S6 pec/dir workflow for Atmos single system

[lucienpalmer]

I'm currently running a 'single system' for mixing (2019 MacPro) into a Dell HT-RMU for Atmos mixing. (128ch MADI)

I would love to reconfigure my session to include record stems internally (like having a separate recorder on larger stages) so I can still use the PEC/DIR workflow of my S6 Post Module.

As a side bonus, not having to record master directly into the RMU would be nice, since I'll have the record tracks in my PT session and can export ADM files from that.

But after tying to set this up today, I'm running into a problem where the object tracks in green mode, won't let me put a record track into 'red mode' to capture the panning info.

Anyone else have a workflow that is working?

[its2loud]

Why do you need to re-record the objects? They’re already in your session and being panned. The beds are fine being re-recorded as long as they stay in sync with your session and the bed print stems are assigned to the appropriate bed outputs. But even then. You don’t really need to do any re-recording of beds or objects. Just do an offline bounce of the ADM file and import that into a new session and you’ll have everything you need right there.

The sole purpose of a dubber workflow is when working with DX/MX machine and FX machine both sending to a dubber. If you’re only on one system for it all, everything is contained in your session.

[lucienpalmer]

Interesting, I didn't even thing to try that. So you are saying I could just do an ADM bounce without having to record the individual tracks first? I guess I didn't consider that since we can't typically bounce mixes in a cascade-style traditional mix. I'll try that in the morning. I'll probably have to still record the beds as stems first.

[lucienpalmer]

...although that still doesn't let me use a PEC/Dir workflow for punching changes. It's good to have fixed print masters to reference, and be able to compare changes with clients. I'd still like to find a solution to doing this with Atmos in a single system, like a 7.1 or 5.1 mix.

That dubbing workflow isn't only useful in a multiple machine situation.

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by lucienpalmer

...although that still doesn't let me use a PEC/Dir workflow for punching changes. It's good to have fixed print masters to reference, and be able to compare changes with clients. I'd still like to find a solution to doing this with Atmos in a single system, like a 7.1 or 5.1 mix.

That dubbing workflow isn't only useful in a multiple machine situation.

True, I used to do a pec/dir style stem workflow on a single system for 5.1 but moved away from it since offline bounce provides a viable solution and is generally quick enough. But it is nice for making quick changes to stems.

I’d have to play around with re-recording objects back into the same system. Off the top of my head it seems to me that you could route the object tracks down some madi or Dante channels that then come back into your system via DADMan or other routing Matrix (such as Dante Controller) Assign some record tracks in your session to those return channels and put those tracks in rec mode. Then send those object record tracks to the Renderer. Seems awfully complicated just to use PecDir style workflow though and you’d need enough IO to accomplish this. But I think I’m missing some part of this equation.

You could also bounce your ADM file in Pro Tools and then load that as a Master File in the RMU and do playback from the RMU when needing to compare. Switch from Master to Input. You could also punch into that file if you wanted to but you’d first have to convert it to an .Atmos file. That you can do with the Dolby Atmos Conversion Tool.

[lucienpalmer]

After 2 days days of testing, I can conclude that it is not possible to set up a PEC/DIR recorder workflow using a single PT machine.

Two things can't happen in a single machine setup.....

1. An audio track assigned to an object, automatically gets output to the out assigned to that object in the I/O page. You can't choose it to output internally. You could set up a Send to bus to the input of an internal record track and get the audio that way, so technically you could work around that, BUT...

2. It's impossible to have two tracks assigned to the same object both in either green mode or red mode. Only one track is allowed to have either mode activated.

So that's that. #2 is a brick wall. No go.

But I have been playing around with the ADM bounce feature, and its pretty fast and good. At least with that, I can avoid the painful process of recording a master to the RMU.

So the paddle of the Post Module go unused (unless Dolby add Eucon support for the mastering suite), but no big deal. Maybe I'll just assign VCA's to the strips and use it for solo/mutes.

[Gregor B.]

@lucienpalmer,

I'm using pec/dir for all kinds of setups inkl. singleplayer PT. In your case, the external RMU acts as a recorder and you will need to treat is as such, so the pec/dir switching can only happen there. Unfortunately both hardware RMUs (Dolby or third-party) as well as the Dolby software standalone renderer don't support Eucon yet, which is why your pec/dir module is currently useless.

However, I did find a way to make recording and Pec/dir monitoring a bit more manageable, by adding 'Key' softkeys to my transport section on S6. Cant remember the exact renderer shortcuts, but you should find them in the user guide. I set up my transport section like this:
S6 Button 'R Mode': Key 'Cmd + Tab' (This changes your system window from PT to the RMU interface, if it's the last application you had opened)
S6 Button 'Rec': <insert short cut for renderer 'rec' here>
S6 Button 'Loop': <insert shortcut for renderer 'input/master' toggle>

Now you can treat your RMU like a recorder and present both pec and dir versions to clients with key tap from S6, only works with printmaster monitoring of course, no stems.

Best
Gregor

[lucienpalmer]

That's a cool technique. Thanks for sharing!

I think using 'Cmd + Tab' would get me into trouble. I have to many other windows/apps running.

[its2loud]

Originally Posted by lucienpalmer

That's a cool technique. Thanks for sharing!

I think using 'Cmd + Tab' would get me into trouble. I have to many other windows/apps running.

Lucien,

This could work smoothly with something like Keyboard Maestro, if you have it, without interfering with your existing windows. Let me know if you’d like to investigate further.

[lucienpalmer]

Originally Posted by its2loud

Lucien,

This could work smoothly with something like Keyboard Maestro, if you have it, without interfering with your existing windows. Let me know if you’d like to investigate further.

Actually I had a similar workflow set up with Soundflow.

To be honest, the ADM Bounce workflow inside Pro Tools makes it so I'm not using the RMU to record masters anymore. It's become an unnecessary extra step. Since Delivery is an ADM BWAV, we're just going direct from the PT session to the ADM.