Audio Post Production for Film 101 - Pro Tools Session Setup 

Congratulations

Nice dude, gz! How has it been so far?

I figured instead of sitting on my butt between gigs I would... well I guess technically it’s still sitting on my butt. But it feels better to do something that will help others

Thanks Chris. I’m just trying to help out my sound family. When I got started I had to learn from a mentor but with everything going on right now that is difficult for many.

Glad to help

Thanks for watching. That is the idea behind these. I would like to help others get started, similar to how my mentors helped me.

@@ThomasBoykin "I would like to help others get started, similar to how my mentors helped me." That right there speaks volumes. I have been around and a lot of what I know is self taught or in these days, from the internet, and we all know that "everyone on the internet is an expert ;) A lot of the information you have shared here and your other videos (which I have already watched numerous times) is hard to come by, in fact was never really taught in schools or any institutions, that is when I went to school. When I was attended courses for audio engineering, it was all music and post was not a thing. To this day, it is still hard to come by a solid tutorial that describes and or demonstrates some of these practices or methods of design, editing and or mixing that you have shown here. A lot of this information until as of late, has been a closely guarded secret or purveyed only by those "in the biz" or like you, who had mentors. Mentors to teach you or show you the ways. I am rambling here but, I just wanted to express my upmost appreciation and thanks for taking the time to share this information with us. I hope to see more great tutorials and or videos on the processes behind the post process. I have learned a lot from the material you shared here! I am in the process of re-watching the "Mixing in Pro Tools" video so I can better understand the routing and such behind a 5.1 mix. Thank you again and I hope to see more videos from you in the future.

Great to hear. There is a lot of knowledge locked up and many pros are afraid to share it for fear of being replaced.

@@ThomasBoykin I can imagine, so I am thankful for that. I think it is the right spirit. I try to share as much as I can to anyone that is genuinely interested, I think that is the best approach in the long run. In location sound I don't feel so threatened by peers that are starting out and want to learn a few tricks and I am happy to help when I can. Most things are already out there, but it is the ones that keeps grinding and have a genuine interest that will master the crafts, it is so much to it. I think this is a similar thing. We that are interested in this, probably already know and have Protools, autoalign post, fieldrecorder workflow etc. We might even come to 80% of the result to you, but the work you do in a day may genuinely take me 4-5 days to reassemble, and until I have watched your videos, my project layout were definitely a mess and not a threat in any way, we are simply not bidding for the same league ;) Hats off to you!

De veras. With a little luck and lot of work anything is attainable. “Poco a poco...”

Glad it was helpful.

Great to hear!

My pleasure

Thank you

Those shows are great when they use the ISO’s! But you get a hotshot editor who picks the “best” mics and it creates a need to do this.

Thank you very much!

Some of that muscle memory goes so far back it is hard to put into words

@@ThomasBoykin I only moved to Pro Tools 11 years ago, but within 30 minutes the shortcuts made more sense than anything I'd used previous. Still amazes me how much I don't know considering how much muscle memory is already in there lol

If you have any specific questions I can answer please let me know.

@@ThomasBoykin all good. cant wait for the next part.

Yes, and there are a few tutorials on detailed FRGT setup already. Each show is different! I will circle back and drill down on a few things once I get through the rest of the process. Probably based on what is most requested.

I think it’s best picked up in person. It is like another language

Yes

It will be on the mixing video

Best way to enter the industry is talk to people who are working in it.

I’d like to know too

For dialogue through a speaker

I use Ultimate. The other versions don’t have enough grunt for me

Usually I just put them on tracks that sound similar.

Every show and mixer has different needs. I try to move bigger sounds to pfx and leave smaller ones on dialog if it sounds better.

Yes

It might not be in your version of Pro Tools. I’m using Ultimate

You will need PT Ultimate for this workflow

Sounds like you are starting PT with a template. Click the blank session option on startup.

Shift s

You can use whatever tracks you need. Crowd would be fine and would need to be on the dialog stem if it’s an intelligible word

I learned from mentors at the places I worked in Los Angeles.

Yes I automate clip by clip on each track. You could do an a and b bus, but I route all my tracks to one bus and automate at the track level. However some mixers use what’s called a reassign setup with different buses for different processing. I like to keep it simple so the a/b is just to keep scenes checkerboarded. But sometimes I don’t even do that.

@@ThomasBoykin thanks!

Best option for that is to find a local filmmaker

Pay the toll and upgrade to Ultimate

@@ThomasBoykin oof ok

No, they are booms separated by the shooting angle, or you might call it a camera setup. Straight up would be the master shot (no letter designation).

Tone shift means you change tracks

Yea but you will need to spend money on software like Kraken, or do it by hand

@@ThomasBoykin Thank you so much!

Depends on the show and scene. Each is different. I usually don’t care which tracks they go on since I mix clip by clip.

@@ThomasBoykin i see, thanks buddy :)

They are just names for the tracks. For organization

Upgrade

Not right now

@@ThomasBoykin Ok, so not for this project. Do you know of any place one could get practice files for audio/video? I've scoured the internet but I can't find anything to practice on.

Most likely to be some metadata got kerjiggered wrong. You should make a blank session, rescan the production sound folders and play with the metadata match. But sometimes it just doesn’t work

@@ThomasBoykin So I shouldn’t worry about the names being different? Because I tried to playing with the match criteria but Pro Tools can’t seem to identify the channels

1. No. 2. Yes. I have hand-synced entire features without FRG. It is mind-numbing work but can be done.

@@ThomasBoykin thanks a lot Thomas, you helping me out big time

OMF- tracks from the editor A DX - A DIAL, B DX - B DIAL. I checkerboard the tracks for some projects to separate scenes.

@@ThomasBoykin It helps me to understand your workflow, I appreciate it again :)

You have to find projects to work on to practice. Even student films. I might be able to set people up with a practice session eventually, so that could help.

Let’s get you found then. What do you need to know?

For sure, or they could be neither or both. Impossible to be completely inclusive of every possibility.

@@ThomasBoykin It's actually pretty easy to be inclusive of "every possibility" by refering to the editor as simply.... wait for it... *the editor*. 🙄 When you say "editor bro" "editor dude" "edit-man" "edit-homeboy" etc it sounds like you don't acknowledge or accept the fact that women actually DO work in film... and that's a bummer as a female film maker who is otherwise really enjoying your content. Because the industry has enough sexism as it is.... and your potential clients are watching. PS. Fun fact, historically editors have been overwhelmingly female - as in during the birth of, and golden age of Hollywood. PPS. Fun fact #2, all of Scorsese's films were edited by the same brilliant woman - Thelma Schoonmaker. I bet you wouldn't refer to her as "editor bro"... and if you did I hope she smacks you with one of her Oscars. LOL

Backing up constantly it was not an option?!

I agree but finding content I can use is difficult since studio projects are very protective of their content.