Best software for film scoring - Can I use Cubase?

[The Gooch]

Hi all,

I may be doing the soundtrack to a movie at my home studio.

What recording software allows you to play video so you can synch your music to what's on the screen? I'm currently running Cubase SX3 and was wondering if there was any way to do it in that environment, since it's the only recording software I'm familiar with.

All help/advice will be MUCH appreciated. Thanks!

[Recording David]

I think Nuendo is the member of the Steinberg 'family' for this job.

If you're on Mac Logic Pro does this, but for you I would say Nuendo would probably have the smaller learning curve.

[The Gooch]

I'm running a PC. Do you need hardware for Nuendo? Thanks!

[Recording David]

No.

[junior]

if you already have (and are comfortable with) cubase, it should work fine. whether you should spend $2000 on a copy of nuendo depends on what your needs are. the following is a comparison chart between cubase and nuendo:

http://www.planetmicro.com/Cubase_Nu...son_Chart1.pdf

good luck

[The Gooch]

junior wrote:

if you already have (and are comfortable with) cubase, it should work fine. whether you should spend $2000 on a copy of nuendo depends on what your needs are. the following is a comparison chart between cubase and nuendo:

http://www.planetmicro.com/Cubase_Nu...son_Chart1.pdf

good luck

My needs, specifically for this project, are to sync music to scenes from a film. I guess I have no choice but to shell out for a copy of Nuendo... Them's the breaks!

[Albert]

All you need is for the software to be able to put up a video window and run your tracks in sync with it. Cubase can't do that? What about Sonar, would that work?

[manning1]

gooch....
what i use will not display video in a window...youll need a video playback unit to do that (maybe rent one), but it does have smpte support....includeing offset.
24 frame, 25 frame,30 frame drop ,30 frame non drop plus other facilities.
it will also auto sync chase. its basically a full blown 48 track audio native recording software. for 50 buks it cant be beat. if you doubt me try the demo from pgmusic.com...and talk to other users on the pg forum.
you can also talk to pg support online...and ensure it meets your needs.
theres also a money back gurantee for 30 days which is time enough to see if it does what you wish. i dont have time to go into all aspects........because ive just bought a van today and awaiting a phone call. so gotta run..bye.

[Geert van den Berg]

If you're just composing the score, and not doing any post-production, you can stick to what you already know and have, use CUBASE SX!

As far as I know SX is also able to playback an AVI videofile. The difference between SX and Nuendo is that Nuendo has more advanced editting to timecode options and more surround mixing options and surround tools, but you won't need those to compose.

Just ask the director for an AVI videofile with burned in timecode, you'd probably have to look into the manual to see which filetypes and resolutions SX specifically supports, but most video-editors can make such a file.

Put the SMPTE counter at the exact framerate, the same as is burned into the picture, put the video at the exact location on the timeline, and you're ready to go. (Always advisable make sure you ask for the filmspeed and the timecode which is being used throughout the project, why? that's too much info than I can type now...)

[The Gooch]

Thank you for all your help, guys. It looks like I'll be able to do what I need to do in Cubase SX. I didn't realize it played AVI files. What a relief!

[MichaelT]

For what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Hans Zimmer uses Cubase

-Mike