MOW ADR ISDN VO w/ SAW

[Dave Labrecque]

Seriously -- a west coast production company called me out of the blue today, saying their actor will be in town at the end of November and they need him to loop some lines for his Christmas movie, which will be in post-production. ISDN VO sessions are nothing new for me, but when she said they needed to be looking at picture during the session (makes sense), I just said "no prob". But, THAT I've never done before.

Anyone know how it's typically handled? I want to sound like I know what I'm talking about when I talk to their tech people.

My research on the Internet seems to indicate that I don't have to worry about sending them video (whew!), but perhaps recieve time code from them so that we can be in sync with the same picture they're looking at. Does that sound right? They would then offset on their end to allow for the codec delay time. How am I doing so far? Ever heard of sending SMPTE over an MPEG Layer 2 codec? Does it hold up? Ednet mentions it as an OK thing, so I suppose it's OK.

The next question is "how do I make SAW chase their time code?" If it's as simple as reading the Help file, just say so, and I'll leave you all alone. :) My sense is that, ideally, I'd like to send THEM time code from SAW and let them then do their offset, but from what I've read on Ednet's site, that's not recommended because I need the full ISDN bandwidth going back to them for high-quality audio for the VO (assuming they're recording it on their end -- maybe not).

My plan is to load the video into SAW's video viewer for the talent and me to watch, while SAW records the VO takes as a backup, chasing their SMPTE.

Thoughts? Thanks!

[tomasino]

You guys are blowing my mind!

First, all the Live Mode performance stuff, then the Vegas recording stuff n' now the coast to coast ISDN movie soundtrack stuff!

Next SAWStudio will be the first DAW in SPACE!!!
(inside where there's air!)

Crazey - Whack!

[Dave Labrecque]

Hmmm... just did some reading in the Help File. I don't reckon word clock lock will be important since I expect the individual loops to be relatively short, but I've tried figuring out how to get SAW to see incoming SMPTE and it looks like this has yet to be implemented in SAW. D'oh!

The two trigger-from-smpte menu items on the smpte/midi menu are grayed out, and the Help file says the manual one is not yet activated. It indicates that the chase trigger item will work, but I think it's talking about the mtc chase trigger mode, which is missing from the page in the Help file.

What are my options? Convert their smpte to mtc on my end? How? I've got the RME Digiface, which has an ADAT sync port, but that's it for smpte I think. I was thinking of taking smpte in on a regular audio input (all of which show up in the smpte sync device choices in SAW), but then what?

Is it time to resurrect my smpte machine plug-in?

This would be an all-day booking, so I'd really like to make it happen. Thanks for any ideas.

[Carey Langille]

Hey Dave, As far as i remember, You could use the JMS 32 bit linker to use the smpte machine for Generating SMPTE, BUT i think that the reading and resolving of the SMPTE in the old SAWPRO was specific to the API and plugin.. You better check with Bob before wasting time settin it up... It probably wont work..... But im hoping it does for you!:) If you have a Hardware box, you could use that to convert the SMPTE to MTC and sync from that... Just a thought

[Bob L]

Dave,

You should use an avi DV video copy in the Viewer that you and the talent watch.

If they want to lock to picture at the same time, have SAWStudio generate Smpte directly down the ISDN and let their equipment chase.

If you can get away with that, its your best shot.

Bob L

[Burkeville]

I agree with Bob. I have sent SMPTE over ISDN before and it worked perfectly. The clients on the other end chased me. It worked well. If they insist on being master you need to covert smpte to midi and then have Saw chase.
I would really test it out before hand. I do lock to black here and normally make Saw the master.

knb

Oh yes! you could use SAWpro. It chased well. I forgot about those days.

[Bob L]

The point is... if you are the one responsible for recording the talent... you want to be the master... you really do not want SAWStudio chasing all around, with the soundcard clock adjusting to chase some signal... especially coming from some distant part of the country.

If they are only monitoring the session... let them chase... it certaintly makes a lot more sense to keep the recording machine running at its fixed internal clock speed.

Bob L

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, Bob. I still need to talk details with them, but I was thinking they'd want to record the ISDN feed on their end. Maybe not. But I don't think I can send 'em both a high-quality VO and a smpte stream with a single ISDN codec. That's why I was hoping to be able to trigger from their time code.

I think I'll wait 'n' see what they're open to before I get too worked up. :)

Dave

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, Carey. I'm open to spending a little $ if I need to, but I bet I can lick this one way or another. Heck, maybe I'll end up using SAW Pro to trigger from SMPTE. :eek:

Bob, any plans to un-gray the smpte chase options in Studio?:)

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, Burkeville. Good to hear that SMPTE over ISDN works! I'll see exactly what they're looking for and take it from there.

[Bob L]

I've been wanting to get the smpte trigger options in for a long time... but it keeps getting pushed back, since I never have need for it any more, and most others have happily used a Smpte to MTC box and triggered from that.

Only about $150 worth of one of many midi boxes that can do it.

Bob L

[Dave Labrecque]

Bob (or anyone):

Can you toss out some names for me to check out for smpte-to-mtc converter boxes? Recommendations encouraged. :)

[Shawn]

Hi Dave,

I don't know too much about sync'ing, but I think that this might be what you need.

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/PPS2/

Good Luck!

:)

[Dave Labrecque]

Thanks, Shawn. I'm checking it out. :)

[Bob L]

Dave,

Just look at midi interface boxes on the web... MidiMan, Edirol, etc... find any one of them that has a Smpte input and fits your budget... these will then accept a Smpte connection and output it as MTC through the Midi ports.

I'm actually using my old MusicQuest 8 port SE... someone pointed me to a driver available to make it work with XP and 2000... the driver cost me $29 and works great... salvaged one of my favorite old midi interfaces. :)

Bob L

[Dave Labrecque]

Ah... if only a driver for my 2PortSE existed.

Well, looks like I don't have to worry about the time code conversion. They want me to "drive" the session, playing video for the talent, recording the takes, and sending them smpte over ISDN.

New challenges... they want me to use shotgun and lavelier mics on the talent. Makes sense. I just don't have 'em! Guess I'll be renting.

Also... would you believe they want me to upload a Pro Tools session when we're done? So, one for the session conversion experts... actually, I think I'll start a new thread for that.

Thanks.

[MMP]

I would ask them what was used on the original for mikes and try to match them if you are renting anyway.

MM

[Dave Labrecque]

Their editor guy is going to specify some mics for me.