processing Audiosuite keeping handle?

[Travis_BCN]

Hi everyone, my first post here...

i'm working in a weekly tv-program and every week i try to speed up the workflow, but after 5 months I still have to work untill 3am to finish the mix on time. The editors send me OMFs and i have a boring routine to convert them to PT sessions and start working. The final step before add music and sfx is normalize each region (plus EQ and de-noise in certain regions) to get an average level in mix. But I need to trim the regions' boundaries before normalize in order to preserve handle enough to apply a crossfade when it's needed...
I wonder if there is (it must be) a way to set the Audiosuite Normalize tool to process the whole region, including the 2 seconds handle I ask the editors for, in the Playlist. What I need is to be able to select all regions in a track and processing them in one-click. It would be great, maybe then i could go to bed at 2am, or even at 1:30am!

Thanks, Apologies for my bad english, etc-etc...
(I'm learning a lot around here, I hope I could help one of you soon)

[TVPostSound]

There are no handle in audiosuite plugins.
You should try to insert, and automate your plugins your workflow will speed up.

[minister]

why are you normalizing? and its for tv? aren't your peaks at -10? normalizing will make them too hot! you should be using plug ins more. if you want, start with the trim plug in to give you the volume boost. or use the putput of one for your eq plugs -- i do that a lot. make up gain on the compressor changes the color, which is some times desireable, and sometimes not.

[Travis_BCN]

Wow! what a fast answer!

...but it's a very bad new

thanxs, DIAFXMX, I know you are right about using RTAS and TDM plugins. I use them, but I'm working in a "zapping" program, 50m of short clips with different gain levels, a nightmare, believe me. I need to normalize each region, or the mix become too hard, too slowly.

I hoped there was a way to normalize the regions "in the regions list", but with the option "use in playlist", or something like that. I tried everything, but no way. I am a true fan of PT, I believed there was an option for me...

Thanx anyway

EDIT: Minister, you answered while i was writing. I guess the info up here gives you more clues about the problem: I'm dealing with regions of +/- 10 seconds long, each one completely different in terms of level, eq, background noise, etc. I normalize to get an average level and I do the rest, or as much as I can, with real-time plugins.
In some cases I need more than 6dB of Trim (using PT6.4.1)...

Thanx

[SimpleNatureSpirit]

I found a plugin in Cubase LE that was loaded with Vegas. It is Sony's WaveHammer. It is a compressor/limiter but it has an auto-makeup feature that brings everything to a common level. I accedently figured out what it was doing when it brought up a fade to the same levels as everything else.

If you are lucky, you could use a Waves C1 with side chaining to get the levels up on the lower sections. I am sure you can come up with a 'magic' setting that will make this possible. It would have to mimic this 'auto-makeup' feature of the WaveHammer.

Have you tried getting good at riding the gain fader to get the levels more consistent?

I thought there was a setting in Audio Suite's Maximizer to act on each region individually? Is that only in PTLE?

[minister]

perhaps if you checkerboard your mix so that the ones that need +18 are on one track, the +32 ones are on another, the +3 are on another and so on. then, you can at least have the right boost for each group. and, you can put more than one trim of you need more than 6db. or, better yet, start bussing your tracks to auxes.

[Travis_BCN]

Thank You All, fellows...

speed is the key, so I guess is better to me to spend a time dealing with C1 and get that "magical setting" (and use it every week), than split each session in a large number of tracks... you cannot imagine how dirty is the sound I must to deal with, minister: there are extremely short regions, some of them are single words, plus the 10 years old clips with its noisy hiss, and the worst: clips from local tv, distorted and... well, it's Hell. Anyway your solution is helpful in some cases, thanx...

By the moment I found useful (for anyone with similar problems) to duplicate the Playlist before processing, so I can back up when needed, or even using Spot Mode to get the original un-processed region back to its position.

Thanx Again!

EDIT: by the way, let me tell you that I cannot work on the entire program in a single session, because they send it to me in pieces of 2-4 minutes each one, and almost half of them the night before broadcasting... Ok, you might think nobody can work that way, it's just I say to the producer every week

bye

[Reckless Erik]

I have often done this very same thing because mixing on a mouse is not fun. The quickest way to effect all regions with audiosuite and keep your handles is to find the parent media files, import them to PT and use the audiosuite in the region list. These parent files will appear bold in the region list so you should have no trouble in finding them. Remember to have "use in playlist" highlighted when you process the files. You will have to remake fades afterwards because they won't be part of the process.

Good luck, Nick

[bigbadhenchman]

I don't know what you would use on the mac.
But is there a program like wavelab, that allows batch file processing? You could just process all the files int he Audio folder to be normalized. Then open up the session and away you go.

This is another example why having cliplevel automation is amazing. If you were using either Nuendo, or A Fairlight, you could gain the clip up, wihtout rendering.
In Nuendo, you would still have rubberband automation as well.
This, for me, is a must have. Especially in audio-post.

[Travis_BCN]

Thanx,

Reckless Erik: I tried something like that, but didn't work. And refering the Parent Files, I work with OMF and (by the moment) the only tool I have to convert them to PT is OMF Tool: then I have no "bold" regions in the regions list, bizarre but true. I will keep looking for a way, when I have some time...

bigbadhenchman: The problem in using other software (Spark or Peak) is that I must keep sync with video.

Thank You anyway.