4 Nov
2014
4 Nov
'14
8:10 p.m.
Today I had to create a DCP without sound, that is, the minimum requirement would be 2ch,
padded with silence.
I think DCP-o-matic has no formal way to do this - I can set channel count to 0 in DCP
properties, but then I get a warning that my DCP contains no sound, that I guess means
that no audio.mxf will be generated at all.
Same happens when I deselect the existing two audio channels in content audio tab. I think
DCP-o.matic should be stricter, that is, if channel count is set to 0, it should create a
2-channel file padded with silence. Same if I deselect existing channels in an interleaved
video/audio file. And it should force channel count to an even number of channels any
time. Maybe for now, the easiest way is to limit the channel choices in the DCP tab to
2,4,6,8..., and if there is no audio, or it is deselected in the audio matrix, it should
padd the channels chosen in DCP tab with silence.
Of couse, I could just use a very high negative gain, or map the existing audio to
channels typically not used. But I think there should be a straighter way.
- Carsten
5 Nov
5 Nov
12:21 a.m.
Am 05.11.2014 um 00:24 schrieb Carl Hetherington:
Deselecting the audio channels seems to work for me
... what happens when
you try it?
Hmm, I got the same warning as when setting the DCP properties to 0 channels.
Ah no, stupid me, it simply didn't clear the warning resulting from the DCP properties
tab. When do warnings/hints clear after the issue has been corrected?
Sorry for that.
Ah, no, it actually says 'DCP will have less than 6 channels, this could cause issues
with some servers.'
Well I don't think it does, since a lot of commercial DCPs are issued with 2ch tracks.
I think the only real issues are no audio at all, or an odd number of tracks.
Maybe same as with the recent resampling notification we should add a hint what happens
with the audio tracks. I would prefer to see something like: Content audio is routed to
DCP channels L+R, channels 3-6 are padded with silence, or similiar. Or 'content audio
is not routed to any DCP channels, channels 1-x will be padded with silence.
I like the new tooltips/explanations over the content buttons, I just had to translate
them right away ;-)
- Carsten
6 Nov
6 Nov
11:51 a.m.
[snip]
I will think about this. It could be tricky, with complicated routing ...
"Content channels 1-3 are routed to DCP channels L, R, C; content channel
5 is routed to DCP channel Lfe; DCP channels Ls and Rs are padded with
silence" ... which I think might just be reflecting the routing grid in a
more wordy way...
Best,
Carl
12:01 p.m.
Am 06.11.2014 um 12:51 schrieb Carl Hetherington:
Yes, it may get complicated there. The idea is to get an easy human readable expression
for all things that happen during the conversion.
Then of course one might think that all other aspects should be addressed as well, like
attentuation, delay, etc. - and soon we'll end up with a very long list...
Maybe the matrix display is indeed a shorter way to explain the routing...
- Carsten
7:24 p.m.
Carsten Kurz:
Maybe the matrix display is indeed a shorter way to explain the routing...
This.
Also, if at all possible: Can we try to not encourage 2-channel sound for Cinema? Like
even make it impossible to generate such a composition with DCP-o-matic?
Wherever 2-channel sound pops up in Cinema it's the tell-tale for amateur work.
We need less amateurs in technical cinema authoring and more solid engineering. It's
The Big Screen, after all, and it's been glimmering and captivating our minds for a
century also because of the fine art of sound and image engineering.
There is a reason sound engineers do sound work for cinema. Just because everyone and
their brother own DSLRs and laptops the essential requirements do not change: A solid
understanding of the technical properties of cinema sound and image projection.
Arthouse, good grief.
7:49 p.m.
Am 06.11.2014 um 20:24 schrieb Wolfgang Woehl:
Well, basically there is nothing wrong with 2channel sound for cinema - if it's used
only where appropriate. Yesterday, I had to do a DCP without any sound, because it was
meant to be played like this. The minimum formal requirement is to have a 2channel MXF
file padded with silence. Today I converted a piece that came in stereo, yet had only
dialog, recorded with a stereo microphone. I mixed it down to a monotrack and converted it
into an LCRS file with only the center populated with the voice.
Nothing wrong about the tools being able to do that.
For all general purposes - yes, I certainly would prefer even amateurs to be able to
create at least L/C/R mixes, and it's not even that complicated. They do not even need
to have an L/C/R monitor setup.
It's easy to understand why so much 2ch stuff is produced, beginning with stereo
microphones on common recording devices being used for dialog. And complete lack of
understanding for the basic principles, not only for cinema sound.
- Carsten
3839
days inactive
3841
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8 comments
4 participants
participants (4)
-
Carl Hetherington -
Carsten Kurz -
Gérald Maruccia -
Wolfgang Woehl