Boom!

Isolation, consider yourself thoroughly mixed. Before I start though, I'd like to give a quick shout out to my homies, the shortcut keys. They really are the best thing since sliced bread, in fact, I'm going to go ahead and list some of my favourite ones:

ctrl + c = copy

ctrl + v = paste

ctrl + x = cut

ctrl + z = delete/undo

ctrl + Shift + z = redo

ctrl + click = select multiple

ctrl + a = select all

ctrl + s = save

ctrl + d = duplicate clip

ctrl + Shift + s = save as

ctrl + Shift + n = new track
ctrl + f = fade in/fade out/crossfade

alt + mouse wheel = zoom

Shift + mouse wheel = horizontal scroll

alt + click (solo, mute, etc) = apply to all tracks

alt + click and drag (plugin) = copy plugin and settings

numpad 3 = quick record

Windows key + click and drag = scrub audio

That list is far from comprehensive, but those are the ones I believe everyone using Pro Tools should know, they really speed things up twofold, threefold, even. Could you imagine clicking mute on 20 tracks one by one? I've seen people do it, and it grinds my gears. Sorry, I won't rant!

Anyway, on to the actual editing process. My first priorities were naming tracks, and deleting the doubled up audio from Final Cut Pro, making sure my work space was as simple as possible. I then moved on to more complex and specific tasks. I set the grid to frames, which is handy for doing things like syncing a jump cut with the picture, but it's also useful to have a grid so things like automation can be matched between tracks exactly.

Here, you can see how I've faded between the yellow and green tracks at the top using a standard equal power fade, as it is much less noticeable than the equal gain variety, and is completely seamless if done right. Some clips require much larger fades, so using the checkerboard method is preferred, to allow you to quickly experiment and find the correct fade length, and giving you more control over what sounds get cut out.

In this picture I am beginning the process of EQing out an unwanted frequency, in this case a refrigerator hum was in the background. I would begin by combing through frequencies with a 1 band EQ to find the offending frequency. If the frequency was prevalent over multiple harmonics, I would put a 7 band EQ on, and figure out the lowest of the offending frequencies, or "fundamental frequency", then cut out all integers of that frequency to completely remove the unwanted sound. I find intricate work like this is greatly aided by headphones.

Once I had all audio fixes done, as well as the little bits of Foley work that were needed, and the sound effects, like the gunshot (which I downloaded, along with some others, royalty free, from here), I was ready to move on to the final mix.

First, I turned the master down so that nothing was peaking, and there was plenty of head room. Then I simply listened back, watching the levels, setting things that should be at the same level to match, boosting anything that should stand out. I then panned everything that needed to be panned according to its position on screen. It's quite an intuitive process, and should definitely be done on speakers. It's also good practice to listen through with eyes closed and correct anything that sounds out of place. After this I boosted the master so that the loudest sounds were at an acceptable level, and bounced it out.

I have no doubt that Shane and James will want me to change a few little bits and pieces, but, I'm really happy with it. I got it done just in time and with no lapse in quality.

The time has come, now, MIX!

Just thought I'd give a quick update, I've finally got my hands on an OMF with synced sound for Isolation, after spending the past couple of days syncing and doing some very basic mixing in Final Cut Pro. It took the guys a long time to get to a point where they're happy with picture lock and won't be changing anything. Brilliant, I can finally get to work! James has also got some royalty free music that he really likes, so they don't need me to compose a score, though I said I might elaborate on the short pieces of music with something similar if I have enough time over the weekend.

Here's a picture of the session, with files freshly imported from the OMF. The movie file is a very compressed .avi, I did this for a number of reasons: I don't need a high quality video to mix sound, it saves space, but most importantly, it leaves more computer resources for Pro Tools to run smoothly without any delays. You'll notice how I've 'checkerboarded' the audio clips (in FCP). This is to make it easier to create smooth transitions and fades between clips, which can be further helped by increasing the handle length when exporting the files from FCP. You'll also notice how every clip has a duplicate underneath, this is due to the way Final Cut handles mono, I'll be deleting the duplicate tracks. One final note is the stream of green and red clips at the top. These are the camera audio files that I left in because I knew there was a few scenes towards the end where they were actually really clear.

Here, I've created some new stereo tracks, and bussed the highlighted clips to the 'Music' track, which is set to record its input. The reason for this was to collapse the layered music clips into a single stereo clip, and avoid having to create multiple music tracks for a short piece of music. It's just streamlining the workflow really, but when tracks become too jumbled up, it can be a nightmare.