DP audio stretched by ProTools

[Chris T]

I'm working with a music editor on a film score.

I'm running OS10.14.6 and working in DP10.01. My audio format is Broadcast Wave, 48k,24bit. I'm bouncing my mixes to disk and they play fine when I then load them into iTunes or play from my Finder.

I don't use ProTools and never have. However, when I share my audio with the music editor, and he just DRAGS it into the ProTools window, we notice that PT stretches my audio files so that they're longer than they should be (sometimes by several seconds). Has anyone ever encountered this between DP and PT?

When he goes through the myriad PT import menus etc, he said it works fine - no stretching. He also said that in 10 years of working in PT he's never encountered this issue until now, although I don't believe he's ever received audio files from DP before.

I'm guessing it might be an anomaly that DP puts on Broadcast Wave files that, when PT reads them, causes them to stretch.

Any tips?

Thanks,
CT

[mikehalloran]

Common problem but I don't know how to deal with in in PT, only the reverse. I'm guessing that he's set for 44.1kHz and hasn't set his preferences for automatic conversions.

In DP, checking the Automatic Conversions Preferences to this eliminated the problem for me:

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Pro Tools; the Sibelius of the DAW world...

[mikehalloran]

Pro Tools; the Sibelius of the DAW world...

[EMRR]

Stretched, or just longer?

Longer is pre-roll / post-roll record preferences. You have to merge to get rid of the time amount you don't see.

Stretched and not in time with anything is probably like Nuendo and a bunch of others, which have some evil preset in preferences to make imports conform to tempo. I've received badly mangled overdub tracks back from other studios that did not know there was such a preference, and that it was auto-enabled. Thus, they import my rough mix for overdubs, and it mangles it, they overdub to a mangled track. Etc.

[HCMarkus]

Nuendo (and CueBase) evil preset in preferences to make imports conform to tempo.

SO F'd up.

[Kurt Cowling]

I ran into a similar situation a couple months ago. I created tracks that needed to be overdubbed by folks in their home studios. They variously used ProTools, Cubase, GarageBand and some unknown Windows DAW. The only person who had a problem in my case was the Cubase user.

Here's the issue. DP embeds tempo (and location) info in the exported BWAV files. The receiving software interprets those files as being "Acidized WAV" files and conforms them from the tempo embedded in the BWAV file to the current tempo setting of the DAW in question.

My answer in Cubase was NOT found in the import options, but rather in the properties of the soundbites after importing. The soundbites were set to what Cubase calls "musical mode", meaning they should be conformed to the tempo (and possibly key?) of the current project. I wonder if ProTools has a similar setting for properties of a soundbite?

You might check the ProTools manual for Acidized WAV files rather than import options.

Otherwise I think your other possible options are:
1. Try AIFF instead of WAV (or maybe old school WAV, like Core Audio export WAV, not BWAV)
2. If your tempo setting in DP was the same throughout set ProTools to that tempo before dragging the soundbites

I am a Sibelius user (I like it!) and I also have ProTools Free to be able to suss out problems like this, but now ProTools Free won't even launch on my system and Avid won't give me any tech support because "we don't provide tech support for free version". Uhh, I'm paying every month for Sibelius... how about a little help. (digression)

--Kurt

[mikehalloran]

Try asking the PT user what the correct settings are. Any file converter can do so after the bounce—you want to reflow.

[FMiguelez]

Try asking the PT user what the correct settings are. Any file converter can do so after the bounce—you want to reflow.

Agreed, but I actually think this is clearly a user-error on their PT end. Do they know what they're doing?


----
All they have to do is set whatever equivalent PT has for DP's UNABLED Automatic conversions, as mentioned above, and I'd also check the equivalent of Never look for beats in audio files automatically preference, as well as unchecking the Automatically analyze beats in this project and Automatically analyze the tempo of audio that has no tempo ones.

Just like DP may be set to adjust or not adjust the imported SBs to match the tempo, PT must have the same thing, unless it's crippled in this area and it can't import any BWAV audio files with embedded tempo maps , from any vendor, which I really doubt.

There must be some PT setting they're overlooking on their end... otherwise, we would've heard users' screams about this ridiculous problem since years ago, and we haven't. I've sent files back and fourth under similar conditions as the OP mentioned, and it's never ever been a problem here.

[Phil O]

I've sent files back and fourth under similar conditions as the OP mentioned, and it's never ever been a problem here.

I've had this problem before, but the ProTools studio figured out what to do to correct it, so it must be a ProTools setting. I could give this guy a call and ask him.

Your friendly neighborhood Phil

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Could it be Pro Tools in the hands of Pro Fools?

[Kurt Cowling]

A quick look through the documentation for ProTools | First says:

"Elastic Audio provides track-based Real-Time and Rendered Time Compression and Expansion (TCE) and clip-based pitch shifting (transposition). Pro Tools Elastic Audio uses exceptionally high-quality transient detection algorithms, beat and tempo analysis, and real-time TCE and pitch shifting processing algorithms. Elastic Audio lets you quickly and easily transpose the pitch of audio clips and tempo conform (beat match) audio to the project’s Tempo map. It also provides an unprecedented degree of control over transient detection and TCE processing on an event-by-event basis."

"New audio tracks in Pro Tools | First are tick-based and Elastic Audio–enabled by default."

"To disable Elastic Audio on a track:
1
From the track’s Elastic Audio Plug-In selector, select None – Disable Elastic Audio.
2
If the track had any Elastic Audio-based processing, you are prompted to Cancel, Revert, or Commit."

Hope this helps the OP.
--Kurt

[Kurt Cowling]

Otherwise I think your other possible options are:
1. Try AIFF instead of WAV (or maybe old school WAV, like Core Audio export WAV, not BWAV)
2. If your tempo setting in DP was the same throughout set ProTools to that tempo before dragging the soundbites

I forgot one option... export a MIDI file from DP and import it into ProTools so the tempo maps match.

--Kurt

[MIDI Life Crisis]

A quick look through the documentation for ProTools | First says:

"...Elastic Audio lets you quickly ... tempo conform (beat match) audio to the project’s Tempo map.
--Kurt

This makes the most sense from this non-Pro Tools user.

[apanacci]

I work between DP and PT. Just match the tempo in PT and it will be the same as DP. ProTools does not mess with the tempo like Cubase does. The actual tempo will not be altered.