Hello! What’s the latest wisdom on importing sessions from Pro Tools into Nuendo? The last time I had to go through this, all of the fades were rendered as separate files which wasn’t ideal. Are there any known stable workflows or best practises?
Nope, nothing you can do about that.
Some leftover code from older PT versions.
The only thing that can make your life a bit easier is a PLE preset that removes all those little chuncks of audio.
Fredo
I’ve been moving audio stuff from analog tape to any number of DAWs over the years.
We have had a guide on how to do proper backups, in the NARAS Producers and Engineers Wing, for years now, detailing the best practices.
To do it best, you need to:
- Render all audio files into ONE audio file per track or channel, so all fades and edits get rendered out.
- These files MUST be rendered with the EXACT SAME starting point, so they can more easily be imported to any DAW or even hardware playback machine (think Tascam MX2424 or similar).
- NO PROCESSING should be rendered to the audio files. UNLESS they are FINALIZED (like stems from a final mix for example). Otherwise, the mix engineer or any engineer afterwards will have problems undoing any processing that was done.
- keep DETAILED NOTES on whether there was fader automation, and which plug ins were used, in which order etc. You can export plug in states as presets for the next engineer, if needed. Pro Tools can export a Text file with the details as to what plug in inserts were used etc. But still, the best notes are the ones you or the other engineer took after the session is done.
- Because of the unreliability of cross platform formats, fader volumes, plug ins, et al, are not recommended to be exported. It still canot be done 100% reliably. This is for OMF and AAF formats of any type.
- Always have a backup in a DIFFERENT format than your native one. If you have a hard drive or tape, make sure you also have a Data DVD or Blu Ray as well, or in lieu of that, a second hard drive.
So, as long as the engineer on the Pro Tools end does this, you should be fine.
Yes, and I would also add to this list, one full mix export to be used by the new producer as reference. At times it becomes the most valuable item.
Oof okay thanks for the replies!
I’m going to give AATranslator a whirl again - I think I used it pretty successfully a couple of years ago.
And all metadata is gone now …
Might work for some specific stuff, but for example in Audio Post where we need to sync Location Sound, you would be dead in the water.
Fredo
fades and crossfades will not be transfered, but you can delete all fades and crossfades in protools before exporting aaf, that way there wont be those small fade files when you import the aaf in nuendo.
if you need to transfer clip-gains, you need to enable “enforce media composer compatibility”
metadata is another issue, no metadata is transfered (field recorder info) even if you export aaf as wav.
i never used apps like AATranslator, but please share your expirience here about compatibility with metadata
Yep, might work in music biz but not for post. No easy way to edit further and no way of knowing what scene/shot etc this is that I’m working ATM etc…
I’ve done a few tests with the latest beta version of AATranslator today and the basics seem to be transferring okay, which is hopefully all I’ll need to be doing for this upcoming project. Clips, fades, crossfades & clipgain are all retained by converting to Steinberg XML. I didn’t seem to be able to transfer automation but perhaps it’s possible if I convert to AAF instead.
I’ve worked a few times with hired help exclusively within Nuendo and it’s been a dream but sadly PT is still the most used. If I end up hiring this particular person to help me out more down the line I might grab them an e-licenser and try to get them up to speed on Nuendo for maximum comfort… Until then I guess it’ll have to be workarounds like AATranslator!
I was involved with some of the suggestions why back in the day. Honestly, those were best practices some years back but some of that is outdated here in 2020 in my opinion.
Yes, however, well, we are still seeing people having issues with OMF and AAF… so while they might be outdated, they still work.
Cheers.
Well, what can people use then? I rarely do post these days.
Just did a small test from my Pro Tools 2019.12 exporting OMF and AAF.
Check the “copy media” and uncheck the first “force to Avid” whatever their video editor is.
Pro Tools renders the crossfades as new individual files.
What gets crossed over to Nuendo 10.3? Volume automation, and the SMPTE position of the audio files. Plays back ok.
It does not pass the info for the panning, and of course, none of the plug ins, nor the routing.
This in both OMF and AAF formats.
But it did place the audio in their correct SPMTE positions. Maybe that is good enough?
As said: Use the PLE to remove all those small bits of audio.
Fredo
AATranslator works, mostly. There are several ways to trip it up though. But I can’t remember right now.
I think it was mixing interleaved and split mono on the same track, and sometimes with audiofile or clip names containing umlauts.
PC only, but can be run under emulator, but they have a really strange copy protection system that if not done correctly can introduce weird issues (those weird issues are related to incorrect install that is likely to happen if the copy was pirated).
Interestingly enough a AAF from Media Composer handles basic fades and pan mostly correctly. But not PT their flagship DAW…
I remember AA Translator, and yes, PT has always done weird things when exporting. Hopefully the OP figures something reasonable out.
Just a quick update to say that AATranslator did the job!
I was mixing the film so I made sure that my assistant was only really using clip gain and fades, or baking in any RX processing or effects (with original copies muted below). Obviously it can’t handle plugins and I ignored automation just to be safe. It converted everything fine besides a couple of slightly wonky-looking fades but over a 30m film there were only a couple. I haven’t used AAT much but it’s the second time it’s been a bit of a life-saver!