Now, you may think, 8.1 is a point release, probably some bug fixes and support for the NEW INTERFACES ( back to those in a tic) but in actuality, 8.1 sees the release of a massive, amazing, brilliant new feature set that will save serious mixers potentially hours and hours of their life. No, its not HEAT, the new tube/analogue warmth buss flavour feature….it’s the I/O setup.

Yes, the I/O setup! New in 8.1, the I/O setup has been totally overhauled to make moving sessions between rooms a much, much easier process! Avid audio listened to the gripes about moving large projects between rooms, endlessly moving those little squares around to just get audio out your speakers. Taken from the I/O Setup primer:

“In Pro Tools 8.1, changes to the I/O Setup have
been made in order to solve session interchange
issues (such as maintaining studio settings on
different Pro Tools systems) and to provide better
overall workflows for session interchange. In
lower versions of Pro Tools, I/O settings are recalled
from the Pro Tools session document, so
studio settings corresponding to your hardware
could potentially change each time a session is
opened. This can result in a temporary loss of
monitor paths. In Pro Tools 8.1, I/O settings can
be recalled from the system. This means that
your studio settings can be maintained when
opening sessions created on other Pro Tools systems”

So, THAT is cool! Cant wait to play with it and put it through its paces.

Secondly, the new interfaces! It’s been over 7 years since Avid nee Digidesign released the 192io and 96io series of HD interfaces. Since then, manufacturing has gotten cheaper, specs on AD/DAs have improves and low jitter clocks have become much more affordable, time for Avid to up the competitiveness with some new hardware. AND they got Butch Vig to talk up the sound of them!

The pick of the bunch definately looks to be the OMNI…preamps, monitoring, some analogue and a bunch of digital ins and outs…a bit of everything for everyone in  small 1RU box. Retailing in Australia for around $3600, cant wait to hear what this box sounds like.

Another important and long overdue addition to the IO choices is the new MADI interface. I’m guessing that with 64io to arrange in your I/O setup this box was a bit part of the reason to overhaul the way ProTools addresses output paths versus internal bussing.

Given Avid just acquired Euphonix I wonder if they looked over the Euphonix AD/DA specs before release? Only good can come from that pedigree. Another interesting question will be how these interfaces fair against the main rival that was announced a few weeks back, the updated Apogee Symphony IO. I’m sure info will come to light soon, hopefully some of it will be objective!

Lastly, HEAT…Harmonically Enhanced Algorithm Technology. Niiiiiiice acronym usage! So basically, a button at the top of your channel strips to turn it on or off and a global “character” setting for drive and tone across your mix buss. Very cool idea. A 30 day demo download is available and I’m very keen to try it out in the coming weeks.

We’ll also be running 8.1 and HEAT at the Integrate trade show in Sydney next week at AT World is anyone is stopping by. I’ll be running two masterclasses on behalf of UTS:ProSchool and plans were hatched today to present a mixing automation seminar at AT World as well. Hope you can make it!

Starting off with how to move regions around with precisions, using the grabber tool and your cursor position, in combination with keyboard modifers.

Topics such as shortcuts to speed up editing and other HD specific topics like snapshot automation and VCA faders will also be discussed.

More information here

Hope to see you there!

The arms allow the screens to be positioned out wide, so they dont get between the mixer and the projection screen:

Or can be moved closer to the operator for editing/sound design:

Or lastly, my own preference, in the line of sight for mixing:

The Satellite technology from Avid Audio foremost, which led me to invest in the video satellite rig, running both Media composer and PTLE with a decklink card. IMHO, any way we can both save time and improve picture quality on the mix screen is a good thing for everyone. It saves having “that discussion” with directors/producers about “pixels/image quality/why???”.

Secondly, I was always aware that the video editing house above my room, Cutting Edge, ran Avid Media Composers and centrally stored all their media on an EditShare system. I’d hoped to collaborate with them once the business started and in turn hoped having a Media Composer video satellite rig might come in handy…Sure enough, on a picture we are about to work together on, the SFX editor will be based in my room and need regular picture updates from editorial upstairs, so this past week, Rob Peru the Tech Manager from Cutting Edge Sydney and myself got the Editshare connection in place and tested it out.

