lookatthisguy

Yes, just observing that it *felt* to me personally like it got darker. Really it was just the much much flatter UI (and the surprising choice of purple as the highlight color) that I think gave me that feeling. And yes, I agree about the mixed bag and about FCP looking more elegant. Early Logic 10 was, in retrospect, a lot on the eyes. I do love what we have, but an Apple Pro Apps skin circa the Final Cut Studio and Logic Studio days is fun to think about too. Ignore me, I’m just geeking out.

Never even thought about it really before my day job had me get super focused on Apple UI but it looks like a lot of the changes from 10.4 to 10.8 came about because of Apple moving to consistently using SF Symbols across all apps…

No kidding? I missed that bit of trivia. Funny that FCP feels like it went darker over time while LP did the opposite.

Though that said, the orchestra-heavy film composer in me is yearning for a spate of new, better, additional instrument vector images for track icons. A new look in those terms would be much appreciated. Actually, I also wouldn’t mind it if the UI got darker again, akin to when Logic Pro branding still sported the roman numeral X… fine with the reduced skeumorphism, but bring back that darker interface!

Then that’s all there is to it. Either way, there’s going to be some rounding, and we can’t get around that. The video will be exported from whichever NLE in full frames*, so you should see that as you advance frame by frame in Logic, the SMPTE numbers line up. *And if they don’t, then you might check to make sure that you aren’t operating in a non-drop frame rate when you should be in a drop frame rate, or vice versa…

Are you not setting sync points using Project Settings > Synchronization?

Beat me to it.

Again, you want to use the Rewind one Frame and Forward one Frame key commands. I don’t recall if they have keys mapped by default, but my workflow has me going to my sync point (say, 5 1 1 1) and rewinding however many frames (I don’t do 10 precisely — I tend to decide by feel) by using my key command, then setting the in point. Then I go far enough past the music’s tail, go forward a frame or two, then set the out point. In my case, I have key commands for all this, but I also have keys set for this on Logic Remote. I don’t use @wonshu’s “banner” region idea when scoring to picture, though I do use it when exporting segments for video games. Not sure why I never thought to carry that over… Since time immemorial (read: since I started using Logic Pro about 15 years ago), it’s always been said — on here, in fact — that things can break very easily in that negative space, or because of it. There’s at least one composer I know whom resets their work to bar 1 when prepping their cues for recording, but it’s never been an issue to any orchestra I’ve seen. Plus, it’s always made sense to me that the clicks are actual bars in the score — just avoids questions that can waste time in a session. I’m sure there are plenty other media composers whom start from bar 1 and don’t have any issues, but this is what this forum and my master’s program taught me, so I’ve always held to that workflow.

Yeah, we're saying the same thing. Maybe I'm not being clear. This is why I'm saying, if you use the Rewind/Forward one Frame command, Logic always places your playhead at .00 subframes. Use that command to set in/out points of your bounce/s, then everyone downstream will have an accurate starting point when they drop the music in. And then at that point, it doesn't matter how far into the file the music starts, because the file itself is placed correctly (though yeah, four bars is a lot and is just asking for trouble). I think where I got stuck was the distinction between cue starting TC and bounce TC. I agree that it's a best practice to sync the exact start of the frame to your musical grid, but academically speaking, I can't imagine it would cause any issues once the music is out of Logic, so long as it was exported correctly out of Logic (as in, the bounce start being at .00 subframes). So I was trying to figure out why OP felt that only one or the other could be aligned at .00.

Yeah, that makes sense… but I mean, unless I'm misreading something, no one I've ever worked with is checking the first frame of music, if you will. As long as the stems or 2-mix are bounced to align right, things should be fine. And if you're setting your sync point using a "clean" timecode, then both should inherently be settled… Or is there greater nuance in this conversation I'm not picking up on?

Looks like you snuck in there saying the same thing while I was trying to post!

I just use the "Rewind/Forward one Frame" key commands and then set the in/out points of my bounces/exports. (I don't remember if these are the default or if I set them, but I use Control–Shift–J and L, akin to how video editors work.) First of all, though you didn't ask, I'd use bar position 3 1 1 1 or 5 1 1 1 for the start of the cue, not 1 1 1 1. This will give you room to roll back to an appropriate start point without having to use negative bar positions. Maybe it's the late hour, but I don't understand why the start of the bounce and the start of the cue both need to be at subframe .00… if the bounce starts right at the top of the frame, the music will lock in whenever you need it to. Still, if you synchronized your cue start to .00 and roll back per frame, you'll stay at .00, and everything should be the way you want it, no?

I've been reading with a ton of enthusiasm, and I'm looking forward to picking up a CS12. For years I had my eyes on the Avid Artist Control, and I actually just snagged a hell of a deal on the Avid Artist Mix so I thought, what the hell. I wanted a control surface with an array of faders for mixing, and always thought I'd pair it with the Control for obvious reasons. Is there anyone that's used both that can speak to what they like between the two/how they compare? I don't think there's any good reason to pick the Artist Control over the CS12 at this point besides maybe the times I have to jump over to Pro Tools, but that's not often enough to be a concern for me (not yet, anyway)… still, I'd love to hear some comparisons so I don't feel tempted to cheap out on the price if such a deal comes along.

I'd just use Composer Cloud. Pretty decent subscription for what you get, and then you have the option of downloading individual instruments as you need them. Frees you up from sitting around for a week.

So then all we have to do is go back in time and affect things so that media composers always own their own work, WFH agreements never exist, and producers never have the option to sell those rights to make a quick buck off our labor on the promise (or hope) that they'll cut another share out of the budget entirely. Easy! Granted, there's a lot of anonymity in the forum, but I do feel a sense of divide in people's comments between who I presume are hobbyists vs. professionals and/or people whom understand the nature of media scoring vs. those who don't. I'm with @jmob here, especially with the added layer of my journey thus far (moved across the country during COVID to attend grad school for this field, so I'm very new and without any career wins yet really) — what chance does someone in my shoes have? Sure, AI aiding my workflow sounds exciting, but there's a food chain effect here, and line items are inherently prey in this field. Those whom control the purse strings will be in charge of this, in this specific field. Those "cookie-cutter" gigs are what pay the bills for a lot of people in this field, and I would argue that they can be "a way to live". You've heard of vocaloids, right? Even then, this may be the case when the music is the focus… but the focus in media scoring is rarely on the music. (And let's be honest: it isn't even always on the story. It's on the profit.)