Dual System Storage

[Tommy]

If we're shooting dual system sound is it a bad idea to back up the sound on the same drive that we're backing up the picture? I've been told that it's best to have separate hard drives for sound and picture but I thought I would try and get a final consensus on this issue since it would be a great money saver. Thanks, Tommy

[michael zaletel]

Can you describe your on-site workflow a little more clearly? What are the two options you are trying to decide between?

-shooter

[Alex Carr]

I end up with just putting the Sound for particular Days alongside the footage for those days. So Days 1-5 of R3d Files would also include Days 1-5 of sound. Usually a Sound guy will burn a DVD-RAM of the Day's Sound for a physical backup. I put it on the HardDisks anyway just in case its needed for arranging Dailies or to view for continuity.

[Tommy]

Thanks for the advice! I'm trying to decide between requesting Data DVDs from production sound or if I should ask the Red Tech to backup the audio files onto the two on-set hard drives that are being used for the R3D storage/backup. Since everything is going to end up on the editing drive anyway this would help streamline the process (and also allow on-set syncing of sound for playback- if audio and picture are recorded separately). In regards to dual-system sound, is it common for Red One productions to connect a wireless receiver to the camera in order to record a mono mixed track with the picture? There are a lot of steadicam shots so having the audio recorder connected to the camera isn't always going to be an option. In this case how much larger are the R3D files going to be if we're recording a 24bit 48kHz track along with the picture? I believe the answer is 8.24MB/min (per track) in addition to the R3Ds 2GB/min. Are there any audio workflow problems in regards to transcoding to PreRes through RedRushes? If this dual-system method is NOT standard practice I imagine the other option is to record the mono mixed track and iso tracks on the audio recorder and sync everything in post using the timecode/slate. Any recommendations? Much Thanks, Tommy

[Brian Ferguson]

Since everything is going to end up on the editing drive anyway this would help streamline the process (and also allow on-set syncing of sound for playback- if audio and picture are recorded separately). In regards to dual-system sound, is it common for Red One productions to connect a wireless receiver to the camera in order to record a mono mixed track with the picture?

Are there any audio workflow problems in regards to transcoding to PreRes through RedRushes? If this dual-system method is NOT standard practice I imagine the other option is to record the mono mixed track and iso tracks on the audio recorder and sync everything in post using the timecode/slate. Any recommendations? Much Thanks, Tommy

On my last 2 short films it was the practice to send a wireless to camera with a mix-down track from the soundman. It is basically the dallies track - the editor really appreciated it. As the Red Tech I also copied the days audio files into a separate folder on the same drive of the days footage, it makes it easier to find. The redundant copies of the footage and sound is the fail-safe, usually we had 3 copies of the footage at the end of each day. Then one of those drives was copied to a RAID 0 for the edit bay. The RAID 0 is for speed and the footage exists in 3 different places in case of a failure.

All of the RED apps now can deal with audio which is a lot different than just a few months ago. It sounds like you are pretty aware of what makes sense in work flow, trust your instincts.

[Tommy]

Thanks you guys! One more question if you don't mind... What is the typical workflow when recording BWFs, editing in FCP, and exporting an OMF for post sound. I know of programs such as BWF2XML but I was told that the OMF would lose the metadata and that Protools doesn't accept Quicktime movie files. Also, if we're feeding the camera a mix track I'm not sure what format the Red camera is storing those audio files as. My goal is to figure out the best method by which to set up all the audio in FCP so that I can hand over a really well prepared OMF for post sound. Thanks, Tommy