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Old 08-01-2007, 04:28 PM   #4
airon
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EDIT 2009 - September 9th

We have several feature requests in the recently introduced Issue Tracker that concern post production. At the very least, they are :

Improved Video Support

Area Selection

Reaper Media List/Bay/Bins

Vote for them!!!


Here now follows the older post.
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Nice ones Drakem. I hope these requests of mine are as useful.

==Timecode==

All timecode formats usable in grid and snap.

Nudge with userdefinable step width, with presets depending on kind of timecode in project. In a 25fps project I need to nudge stuff by frames, fractions of frames (1/4 frame for example) and seconds for example. Nudge should have its very own timecode selector too so I can push things around by whatever distance I choose.


==Timecode Offset in the project setting==

It is rare that things start at 00:00:00:00 in post production.
Film reels begin at 01:00:00:00, 02:00:00:00 and so on. In Germany television shows start at 10:00:00:00. Whatever the picture cutters deliver, you have to use, and you're bound to their timecode most of the time.

For a number of reasons, we therefore require timecode offsets in our session, meaning that the sessionstart has to be a timecode setting.

For the show I work on (program starts at 10:00:00:00) I start my session at 09:57:30:00, because I need to include reference level tone and 2 second pre-program 1-frame blip. This stuff goes on to tape and in later production stages is a reference for people not just for levels but also where the program starts, in case they only got the raw audio file.

Timecode offsets for any grid, though I'd be happy with HH:MM:SS:ff formats. Rendering to WAV with the bext chunk will then be of much greater use for us post production folks.


==Scrubber==

Emulation of 1/4 inch tape scrub using the mouse and any other input device with an input range. Those could be any endless knobs and jogwheels.

Implementing this in the Reaper universe could be having a toggle action that turns off/on the context sensitive menus and other functions that concern the right mouse button, thereby freeing the right mouse button, which is the easiest, and in my experience, the quickest to use.

Modifier keys are an alternative and a good addition, but they will always be slower. The stuff you have at your fingertips is the fastest, and speed is what it's about for post production folks. The modifer key or the right mouse button could also work for the left/right item edge trimmer to operate in a scrubbing mode. This is extremely useful to have too.


==Automation Recording==

One automation mode setting for the standard controls of volume, pan and sends, and then one automation mode setting for all the effects in the insert section.

The reason behind this is that when mixing effects and dialog, often you'll ride your faders a lot, and may wish to EQ something a little more, or change the compressor settings for a few lines.

Right now you can't do that without blowing away your volume automation in WRITE mode. The alternative is to disarm everything you don't wish to change by opening the envelope window manualy for each track. It takes a VERY long time to do so right now.

The disadvantage in disarming the volume automation recording is that you can no longer quickly do touch ups while going over a loop when you're adjusting your EQs or compressors in write mode. You have to set the automation mode to Touch, rearm the volume parameter, and restart playback. I can't do that shit over and over and over without losing in the ballpark of 80% of my mixing time.

Therefore, keeping a seperate automation mode for one section containing the volume and pan parameters, and one seperate for the effects, you can work away, no problem. You'll probably be switching the effects to READ, WRITE or LATCH only. The volume can stay in TOUCH mode.

Additional "Arm All" buttons, tied to actions, for each plugin or at least for all fx. A possible action is "Arm parameters of Plugin 1", and so on.

An option to arm all automation on newly added plugins may be useful too. I would probably leave that on all the time, since I automate the living daylights out of EQs, compressors and reverbs.


==Automation Editing==

Displaying just three parameters on one track makes it very difficult to edit with decent speed. It takes a long time to make stuff visible and not visible, mainly because as far as I know no actions exist to make plugin parameters and no parameters at all visible or not visible.

I want to treat automation like audio. Selecting is great. Moving is great. Copying works great, but pasting automation at precisly the same location in another track is fiddly, which is why I suggest you give the user the ability to move the edit cursor up and down. You select something, THAT's where the cursor is then at the top left of the selection, if it's multitrack. The cursor can travel up or down with the assignable actions or even by selecting another track panel. Since we can have multiple lanes inside tracks right now, the default target should be the same parameter if the same parameter/plugin parameter exists in that track. Using the cursor up/down actions could then pick another target if those lanes are displayed.

And I'd like a track mode in which I can edit the automation without accidentally touching the audio or automation of any other parameter. Perhaps a graphical focus(tint?) of the automation I'm working on. Having to click on a curve to work on it sucks so a mouse focus would improve the visual feedback as well.

Copying automation with by dragging with a modifier would be nice too, like dragging an item is. Perhaps SHIFT+CTRL+drag ?


==Automation Snapshots==

I have a setting on an EQ that I'd like to get written to the next five minutes of my first dialog track. Then I'd like to have that same setting written to the other six dialog tracks in the same time frame.

or

I've made a pass across a three minute section, where the plugins were set to write mode, but only during the last 30 seconds did I find the right settings for the entire loop selection. I stop the transport and now wish to write those plugin settings to the entire loop selection of this track or all tracks that had WRITE enabled for the plugins.

That's the beginning of snapshot automation. Advanced ways are to keep multiple passes like we collect takes in lanes and pick and choose between them.


==General Editing==

Selecting part of an item in the track directly, not via a loop selection. May require that new track mode mentioned above where you focus on one type of editing. Either automation or audio.

Optionable parameters for actions enabling me to write a macro that splits away a selection in an item to the track below it leaving a hole in the source material. Then it grows the edge of the material on the left side of the hole by 1/4 frame and fades out that grown 1/4 frame with a slow fadeout. Then it grows the edge of the material on the right side of the hole by 6 frames and fades in those six frames with a fast fade. Then it extends the split out material on the track below to the left by 1/4 frame and to the right by six frames, and fades these in and out with fast and slow fades.

The result is lightning fast dialog split editing. Actions with parameters.

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That's it so far. I'm sure some folks here can add a great deal more.
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Last edited by airon; 09-09-2009 at 03:55 AM.
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