Quote:
Originally Posted by paterno  Call me crazy, but I prefer the sound of tiny bits to a consolidated track. Plus, it's easier to touch up bad edits and crossfades...
JP |
I agree in many cases. There are times where consolidation is necessary and helpful, and times when it is not. Unfortunately, a person needs to have some experience and good judgement to decide which is which, and there's no guarantee that your clients will posess such treasures.
One necessary time for consolidation is when you will be dragging raw files into pro tools from another daw. They should all be the exact same length and contiguous. If it's a pro tools session to begin with, clean it up best you can, consolidate things that don't have tricky edits and fades, and leave some of the other tracks as-is so that the mixer indeed does have the ability to fix problems.
There are cases where a crossfade is terrible and could be easily improved given the option, or where bad editing cut off a transient or a decay, and if it was not consolidated, you could easily just drag out the fade and the desired audio will still be there.
The other thing that really rings true for me is the crossfade comment. Some people just don't crossfade any edits and there are clicks and pops all over the damned place. If you punch or comp a vocal and there are a million little pieces, make sure there are no clicks at the edits.
That brings up another point. Comped or punched vocal takes are better left unconsolidated not only for reasons referenced above, including clicks on edits and clipped syllables, but also because breaths in between can be hacked to hell. Removing all breaths sounds unnatural, but having half breaths cut off at punches or edits, or double breaths from multiple takes, can be a real problem with a featured vocal part. It's nice to have the flexibility to clean things like that if the editor did not do a great job of it.
Oh, and to continue the theme of the thread by offering the caveat of big or not big, though I have many recognizable names on my credit list, some are mastering credits, and of the mixes I've done for big names, they are usually for live concert DVDs or cable on-demand etc, and a few people seem not to consider that "real" work for some reason. Actually it's more work, but it's true, you get recycled hits, and the stuff is lower profile. Still, it's a boatload of fun to mix something like "Man in the Box" regardless! So, label me as you see fit...
