Exporting Audio for Transcription with TC?

Hello everyone!

Is there a way to deliver audio files with the correct TC for transcription? Or is the only way to get accurate TC a window burn? I'd love to deliver mp3's that had the correct TC, or the TC in one of the audio tracks....

Thanks!

greg

Audio doesn't come in tc. They can be locked to picture, but they can't be timecoded. Only in minutes and seconds. What i did once was to throw all foreign language tracks into separate sequences, run a tc generator on it, and export that straight off the timeline. Since the tc generator is a full RT effect, and the DVD burner records on the fly, i could get that onto dvd in real time. When the DVDs get back, I just edit them off the translation sequence.



www.strypesinpost.com

yeah, ok, thanks Gerard...

greg

<<<Audio doesn't come in tc. >>>

Ahem. DAT does. DAT fully supports SMPTE timecode. Of course you need a DAT machine at both ends....

Koz

>DAT fully supports SMPTE timecode.

Lol. Forgot about the DAT.

>> I'd love to deliver mp3's that had the correct TC, or the TC in one of the audio tracks....

Then again, if he's going to deliver mp3s for translation.



www.strypesinpost.com

yeah the whole point is to deliver small files over ftp...so DAT is out.

thanks for the idea though!

greg

there is a way to get tc into some pulse audio form off a beta deck so transcription services can read it -- I think the question is whether there's a way to do that as well through final cut - don't know the answer but it would be great if there was a way.

Anybody else remember the days when we used to crawl behind the machines and switch the cables around to get SMPTE on one of the audio tracks?

SMPTE TimeCode is an audio signal. It was designed to survive being recorded and played on a tape audio track. A pretty poor one, too. It didn't have to be a good quality track.

Anybody with what used to be a conventional time code reader can still do this--assuming the show is mono and there's a SMPTE reader at the far end.

This is a good thinkin' problem. SMPTE will take you down to the frame. How accurate do you have to be?

Koz

Another possibility. If the show start point is known with surgical accuracy, my Cool Edit audio program (for example) will tell you to .01 second accuracy where you are in the show.

This must have come up before. What did they say for you to do?

Koz

Koz

Thanks for the brainstorming!

It has come up before, but I don't usually have the time to try and figure out a good solution.

The SMPTE thing probably won't work bc I assume at least some of the transcriptionists I use do not have that machine...

In terms of accuracy....down to the frame is waaaaay accurate enough. I just want a timecoded transcript that Producers can use for a paper edit....so within 10 sec would be fine.

greg

.BWF is an audio file format that supports TC.

Dan

[Anybody else remember the days when we used to crawl behind the machines and switch the cables around to get SMPTE on one of the audio tracks? ]

I remember that. LTC, isn't it? Known as Address Track code? The mind goes after 50.

Best, as always,
Loren S. Miller
www.neotrondesign.com
Home of KeyGuide Central

How about the days of recording the audio to one channel and SMPTE to the other on a 1/4" reel to reel audio deck to send out to the audio designers?



deb

Audio can come in with either TC or time stamp as with BWF or in theory SD2 files. You can export them with TC, but not as MP3.
A trick might be to create a "black" video and copy the FCP timecode of the audio to it, then apply a tc reader and export as H264.

Just an idea.
Andreas

The trouble with all of this is there's no magic wire connecting the audio file to the word processing software. The 'connection' is through the ears and fingers of the transcriber, who I imagine is going to look somewhat askance at a request to stop what they're really doing- transcribing words into text- and note down a number every ten seconds or so. ...Even if you could solve the problem technically through LTC and a tc reader, I suspect that by the end of the transcription process you would be paying mightily for the entry of each and every one of those numbers...

I'd suggest the most workable solution is to hire a PA to sit down with the finshed tramscription and manually enter the numbers beside the text. Cheap. Easy.

randy

Boys, boys, boys...

AudioTC is still an option, and my Transcription software supports it.
[www.videotoolshed.com]

BWF is also a very good option, but cannot carry TC breaks.
QT with a TC track is also not capable of TC breaks.

VideoToolshed to the rescue!!!
I'm currently in a betastage of a new Transcriber app. (the old one just did LTC on one of the tracks, and is a bit slow)
The new one supports BWF, all kind of audio formats with LTC on one channel, DVD (with image), foot pedal support (very important for transcribers) and a few other gizmos.

Now it was intended for transcription buros, but since the people who are providing the files are here, lets get an agreement over a better standard to get TC across without stupid ancient technology.
Mail me your needs, and i'll make it happen!