AAF/OMF Source Track Translation Settings

Pro Tools provides specific options for “translating” audio clips when importing AAF sequences or OMF files and sequences.

 

Translation settings

Import Rendered Audio Effects

Enabling the Import Rendered Audio Effects option imports clips as audio clips, retaining the rendered effects (such as EQ) that were applied to the clip. You may want to disable this if you plan to use Pro Tools audio effects and audio processing exclusively for your audio post production work. The resulting audio with this setting disabled is the unprocessed source material.

Import Clip Gain

The Import Clip Gain setting lets you import clip-based gain settings, or ignore clip-based gain entirely. Media Composer and other Avid products provide clip-based gain to adjust the volume of an individual audio clip.

Clip-based gain differs from standard Pro Tools volume adjustments for an entire track, or volume breakpoint automation. Enable this option to import clip-based gain data from the incoming sequence.

Import Volume Automation

The Import Volume Automation setting lets you import volume breakpoint automation, or ignore it entirely. Media Composer and other Avid products provide volume automation, for continuous volume change throughout a sequence.

Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right

The Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right setting enables you to set the basic track pan setting so that odd-numbered tracks translate with full-left panning, and even-numbered tracks translate with full-right panning. This is useful if you want to pan the currently unpanned audio full-left or full-right.

The Pan Odd Tracks Left/Even Tracks Right setting is not supported when importing multi-channel audio tracks from an AAF. When importing multi-channel tracks, the setting is greyed-out and any imported stereo channels are panned hard right and hard left.

Markers To Import

Avid Media Composer sequences can contain metadata points called Markers that serve a similar purpose to the Markers in Pro Tools, adding color-coded contextual information to the timeline. Even though markers are associated with specific tracks in Media Composer, you can import markers into Pro Tools without importing those tracks.

When exporting an AAF from Media Composer, Marker information is included and can be imported into Pro Tools, thus preserving this data.

Markers can only be imported from AAF sequences.

To import all Markers:

Click the Markers to Import menu and select All.

To import no Markers:

Click the Markers to Import menu and select None.

To import Markers based on marker color:

1 Click the Markers to Import menu.

2 Select the colors of markers you want to import. Check marks appear next to the selected colors.

Once imported, the new Markers can be edited as normal.

Unlike Pro Tools Markers, which only mark specific points in time in a session, Media Composer Markers point specifically to individual audio or video tracks. Information on which track each Marker was associated with can be found in the Comments section in the Memory Locations window in Pro Tools.

When Media Composer Markers are imported to Pro Tools as Markers, the associated comment text is added to the Marker name in Pro Tools (up to 31 characters). Comments over 31 characters can be viewed in full in the Memory Locations window in Pro Tools.

Track Data to Import Pop-Up Menu

The Track Data to Import pop-up menu lets you select which attributes of the selected tracks you want to import into the current session. The selected attributes are applied to all tracks that you choose to import into the current session. For more information about Track Data To Import options, see Track Data to Import.

Importing RTAS Plug-In Settings from AAF

Avid Media Composer 5 and higher lets you process audio tracks with RTAS plug-ins. Pro Tools lets you import RTAS plug-in data from audio tracks in Media Composer-generated AAF sequences. Plug-in type, order, and control settings are preserved.

Pro Tools cannot export RTAS plug-in data when outputting an AAF for use with Media Composer. Because Pro Tools mixes often contain complex busing, routing, and plug-in automation, tracks should be printed or bounced to retain new processing changes before exporting to AAF.

When importing an AAF into Pro Tools, use the Track Data to Import menu to specify whether or not to import the plug-ins and plug-in settings.

To import plug-in settings when importing AAF tracks or sequences:

1 Open the Track Data to Import menu.

2 Do one of the following:

Choose All.

– or – 

Choose Some, and ensure that Plug-in Assignments is selected.

To avoid importing plug-in settings when importing AAF tracks or sequences:

1 Open the Track Data to Import menu.

2 Choose Some, and ensure that Plug-in Assignments is deselected.