Worked like a charm! They are cutting with the Avid HD video codec DNxHD36 for their offline upstairs, so that’s what I wanted to open on the video satellite rig, and stream via the 1000bT connection from their editshare. It turns out it was a straightforward affair.

Editshare have a snow leopard client, its free to install, as you pay for the storage unit, not for client seats on it, unlike some other companies…So since they had a spare port, it didn’t cost anyone a cent to add my room to their existing network.

The Editshare client software is simple to use, and once you’ve mounted the volumes you want, you can save that as a preset and it loads them automatically next time you log on.

So my vid sat mac pro has two ethernet ports, one is connected full time to the Editshare directly, and the second goes to my 1000bT switch that connects to my PTHD rig, ICON and local network for the audio team.

The one issue we are left with is that the rest of the audio team are not connected to the editshare, so they will need DV Pal QT movies to work to. I’m curious to test if I can open the sequence in MC, export a QT Ref movie for PTLE to open on my deckink card, open THAT, then start rendering the QT movies in the background while running PTLE in the foreground as my video VTR…Hoping to test that this week coming. Hopefully the 8 core Xeon and the bandwidth from the Editshare will cope with the demands of both tasks simulaneously, which would be awesome. I think this will have benefits when it comes to consistency of the materials that we need.

The only trick we needed to configure on the Editshare, was that I wasnt streaming picture from my Media composer onto my projector, rather I was using a QT ref pointing at the media and opening that on my Decklink card. To make that work, we needed to turn on “QT Reference mode” on those volumes on the Editshare. Seemed logical, we didnt even bother to test it without that mode switched on. It just worked, looked fantastic on the 3.5m projection screen and scrubbed and updated smooth as all get out, just like local SD video, but looking far, far sexier.

A happy engineer here – love it when a good plan comes together!

Tues 18th May, 630pm for a 7pm kick off.

Location: Trackdown Scoring Stage at the Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park (easy parking)

Special guest speaker/interview: Eden from Song Zu. Eden has been using PT in music composition and production for many years and is a great advocate of both elastic audio and AIR instruments. Eden has a fairly start studded history in the business, working with legendary producer Nellee Hooper in the UK on projects for folk like Gwen Stefani, Puff Daddy, Kelis and even, Holly Valance! Should be interesting!

To RSVP please visit www.facebook.com/sydneyprotools

Hope to see you there!

Shameless plug here, Ive been working on a new flash website for sumsound and its gone live in the last few days.

Visit it at www.sumsound.com.au

There’s pretty much two camps on this one – those who use Pro Tools love the idea, those who use other systems are wetting themselves they will lose the only viable market alternative to ICON, their Eucon protocol.

Basically, Euphonix make great consoles and when ICON came along, realised that integrated with a DAW would be a good thing, so they made a communications protocol for a DAW to send and receive mix information to their mixing hardware, a bit like  HUI but on steriods. Its a bit like HUI becuase it’s seen as an “open platform” that many developers can use, such as Logic, Pyramix and Nuendo and the like. Nuendo and Euphonix have very tight integration today using Eucon and have sometimes been mentioned as a viable alternative to ICON and ProTools, but most clients still go ICON due to price, support, and most importantly industry adoption of PT over Nuendo.

So what does this mean going forwards? Well, I dont work for them anymore so this is just conjecture, but here’s a few ideas Ive seen posted by folks in LA and discussed around the world in the last 24 hours:

Eucon protocol on Digi hardware – ICON and C24 working as a control surface for Logic, Nuendo and Pyramix? Sounds like a good idea to an ex Digi sales guy. It expands the possible candidates who would buy Avid Audios mid prices offerings (c24 vs Tango, what would you buy?)

