DPE Punches Unreliable

[Andy Hay]

hey gang,

So I started using DPE tracks for my stems and PMs late last year upon the recommendation of another mixer (vs. the usual pre-roll, 10msec x-fade, destructive record, post-roll scenario which can sometimes lead to ticks and pops).

This past week during my Dolby PM session the director decided he actually really missed that distant dog barking during a scene. No problem, stand-by Dolby, open up the mix session for that reel, unmute the dog on one of my FX tracks, track arm the FX stem, punch in the dog bark. I hear it, I see the waveform update with little spikes that are clearly the dog. Un-arm the track, watch the Task Manager to confirm that PT has "finsihed closing a record file", close the session. Go back to my PM session which links to these same DPE stems and instruct Dolby we're going to punch in that dog-bark section - pre-roll, punch... NO DOG!! Zoom in on the FX stem - yup, I can see the dog in the waveform, solo the FX stem - no dog to be heard... weird...

Go back to the Reel 3 mix session, solo the FX stem in the session - no dog... scratches head... repeats above steps... this time the dog makes it into the FX stem. Now I'm getting nervous wondering if other punches I've made throughout the mix to my stems have actually made it into the stems... nightmare!!!

Has anyone else had any issues punching in to DPE tracks? I couldn't find any cs updates addressing the issue.

PT 7.4.2 HD Accel5 10.4.8

Thanks!

[lode]

DPE= Destructive Punch Edit? I've been considering changing to that too, but I was always afraid that I would get clicks in the file that I wouldn't notice.

WHen I manually splice the mix after recording I always listen to the "punch ins" afterwards and fix them. When I use DPE I don't really know where the punch in happened afterwards, so I can't double check that it is OK.

After your post I know I'll never use it.

[Andy Hay]

one of the advantages of DPE tracks is that punch-ins are seamless and free of any pops/ticks... this is why I adopted using them as a means to save time, however on that note on my system when disarming a punched track it can take around 5 minutes for PT to "close the file" and during that time all responses to key-commands are severely slow - you may have to hit spacebar 4-5 times before the system recognizes the command and begins playback... strangely enough if i hit play on the D-control there is no lag. Makes for a frustrating experience all-around... Perhaps it's best only to use DPE tracks on a dedicated stem-recorder system - curious what others are finding.

[Felix Rost]

Originally Posted by Andy Hay

PT 7.4.2 HD Accel5 10.4.8

OOPS!

you should not install 7.4.2 on Tiger, it's for Leopard 3/4.

7.4csX is right for you.

[Andy Hay]

oh my mistake.. it's 7.4. The LE system has 7.4.2. Nice catch tho!!

[sounddroid]

Most major mixing studios are now using Pro Tools recorders (to replace the MMR's we were using for years), but almost always on dedicated recorder machines. So it's safe, but with a caveat:

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but when Digi first released the Destructive Punch feature, the release notes specifically cautioned against using DP within a mix-in-the-box session. I've been bit by this exact same problem, and just fell back to my old technique of using Destructive Record (with a few seconds of preroll) when recording inside a mix-in-the-box session.

[Andy Hay]

Thanks Sounddroid.. I guess I should've RTFM instead of simply listening to my colleagues... :)

[funkcity]

We've been using it for 2 years now with 3 dedicated ProTools systems recording to the same SAN and its been excellent. No recording in the box on these mixing stages.

It took Digi a LONG time (10 years) to get "Tape Mode" right but now it just plain works!

[subwoof]

Originally Posted by sounddroid

Most major mixing studios are now using Pro Tools recorders (to replace the MMR's we were using for years), but almost always on dedicated recorder machines. So it's safe, but with a caveat:

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but when Digi first released the Destructive Punch feature, the release notes specifically cautioned against using DP within a mix-in-the-box session. I've been bit by this exact same problem, and just fell back to my old technique of using Destructive Record (with a few seconds of preroll) when recording inside a mix-in-the-box session.

Hey Soundroid, who are you? Do I know you? You are obviously at the Ranch, but seem a bit secretive about it!! Anyway, I appreciate your comments on the DUC.

Thanks

Mike