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I’m on a Friday evening flight from JFK to LAX, flying in for an Editors Guild board meeting. My current job is supervising sound editor on Sex and the City, and like most episodic television, the show keeps its crew working under a tight schedule. Although it is only thirty minutes, most episodes have the same number of scenes as the average sixty-minute show and require the same amount of time to edit and mix. I decide to catch up on some work, so I take out my PowerBook, open up Pro Tools and start preparing sound effects for the next episode. After a while the woman sitting next to me becomes curious and asks what I am doing. I explain and get a surprised reaction from her: “You can do that on a laptop?” Pro Tools LE, the Mbox and DV Toolkit Until very recently this kind of work could not be done on a laptop. Pro Tools TDM, the high-end version of the application, requires extensive hardware, including a CPU, two monitors, I/O interfaces, sync peripherals, a pre-amp, a mixer, external storage drives and loading decks. This all adds up to a very bulky package. It can barely be moved across the hall, let alone taken on a cross-country flight.
But the rapid development of the DV camera market has inspired a new generation of low-end audio and video products. Pro Tools LE (Light Edition) was Digidesign’s entry into this market and was first released along with Pro Tools 5.0 in November 1999. Aimed at the amateur user, it differed significantly from a Pro Tools TDM system. It was designed to be “host-based,” meaning that it ran directly from the computer’s CPU without any extra hardware for digital signal processing (DSP); as a result, it absorbed virtually all of the CPU’s horsepower. It also lacked many of the advanced editing and MIDI tools found in TDM. It could not lock up to timecode, or show timecode or feet and frames in the timeline. Also, LE was initially bundled with the Digi 001, a digital interface that required a PCI card installed in the computer; this meant that it could not run on a laptop.
In February 2002, the Digidesign Mbox made its debut. Similar in concept to the new Avid Mojo, the Mbox is a small breakout box with a two-I/O digital interface, a built-in pre-amp and two mic/line inputs with trim pots. It runs off a USB port, requires no additional power and can be used with a laptop because it eliminates the need for additional cards inside the computer itself. It comes bundled with the Pro Tools LE software and lists for $450. Pro Tools LE 6, released in February 2003, addressed many shortcomings of version 5 by adding most of the editing tools and MIDI functions found in TDM. It runs natively in Mac OS X and can utilize 120 virtual tracks and 32 voices. Then in July, LE 6.1 added expanded browser windows with “metadata display,” improved file format interchange, scroll-wheel navigation and 32 levels of undo. Installing it into one of the newer computers, which have greatly increased horsepower and bandwidth, makes the lack of extra DSP hardware a much smaller problem. The release of the DV Toolkit package in July 2003 has made Pro Tools LE even more professional. A software bundle that works within LE 6.1, it allows the use of timecode and feet and frames in the timeline. It also adds VocALign, DigiTranslator, and the DINR broadband noise reduction plug-in. The pulldown function can now be enabled, although it requires an external sync box to drive the word clock properly. DV Toolkit currently has a list price of around $800, and must be purchased in addition to the Mbox.
Although Digidesign envisioned LE for amateur use, many professionals have discovered that it works well as a supplement to their TDM systems, and they have placed Mbox systems on their laptops. On Sex and the City, I spend a large part of the week at the mixing stage. In episodic television, a sound editor must edit while simultaneously mixing the next show, due to pressing delivery dates. Since sessions can be traded between TDM and LE without problems, I have found it convenient to copy work into the laptop and take it along with me. I can then set up at the rear of the mix stage and work on an upcoming show while still covering the mix for the current one. There are still many important tasks that LE cannot perform. Because it has only a two-I/O interface, it cannot be used for multi-track functions such as loading or output beyond two tracks at a time. Its track and voice limitations make it difficult to use in complicated effects sequences. It cannot receive black burst. It cannot lock up to timecode, rendering it useless for flying in fixes on the mixing stage.
Changes at Work Even with these limitations, LE is perfectly capable of performing basic sound editing functions. It can be very useful in a mixed environment or as a complement to an existing TDM system. But more importantly, it points at the kinds of systems we will use in the future. LE is far more powerful today than it was even a year ago, and it will continue to grow ever more capable. As these lower-cost, portable systems become increasingly common, they will inevitably have a dramatic effect on the post production industry, and on the way we all work.
A desktop LE system, with a second monitor for video playback, can be put together for around $4,000, about a quarter of the cost of a TDM. Digidesign claims to have no concern that LE sales will eat into their more lucrative TDM sales, pointing out that during the three years LE has been available, it has only enhanced the value of their other products. But that was before the DV Toolkit upgrade, the sales impact of which remains to be seen. Audio service companies will also face new economic competition. They are used to renting workstations for $1,000 or more a week. If producers begin to ask for LE systems instead of TDM, they will see a reduction in rental income. Most producers hardly understand the differences between the two, but they are aware that a cheaper Pro Tools system is now available. Post companies at the low and middle range of the market, especially those doing non-union work, have already begun to feel the pinch from a growing list of competitors who can quickly set up shop with inexpensive equipment. These systems will also have a major impact on how and where Guild members work. Since an Mbox and DV Toolkit can be added to an already existing home computer for around $1,250, some sound editors have bought workstations and are working out of their homes. Traditionally, sound editors have worked together as a team, with each editor doing a different part of the job — sound effects, dialogue, ADR, music, foley. For the parts to add up to a cohesive whole, we need continuous communication. Many supervising sound editors view working at home as destructive to the craft and strongly discourage it. J. Paul Hunts-man, an Editors Guild board member and supervising sound editor at Warner Bros, describes this as a “personnel disconnect” and considers the ability of his team to regularly sit down with each other and discuss each other’s work essential to the job. I also prefer that my crew work together in the same space. On a show like Sex and the City, challenges can arise at a moment’s notice. These are best resolved face to face, not by telephone or e-mail. However, many people are insisting on greater control of their personal lives, and they see working at home as a way to achieve this. Some want improved comfort and convenience. Others, who do multiple projects simultaneously and often work very long days, are happy to put the time they once spent traveling to better use. Still others want to work at home so they can simultaneously watch over their families. I know a number of sound editors who do this regularly, and who have worked on some of the biggest feature films recently released. In a way, I admire these people. They can do this work, which requires so much concentration, even with the distractions of home life around them. Unfortunately, working at home can make it difficult to be correctly credited for hours worked under the Editors Guild contract. Overtime is certain to be questioned if a post production supervisor can’t observe it. To get more work done in less time, producers already pressure many sound and picture editors to put in extra time on their own, without payment or credit. Editors who work at home may find themselves forced into this kind of position even more often because they do not regularly report to work at a certain time and leave at a certain time. Clearly, we are in a period of transition. As technology continues to develop, offering us greater power and capability for less money, we will find ourselves with a wider range of choices in the way we work, and on the kinds of systems we use for work. Although what we can do on laptops is still limited, the agreements that we make with producers now will set important precedents for what we will and won’t do in the future. It is all too easy to copy work onto a laptop so that we can do it at home, or on a plane, or at a park, or a beach. It is even a little seductive, though I suspect the novelty of it will wear off before long. But if you work at home or while traveling, you must be able to account for your time, and be properly credited for it. In my case, I make certain that I bill the company for any extra time I put in, including those hours spent working on airplanes. |
