Summer 2000 - The Association of Motion Picture Sound

(Pro Tools demo report conlinued)
screen or use a rather primitive MIDI fader box - far
from satisfactory. Long in the making, Digidesign
finally brought out a fully operational version of
their hardware interfacein 1997. Called ProControl
it looks much like a modern digital mixer with
faders, a display, illuminated buttons and a jog
wheel. ProControl allows all editing and mixing
functions to be controlled in a more traditional way.
It'is, though, just a control surface, with all the
digital and analogue audio electronics being
contained in a range of rackmount hardware, ideally
safely out of the way in a machine room somewheie.
New Standard Post, in California, are even prepping
and mixing mainstream features entirely in Pro Tools
from the editing and tracklaying right through the
dub to the final mix using four sets of 32-channel
Pro-Controls. All sound and picture is stored on a
vast central server (a single set of hard disks) which
can be accessed simultaneously by any number of
editors, limited only by the speed of the server
which currently allows up to nine users. The idea is
that everything gets recorded only once; avoiding
lots of transfers and re-recording.
One facility that Version 5 is still without is
multiple levels of undo (it only has one level). The
problem, say Digidesign, is that with such a
complex multi-faceted system, it's hard to know
how to apply the undo: which bit of what you just
did do you want to undo? To put in a full facility
with a menu, etc, running in realtime, would
apparently slow the system down considerably.
There are third-party software add-ons that will
execute progressive saves in the background, so you
can always go back to 'n' minutes ago - depending
on how often you have it set to save. You would
then end up with a history of your project's progress
in the form of perhaps hundreds of saves by the end
of a project - a nice security blanket but no
replacement for undo. Apparently Digidesign is to
address the issue very soon.
A New Tool For A New Job
I've always been put off by the apparentfiddliness
of Pro Tools as compared to most dedicated
svstems: there alwavs seems to be so much
informaiion on the ,"r""n at once and so many
screens to lose yourself in. ProControl and Version
5 has done a lot to address this" but even so for
cutting and pasting and roughly levelling out,I still
think my Akai DD1500 is hard to beat. For many
jobs the rest can be done by any one of the many
excellent stand-alone digital (or digitally controlled)
mixers on the market. As the sound editor/mixer's
job gets more complex, however, a simple cut and
paste system appears increasingly limiting and the
scope of something like Pro Tools becomes more
meaningful. With the arrival of inexpensive ADSL
(fast Internet connections), we're likely to see
increasing use of tie net for audio and video file
transfer. Computers are well set up for that. There is
also a vast array of third-party programs that can be
brought into play once your audio is in the system.
File format, sample rate and bit depth are all less of
a problem with such an affay of tools at your
disposal, and these factors are even more important
for anyone working on projects for CD-ROM, DVD
or the Web - and that could be a lot of us as time
goes on. Also, as newer, faster computers come to
market, your system can benefit from increased
performance with minimum outlay and
inconvenience. And if you are indeed sending a
project down the line for a colleague to work on
(possibly on the other side of the world), it would
be very convenient to be able to send the sound,
picture and all the mixing, effects and processing
that goes with them as one integrated package.
Equally, the same data could be put to a single Data
DAT or DLT and courier'ed to its destination. This
is truly 'total recall'.
Clearly there are other computer-based systems
out there that also offer a great deal, often for less
money, but none I'm aware of offers the same
compatibility with Avid or the same level of
sophistication and inclusiveness as Pro Tools. I say
all this as one always deeply suspicious and
resistant to non-dedicated systems. My Mac
manages to act up at least once a fortnight and I
don't know a serious/honest computer user who
wouldn't say the same. To a large extent this could
be because I'm forever updating this or that and
using it for many different applications. [f you were
a serious Pro Tools user. we were told. vou'd be
careful to avoid the use of the system foi non-Pro
Tools applications (or at least use a separate system
disk). With a system like this, the already vitally
important need for efficient and reliable archiving
becomes life-or-death. That central s€rver is very
big basket piled high with every single one of your
precious audio eggs; and if you're opening yourself
to the Internet and the world of viruses...
Shortly after this discussion, the demo system
crashed. This, we were told was because a
prohibited combination of keys had been pressed
which was really asking for trouble. Hmm. The
advantages of Pro Tools are many but, as with any
computer system, you'd want to get in the habit of
pressing that Save button on a regular basis. In
balance, though, it does seem to have a lot going for
it.
JIN4 BETTERIDGE
4
WAIVT TO SEE .{T[PS COUNCIL
AT WORK?
The AMPS Council would like to remind members
that they are welcome to attendcouncilmeetings as
( non-v otin g ) o b s erv er s. Me etin g s ar e he ld on the
secondTuesday of the month at arotating list of
venl4es, fromTpm. More details, please contact
Brian Hickinat the AMPS ffice.Tel/Fax:02A
772 3 6727 : Emailampsffice@ tinyonline.co.uk.