Adobe Premiere not passing source timecode

[noiseboyuk]

I've searched the DUC, I've googled furiously, and myself and the editor have tried everything we can think of, and seemingly followed every possible lead. No matter what we do, Pro Tools does not pick up source timecode from a Premiere edit. We've tried - OMF, AAF, whole files, trimmed files, BWF, AIFF, imported via Adobe Audition - probably tried other things that I've since forgotten. PT just says that original time stamp is that from the Premiere timeline, not from the rushes.

Footage was shot on an Epic Red, Audio was BWFs recorded on Boom Recorder with good timecode and synced to picture. PT is HD 12.7.0. Very grateful for any clues, ideas etc.

They dubbed Gone Girl somehow, right?

[AndrewAction]

A long shot!
Export timeline from Premiere for BM's Resolve (free version available). Then export an AAF from Resolve for Pro Tools. I have not done it (No Premiere here) but have seen people posting in video forums about that route to get Premiere AV timelines to MC.
Good Luck!
Andrew

[JWalkerPostAudio]

Is the editor using Merged Clips? You'd know since the OMF/AAF clips would say "merged" in the name. Merged clips won't pass any metadata. The last Adobe project I worked on that used Merged Clips I had to convince the editor to rebuild their audio timeline so it could pass metadata through AAF.

Justin

[noiseboyuk]

Thanks very much you two. Andrew - is this a variation on the Adobe Audition method? We got some very good and detailed instructions about this method, but it still didn't work for us.

J Walker - I don't have anything that says merged clips in the file name, so I guess not, but will check with the editor later.

I'm beginning to wonder if something isn't wrong in Premiere itself, if source timecode got stripped somehow on import... fortunately this is all a test, so not a disaster if it ends up being something like this.

EDIT - remarkable timing, just spoke to the editor. J Walker - the editor has Resolve already, so will add that to the Things Of Things To Try. Source timecode is definitely on the Premiere timeline however, so it's not that....

[noiseboyuk]

Sadly Resolve hasn't resolved. Every single thing just has 00.00.00.xx timecodes, time of day conspicuous by its absence.

How can it be this hard?!

[conleec]

Merged clips won't say "merged" in the file names. It'll just appear that way on the timeline. I too had problems with getting audio from PP to PT. I was ultimately able to do it with AA Translate, as I recall, but I don't remember the exact workflow. I think you can test-drive it for a while, but it'll cost you to use for the job.

I think I exported an XML of the sequence, and then used AA Translate to convert that to an AAF for import to PT? I don't recall. Sorry.

Chris

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by conleec

Merged clips won't say "merged" in the file names. It'll just appear that way on the timeline. I too had problems with getting audio from PP to PT. I was ultimately able to do it with AA Translate, as I recall, but I don't remember the exact workflow. I think you can test-drive it for a while, but it'll cost you to use for the job.

I think I exported an XML of the sequence, and then used AA Translate to convert that to an AAF for import to PT? I don't recall. Sorry.

Chris

Thanks Chris, perhaps we should contact them to see if it might work. I see in their linked tutorial for converting from Premiere to Reaper, it says

Some audio files have a build-in Timecode that can cause trouble. To correct this, assure you that all of your audio files started from 0:00:00:00 in the project bay.

...which on the face of it is game over, since that's the precise thing we're trying to protect.

[noiseboyuk]

FWIW - we're abandoning the whole thing. Well, not the project, but trying to get a Premiere AAF/OMF to talk properly to Pro Tools - it just doesn't work, and there seems to be no reliable way of making it work. It's maddening, it's a pox on both Adobe and Avid's houses who are clearly only ever interested in using their own products to talk to their own products, but there it is.

So to plan B - EDLs. I have EdiLoad, so there's no reason on earth why we can't make this work (ha ha). We're doing some tests later today, will report back with findings.

[tom_lowe]

Originally Posted by noiseboyuk

FWIW - we're abandoning the whole thing. Well, not the project, but trying to get a Premiere AAF/OMF to talk properly to Pro Tools - it just doesn't work, and there seems to be no reliable way of making it work. It's maddening, it's a pox on both Adobe and Avid's houses who are clearly only ever interested in using their own products to talk to their own products, but there it is.

So to plan B - EDLs. I have EdiLoad, so there's no reason on earth why we can't make this work (ha ha). We're doing some tests later today, will report back with findings.

Weird, I did have issues with Premiere back in the CS6 days, but since CC it's been nothing but smooth sailing.

I could take a look at it for you, if you like?

[noiseboyuk]

Originally Posted by tom_lowe

Weird, I did have issues with Premiere back in the CS6 days, but since CC it's been nothing but smooth sailing.

I could take a look at it for you, if you like?

That's very kind - will send a PM.