Logic Pro 9 Scoring 1 show in 1 Logic project

JGS

Logician
Hi All,
In the past, I've always created a new project for each cue or each couple of cues when scoring a film. I'd then bounce a rough mix into a ProTools session that I would keep open in the background as a reference for the continuity of the soundtrack.

I'm presently scoring a half hour animated TV series with a tight schedule. Because of this schedule I've been scoring each show in one Logic project so that I can easily cut and past between cues. I have tempo and meter changes and my music is quite sync to the picture.

I'm now faced with notes from the director, asking me to shuffle a couple of cues. A seemingly innocuous request that causes me a major headache with such a tight schedule.

Inevitably once the cues are moved , they have to be reworked. I don't mind reworking the cues, it's just that all of the subsequent cues are put out of sync by changing preceding tempo and meter.

I doubt that there's anything that I can do to make this process easier other than switching to Digital Performer but.......... does anyone have anything to suggest?

thanks!
 
theres locking the smpte position.. but that doesnt lock tempo events..

in the past when faced with this problem ive kept the original session as a master, then bounced out "cues" as i go after changing signatures, etc.. ( the lucky cues are the ones where you just move the pictures rather than change the cues ) then i go back to the master and progress to the next cue , make that a new session, change it, bnc new cue, back to master, etc..
thus you are not worrying about the moving subsequent cues and as a bonus you have created a whole bunch of individual session that will make it easier if you have to do more changes.

if you dont need to hear it you can move really fast by turning the audio engine off, and thus not having to load VIs. I sometimes do this on the first pass to get things in the ballpark. markers are your friend and they are smpte lockable.

and yes "chunks" would be fantastic to have in logic, or even as a start lockable tempo and signature positions.


look forward to hearing some other ideas from people here.
L
 
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One thing you can try, is once you've set up a "Logic Project" by saving it with assets to create a unified folder structure with audio, impulse responses, presets, and so on, is keep re-saving your song file in the same folder. Each file will be automatically sync'd to use the same audio files, and so on. That way, each logic song will draw from the same pool, and you can just re-save each time you do a different cue, so that 80% of each song is the same, but with the specific changes for a given episode.

HTH,
Orren
 
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Hi Judith,

I think what they are both saying is pointing you in the right direction. These are only changes you need to make, the bulk of the work is already done. The goal is to get the task completed in a timely manner - and you can do that more easily if you let go of the idea of preserving every time/tempo/meter change all in one project.


* Take your master project and do a "save as". Make your changes to your first cue that you need to and don't worry about the timeline getting changed after the edits. Mix and export your cue stems.

* Go back to your original master project where all the timing is still intact, and do another "save as". Make the changes to the next cue that needs to be edited. Mix and export the stems.

* Go back to your master project and do another "save as". Make the edits to the third cue that needs changing. Mix and export.


* You see where I am going with this..... Once you have completed all the edits, go back to your master project and mix and export the other 90% of the cues that don't need to be changed.

* If for whatever reason, you need to revisit some of these edits again at a later date; they're all contained in their own "saved as" project versions and easily available for further editing.

I know it's not quite as elegant as keeping everything consistent in one project. But it will goet you over the hump and get the job done, albeit maybe not in the most elegant manner. But sometimes (IMHO) you have to sacrifice elegance for the greater good of getting the task at hand done!
 
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I was going to make the same suggestion as Eli.

I had a project last week where the same thing occurred, and doing "save as" from the master for the effected cues is probably the fastest, least headache inducing.

I'll add to his suggestions.

When naming the save as cues, I like to use the time code of the cue, for example. 01_05_07_10_ scene_v2. Etc etc

Clients usually like bounces of the whole movie, so i'll wind up bringing bounces of the cues back into the master session or create a new presentation session that can export audio to the movie.
 
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Hi,

Thanks for the great suggestions! I think I'll try your suggestions of using a master Logic session of my work to date. I'll keep ProTools open in the background with a stereo mix of the whole score and will use it as a reference.
I'll work chronologically with the director's notes and record my stems directly into ProTools until I come to the first edit point. I'll then save the master session with a different name and go on from there, returning to the master session for each new edit.
It sounds like it will work with not too much headache. Thanks!!!
 
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