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Keeping Actors on the same channel.


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Hi all,

For episodic TV, is it helpful for post if we keep each character on the same channel across different scenes?

For instance.

Each character would always have the same radio mic and therefore go on the same track. So "George" would always be recorded onto track 5. 

Obviously as each scene has a different number of characters, track 5 would come in at different positions in the  polyfile. But can the metadata be used to always bring the same character in on the same track in post and be useful for our post brothers and sisters?

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I've always done callsheet order, so the characters are always the same order. Some of the local mixers keep the same tracks per character. But as polyfiles drop unused tracks, can post still use the metadata to bring them in on a consistent track?

BTW. I'm not on a show at the moment to ask the editors. Just want to get the knowledge.

 

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I’ve only had post request we keep the tracks the same on reality tv shows and they also wanted us to always roll all 8 tracks even if they were empty. I hated it as it was a pain in the ass in the field, confusing to mix and took longer to transfer files at the end of each day. 

 

Some prefer having the tracks in speaking order of the scene. That makes sense to me. Keeping them on the same track day after day just for the editors seems lazy and impractical to me. 

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Well I always arrange them in the order of the role number, but if a character is not in the scene, I don’t keep their track open. Otherwise I might need 68 tracks or more. 

I am not aware of a metadata function to achieve this without actually recording tracks. Yes, you can label the track name with any number, but inside the polywav they still get new channel assignments and will get sorted into the DAW according to that. The sound editor will have to move them to the proper track manually, if they want to

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I am a dialogue editor and started out (like many here) when recorders only had one or two tracks to record to so whilst I can understand Derek's team's fast turnaround reality request what Philip and Constantin point out - that you can get carried away with track counts (and trying to be helpful) - rings true for me. In fact it is the (rerecording) mixer who at the end of the day needs tracks in an order which makes good sense for his/herself and I would try to make sure my edited tracks are either exactly what the mixer expects or sensibly and consistently ordered. Some mixers like to do things differently to others so it is best for me to try to find out what is expected, particularly if working on a new type of production (like moving to a daily reality show from a narrative drama for instance).

 

By all means communicate if possible to the sound post team as they may have specific requirements which could make their life easier and which might not be obvious (or just might be the opposite of what made life easy for the last team). Aside from that, using common sense, being consistent and good labelling / notes are what we editors hope for aside from the obvious.

 

Jez Adamson

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On 8/11/2019 at 2:54 AM, Philip Perkins said:

For those of us with lower track-count equipment this is sometimes not possible.  The posties actually do have to read the report.

Or even listen to the tracks and look at pictures!

 

Gee it's not rocket science whilst sitting in an aircon room with a coffee machine nearby!!

 

mike

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  • 2 months later...
On 8/10/2019 at 7:32 AM, Derek H said:

. Keeping them on the same track day after day just for the editors seems lazy and impractical to me. 

 

On 8/19/2019 at 2:29 AM, Mike Westgate said:

Or even listen to the tracks and look at pictures!

 

Gee it's not rocket science whilst sitting in an aircon room with a coffee machine nearby!!

 

mike

 

Seems like neither one of you has been in a post house!!

The housekeeping done by AEs _is_ rocket science!!

 

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44 minutes ago, TVPostSound said:

 

 

Seems like neither one of you has been in a post house!!

The housekeeping done by AEs _is_ rocket science!!

 

I am a post house.  I can deal with any smorga of tracks as long as they are labelled in a way I can read and understand what they are.  2nd best is some documentation that tells me what they are.  Many of the issues with this must be laid at the feet of the makers of NLEs (looking at you, Adobe).

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12 hours ago, Philip Perkins said:

I am a post house.  I can deal with any smorga of tracks as long as they are labelled in a way I can read and understand what they are.  2nd best is some documentation that tells me what they are.  Many of the issues with this must be laid at the feet of the makers of NLEs (looking at you, Adobe).

 

Wasn't directed at you!!!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Can someone enlighten me what this is about?
Track assignment is either (or both, depending on DAW) file name convention, and metadata.
It's no problem whatsoever for me to re-assign track assignment on existing files from other metadata.
(EG, If track1_name= Eva  Move to track 24)

 

Another thing, what I never understood, why would anyone record Poly? I know it's common practice, but it makes no sense to me at all...

(Yes, if you have on drive with one readhead (Like CD or ancient cheap HD) it makes sense, but that was 25 years ago...)

 

Bouke

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1 hour ago, Bouke said:

Can someone enlighten me what this is about?
Track assignment is either (or both, depending on DAW) file name convention, and metadata.
It's no problem whatsoever for me to re-assign track assignment on existing files from other metadata.
(EG, If track1_name= Eva  Move to track 24)

 

Another thing, what I never understood, why would anyone record Poly? I know it's common practice, but it makes no sense to me at all...

(Yes, if you have on drive with one readhead (Like CD or ancient cheap HD) it makes sense, but that was 25 years ago...)

 

Bouke

We record poly because A: it is what is expected these days (around here anyhow) if there is no communication from post to location sound before the job (95% of the jobs), and B: because it is much easier to keep blocks of tracks organized per shot when they are packaged that way.  Current NLEs used by my clients have no issues with this, and the editors appreciate not having to pull in all the tracks of a scene one at a time.  In audio post, WaveAgent and boom--split tracks.  In the live music recording world, yes, mono tracks are what's expected; but while there might be more channels of audio there aren't usually tens of hundreds of "scenes" to keep straight. just a handful. 

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