I do use Studio One professionally and although I would say I am not composing music for picture all the time, I do it on a regular basis though.

I am finding that Studio One handles it all rather nicely in fact. As long as you get the vision in a format that Studio One can open that is one of the main factors. You can get it start on the time you want. I tend to put the video as well on another drive to the audio drive. That way the audio drive is not being pushed so hard trying to playback video at the same time as audio etc..

I usually leave 2 bars prior at 120 BPM then on bar 3 I decide on the tempo for that first cue. You will then see where the hit points land in regards to bars and beats. It is easy to adjust tempos to get hit points landing on either bars or beats within a bar. I tend to tempo map the cue first. Once done you can get to work making the music.

The TV guys like working at 48Khz sample rate which is easy to setup. Final mixes are handed back over to the video editors so they can drop the music into the final video edit which is the correct way to go. Just watch your levels and make sure you are averaging an overall rms level that the TV guys like for broadcast etc..

Although Studio may lack more advanced scoring features I have never had any issues using it to get the job done. I would rather work in the program of choice and work around any issues you may encounter. i am sure over time they will be improving the TV and film scoring options.

Thanks Jemusic. I appreciate your response. I'll try working with a video file over the next couple of weeks. If you don't mind, I'd like to shoot a question or two your way if I run across any head scratchers.

Thanks again.

George

Hi Jemusic (and others)

I'm working my way through a test case video during the holiday "downtime".

First of all, let me say that overall it's going pretty smoothly. There are a couple of things that would be "very nice to have" from other DAWS like DP or Cubase, but they are far from essential for the most part. However, a couple of questions on things I've run across so far.

- The only way I have found to "scrub" the video frame by frame is to click, hold and drag up or down on the last set of digits (frames) in the transport bar. If I am careful when I do this, I can advance frame by frame. Am I doing something wrong? I'd like to be able to move the playhead and view the video in sync at the same time. In Cubase or DP you can "scrub" the video to locate a particular frame.

- Speaking of scrubbing, I have a ShuttlePro v2 from Contour. I can use it to scrub frame by frame in Cubase. In StudioOne, the finest resolution I am able to get is 8 frames. (Quantize and snap is not on, and the resolution of 8 frames is independent of the quantize setting when it IS on anyway.) Am I doing something wrong?

- How do I get my transport time code display synced up with the time code burned in the movie? I'd like to two to be in sync. Is it the "offset" function found in the video player window?

- Is there a way to display a secondary time ruler in the arrange page so I can have timecode with bars and beats also displayed?

- Finally, Do I really have to boot StudioOne in 32bit mode to extract the audio from the movie into a separate track?

I'm sure I will have more questions as I go along. Thanks.

A gentle bump...any advice anyone? 1812....? Bueller...?

Another bump for you? I was also searching for any threads or videos on the "How " make videos for the new person?

I'm surprised that there aren't more responses. Jemusic is a bit busy at the moment from what I understand, but I thought there might be more input from others. Perhaps it is not used so widely yet? (Or maybe it works so well that everyone who can answer is up to their eyeballs in work?)

If you are just starting out, there are some tutorial videos on sound for picture for StudioOne v2 by Bill Edstrom that are still useful. I think you can find those at MacProVideo.com. There are also a few floating around on YouTube that are helpful.

FWIW. Good luck!

Yea I have a question about audio levels/normalization/maximization.

Doing some music videos..

I understand the proper audio format for video is 48k/24bit.
I think I've maximized the audio track plenty without 2x4'ing the entire track.
Still has some volume dynamics and the meters ride high but don't clip.

The question is, when I play it on my HDTV, I need to adjust the volume way up (~x2) to get the same loudness as other broadcast stuff. e.g. music vids on Vevo.

I play any broadcast stuff at a vol. setting of about 25.. I have to jack up the vol. setting for my vids to about 40 - 45 to get the same loudness.

Is this a broadcast compression / maximization thing?
Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

I'm experiencing a unique issue.... maybe. I purchased the profession version of Studio One 3, and need to be able to score to film realtime, as you can in Digital Performer. I was told by the sales person at Presonus, that this is possible. Now..... I CAN import video, but when I hit record to start recording a track along with the movement of the video...... the video doesn't start moving... I'm confused.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks....

