In order for us to begin the sound mix process, we need to be sent files, or assets, by the video editor. We work in a program (or DAW – Digital Audio Workstation) called Pro Tools which is, for better or for worse, the industry standard in post audio studios.
Regardless of what editing software is being used, it’s very important that assets are exported in a specific way, or else Pro Tools will not be able to read them. In my experience, this generally leads to stress, delays and head scratching on both sides! I therefore thought it would be helpful to have a blog post, outlining the best way to prepare assests for Pro Tools.
AAF.. OMF... What the EFF..?
The first thing we need is called an OMF file. These are documents containing all the audio from a video project that is translated into a language that DAWs will understand. There is another document type called an AAF that is generally seen as preferable as they are newer and withhold more metadata information. However, in practice, OMFs seem to open up more consistently. It’s therefore wise to export both, in case there is a problem with one of them.
The OMF / AAF should be exported with the following considerations:
- 150 frame handles
- Sample rate of 48kHz.
- Bit depth can be either 16 or 24 bits.
- Audio / media should be embedded*
* This final point is very important. To embed the audio within the OMF, there is usally just a box that can be ticked to enable this. This means that, once exported, the single OMF document created will hold all the necessary information within it. If exported successfully, the document which will probably be quite large in size (in the 100s of MB up to 1 or 2 GBs) .
We like embedded audio!
If the audio has not embedded successfully following the export, an additional folder will be created alongside the OMF document entitled something like ‘Audio Files’ and this will be the large file (high MBs / GBs). In this situation, it is harder for Pro Tools to import the OMF document, as the audio information it needs to reference is located in the separate ‘Audio Files’ folder and it can be hard to re-link the two together again.
Tip - if exporting a larger film, it may be that the video editing software has a limit on how much information it can export to an OMF. In this scenario, it should be possible to cut the film in half, and export two separate OMFs that can be reconnected in Pro Tools.
Reference Film
In addition to this, we will also need a reference film. This should ideally be a compressed, Quicktime video set to a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (DNxHD encoded), with a frame rate of 25fps.
When your files are ready for us, send them over via a transfer platform or Dropbox link to info@soundmixpost.uk Please don't send on Google Drive if possible !
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