Field recorder functionality issues

[Olle2]

Hi
Im trying to sync Field recorder sound to a guide track from an AAF from Premiere.
I have two problems!

1. I have put the Field recorder audio in a folder with daily subfolders.
Even if I set the search path "the areas to search", just to the specific daily folder where the actual audio files resides, Pro Tools creates new tracks with clips that resides in other daily folders and finds clips that are in the "audio files" folder as well resulting in a huge amount of tracks.
Even if I try to narrow the results down by setting stricter rules for finding correct files, PT keeps searching in other folders. Anyone any idea?

2. After expanding channels to new tracks, the undo function doesn't remove the new channels. I have to revert session to last save. This worked earlier in PT 2018.4… any idea?

[noiseboyuk]

Welcome to the wonderful world of Field Recorder. After about a year long case with Support a few years ago, I was told that conforming all the matching files already in the session, every single time, without an option to NOT do this, is "by design" when matching by Timecode. The support worker was kind enough to agree with me that this was nuts, but said essentially "don't hold your breath for any change". I haven't held my breath, and there has been no change.

It comes to this - when using Match by Timecode, PT will ALWAYS create duplicates of every clip already in your session on new tracks, and there's nothing you can do about it. My guess is that when you are seeing things from other folders, this is because they already got imported into the clips bin in an earlier version of the process. This really only works practically when you have a small number of shooting days, the less the better.

If for some reason you cannot match by other metadata too (not uncommon for me either) you could follow my own workaround. It may look convoluted - and it sort of is - but believe me it has saved me many days over the years as the alternative is an absolute rats nest that is near-impossible to unpick.

First job - using consolidate, create a blank WAV file in a blank session that covers the complete range of timecode you are ever likely to conform. 24hrs is safest, but if your shooting days are always between, say 10.00 and 18.00 then you can just restrict it to that. Name this file "aaaaaa_blank", and then copy it to a folder with nothing else in it.

Next, revert to the session that you need to conform, and highlight all the clips you need to conform on one single shooting day. Point Field Recorder at your new folder with the blank WAV in it, and Match By Timecode (I also uncheck "copy files on import" in Settings for this). You might get anything from 2-200 new tracks depending on the project and how messy it is. The only one you are interested in is the top one, which will be full of "aaaaa_blank" clips. Name this track Silent Conform. All the rest are junk and can be safely deleted.

Now start a new blank project, and import just that one track (I set to "link to media where possible" to avoid cluttering up with lots of otherwise useless blank media). NOW you can conform this with your chosen folder location - the reason for jumping through these hoops is that now you should have a neat and tidy conformed block with tracks in a logical order, not a timeline of vomit with clips pebbledashed everywhere. At the top are two tracks of a blank wavs - with which you are now done - and below, all the actual tracks you need to conform. Save the project, and import these new tracks into your original session.

Like I say, it does appear convoluted, but I've yet to figure out a more elegant way when you have no other metadata to play with. Whenever I do this I'm only ever looking at 2 different shooting days tops in easily identifiable blocks, and you need a new blank project for each. If you have 50 shooting days and the media all over the place in the edit, you're gonna need a bigger boat - it's time to buy Ediload and get hold of some EDLs from the edit.

Of course, Avid could just change the insane, pointless, irritating, time-sapping behaviour of how Match By Timecode works, but that would require Avid to not be Avid.

[Olle2]

Many thanks.
Yeah Looks like you need to do it the long and winding way. Can't see why they can't include an option, "do not search in these locations". Looks like an easy thing to do…
I'll mail support about this but as you say this might take a long time before it's done.

Best regards
Olle

[noiseboyuk]

Grateful to you (or anyone) who requests this. I find it very difficult to believe this isn't a trivial coding job, but I know that's probably ignorance on my part. Just give us the option to NOT include everything already in the session... how hard can that be?