Digital Performer

Setting Up a Film Score Project in Digital Performer

These instructions are specific to the Beach Movie assignment, but may be used to set up any movie in DP

There is information on the 2-pop sound effect here.

•Create a new project in Digital Performer. Save to your desktop, and name it Beach Movie.

•Insert a Tempo Change at bar 1/1/000 of quarter note=120. Do the same thing at bar 3/1/00.

•Insert a Meter Change at bar 1/1/000 of 4/4. Do the same thing at bar 3/1/00.

You should now have a Tempo, Meter, and Key Change at bar 1/100, and a Tempo and Meter Change at bar 3/1/000. You can update this information later as your piece develops. Your piece is going to start at bar 3--that's why you have new information there for Meter and Tempo.

•Click the button to the right of the smaller counter until the display shows SMPTE Time Code.

You may need to use the triangles in the upper right corner of the Transport Window and the drawers to make this appear on your screen.

This menu toggles among several options for control over track tempo. If Conductor track is chosen, the information in the Conductor track will control tempo.

This will reset your measure numbering so that what was measure 3 is now measure 1, the first measure of your score. This is not necessary, but it makes things clearer and will also allow you to coordinate measures if you are also creating sheet music.

In this box you are entering SMPTE code data. For information on SMPTE code, go here.

•Locate to measure 1/1/000, the third measure of your sequence. The small counter should read 1:00:00.00.

It's always a good idea to use a SMTPE start time of 1 hour or some other large even number. It avoids the "midnight problem" and helps keep track of your film's duration.

•In Documents>Assignments>Film Files, find the file beach.mov. Option-drag this file to your Beach Movie Project folder to copy it to your project folder.

•In DP, go Project>Movie. In the resulting window, navigate to the movie file in your folder. Select, and hit Open. Your movie should open in the open as a DP window.

•Resize the window by option-dragging the lower right corner. Make the movie window small.

A large movie window with challenge your processor. For other ways to optimize your project to make it easier on your processor, go here.

•Locate the film to its first visible frame (you can use the right and left computer keyboard arrows to move the picture one frame at a time in either direction).

•In the mini-menu of the DP Movie window, open the Set Movie Start Time window. Set the Movie Start to 1:00:00:00.

This "syncs" the movie to the Digital Performer sequence. Both now start at the same SMPTE time code number.

Most work-in-progress films will contain some "pre-roll," or blank picture before the start of the actual movie. This pre-roll will often include "Academy leader," the familiar counting down from 10 to 2. This film does not contain pre-roll. In any case, it is customary to put a "2-pop," an audio pop sound, at exactly 2 seconds before the first frame of picture to facilitate audio track sync.

•In Documents>Assignments>Film Files, find the audio file 2pop.aif and option-drag it to the Audio Files folder that's inside your Beach Movie Project folder.

You can also download a mono 2-pop here (Sound Designer 2 format), and a stereo 2-pop here (AIFF format). To download the file rather than stream, you may need to option-click on the link.

•In DP, go Project>Add Track>Mono Audio Track to add a mono audio track to your sequence. Rename the track 2Pop.

•Find the file 2pop.aif that you put into Beach Movie Project>Audio Files. Drag the file directly into the the new 2Pop track. A "soundbite" should appear somewhere in your new track.

Digital Performer cannot deal directly with most file formats. However, when you import the file, Digital Performer will automatically convert its file format from AIFF to its own proprietary format Sound Designer 2. The new file will be created in your Beach Movie Project>Audio Files.

•The 2Pop should be put at the start of measure 0. Drag the soundbite so that it moves to that location.

Earlier, you created a tempo setting of 120 beats per minute at measure -1. This means that each measure has a duration of 2 seconds. A soundbite at the start of bar 0 will occur exactly 2 seconds before the start of picture. If you change the tempo information in your Conductor track, be sure to preserve the real-time position of your 2- pop.

•Option-click on the first marker's name and type Film Start. Rename the second marker Film End.

In DP. locked items will stay at a given SMPTE code locations. This means that they will stay locked to points in the film even if the tempos of the sequence change. Unlocked items will stay in given Measure/Beat/Tick locations, so they will stay in the same place in the music as tempos change.

To keep things like sound effects or musical hits locked to picture, click in the Lock column in the specific track where those items are located.

•When you play your sequence, you should be hearing the original sound track contained in the Beach.mov Quicktime file. To turn off the movie's audio playback using the small speaker icon in the bottom left corner of the Movie window.

In future projects, you may want to acquire the audio from a Quicktime film for use in your project--for example, the film may have sound effects you want to use in your mix. If so, here's what to do:

•In the mini-menu of the DP Movie window, select Copy Movie Audio to Sequence.

•DP will create an audio track with the movie soundtrack in it. The audio track will be added to your Soundbites window and to your Audio Files folder.

When first beginning a film project, a sound editor will often sit with the director and "spot" the film, namely defining which sound effects should be included and specifically where they should go.

•Go through your film and list at least five places where sound effects would be appropriate.

•Now locate your sequence/film to the precise spot where the first sound effect should occur.

•With the sequence located to the precise spot where your sound effect should occur, access the mini-menu in the Marker window, and select Add. A marker will be added to your Markers list, and to the Tracks window at the same point as the playback wiper.