Not really sure... All the standard questions apply: Have you read the manual? Can you record without video? What are your system specs? Etc.

decariusspells wroteI'm experiencing a unique issue.... maybe. I purchased the profession version of Studio One 3, and need to be able to score to film realtime, as you can in Digital Performer. I was told by the sales person at Presonus, that this is possible. Now..... I CAN import video, but when I hit record to start recording a track along with the movement of the video...... the video doesn't start moving... I'm confused.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks....

Be sure the "Online" Button on the Video Player window is engaged. Then it should be synced with Studio One.

For the On Line to be engaged it should be blue with the little blue dot inside it on. Otherwise it may be offline.

Also check the Offset settings. If the Offset is 00:00:00:00 (Hrs:Min:Sec:Frames) then the video should start right at bar 1 of the timeline. If there is a 1 in the first set of numbers eg 01:00:00:00 then the video wont start until 1 hour down the timeline. Check your Offset settings.

Hey welcome back Jemusic!

By any chance, do you have view into my questions from earlier in the topic?

Thanks!

RecL2R wroteI play any broadcast stuff at a vol. setting of about 25.. I have to jack up the vol. setting for my vids to about 40 - 45 to get the same loudness.

Is this a broadcast compression / maximization thing?

In short - Yes.

It's a Mastering thing if anything else is okay.
Lot's of articles and opinions about that on the web.
In Studio One's Meter plug-in there for instance is a opportunity for K metering. It's a Bob Katz metering method. You can read a little in the manual. More on the web. Things for broadcast are done differently for broadcast. More compressed. For instance searching for "Bob Katz" and alike on the web find things about his method.
Also searching "loudness war" might result in some interesting reading stuff.

I can only suggest you read about it and practice. Also about what "Mastering" really is.

Hello nk_e. I am back on deck. My studio is up and running now. I must say a little better than what it was before. There is nothing like completely dismantling your entire studio, packing it up, moving it and re setting it in a new location and connecting everything up again. A great time to revisit and improve you analog and digital audio signal flow, midi signal flow and your power distribution. All areas I made major improvements in.

I can answer one of your questions and for others too. The only way at the moment to get the Studio One time-code agreeing with any burned in code you may get in a movie, is to create the musical arrangement down the timeline in the same position.

In this code too you need to use the time-code offset feature in Studio One. Because you also don’t want the movie to start either until you are at the same position. Inserting a time into the time-code offset box will ensure that happens.

The only issue though is that the tempo setting in Studio One is only good for two decimal places and this is not quite enough to set up an exact SMPTE frame on beat 1 of a bar which is what you want.

Example lets say you are given a movie cue and the first frame of the vision is 00:12:08:13. Now this is 12 minutes, 8 seconds and 13 frames. This just happens to be the frame that the director wants the music track to start within the overall program. (I am in Australia and I am on 25 frames/sec which is nice. No strange uneven frame time length eg 40 mS per frame)

So in order to get Studio One to also show 00:12:08:13 we have to start our music cue on that same frame and it is desirable though that beat 1 of some later bar also is at 00:12:08:13. I like a full 2 seconds prior to any cue starting. The first reason is you can put a 2 second blip at this point which would be 00:12:06:13 instead. The second reason is allows either a rise before the start vision or a slow attack after that point.

The first bar of the music though needs to change the tempo to the tempo of the cue you are going to compose. It is very important to work out your music cue tempo very early! (and time sig as well of course. It is here that both of these things are set) I play around with the computer and the movie for quite a while in order to arrive at an idea that will determine that first tempo.

Now this time of 12:06:13 at a tempo of 120 BPM will put that point very close to bar 364 and very close to beat 2. Just a few frames after beat 2 (2 and 1/2 frame after to be precise) The closest you can get is one half frame at 120 BPM tempo.

An option around this is to have normal 120 BPM tempo between bar 1 and bar 364. Then at Bar 364 a tempo change is introduced of one bar of 4/4 at 95.3 BPM so now bar 365 will land exactly on the right frame. (12:08:13)

Now you can go into the right time sig and tempo from this point on or bar 365 on. It also means the cue can start a rise of some form before 12:08:13 (in bar 364 now which is at 95.3) and rise to a hit that is right on 12:08:13 which can be effective as well.

