Need help exporting DP vocal track to Pro Tools OMF

[toodamnhip]

Hi everyone.
I would greatly appreciate it if a nation member could give me clear instructions as to exporting a DP 8.04 to OMF.
I tried it once and the result was a mess.
In my 1st attempt, the audio loaded into pro tools as blank regions and I could not accomplish a re linking.
There are many options in both the DP OMF export window and in pro tools.
Also, I am not very well versed in re-linking manually. I have too many drives for auto-relink and this “auto” takes forever.

I want to export a comped vocal, with all of it;s individual slices, (it has not been merged).
I want it to show up in pro tools with all of it’s slices and crossfades if possible.
I am going from DP 8.04 to Pro Tools 9.
It would also be nice of the sub takes of the vocal were imported into pro tools too, but this is not 100% necessary.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Been there, Done that.

Use AAF instead.

[toodamnhip]

Been there, Done that.

Use AAF instead.

OK, are there any setting you recommend or is it self explanatory?
Funny, I thought of trying AAF but the engineer who told me to use OMF is a pretty big guy, go figure.

[magicd]

OMF or AAF will work.

Make sure the frame rate of DP is set to 29/97 or some other compatible format. 30 fps will not work. If you use OMF, choose the option to embed the audio files in the OMF file.


Dave

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I'll have to open DP to check but DP has a weird history in this regard. Either OMF or AAF works in any particular version but not both. I had major OMF to PT issues a few months ago and a simple AAF fixed it. But the problem appears to be at least partly on the PT side.

My engineer is also a pretty "big guy" who knows his stuff. His conclusion was the (then) new version of PT broke the compatibility. But DP 8.0 at the time also had problems exporting bwav timestamps correctly so we agreed it was probably both PT & DP to blame.

BTW, in my experience, just because a person is well known or is even award winning or nominated doesn't necessarily mean they know what they're talking about or doing all the time. Sometimes they just "have to be right."

More than once I've had one of 'the big guys' prove that ignorance sometimes rises in direct proportion to ones self-inflated view if oneself. I had one award nominated recordist deliver 3 hours of 60 cycle hum as dialogue.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

If you use OMF also force Digi translstor for PT

[toodamnhip]

OMF or AAF will work.

Make sure the frame rate of DP is set to 29/97 or some other compatible format. 30 fps will not work. If you use OMF, choose the option to embed the audio files in the OMF file.


Dave

Thanks magic man. I got it to work once, and another time, it did not work. and will spend a bit more "careful time" on it today. I think the time it did not work was due to the fact that my session file was set at 30 fps. Changing to AAF and unchecking the force compatibility feature allowed it to successfully transfer. Although the Pro Tools file defaulted at 120bpm and I was left wondering about the tempo map and where the original DP conductor track info had gone and how to get it into Pro Tools.

Question 1) What happens if I take a DP file that has tons of audio snippets, and MIDI, and time change info, (in other words, the whole "shabang"), and just CHANGE the frame rate from 30 to 29/97? WIll anything get out of sync within DP itself? (I am not syncing to anything outside of DP such as film or smpte).
2) If I am successful at transferring using OMF or AAF, should the Pro Tools conductor track have tempo info and markers in it. If so, how do I ensure this occurs?
3) How best do I transfer a vocal with 36 alt takes in it's play list, FROM Pro Tools 9, TO DP 8.04?
4) This may be a weird question, but I wish to use the comping tools in DP and the pitch algorithms in DP too. I have been arguing with the artists who want me to use pro tools only. They have finally agreed to let me use my tools , (DP), but want the audio imported BACK into Pro Tools so they can see how I comped things and edge edit should they wish to make adjustments to my comping decisions. First off, I am wondering if DP's crossfades will successfully transfer into Pro Tools via OMF,AAF? 2nd, I am trying to figure out how to transfer the comped vocal WITH pitch correction burned in, yet without merging the vocal into one complete file? The best I have come up with is to pitch and use crossfades in DP at a standard 10ms fade wherever possible. I do this to ensure everything is working with my edits, fades and pitch work, Then, when I am happy with the vocal edits and pitch work, undo the fades, and manually merge each individual audio snippet without merging it to it's neighboring snippet. Then , put the crossfades BACK in and send the file via OMF. Do you have any advice that would apply here? For one thing, I am worried that merging the individual soundbites will make crossfades stop working as the will be no overlap between soundbites for the crossfades to cross..lol. I also realize that burning the pitch correction in will make edge editing unavailable thereafter. So I will most likely send a 2nd file without pitch for the artist so that he may have his engineers make edge edits if desired. It is a convoluted situation and has been making me a bit nuts trying to make the artist happy.
As always, thank you for monitoring and helping us all out.