A quicker way to add Markers is to locate to the desired spot, then hit Control-M. This can be done with the transport stopped, or with the transport moving for rough marker placement.

•In the Markers window, find your new Marker. Option-click the Marker's name to pop-edit it, and rename the Marker.

•Still in the Markers window, find the column labeled LOCK. Click in this column next to the name of your new marker. A lock icon will appear to show that the Marker is locked.

Markers may be locked in the Markers window, or by option-clicking the marker in the Tracks window.

A sequencer like Digital Performer orients itself according the musical meter. In other words, event are located according to where in the music meter (measure number, beat number, sub-beat) they occur.

This is good for events that occur within a piece of music like a melody line or a drum hit. If we change the tempo of the piece, these events will still occur in the proper spot musically.

However, when we sync a sequence to a film, some events need to orient themselves according to running time, the time that the SMPTE time code shows. For example, a sound effect (door slam) need to occur in the same time code location whether or not the tempo of the piece changes.

To accommodate events that sync to running time, DP allows us to "lock" markers and tracks. Once events are placed in a time code location, they will not move even if the tempo changes.

A Marker are locked by clicking in its LOCK column in the Markers window, or by option-clicking the Marker in the Tracks window. A Track is locked by clicking in its LOCK column.

Often, the process of inputting sound effects involves first placing a locked Marker in the desired spot, then placing the sound effect itself into the same spot in a locked audio track.

This assignment asks you to place five sound effects in your sound track. You may certainly add more effects if you desire, in which case you may need to add more tracks as needed. Often, you might create tracks specifically for a purpose, like Ambience or Footsteps and may end up with many dedicated sound effect tracks.

•Go Project>Add Track>Mono Audio Track to add a mono audio track to your sequence. Repeat to add a second mono audio track. Now go Project>Add Track>Stereo Audio Track Create to create a single stereo audio track, then repeat to add a second stereo audio track.

We usually create at least two tracks of each type (mono, stereo) for sound effects. This allow us to place adjoining sound effects even if they overlap.

•Option-click the names of your new tracks to rename them SFX1, SFX2, SFX3, and SFX4.

•Click in the Lock column of each of your new tracks to lock them to SMPTE code.

Often, one can find free sound effects online using a search. You might go here to get started. After you download, put the sounds in Beach Movie Project>Audio Files, then drag them into your new sound effects tracks in a measure near the corresponding spotting marker.

•In DP go Project>Sequence Editor to open the Sequence Editor window. Use the Expand button in the SE menu bar to expand the Track Select column, and select the your sound effects track(s) to show the tracks in the SE window.

•In the sound effects track(s), find the blue grid button in the upper right hand corner and turn it off.

When the grid is on, objects will only slide to pre-selected value locations, such as from measure to measure. Turning if off allows you to slide objects to any location.

•Slide your effects into a location that makes them sync up with the events in your picture. Use your spotting markers for reference.

Remember that the beginning of the sound effects audio file may begin somewhat before the sound actually occurs.

•First make sure you are using the DLS Softsyth as your MIDI device. Information on setting up a DLS Softsynth can be found here.

•Work with your conductor track to create tempos that will accomodate your hit points. Then, using just a few MIDI tracks, sketch some musical ideas into your sequence.

This process is very subjective, and not all composers work this way. I find it helpful to get a rough tempo in mind, especially for rhythmic music, and then see where beats fall, after which I put in musical ideas. Others might create some sketch tracks first, with a corresponding tempo, then lay them in and move them around until they fit.

•Once you have sketched your music into your sequence in a way that fits the film, flesh out your music with additional MIDI or audio tracks.

•In DP, go Project>Mixing Board to open the Mixing Board window. Use the Expand button in the Mixing Board menu bar to show the Track Select column and highlight all your tracks, both MIDI and audio.

•Reset the level of all MIDI tracks to 90, and add a Trim plug-in to the top plug-in slot of each audio track.

•Create audio tracks out of your MIDI tracks--info here. You may need to remix your tracks using your new audio tracks.

•Select all your audio tracks, and go Audio>Bounce to Disk to create a final audio mix. Information on bouncing audio can be found here.

Music and sound effects are frequently created by two different teams, and often they don't communicate with each other until the movies is mixed. Editors sometimes bring their music, effects, and dialogue tracks to the mix in mono or stereo "stems" that have been pre-mixed to sound good together, but that would allow changes in the mix to one specific aspect of them without affecting the others. These tracks usually start at or before the 2-pop, and continue to the end of the film (or reel) even if the audio does not. 8 or more stems of both music and sound effects are not uncommon, sometimes as mono tracks, sometimes as stereo, pre-panned pairs.

If a composer is asked to bring stems to a mix, they will usually be instrument groups in stereo pairs, e.g. brass, strings, rhythm section. Sometimes bass or a vocal might appear on a mono stem. Again, these tracks would start with the 2-pop and continue to the end of the film or reel.

Usually the music stems constitute a "mixed" stereo track, meaning that if all stems are played back at unity, they would form the mix that would sound good if no changes were made in the final film mix.

•In the Soundbites mini-menu, select Export Selected Bites. In resulting window, export your mix as an AIFF file, saving it in your project folder (more info here).

•Add the AIFF file to your Quicktime file, Export as Movie to QuickTime Movie (DSL/Cable - High). Information on this process can be found here.

•Your movie is now completed. You might save on a CD or post to an Internet website.