Multi-Channel Audio interface

[nanticokerailroad]

To import music and sound effects files and place each on their own "channel" and position them any place on the time line would be great. I think this would stream line the production process greatly and you could still add other sound files later in a 3rd party app if you desire. It would be great to hear the whistles, bangs, and crashes within the animation application and some background music when you hit the play button to test a scene. Could save valuable time with respect to your final render version with regards to editing. If you could combine scenes with some transitions you could go right to DVD without any 3rd party apps! Hey I can Dream if i want; You asked the question! Mike.

[fiziwig]

What I do to synchronize sound effects to actions is to record the entire soundtrack before I start any animation, and then using the audio editor "Reaper" with the time display set to minutes:seconds:frames, jot down the exact frame number where a sound begins. Then I can use that information to time the action in the animation to match the soundtrack.

--gary

[cribble]

Maybe an interface along the lines of something like Final cut - very basic audio tracking and cutting - though i think for more advance audio editing, multi-channeling (5.1 and beyond) and recording and tracking you should use something more professional and suited for the job.

[nanticokerailroad]

Response to above:

I know you can record everything prior to the animation, now this is only my opinion but your kind of putting the cart ahead of the horse. Timing a simple animation may work but once you get into more complicated works of animation with multiple characters and things happening within your virtual world this might be a little tricky; and why risk the possibility of ruining a really nice scene because you have to work around the sound track. No studio ever records the sound first and then applies the movie. Once you get into walk sequences with characters etc. this may be next to impossible to accomplish and make it look good. Why throw in another obstacle to climb when you don't have too.

As far as 5.1 i think that may be a little over the top for this package; (hmm, or maybe not). I know there's plenty of 3rd party apps for that. Just 2 or 3 audio tracks with a pan feature (L to R) for each within the time line would really be great to play with. 3 would be the kicker, you could dedicate one for voice, one for music and the 3rd for sound effects, with the ability to go stereo with any of the other 2 tracks when one is not in use. 4 Tracks gives you stereo music, voice and sound effects all separate! I don't think it would be that difficult for them to beef up the sound capabilities of this package since it already has a sound feature built in. That would be a nice upgrade for the Pro Package. Hope smith micro is listening (in stereo)..... Take care, Mike.

p.s. fiziwig: thanks for the little hint in your tutorial about the knee joint and points, that's a nice little tip!

[fiziwig]

I know you can record everything prior to the animation, now this is only my opinion but your kind of putting the cart ahead of the horse.

<snip>

No studio ever records the sound first and then applies the movie.

Get Finding Nemo on DVD and watch the special features documentaries on how it was made.

Get Shrek (1, 2, and 3) and watch the special features on how it was made.

Get Toy Story, get every documentary you find on how large-scale animation is made and they ALL tell the same basic story. The complete soundtrack is recorded before one cel of animation is drawn.

It was from watching all these documentaries that I realized that's the way it's done by those who really know what they're doing. That's why I decided to give it a try. It does work.

Can you imagine a bunch of actors standing around on the ADR stage trying to speak their lines and get them to match the animation lip movements? Especially if they need to put some real emotion or important comedic timing into the delivery. Does the animator know ahead of time how Eddie Murphy is going to deliver his donkey lines in Shrek so that he can animate them to match a vocal performance that hasn't even happened yet? Could Eddie Murphy deliver a zinger with perfect timing if he had to match up lip synch that had already been done by an animator who does not know comedic timing?

Several documentaries I've seen mentioned ad-lib lines that were thrown in my the voice actors during the recording session, and then kept because they worked well in the story. How could ad-lib lines be kept if the animation was already in the can before the soundtrack was recorded?

I'm no expert, and I haven't heard this about every animated movie ever made, but so far, I've never heard of an animated movie that did the animation before the soundtrack.

--gary

[cribble]

Response to above:

I know you can record everything prior to the animation, now this is only my opinion but your kind of putting the cart ahead of the horse. Timing a simple animation may work but once you get into more complicated works of animation with multiple characters and things happening within your virtual world this might be a little tricky; and why risk the possibility of ruining a really nice scene because you have to work around the sound track. No studio ever records the sound first and then applies the movie. Once you get into walk sequences with characters etc. this may be next to impossible to accomplish and make it look good. Why throw in another obstacle to climb when you don't have too.

If you throw together random dialog, the flow of the dialog would seem strange, wouldn't it? I think it's why ALL STUDIO'S record their audio before they animate it (or put it over an animatric) so they can have smooth, natural dialog.

I think i'd rather work around the soundtrack, and have the dialog the important part, rather than how cool my head turn looks during a walk sequence!

As far as 5.1 i think that may be a little over the top for this package; (hmm, or maybe not). I know there's plenty of 3rd party apps for that. Just 2 or 3 audio tracks with a pan feature (L to R) for each within the time line would really be great to play with. 3 would be the kicker, you could dedicate one for voice, one for music and the 3rd for sound effects, with the ability to go stereo with any of the other 2 tracks when one is not in use. 4 Tracks gives you stereo music, voice and sound effects all separate! I don't think it would be that difficult for them to beef up the sound capabilities of this package since it already has a sound feature built in. That would be a nice upgrade for the Pro Package. Hope smith micro is listening (in stereo)..... Take care, Mike.

errr, i only suggested Final Cut/Premiere style multi channel audio editing.

Anyway, if there were to be any substantial improvements on the audio interface, various file supports are a must:

What would be nice would be the ability to import (or even export) more formats maybe: OMF (export would be sooo handy aswell), flac (and the other lossless audio compressions), ogg, ats (and other multi-channel encoded files)... huge list.

[Rhoel]

Having working in studios since '82, the vast majority of the work had dialogue pre-recorded.

I recently worked with a team who wanted to post record everything and it has proved costly and the results second best. Recording first, then animation has always produced the best films.

However, there is an argument which I support for using studio personnel/amateur actors to record a guide track, used for animatics (or if you are old fashioned, Leica Reels) - once the overall look/timing of the film is achieved, then the pro-guys are brought in to record the actual voice track BEFORE animation starts. Aardmans Curse of the Were Rabbit was completed this way. It is an interesting technique and can save money in saved pick-up lines.

The M&E tracks are always added in post. My favourite tracklay program is Adobe Audition.


Rhoel