[toodamnhip]

just bumping my question above back to Magic Dave again.

[magicd]

Question 1) What happens if I take a DP file that has tons of audio snippets, and MIDI, and time change info, (in other words, the whole "shabang"), and just CHANGE the frame rate from 30 to 29/97? WIll anything get out of sync within DP itself? (I am not syncing to anything outside of DP such as film or smpte).

Events in DP tracks are either locked to SMPTE locations or they are locked to bars/beats locations. If a track is not "locked" in the Tracks window, it's events are are locked to bars/beats. Therefore if you change SMPTE timing, the events in the track won't move. Conversely, if the track is "locked" in the Tracks window, changing the frame rate could have an effect on event location.

An additional problem could also be the SMPTE time stamps on the soundbites. Audio gets timestamped when recorded, and that time stamp is based on the current frame rate. One way to play it safe would be to change the frame rate (with all tracks unlocked), and then merge soundbites. The newly created soundbites would have time stamps based on the new current frame rate.

2) If I am successful at transferring using OMF or AAF, should the Pro Tools conductor track have tempo info and markers in it. If so, how do I ensure this occurs?

As far as I know, there is no provision in OMF or AAF for sequence tempo information. Because DP stores it's markers in the conductor track, they are also not included in the OMF/AAF file.

To move a tempo track from DP to ProTools, save as a standard MIDI file and import that separately. The standard MIDI file will include the tempo data, but not markers. As far as I know, there is no way to move a markers list between DP and PT.

3) How best do I transfer a vocal with 36 alt takes in it's play list, FROM Pro Tools 9, TO DP 8.04?

That's a PT question. As far as I know, export from PT includes only the current take. You may have to expand the takes to separate tracks in order to export all with OMF/AAF.


4) This may be a weird question, but I wish to use the comping tools in DP and the pitch algorithms in DP too. I have been arguing with the artists who want me to use pro tools only. They have finally agreed to let me use my tools , (DP), but want the audio imported BACK into Pro Tools so they can see how I comped things and edge edit should they wish to make adjustments to my comping decisions. First off, I am wondering if DP's crossfades will successfully transfer into Pro Tools via OMF,AAF?

In my experience, fades get printed as separate regions. Certainly the OMF/AAF transfer will not include pitch automation. You will have to merge the soundbites in DP in order to print the pitch changes. If there are any fades on the soundbites, they will also get printed with the merge.


4 ) 2nd, I am trying to figure out how to transfer the comped vocal WITH pitch correction burned in, yet without merging the vocal into one complete file?

You can merge individual soundbites or selected regions.

4a ) The best I have come up with is to pitch and use crossfades in DP at a standard 10ms fade wherever possible. I do this to ensure everything is working with my edits, fades and pitch work, Then, when I am happy with the vocal edits and pitch work, undo the fades, and manually merge each individual audio snippet without merging it to it's neighboring snippet. Then , put the crossfades BACK in and send the file via OMF. Do you have any advice that would apply here?

Either print the crossfades or leave them for PT. I do this type or work all the time. What I give back to the PT engineer are finished audio files. You also have the option of providing multiple versions of the file if they want more raw audio.

Dave

[toodamnhip]

Thank you magic man. That was a long question and I appreciate you taking the time. I will get on this within a day or two and we'll see how it all goes.

[jantoman]

Certainly the OMF/AAF transfer will not include pitch automation. You will have to merge the soundbites in DP in order to print the pitch changes.

That's what I thought. But I recently exported some AAF sessions forgetting to merge the vocal track soundbites beforehand… and I found out that the resulting vocal track in the AAF session was pitch-corrected. Really handy