Radio Spot Workflow in Vegas 5.0

Former user wrote on 12/13/2004, 11:21 AM
All,

Been a Vegas user for a few years now and shockingly - I just now am finally exploring the use of the product for my voiceover business. Up to this point - my VO workflow has been very "old school"...see - I come from the days when analog tape needed to be spliced and hacked - so to get up to speed fast - I adopted the same sort of hacker workflow within the digital realm.

Let's say I have 4 spots to voice - Currently I record all the scripts in one pass into WaveLab...save the session as one big file and then simply highlight and drag each rough spot from this file onto the Wavelab workspace - effectively creating a new file that I can hack and splice however I want. I have gotten very good at this but it can be very tedious since deletes are permanent...I cannot move events around...cannot slip-edit...all kinds of good things that can be done in Vegas

So - can anyone offer some insight or tips into their VO editing workflow? I have started messing around but I am finding it to be a VERY different world moving events around in Vegas vs working with one single file and trimming/cutting it until it's just right.

Here's what I do so far:

1. Record all scripts to a single mono track in Vegas.
2. Open the resulting large session file in the Trimmer.
3. Identify the "keeper" bits of each spot within the Trimmer and highlight/drag these bits to the project timeline (new track).
4. LIne up/split/slip-edit these event bits together to form the final spot.
5. Do the same with any other spots
5. Create a region for each assembled spot
6. Use a script to render the finished spots to MP3 for transport.

Sound reasonable? Anything I am missing. Anything I could do to further speed up the process?

Also - regarding region creation (AKA: Time Selection) in the Project timeline - is there a key command or trick to creating very precise regions? I know about the "double click on a single event to create a time selection" but how can I quickly make a very precise time selection from a sequence that contains - say 5 small keeper events strung together to form the final spot? There is no "glue" command to take these 5 bits and create one big event. I know I can simply drag over the ruler to create a time selection that will encompass the 5 little event bits but this is never really precise...any thoughts on this?

I appreciate the insight.

Cheers,

VP

Comments

Former user wrote on 12/14/2004, 4:28 AM
Bumpola
ibliss wrote on 12/14/2004, 7:47 AM
As to your last point, I would

double click on the first of the 5 events,
hit 'r' to turn the selection into a region over that event,

Double click on the last event,
drag the end region marker you just created until it snaps to the out point of the new selection.


You can also use keyboard shortcuts like Ctrl+Alt + left/right arrow for jumping the cursor to edit points, which might be useful. And holding down shift while doing this creates a selection as you go. Just be careful because it jumps to both event edges and event fade edges, so it can be easy to think you're at the end of event when really you've snaped to the edge of the fade on the event.
DouglasClark wrote on 12/14/2004, 8:40 AM
Re your point 4,5: editing the spots, be sure to learn the numeric keypad shortcuts for trimming the edges of your events (see Help, Keyboard shortcuts, event selection and editing)

Num-7 Enter edge-trimming mode and select event start; move to PREVIOUS event edge. In this mode, 1, 3, 4, and 6 on the numeric keypad trim the selected event edge

Num-9 Enter edge-trimming mode and select event end; move to NEXT event edge

F3/F9 Trim left/right (when in edge-trimming mode)

Num-5 Exit edge-trimming mode

Num-1/3 Move or trim selected events one frame left/right

There are also Alt- and Ctrl+Alt- combinations for mouse drags to slip, slip trim, slide and trim-adjacent event edges.

And be wary of using auto-ripple when trimming edges. It can really create a mess of things.
Rednroll wrote on 12/14/2004, 7:57 PM
Well, when I first started using Vegas 1.0, it was at a time where the majority of the work I was doing was Voice over commercial production and was familiar with doing this type of work on a Neve audiofile digital editor. I'ld like to think I suggested quite a few features since v1.0 based off of the audiofile to improve Vegas's VO workflow. Your workflow is good, but here's a suggestion that might improve it a bit.

I also record all takes onto a single track therefore Vegas will automatically number them for you as according to the take number and place them in the media pool. When I'm done with the record I will then mute the record track. Goto OPTIONS>PREFERENCES>GENERAL. Enable the option "double click on media file loads into trimmer instead of tracks". Now to audition individual takes goto the media pool. You can play the individual takes from the media pool by playing it in the media pool. Now when you get those requests to take the word "And" from take 12, and the word "When" from take 13, you double click on take12 from within the media pool, and it loads into the trimmer window. Select the word "And" in the trimmer window and drag it into the composit track you are editing.....wash>rinse>repeat.

This will save you a lot of fime in being able to quickly A/B and audition takes for the client instead of spending a lot of time scrolling through the trimmer window trying to find a take in a large session file.
Former user wrote on 12/15/2004, 5:10 AM
Red,

Great tip! However - When I am like 12 feet away in my voicing area and Vegas is working away in Record mode - what's the recipe for effective take management? I mean - I just keep on going....my VO is almost always a comp of paragraphs and phrases (the occasional complete one-taker does pop thru)...but if I make a gaff...I just re-read the line, phrase, word right after the gaff and move on to the next spot...while one single big ole track captures it all....

