For picture and audio suites

Avid DS suite
The DS system will only import CMX format EDL's at present. However it will also import complete Avid projects, including different layers and some DVE information using OMFI.

Sadie Audio Suites
Like the DS system, the Sadie hard disk editors require a CMX EDL. This can be CMX 340 or CMX 3600 with the latter being preferred as it can handle four audio tracks and there are less limitations to the roll numbers (CMX 340 for instance will only allow roll numbers up to 99. If you need to supply in this format for any reason please include a print out of the source table). Additional tracks can be presented as separate lists and then combined in Sadie. Auto conforms in Sadie are always a reel at a time so it doesn't matter whether the list is A or C mode. No picture edits should be in the audio list. B rolls are not necessary. If your source material is in stereo or is split track these will of course need two tracks. If you have only digitised into your off-line system in mono but need the final show to access the original material in stereo the edits can be easily changed once the list is inside Sadie.

Because Sadie adds 'handles' to the audio when auto conforming, it is not necessary to chequerboard your audio when editing unless you intend to have any very long dissolves (the default setting is for a 2 second handle but these can easily be changed before the conform starts). Therefore things like interviews or actuality may be edited on one track as enough material is loaded into Sadie to allow for manipulation. If you have made any cross fades (dissolves) in the audio during the off-line these will appear in the final Sadie list. Because of the 'handles' these can of course be changed at any point.

One pitfall with audio auto conforming is dealing with split track material. There is no provision in the CMX format for specifying source tracks. As long as we know that the material is split track (it's amazing how many tapes we see that have no details of the audio marked on them) we will generally change all the relevant edits to two tracks and conform both of the source tracks. If your project contains lots of split track material it may be worth talking to us about the best way of presenting this.

Finally
When making any EDL's please use a genuine PC formatted floppy disk. We have found problems with floppy disks formatted on a Macintosh as a PC (DOS) format.

List printouts are useful but not essential as we can easily make them here with a text editor on a PC.

If you want to send EDL's to us before an editing session we will be happy to load them on to the relevant machine, and confirm that they load correctly.

All the edit suites are now able to take MS word files and import them into the caption generators and titling tools. Just make a new page for each caption and these can be cut and pasted into position.

Often clients leave us to complete the conform and then only attend the final parts of the process. If you want to do this please let us know not to wait for you.

You can talk to any of us on 01256 882032 but as operators we are sometimes busy, it is often difficult to get hold of us. If you leave a message we will call as soon as we are free or you can of course e-mail us.

Steve Whettam (Video Editor)
Steve Longman (Audio Post/ Technical Manager)
Nick Watts (Audio Post)