Post date: Apr 27, 2012 2:42:22 AM
Separate dialogue, FX, ambience, music etc to their own respective tracks and LABEL THEM in the timeline. This will speed up your mix and save you precious time in the studio.
Prep sequence with beep tone and 2 seconds of leader-
•add a beep tone/bars to your sequence. Edit in 1 frame of color bars/tone to your sequence timeline (both audio/video tracks) at exactly timecode 01:00:02:00, or 2 seconds from the head. This beep/bars frame will help maintain sync between picture and sound as you go through the various output processes.
Backup-
ESSENTIAL - Back up your entire project drive to another external hard drive before going to your soundmix. DO NOT TRAVEL with your project drive UNTIL YOU HAVE IT FULLY BACKED UP.
Prior to leaving for your soundmix, please be sure you have the following materials you will need to bring with you:
-OMF file or Pro Tools session, with embedded media. If you're editing your sound in Final Cut, Avid, or Premiere you will create an OMF file that can be read by the mixer's ProTools system - it will preserve your edit and all clips, and will contain embedded media. Otherwise you should have a ProTools session with all your media on the same drive in an easy-to-understand organizational system. You will be paying for any time spent digging around in your folders, so try and be organized.
Specs are 48 kHz, 16 Bit (unless you are generating 24 bit audio).
-Quicktime picture reference file. This is an h264 of your locked picture with a beep tone at the head plus 2 seconds of leader before picture start.
-Any stems you need to generate. A stem is an exported audio file of a whole track or sound clip that permanently 'bakes in' any effects or global levels you know you need in your mix, but which are produced by plug-ins that may not be available at the mixing studio. For tracks that you have added fx/ timeshifts or other special features to, pre-render the individual track (also with beep, 2 seconds, etc, so it syncs) and name it clearly so that you remember to give it to the mixer for placement in your session
-Any additional ambience, roomtone, etc that you might POSSIBLY need during the mix. You can't bring too much of this. You CAN bring too little...
-Your hard drive with project, media, and enough space to bring back finished audio files.
AFTER YOUR SOUNDMIX
After your soundmix you will have a 'bounced' stereo audio AIFF file (as well as the ProTools session). Bring this along with your color-corrected picture final to your mastering appointment so we can lay the final audio back to picture and output the final master files.