Laying Back to Digibeta?

[HiRaX]

I might possibly be working on an upcoming video project where I will most likely have to lay back Audio to a digibeta deck. I have never done so before and am pretty new to mixing to picture. Our current rig only consists of a 192 i/o. We are a production company that mainly does music production in logic7 etc. Is it safe to say that an upgrade to a sync i/o and Digitranslater will be able to perform what we need to do to lock to a digibeta deck for layoff?
Am I on the right track here?
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
thanks

[Johnny2Laps]

Yes you are on the right track. But you need the machine control option along with the sync io. Digitranslator is for OMFs (wich you may need also). Some folks may tell you that machine control stinks with the sync io. That was true for several years, but has been fixed in 6.9.

[Syncman]

Actually, you could skip machine control and just sync to incoming LTC, no? Either way, yep, on the right track...

[trakbytes]

If you are doing music production with Logic, you probably have some kind of MIDI interface. If it's something like a Midi Timepiece AV (or other synchronizing device) you may have enough hardware already to do an occasional layback. Assuming you'll be renting the Digibeta, all you need to do is send reference video and timecode to the synchronizer and lock Pro Tools (or Logic) to incoming code. A sync I/O will give you a faster lock with possibly more accuracy, but if it's a one-time layback, you may get by without it.

You don't need Digitranslator unless you are exporting files to a video editor, or plan to get sessions from one. Machine control would only be necessary if you must place the Digibeta machine away from your work area. It works best if you have a control surface with some actual transport buttons to control the deck.

Bob

[HiRaX]

Basically what is going to happen is I will be importing OMFS from a video editors avid into pro tools. Mixing the Audio then printing back to the video on a digibeta machine. (I work in a post production facility and am right next to the machine room with all the digibeta machines, etc.)
I will most likely be doing this many times for multiple episodes.
Thanks for the feedback

[Chief Technician]

DigiTranslator for the OMFIs, a SYNC I/O for resolving to blackburst, and MachineControl for controlling the Digi Beta in the machine room. With that, you will be set.

[uno1234]

Hey everyone
Specific question about laying back to Digibeta, as I'm new to using one. I want to lay back JUST the audio... how do I ensure that when I hit record on the deck I don't record an empty video track over my existing video? Maybe this is really obvious, but I couldn't find it in the manual.

Thanks.

[JKD99]

You do an INSERT edit, and make sure that the Video button isn't lit, only the buttons for the audio tracks you want to record to.
Then you can layback your mix and not record over the video.

[MusicTrax]

Specific question about laying back to Digibeta, as I'm new to using one. I want to lay back JUST the audio... how do I ensure that when I hit record on the deck I don't record an empty video track over my existing video? Maybe this is really obvious, but I couldn't find it in the manual.

Note that you can do an insert on any of audio channels 1,2,3,4 plus an analog cue track (usually a mix of 1 or more digital channels), as well as the TC channel and the video channel. You will have to manually the tracks if your edit controller can't automatically turn on selected tracks.

My advice would be to insert on 1-4 plus the cue track, which is pretty typical for this type of session. Be sure to lay down a 2-pop before the program (typically at TC 00:59:58:00), and triple-check that it's in exact sync with the picture. Unlike many (if not most) other digital VTRs, Digibeta decks are very accurate when you jog back and forth to check audio sync.

Also, my opinion is that the analog ins on them aren't too swift, and the A/D design Sony used on these decks is about 10 years old. You'd be much better off going in via AES/EBU 48K. And have whoever is running the machine for you check the head error condition to make sure the tape and machine are OK; I believe this is in one of the diagnostics menu. (Note that I'm not a videotape op, but I do scream at them daily.)

--Marc W.

[Matt Chan]

if it's your first time with a deck and you are paranoid about overwriting picture (as you should be), then do a quick test and do an insert edit over bars and tones to make sure you're only inserting on the audio tracks and not the video.