Avid workflow summary

Shooting

Date and time

• Set all machines (cameras, audio recorders) to the correct date, time and timezone.
  (Unlike computers and phones, these machines don't do it automatically, and it can be helpful to have the correct creation time on files and in the various places in the metadata where it is recorded. It also allows the continuity person to just write down the time when in stressful situations, and find the corresponding clip name and slate later.)

Time code

• Synchronise the time code between all devices twice a day (usually in the morning and after lunch).
• Use an external time code generator on the cameras, because the internal generators on Sony ¹ , RED, and most other cameras are rubbish and will drift very fast. (The exception is Arri, which seems to have a stable enough internal generator. So you may not need an external one on Alexa or Amira.
• Set the camera to use the external generator.
• Free run (not the obsolete Rec Run still present on most cameras)
• Some TC BNC plugs have a switch to determine whether it is a TC in or a TC out. Set it to "TC in"!
• Set the generator to the same framerate as the camera (24 fps, 25, ...).
• For small cameras which don't have a TC input, you can record the TC on an audio track, which Avid will be able to decode later. Make sure the recording level is OK and the audio input settings (Mic/Line) are correct.

(In case you need to make or fix a TC cable, this very old page (in French) for Lemo and XLR TC pinouts may still be useful: http://alma.ch/film/tc-cables.htm)

Clip naming

• Make sure all clip names are unique for the whole film. If available, use the "Cam ID + Reel#" naming scheme ("A001C001...", "A001C002...", etc.). Set different cameras to have a different "Cam ID". If the shooting is interrupted and starts again later, set the next reel number to make sure it is unique.
• Some cameras default to clip names with spaces. Replace these with "-" or "_".

Audio

• Set the audio mixdown track(s) to be always the same for the whole shoot (usually 7+8, or 1+2, or only 1 or 8).
• When possible, generate .ALE files. They often contain more data than what Avid would see in imported file, like track descriptions, etc.
• On feature films, set the scene/take numbers in the metadata if possible.
• With Sound Devices, make BWF-P (poly) files.
• With Cantar, do NOT force file splitting during a take (see the reason here)

Of course, folder names for audio and video files must not contain special characters (like / \ & # : " ' etc.). And it's better if they contain no spaces ("-" or "_" can be used instead). (Cantar file names do contain (many) spaces. That's OK. Just the folders should rather not)

Avid import and sync

Settings

• Create the Avid project with the correct settings (Format: usually 1080p/24 or 1080p/25 or 1080i/50, 1920 x 1080,  YCbCr709)
• Set the import/transcode Video Resolution to "DNxHD 115 MXF" (or "120" for 25fps). Do not use the obsolete DNxHD 36 which looks horrible.
  (If you intend to finish and grade in Avid Symphony, use DNxHD 175X/185X instead.)
• Set the import/transcode Pixel to Video mapping to 709 HD.
• Set the Audio to 24 bit, 48kHz, and don't set any conversion in the import settings.

• For the Audio Project Settings in the "Main" tab, select Audio FileFormat : "WAVE (OMF)" rather than  "PCM (MXF)". This will simplify export to sound design, because all audio will be in it's own folder ("OMFI MediaFiles") separate from the video files which are in the "Avid MediaFiles\MXF\x" folders

• For 4K RAW material, in Media Creation / Mixdown & Transcode, set "Source Quality (Debayer)" to "Half (Good Quality)". If you need much faster transcodes and don't care about losing a lot of quality, you can try "Quarter".

Picture import

• AMA link in Avid
• If needed, select all clips, right-click and select "Source settings".
• Add the correct LUT (check with the DP and/or DIT)
• Set Frameflex to get the right format (1.85, scope 2.39, etc.)

• Transcode to DNxHD 115, burning in the LUT and format.
• Alt-drag the transcoded clips to a new bin. (keep the AMA bin in the project, just in case)
• If the camera produced an .ALE file, and if it seems to contain additional metadata, import the .ALE with the "Merge events with known master clips" option (in Import Settings / Shot Log).

Since transcoding is a long process, after transcoding the tests and the first day of rushes, make really sure with the DoP that everything looks right (LUT, framing, ...).

Audio import

Cantar

Audio from Cantar has separate mono files for different tracks.

• Batch rename MS tracks if needed (see note 2)
• Import with "Autodetect Broadcast Wave Monophonic Groups".
• Import the corresponding ALE file with the "Merge events with known master clips" option in Import Settings / Shot Log.
  (if you cannot import the ALE, it is probably because of a wrong "VIDEO_FORMAT". See note 3 for how to fix it)
• Check that all metadata from the ALE (Tape, description of all tracks, scene, take, etc.) has indeed been merged with the clips.
• On documentary shoots, the "Name" from the ALE is often just 1, 2, 3, etc. In such a case, consider copying the "SoundFile" column to "Name"?

If you can import the ALE but the "Merge events with known master clips" option doesn't work as expected, an alternative is to just import the ALE, select all and relink. Then discard the original audio bin and use the relinked clips for sync and edit.

Sound Devices

Sync

To make editing comfortable, and exporting to audio post-production simple, the point is to have:

• synced clips with only the 2 mixdown tracks (no editor wants to bother with 8 or 10 audio tracks with every single clip)
• easy access to the whole audio take (before and after the picture clip; particularly important in documentary productions)
• easy access to the other audio tracks ("ISO tracks") when needed.
• have the original audio on the timeline, so that export to audio post would link to the right files.

Achieving these goals is straightforward through Avid's AutoSync if you have correct timecode :

• Copy (alt-drag) the day's video and audio into a bin
• Select all
• AutoSync:
  • Sync clips using: "Source Timecode"
  • do NOT "Keep audio on clip with video"
  • "Include audio ..." from A7 to A8 (asuming the mixdown tracks are 7+8. Check with sound person first).