Eucon protocol in ProTools – I dont know how long this will take with the current economic climate, lack of resources etc but I’m guessing this HAS to happen to make this acquisition make sense. I just dont think it will happen overnight…

Eucon in Media Composer – this would be a good thing when you look at the Artist series. Its a modular control surface with jog/shuttle wheel and programmable touch screen. Why should it just be an audio device? The Command8′s buttons can be used to control anything in Media Composer, the Artist series would simply be a new and improved version of the same thing. Sexeh…

Euphonix not only make consoles for audio post, but many of them are used in broadcast situations for live to air mixing. Venue and ICON sit really on either side of this industry and have wanted inroads for some time. I would expect Euphonix style technology would be an asset to the ongoing product line when it comes to Avid Audio selling consoles into broadcast alongside their video offerings where the own that space.

Console automation? In feature film post storing your mix automation on the console would seem to me like a PITA. Any time you have to chase a picture recut and reconform your mix, you can do that fairly easily in ProTools using third parties like VK, Conformaliser, Editrace etc You would then have to reconform your mixing console automation as well and hope the two marry up nicely! If I were a large scale euphonix user, chances are I’m using Pro Tools as a dubber and to me I’d be begged to access the Pro Tools automation features from the desk, or at least store the desks automation inside the PT session.

Then there’s the automation tree – a Euphonix consoles has an incredibly elegant way to following the progress of your mix. A bit like a labelled undo tree where you can see where decisions have been made and you’ve changes directions in the mix. In the real world, Ive heard its great but you only use the three most current levels most of the time, whereas the tree is sold as a feature with many levels of recall. Still, this sort of feature would be great integrated with ProTools. Either into the software so all Avid Audio’s surfaces benefit or just some level of communication between the two to restore a saved PT session that matches that tree state. who knows?

Really, looking at the existing Euphonix product line, there aren’t that many places they and Digi overlap:

Artist series – replaces the aging Command 8 and makes it much more attractive to a wider market

MC Pro – I had no idea this existed until today and it looks pretty much like the mock ups Ive been shown by clients wishing for an “edit station” for sound designers using Pro Tools for years. Again and again folks have said “yes, you do good mixing surfaces, but I just want something intuitive to edit on and ride a few faders” Looks like a winner if it starts to talking to PT soon.

System 5 MC…well, there’s the rub. Its a controller only and sits in the same space as DControl in many ways. I’m guessing ICON and system 5 MC will have some sort of love child down the track and this area will get tidied up.

System 5 Fusion – brilliant! A tracking room solution! Clients wanting to record many audio channels into ProTools have often bemoaned the existing mixers and how to set up headphone mixes and latency etc A System 5 fusion that talks to PT would be ideal for Pro Tools based recording facilities as you’d have the brilliant sounding front end and then could use it as a mixing surface inside the box when the session is finished (with all the automation benefits, third party plugs, and conforming assistance etc)

System 5 – well, some folks would say ICON sits here as well but I think we all need to sit up and smell the roses and know that isnt the case. System 5 has a brilliant reputation for sound quality, expandibility and automation ease of use/ergonomics. ICON just doesnt have the same build quality, largely because the System 5 is about 4 times the price! You get lovely meters and feedback on this sort of console, a common gripe with ICON ops. If a system 5 could talk to PT with regards to automation, again you’d have this lovely integration. Set up the PT rigs to playback audio through the Euphonix mix engine, but some vapourware future feature allows you to send your mix state to PT, EQ/Dyn as virtual plugins (ie plugins in the mix window for automation but the processing is being done by the console) then when a picture cut comes along, you reconform your PT session and your console now tracks to the new automation. THAT would be quite cool I would imagine.

Anyways, lots of conjecture and ideas on where this could go.  To me, as a PT op, I see it as a brilliant thing and wish the team at Avid Audio all the best on bringing everyone’s wish list to fruition over the coming years.

This video struck me as the first time I can remember watching a whole panel of chaps talking and not noticing bad mic technique, if anything they all had fairly stunning mic technique! They clearly deserved their awards! j/k

An interesting video for newcomers to the industry.

CAS Awards 2010: “Meet the Winners” – Randy Thom from Michael Coleman on Vimeo.