.wav files from Protools session import craziness

[Scott P]

Today, a friend recorded a concert for me on his Protools 003 rig. He's done it before and no problems with transferring files. But today was different.

He handed me two USB thumb drives with clones of the files. The files would not load into SS either from a copy to my hard disk or directly from the USB drives. Windows media player would not load them either. Everything looked normal. Files names, tags, everything. I even tried transferring them with Macdrive and BWF helper. BWF helper couldn't even read them. :eek::eek:

So, in a fit of desperation, since my client was coming over in 1/2 hour, I downloaded a trial of Reaper to another PC. Reaper not only opened them, but played them. I still needed to import them into SS for processing. So, I rendered them as .wav files. Still, could not open them. Same problem. :confused:

Next step, render the files in Raper as .aif. Oddly, that worked! I could now get them to open in SS, but only from the USB drive. If I copied them to my drive, I couldn't get them to open. I finally had them on the multitrack in SS as .aif on the USB drive and rendered them again as .wav files on my internal disk. Finally, I was able to work, just as the client knocked on the door - 20 minutes late, thank goodness.

Any thoughts?:confused::confused::confused:

Scott

[mr_es335]

Hello,

What is the file type from the Protools 003 rig?

So...filenname.??

[Naturally Digital]

Is it possible the original files on the thumbdrives were 32-bit?

[MMP]

There is an Apple variant of wav file where the bytes are reversed from the MS standard. The few times I have run into this, I have used QuickTime Pro on my PC to re-render the files.

I think SAW can deal with 32bit float wavs OK.

[bcorkery]

You probably checked, but are the file properties read only?
Sometimes I overlook the obvious.

[Dave Labrecque]

You probably checked, but are the file properties read only?
Sometimes I overlook the obvious.

I'd think you'd still be able to open a read-only WAV file. And play it. Haven't we all taken an EDL off an archive CD or DVD, leaving the audio files on the disc, then successfully opened and played the EDL (after repathing the files)? I'm pretty sure I have.

[Scott P]

Update:

I took my laptop to the recording site the next day (Friday). During a break, we disconnected the drive from the digi system and connected it to my laptop. The files came up fine, just as you would expect.

Apparently, something happened when the files were moved to the thumb drive.

What is so odd is that Reaper would play them when neither SS nor Windows Media Player would when they were on the thumb drive. So obviously the data was there and playable to at least one other program. :confused:

Scott

[Grekim]

Is it some file permissions issue?