I like the "take" analogy but what's the best way to set this up so I can ensure that Vegas is not "rewinding" and starting a fresh take while I am correcting a word or phrase...don't really wanna move the mics in front of the mix position..etc etc...

Update when you can.

VP
Rednroll wrote on 12/15/2004, 6:50 AM
Sorry, I didn't realize that you where both the engineer and the talent in my workflow suggestion. I guess another possibility could be to use a wireless keyboard and bring that into your recording booth or wherever you are 12 feet away from Vegas. Then you just use the keyboard shortcuts and hit "cntrl+R" for record and "enter" for pause. Using the pause button instead of stop will keep Vegas from rewinding, so you just alter between Record and Pause for each take. This will allow you to add a slate prior to your take, which will remind you of why you're doing that take. Something like hit record...."Take 3, alternate inflection of last paragraph"...read last paragraph of script.....hit pause....Press Record (ie cntrl+R) "Take 4 tag line sped up, three in a row"....Read tag 3 times in a row....Pause, (ie enter key". This is a pretty common workflow in Voice over studios to slate each take, to give some kind of indication of what the take was for. You could even Rewind and Play to listen to your takes with a set of headphones without ever having to jump and forth between your PC and the microphone.
Former user wrote on 12/15/2004, 7:04 AM
Awesome ideas. The wireless keyboard is definitely a cool idea.

Red - can you comment at all on the keyboard shortcut I am trying to figure out from the original thread. How can I very precisely create a time selection (and then of course a named Region) of a 5 or 6 event comped take on a single mono track?

I was hoping there was some way of easily highlighting these for region creation without having to draw them manually by dragging on the Ruler. If I could at least draw the time selection and have it snap to an event edge - that would be awesome...but I don't see that happening right now (unless I am missing something there too?)

Update when you can,

VP
boomhower wrote on 12/15/2004, 2:40 PM
Vocal:

I'm with you...last time I did VO work in radio it was reel to reel and ended up on a cart(some of the bed music even came from vinyl!)

Anyway, I'm doing some more VO now (long story) and I'm new to VV as well. My immediate issue is choosing a solid audio interface. I've done some informal polling and have some ideas but would be interested in what you are using etc...

Thanks in advance....
Keith
Former user wrote on 12/15/2004, 4:29 PM
Boom: I have had the opportunity to work with (and sample) most of the big players...RME, Lynx, M-Audio, Echo etc.

For pure value for the dollar - I chose the M-Audio Delta 1010 in the end. Others will claim they can hear the difference between this and a much more expensive card and the drivers are this and that but for what I do - at the level I am working at...this piece is truly the "rock" of my room.

It just works day in, day out and I do a TON of different stuff for numerous clients. I have been pondering an upgrade to maybe a Lynx at some point...but man - that is some serious coin. For doing VO and spots - I am not sure that anyone in mainstream radio will care if I have a $1500.00 interface or a $150.00 interface - it's the end product that matters. And I have really been cranking out some deadly stuff with the Delta.

Which ones are you looking seriously at?

Update when you can.

Cheers,

VP
boomhower wrote on 12/15/2004, 7:33 PM
Vocal:

I've looked seriously at the M-Audio 1010LT and the 2496...I also like the Echo Gina/Layla 3Gs.

I'm leaning toward a more portable solution in the Firewire 410 and Solo type interafaces. I like the option of taking it on the road with the laptop or putting it on the desktop at home. Everything is pretty much in one box (preamps etc). There are several USB options but I've been steered away from them for the most part. I do think, however, that voice only would probably work fine with a USB interface. I think folks who are running multiple tracks are the ones having issues with USB. Could be wrong on that....I'll be doing VO/spots along with some VO video work.

I just rcvd VV5 and Acid today....WOW....I've gone from flying a crop duster to an F-117A in the blink of an eye!

Thanks for the reply....any future advice/recc will be met with much appreciation.


Former user wrote on 12/16/2004, 5:09 AM
Boom:

No problem. Good luck wih the hardware choice. Report back on how the rig is working when you get things cookin!

Cheers,

VP
Rednroll wrote on 12/16/2004, 9:30 AM
"How can I very precisely create a time selection (and then of course a named Region) of a 5 or 6 event comped take on a single mono track?"

I don't know this off the top of my head. I'm sure it's possible. Don't be afraid to goto the Help menu in Vegas and look under the keyboard shortcuts listing. I found it's a good idea to print this up and set it next to you when working for a quick reference. Also if you goto OPTIONS>PREFERENCES>KEYBOARD. You can define your own keyboard shortcuts for most every action and button in Vegas.

Oh and don't forge there are wireless mice.

Also if you're in a seperate room it might be nice to get a video card which has a standard composit video output, where you could route this to a small LCD monitor in your recording both, therefore giving you a editing monitor that isn't 12 feet away. Make sure it's a LCD monitor, because CRT monitors will mess with the performance of the microphone due to the electrical fields they generate.