shirley has sent us several variations of her jingle. The first is with a full band and has singing all the way through it. It's thirty seconds long. Next, she has the instrumental version of the first. Third, there is an acoustic version that has no drums or bass guitar in it. She sent that one with and without vocals. And finally, she sent a version that is the vocals only. You can use these versions to create alternate mixes to suit your needs. In this case, the music plays only during the last 11 seconds of the commercial, and the singing occurs only on the last line, "Supersuds, for that country-fresh scent." You will have to edit pieces of different versions together in order to create the one you need for this spot. Many times, the music will be recorded specifically for a given script and will not need editing, but in our case the music was written some time ago, before this script was even conceived. Chapter 4 contains all the details about music editing and mix stems .

Editing Audio to Picture

Now that you have all the elements recorded or imported into Pro Tools, it's time to edit them to picture. This involves synchronizing Pro Tools to the edited video and aligning all the audio regions so that they occur at the right times, in sync with the action. This is where Pro Tools really shines. There are so many helpful tools for this phase that it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside just thinking about it.

You can't begin to edit to picture if you don't have a picture to look at. The video editor must supply a finished edit of the video for you to work with. This could come in the format of a videotape or a digital movie file such as a QuickTime or AVI file.

You have two choices for synchronization: You can lock Pro Tools to the videotape deck using SMPTE or you can use the Import Movie function in Pro Tools itself to synchronize a digital movie file to the audio in Pro Tools. The second option is becoming the preferred way of working these days. Digital files can be sent via the Internet and no expensive tape deck is required to play them back. Pro Tools is also much quicker and more efficient when working with digital files than with videotape. In pre-production, you decided to use a QuickTime format for video synchronization. Justin has put a QuickTime file of the finished commercial on a CD-ROM and had it sent to your studio. We'll get him some extra bagels for this.

Once you have imported this movie file into Pro Tools (much, much more on this in Chapter 4), it might be helpful to put in some markers to indicate where sounds are supposed to go. This way, you have a visual indicator of certain key times during the commercial. You can do this on-the-fly as Pro Tools is playing, or you can manually enter time code numbers to specify locations where markers will be placed (Chapter 6, "Editing to Picture," has more details on this). By creating markers you can put your cue list into Pro Toolsdoing so will help you remember everything you need to do in order to finish the commercial. Granted, a 30-second spot might not have that many cues to remember, but in longer-form material such as feature films , the cue list could be a book unto itself. Managing a cue list like that can be a formidable task.

You can now use these markers to roughly place your audio where it needs to be in relation to the video image. Then you can watch the spot to see if any timings need to be changed. If they do, you can use the nudging feature to move audio in set increments to correct the timing. Chapter 6 will go into great detail on all the ways to bounce, nudge, trim, and edit your audio.

Now that everything is in place and you've double-checked your cue list, you should get Jack, the director, to come in and approve everything before you begin mixing. Jack liked everything you did, but he wanted fewer animal noises in the beginning. He decided the goat sound had to go, as it didn't exactly say "clean and fresh." You have obliged him and now are ready to mix all the tracks together.

Mixing Down Tracks to Picture

Now all of these elements must be combined to produce a finished soundtrack. The fnished product should have clarity, smoothness, and believability, so that the viewer is drawn into the commercial and mesmerized into buying Supersuds. It must also conform to broadcast standards so that it can be used by TV stations without altering the recording levels.

You will watch the finished video in sync with the session to see how it all sounds together. You will adjust levels of different tracks so that each element is in balance with all the rest and the overall level does not exceed the standards you have to abide by (there's much more about broadcast standards and film mixing conventions in Chapter 7). For any anomalies in each track, you can use the powerful automation available in Pro Tools to compensate. What used to take several operators and a console the size of a banquet table can now be done by one person using a keyboard and a mouse. Amazing!

Once you have mixed the commercial to your satisfaction, you need to get Jack and Susan and perhaps Justin to come listen to your work and see what they think. It's always a good idea to get a fresh opinion on something that you've been working closely on for any amount of time. Jack feels the music at the end is too loud, causing the voiceover to lose clarity. You adjust the level to his liking and save the session. After he leaves , you try returning the level of the music but applying some careful EQ adjustments in order to create more space for the voiceover. You save this session using a different name in case Jack doesn't like your new EQ method. You now have two versions of the mix, and you'll have both Jack and Susan listen to them both and decide which one will be the final version.

Delivering Master Recordings (Layback)

The next day, it is time to record the final mix onto the master videotape. This tape will be used to create the copies that will go to each TV station that is airing the commercial. This is an important step, as it is the last time you will have any control over the audio before the audience hears it.

First, you get both the producer and director (Susan and Jack respectively, or whomever has creative control, be it the client, ad agency, etc.) in for a decision on which version of the mix will be the final one. You play each mix for them without telling them what the differences are. That way, they can make a more objective decision. Both Jack and Susan agree that the mix with your new EQ setting on the music sounds fuller without losing clarity in the voiceover at the end. Great, you are now ready to record the final mix onto the master videotape. This process is typically called layback or laying the mix back to tape.

In pre-production you determined what the format of the master tape was going to be, allowing you to now prepare a mix that will be compatible with the format you've chosen . As the master is on Digital Betacam, you will use a digital connection to the video tape deck at a sample rate of 48k and a bit depth of 20 bits. You will be locked to 29.97 non-drop time code for synchronization. You record the mix on videotape and then listen to it to make absolutely sure that everything was recorded to tape correctly. Once you have heard the result and the record tab on the tape has been switched to the safe position, you can relax, knowing that your job has been well done. Let's go have one of those bagels with Justin. He still owes you lunch!

NOTE

LAYBACK AT THE VIDEO STUDIO

In this chapter I am describing the layback process that would occur if your studio had layback capability and the decision was made to layback the audio there. Typically, laybacks are performed at a video post-production facility. You would be required to provide a completed mix in whatever format the video facility requires. I will go over all of these possibilities in the last Chapter 9, "Delivery of Master Recordings."

This chapter was designed as a general overview in order to give you a big-picture view of what's involved in a multimedia project. Now that you have a basic understanding of how audio production is handled as far as workflow, the issue of synchronization must be addressed. In order to understand synchronization, you'll need a comprehensive understanding of SMPTE time code. The next chapter addresses all aspects of SMPTE and how it is used in audio post-production.

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Project Workflow