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Fairlight Tips & Tricks #9 |
Getting
Familiar with
Version 15 Software
by Andy Somers
Hello again, and welcome to another collection of Fairlight tips. Now that we're all past that Y2K thingy, and no planes have dropped from the skies, we can all breathe a sigh of relief...unless of course, you're using Fairlight version 14 software! Yes, sad as it may seem, there's a minor bug in version 14 such that after Jan. 1, 2000, some dates may be displayed improperly. Note that your project is in no jeopardy whatsoever. Only the backup and modify dates may appear incorrect. This, and a number of other longstanding bugs, are all fixed in version 15, so if you haven't done so already, now would be a good time to upgrade!
Version 15 has a number of new features and I'll cover some of them (as well as some new caveats) in this article.
Filing for Dollars-The New File Manager
One of the first things you'll notice about the new software is that the manner in which you access files and move from drive to drive is totally different. The first thing you'll probably want to do is open a project. Under the PROJ menu, you look for the OPEN softkey, but where has it gone? It's history! Now, to open a project, just select it in the project list by rotating the jog wheel as before, then press ENTER. Another feature that's been added to the new PROJ menu includes the ability to use folders to help organize your projects, WAV files, Macros, and the like. You'll also find that you can now rename projects without having to have them open, and you can use more characters in the project's name.
One of the most important advances in version 15 is the ability to network all your Fairlights together. To do so, though, required reworking the files display from the very simple old method to a somewhat more complex one. You'll probably find this a bit clumsy at first (Fairlight has told me that they are working on improvements), but it was necessary to allow for the greater flexibility of an audio network.
Among the more complicated aspects of file management is the backup menu. You now must select the destination every time you backup. To backup to Exabyte, for example, you must first select the tape drive-- and there must be a tape in the drive before you can select it.
One other point worth noting: there is now a "COPY" command in both the PROJ and BKUP menus. Warning! These copy commands do not alter the project's UFN number as they did in the past! This means that if you use COPY, you can end up with more than one project with the same UFN on the system at the same time and this can play havoc if you have other projects that borrow from the projects with the duplicate UFN numbers. The only current method to make a truly unique copy of a project is to EXTEND then KEEP BORROWED. (I've issued a complaint to Fairlight regarding this issue - I'll keep you informed of any changes).
Finally-- and I've saved the best for last-the backup menu has a new feature that may not be immediately obvious: background backups! Yes, you can now start a backup on your system and continue working on another project. No more waiting for a lengthy backup to finish before you can get to work. It shouldn't slow down your work much, either, as the backup automatically pauses when you jog around or play your project. I don't recommend using background backup if you're doing substantial recording into a project, such as on a dub stage, but for general editorial work it seems to be fine.
Home, Home on the Range
Among the new features are a number of improvements in the way that ranges are handled. Most important, it's now possible to recall your last range in any of the menus that allow ranges. For example, let's say you're in the edit menu. You've just set a range, but you'll lose it when you press the EDIT key again, (or when you press LEVEL, FADE, NUDGE and so on). You can now recall the state of that range by simply pressing the EDIT (or LEVEL, FADE or NUDGE) again. Viola! The range is back just where it was.
Keep in mind that this new feature may cause problems with some of your macros. In fact, I don't use this feature because I find it cumbersome and because of it's incompatibility with macros. You can turn the feature on and off. To do so, go to the MFX key and select RANGE AUTO. This makes the ranges behave the way they did on the old software. RANGE MANUAL is the new "improved" method.
Another neat new range feature is NEXT GAP. This will begin a range exactly at the first clip of a group of clips (or end it at the last clip of a group of clips) on the selected track (see figure below). To use it, first place the playhead on a clip or sequence of connected clips. Next hold down the FROM key and press the NEXT GAP softkey. Then press the TO key and again the NEXT GAP softkey and presto, the entire group of clips is selected. This makes a great macro, or addition to another macro that needs a specific selection, such as a "name range" or "bounce" macro.
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Follow that Solo...
One of my favorite new features is following solo. You'll find it under the SOLO menu, labeled "FOLLOW". When you turn it on, it automatically solos the tracks you've selected for editing. As an example, let's say you're cutting ADR and you have takes one, two and three on tracks one, two and three, respectively. While you are working on take one, you'll have only track one selected in edit mode. With following solo on, you only hear track one, and the other takes will automatically be muted. When you move onto take two, track one will automatically be muted, and the solo will follow down to track two, so that you can hear take two by itself without having to go back to the solo menu.
Is it Live...Or is it Tape Mode...
TAPE mode is a new feature that allows for destructive recording in a manner similar to a traditional analog recorder. It's of more interest to recordists than editors but everyone should be aware of it. You can punch in and out over existing material and that material will be overwritten. Also, tape mode will automatically extend the length of a clip as you record past it's tail. But all of this is predicated on the idea that none of the clips you're recording over have been edited, meaning that there are no cuts. The Fairlight will automatically drop out of record when it encounters a cut.
That would be fine, except that it often is necessary to edit the material that comes from the dub stage-- conforming predubs and stems to follow picture changes, for example-- and that produces edits in the recorded material. That spells trouble with a capital T if you want to go back in and remix those projects in TAPE mode. The answer here is just say no! Once a project has been edited, TAPE mode is a no-no. From that point onward, NEW mode should be used just like it was prior to TAPE mode's introduction.
The disadvantage of NEW mode, of course, is that you add new media each time you go into record, so you'll still need to do the occasional "COMMIT-DISPOSE" on the project or you'll run out of hard drive space right quick!. The beauty of TAPE mode is that no new media is added when you punch in over existing material. I am working on a fix for this problem, but I've yet to test it, so stay tuned for further developments.
That's all for now. Happy cutting!
In addition to picture and sound editing, Andrew M. Somers
provides training and consultation on the Fairlight MFX series
of workstations for union editors and signatory facilities.
As always, if you have questions you'd like him to address
in this column send him an email.
Reprinted from
The Motion Picture Editors Guild Newsletter
Vol. 21, No. 1 - Jan/Feb 2000
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