• Move the synced clips to the bin which will be used for editing.

• Check the bin to make sure there are no picture clips left which couldn't be synced. If there are any, add them to the edit bin.

Autosynced clips may be one frame off (in my experience, external audio is often 1 frame earlier than camera, but that may depend on many factors). They would be corrected manually in the sync clips when necessary (when the picture or sound editor notices, but that tends to happen on only very few clips).

Editing

Preparing bins

This is to be discussed with the editor.

• For feature films, the editor usually wants the clip names to be the scene and take.
  The sound person usually enters this info during shooting, so it should have come along during import. In that case, the columns can be copied. Make sure the numbers in the names are padded as needed (using spaces is ok here), so that the sorting in the bin works correctly ("  1/ 1", "  2/ 1", " 11/ 1" and not "1/1", "11/1", "2/1").
• Create bins as required by the editor and the project, but keep the original bins by shooting day etc. (Alt-drag clips instead of moving them)

Accessing other audio tracks during edit

To access more audio from an edited clip in the timeline:

• to get the whole clip, click "Match Frame". The full sync clip is loaded into the source monitor, with it's 2 audio tracks.
• to get at the other audio tracks (3, 4, etc.):
  • deselect the Video track in the source monitor and
  • click "Match Frame" again. The original audio clip with all the original tracks is loaded in the source monitor.

Export to sound design

• Export the timeline as AAF
• [X] "AAF Edit Protocol"
• [X] Include All Audio Tracks
• Export Method: "Link to (Don't Export) Media"
• Deliver to sound design:
• The AAF file  (it may be small enough for emailing)
• All the original audio from the shooting

If sound design has trouble re-linking to the original audio (depends on their software), it may be necessary to add all the audio from the Avid: the whole "OMFI MediaFiles" folder. If the audio was imported as "PCM (MXF)" into the "Avid MediaFiles\MXF\x" folders, see note 4.

If "Link to (Don't Export) Media" doesn't work for the sound design department, then:

• Select the export method "Copy All Media" (un-check any rendering or conversion settings).
• Select the folder where the audio files will be copied
• And finally, also copy all other .mxf audio files (all unused tracks) to that folder, because Avid will only copy the audio files of the tracks actually used in the timeline, not the other "ISO" tracks. See note 4

Export check

It is certainly a good idea to assemble a short sequence with a few clips to check the workflow with sound design.

If different recorders were used during the shoot, include at least on clip from each for testing. Also include at least one "iso" track (one of the non-mixdown tracks). 

Importing in ProTools 10 HD

When Sound design has the AAF, the "OMFI MediaFiles" or "Avid MediaFiles" folder with all original audio files, plus also all the original multitrack BWF-P .WAV files, relinking to the originals with all tracks should be easy in ProTools. It can then automatically add the missing tracks for each audio on the timeline.

PT10 will not relink directly to the .wavs, because the timeline actually links to the .mxf files. However, it can automatically find all the tracks of each clip (even the tracks not used in the timeline but present as .mxf in the Avid MediaFiles folder). So it is easy to expand the clips to show all the tracks.

Here is an excerpt from a post in the Avid forum about this:

“In PT 10, they need to mark your tracks as Field Recorder Guide Track, then they can select one or more clips and choose FindField Recorder Originals.

i've done this in several projects over the past 18 months. My production sound would have one or two tracks contaning a production sound mix, then anywhere between 2 and 6 unmixed ISO tracks. My AE would import all of them, then sync only the mixdown. That way, I did have access to the individual tracks whn needed. Sound editorial gets whatever tracks I included in the sequence, but can make PT link back to all related tracks of the original BWAV (so if I only spliced in A1 or A3, they would instantly be able to expand that region/segment to the same segment/region on all 8 original tracks).”

Conclusion

As with any workflow, test it with everyone involved (shooting crew, editing, audio post, picture post) before the start. Things change every few months, and what used to work might suddenly not, or differently, or you can have nice surprises that stuff which needed a lot of manual work may not need it anymore.

If you have corrections or other suggestions, you can use the comments of this blog post, or email me (mi at alma dot ch).

dir="/Volumes/DiskName/Audio"

find "$dir" -iname "*==-[0-9].WAV" | perl -ne 'chomp; $old=$_; s/-([\d]+\.WAV)$/_$1/i; rename "$old", "$_" or warn "ERROR renaming $old to $_\n"'

find /Volumes/Disk/path-with-ales -iname "*.ale" | while read f; do if egrep -l "^VIDEO_FORMAT.*PAL" "$f"; then perl -i.bak -pe 's/^(VIDEO_FORMAT)\t.*/$1\t1080/' "$f"; fi; done

source="/Volumes/edit/Avid MediaFiles/MXF"
export="/Volumes/audiodisk/Avid MediaFiles/MXF/1"
find "$source" -name "*.WAVA*" | while read f; do b=$(basename "$f"); [ -f "$export/$b" ] || cp -v "$f" "$export/"; done

export="/Volumes/2TB-Sam/special_exports/test4audio/Avid MediaFiles/MXF/1"

find "$export" -name "*.mxf" \
| perl -nle 'if ( ($n,$id) = m!^ .*/ (.*?) A\d\d (\. [^\.]+) \.mxf $!x ) { print $n."A??$id.mxf"; }' \
| while read name; do \
    echo $name; \
    find /Volumes/*/"Avid MediaFiles"/MXF -name "$name" \
    | while read f; do \
        b=$(basename "$f"); \
       [ -f "$export/$b" ] && echo OK $b || cp -v "$f" "$export/"; \
     done; \
  done