– April 14, 2012Posted in: Thoughts

There’s a very smart chap who lives in Wellington in New Zealand called Justin. He works at Park Road Post a lot of the time. He works in audio post. He gets thrown some “curly” problems from time to time, as I’m sure you can imagine.

Consequently, he makes his own solutions - Maggot Software. Not a lovely name, but great tools.

Justin has just released a new plugin which I am quite in love with. If you are mixing ITB in ProTools you’ll be familiar with the old sub path limitations – ie routing an LCR track into a 5.1 track and its fixed to the front array, you cant move it around within that space – until now. Spanner gives you exactly that power, to be able to pan within otherwise un-pannable situations. At only US$199 (introductory offer, normally $250) and with Maggot software’s reliable name on it, it’s an absolute steal for anyone who is mixing in surround in the box. Just buy it already. Here’s some videos showing how it awesomely works – love the smoothing function and shortcuts to toe things in and out. Brilliant work Justin!

Thurs19th April next Sydney PT night

– April 4, 2012Posted in: Thoughts

Next Sydney ProTools User Group Night Announced

Thursday 19^th April, 630pm

At the AFTRS Main theatre

Guest speakers:

Mark Franken gives a detailed overview of his cueing, streaming and reconforming apps from “Sounds in Sync”

Stuart Newman from Avid gives details on the new HDX systems

Brent Heber talks all things clip gain in PT10, and how this helps the workflow from fx editors to mixers

Most importantly all the best people will be there, so you should come along and mingle with your fellow soundies.

Event organised/sponsored by AFTRS Open, ASSG and SPTUG

Upcoming ProTools courses at AFTRS

– April 3, 2012Posted in: General Topics

So I’ll be teaching a round of mid-year ProTools v10 courses at AFTRS OPEN – being offered at highly competitive rates.

110 is the first “pro level” course, with a fast paced curriculum covering elastic audio in depth, intro to deeper automation features and advanced editing techniques and shortcuts.

201 starts you on the path to all things hardware, covering things like the new OMNI and MADI interfaces, HD Native cards vs HDX and gets into more detailed mixing and automation workflows.

210P is the hard-core post elective, into satellite connections, timecode workflows and is written with the pro tools audio post operator (who works in the industry already) in mind from beginning to end.

Plus if you do both Pro Tools 200 level courses, or Pro Tools 110 and both Pro Tools 200 level courses, you’ll receive special discounted rates (see below).

Pro Tools 110: Production 1

Designed for industry professionals, this course builds on the 101 module and explains the Pro Tools recording, editing and mixing workspace in detail.

13 – 15 June, Sydney, $900 ($810 Early Bird / Industry discount) http://www.open.aftrs.edu.au/course/U510

Pro Tools 201: Pro Tools Production 2

The course continues to build on the fundamental concepts and topics Introduced in Pro Tools 110. Learn the core concepts and skills to operate Pro Tools in a professional studio environment.
18 – 19 June, Sydney, $950 ($855 Early Bird / Industry Discount) http://www.open.aftrs.edu.au/course/U532

Pro Tools 210P: Post Production Techniques

Learn techniques for working with Pro Tools in a professional post production environment. Concepts and skills learned in Pro Tools 101, 110 and 201 are reinforced with practical post-specific examples.

20 – 22 June, Sydney, $1,250 ($1,150 Early Bird / Industry Discount) http://www.open.aftrs.edu.au/course/U533

SPECIAL OFFER:

Discounted rate of $2,000 if you do both 200 series courses

Discounted rate of $2,500 if you do Pro Tools 110 plus both 200 series courses – over $4000 at other schools!

To receive these rates call: 1300 065 281

Logging app for iphone and ipad

– March 27, 2012Posted in: General Topics

I’ve been using this handy little app for a while now, great if you’ve got a continuous cut for screenings and can log your notes along the timeline. If you’re working in reels/spools it can be a bit of a pain to split your notes back into reels from a screening.