Any 2 sec blip marker now will have to be inserted in bar 364 exactly 2 seconds before bar 365 which is easy to do. I find that 2 sec blip markers ensure the video guys are aligning the music at the right place. They line the blip marker up to 12:06:13 and the music kicks in nicely at 12:08:13 but then again the music might fade in slowly (after 12:08:13) or there may be a rise just before 12:08:13 as well. I have had the video guys mis-aligning the music sometimes (when I am not there and I am usually to ensure this does not happen) and then all the musical hits with a cue don't line up to hit points etc..They can remove blip markers easily by pulling the left edge of the audio in after the blip.

Remember that the offset is set for the video to also start at 12:08:13 and when you do this it all waits right up to bar 365 then the video kicks in nicely. But even better is to get the video with a pre-count as well eg 4 seconds. You then just set the video offset to start on say 12:04:13. The video has been nicely rolling for 4 seconds then before the actual cue vision kicks in and that should be right on bar 365 as well.

I don’t do all the cues for a larger production on the one time line. It can limit what you do musically for each cue. I prefer separate Studio One songs for each cue all starting at bar 1. A video display offset is needed in this situation so the display shows and syncs to each video burned in code 2 sec before the first frame. The video start offset is just set so the video kicks off at bar 1 as well. This takes all less time to setup when you create individual cues. You also tend to start fresh with the instrument sounds and idea etc.. I do have orchestra templates though which are handy if you do know that is what you are going to be doing.

Re levels I just tend to master the music cues at -20 rms (K -20) which is close to -23 LUFS. By mastering I do apply overall EQ, compression and some limiting before it goes out. Do more so the video guys have to do less to your overall mix and sound. It is good to listen to your cues through similar environments for checking. Not too much subby bottom end in your mix either. It prevents your cues being used louder. I tweak the EQ so there is nothing glaring getting in the way of any voiceovers or dialogue etc.. The video guys in my cases tend to mix the music and overall level later on to their own standards and levels of mastering etc..

It can get quite upsetting when you hear some of your cues almost inaudible in the finished soundtrack. But then some guys mix the music right up front too and if you know that you can master accordingly too in advance. Then it sounds great!

Wow. Just. Wow. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this down for me. I'm finishing up a project (Monday Deadline), but will turn to this next week. I'm sure I will have other questions, but thank you so much for this info.

Jemusic wroteHello nk_e. I am back on deck. My studio is up and running now. I must say a little better than what it was before. There is nothing like completely dismantling your entire studio, packing it up, moving it and re setting it in a new location and connecting everything up again. A great time to revisit and improve you analog and digital audio signal flow, midi signal flow and your power distribution. All areas I made major improvements in.

I can answer one of your questions and for others too. The only way at the moment to get the Studio One time-code agreeing with any burned in code you may get in a movie, is to create the musical arrangement down the timeline in the same position.

In this code too you need to use the time-code offset feature in Studio One. Because you also don’t want the movie to start either until you are at the same position. Inserting a time into the time-code offset box will ensure that happens.

The only issue though is that the tempo setting in Studio One is only good for two decimal places and this is not quite enough to set up an exact SMPTE frame on beat 1 of a bar which is what you want.

Example lets say you are given a movie cue and the first frame of the vision is 00:12:08:13. Now this is 12 minutes, 8 seconds and 13 frames. This just happens to be the frame that the director wants the music cut to start within the overall program. (I am in Australia and I am on 25 frames/sec which is nice. No strange uneven frame time length eg 40 mS per frame)

So in order to get Studio One to also show 00:12:08:13 we have to start our music cue on that same frame and it is desirable though that beat 1 of some later bar also is at 00:12:08:13. I like a full 2 seconds prior to any cue starting. The first reason is you can put a 2 second blip at this point which would be 00:12:06:13 instead. The second reason is allows either a rise before the start vision or a slow attack after that point.

The first bar of the music though needs to change the tempo to the tempo of the cue you are going to compose. It is very important to work out your music cue tempo very early! (and time sig as well of course. It is here that both of these things are set) I play around with the computer and the movie for quite a while in order to arrive at an idea that will determine that first tempo.

Now this time of 12:06:13 at a tempo of 120 BPM will put that point very close to bar 364 and very close to beat 2. Just a few frames after beat 2 (2 and 1/2 frame after to be precise) The closest you can get is one half frame at 120 BPM tempo.

An option around this is to have normal 120 BPM tempo between bar 1 and bar 364. Then at Bar 364 a tempo change is introduced of one bar of 4/4 at 95.3 BPM so now bar 365 will land exactly on the right frame. (12:08:13)

Now you can go into the right time sig and tempo from this point on or bar 365 on. It also means the cue can start a rise of some form before 12:08:13 (in bar 364 now which is at 95.3) and rise to a hit that is right on 12:08:13 which can be effective as well.

Any 2 sec blip marker now will have to be inserted in bar 364 exactly 2 seconds before bar 365 which is easy to do. I find that 2 sec blip markers ensure the video guys are aligning the music at the right place. They line the blip marker up to 12:06:13 and the music kicks in nicely at 12:08:13 but then again the music might fade in slowly (after 12:08:13) or there may be a rise just before 12:08:13 as well. I have had the video guys mis-aligning the music sometimes (when I am not there and I am usually to ensure this does not happen) and then all the musical hits with a cue don't line up to hit points etc..They can remove blip markers easily by pulling the left edge of the audio in after the blip.

Remember that the offset is set for the video to also start at 12:08:13 and when you do this it all waits right up to bar 365 then the video kicks in nicely. But even better is to get the video with a pre-count as well eg 4 seconds. You then just set the video offset to start on say 12:04:13. The video has been nicely rolling for 4 seconds then before the actual cue vision kicks in and that should be right on bar 365 as well.

I don’t do all the cues for a larger production on the one time line. It can limit what you do musically for each cue. I prefer separate Studio One songs for each cue all starting at bar 1. A video display offset is needed in this situation so the display shows and syncs to each video burned in code 2 sec before the first frame. The video start offset is just set so the video kicks off at bar 1 as well. This takes all less time to setup when you create individual cues. You also tend to start fresh with the instrument sounds and idea etc.. I do have orchestra templates though which are handy if you do know that is what you are going to be doing.

Re levels I just tend to master the music cues at -20 rms (K -20) which is close to -23 LUFS. By mastering I do apply overall EQ, compression and some limiting before it goes out. Do more so the video guys have to do less to your overall mix and sound. It is good to listen to your cues through similar environments for checking. Not too much subby bottom end in your mix either. It prevents your cues being used louder. I tweak the EQ so there is nothing glaring getting in the way of any voiceovers or dialogue etc.. The video guys in my cases tend to mix the music and overall level later on to their own standards and levels of mastering etc..

It can get quite upsetting when you hear some of your cues almost inaudible in the finished soundtrack. But then some guys mix the music right up front too and if you know that you can master accordingly too in advance. Then it sounds great!

Jemusic,

I was looking through my old posts trying to find the above as I couldn't remember if it was related to a current question I have in the forum related to advancing one frame at a time in S1. (viewtopic.php?f=213&t=21678)

In re-reading it I just thought I would commend to you VideoSlave 3 by non-lethal-applications. I'm pretty sure you know about this application, but version 3 just came out and it's pretty easy to set up with S1 with no need for the network midi stuff per the StudioOneExpert video by Marcus earlier this year. What makes it particularly relevant to your discussion above is the ability to have VideoSlave offset the timecode received from StudioOne to match any timecode present in the movie. No more having to start things at bar 364 as described above. It's pricey, but it offers a number of nice advantages.

Now if I could only figure out how to get S1 to advance a frame at a time.......

Cheers and I hope all is going well.

Video slave looks cool. But a hefty price tag. I am not doing a lot of that right now so I would have to get a well paid job before I would take the plunge. Pro looks OK and should do most things. It is the same price as StudioOne though so quite abig investment. There are some features that may be beneficial for some in the higher versions. So far I can get the job done even with the existing setup but maybe in time they might give us some improved features. Both in sync options like being slaved and some more advanced movie import options.

As far as nudging is concerned do you want to nudge the cursor or an event. You can certainly nudge events one frame at a time. Just select frames as the timebase and zoom in so you can see individual frames. Click on the event and press Alt + right or left arrow to move the event one frame at a time. If you have got snap on you can easily locate the cursor onto frames as well.

The cursor. I'd like to move the cursor by a single frame at a time. I can do that only if I click and hold the frame counter in the control bar and move it very very carefully. Not very workable....