“I was ready to start a new project, excited as can be despite the extremely tight timeline. I picked up the media, checked that they provided me with the sound rushes, QuickTimes, AAFs, audio EDLs, and picture EDLs. I thought I had everything I’d need to hit the ground running. WRONG!
The editor did not use any of the production audio while editing. They just used a converted mix track which had ZERO metadata and irrelevant timecode. For days and days I tried everything I could think of to make the AAF convert into a full dialogue assembly; field recorder workflow, re-linking clips, going purely off of original timecode, etc… all proved to be useless.
I tried assembling the dialog using another popular program but had no luck. It was able to assemble some sections but it left holes in about 60% of the film and linked the wrong files in a handful of other sections. I was defeated and thought the only option left for me would be to manually find the correct takes in the sound rolls and re-assemble the edit, with sample accuracy, clip by clip… by clip… by clip…
I was overwhelmed to say the least and already had wasted over a week using every method I could think of.. Until I was referred to Kraken.
Because of my VERY limited experience with creating dialog assemblies, I tried some simple dragging and dropping to see how the program works; it had already blown the other software out of the water! Because of my messed up AAF and wonky sound EDL, I was only able to assemble about 75% of my project… until spoke to Marc!!
I thought all software in this category were built the same. BOY WAS I WRONG!
Marc first let me walk him through my project and explain my issues. Marc showed me the traditional methods of assembling the dialogue, which were simple and effective. Due to my poorly delivered material, I didn’t have a full assembly yet. Marc then walked me through a couple other methods with Kraken, and each time we got better and better results. I felt hopeful and helpless at the same time, until Marc thought of a way to use the picture EDL.
THIS DID IT!!!
In a matter of minutes, I was able to get what would have been months’ worth of tedious work done.
After my mind was blown and my nerves were calmed, Marc celebrated the achievement with me. It was a genuine excitement. We then went through the other features of Kraken “just in case you find these features useful in the future”… thinking I’d only need what we just did, I learned some things that, now, are a regular part of my dialogue editing process.
I regularly use the Sync Track functionality, which pulls up the audio used, showing what section was used and shows all channels recorded. This way, I can easily find alternate takes and quickly spot it into my Pro Tools session. Again, saving me loads of time!
I also was able to create a Picture Cuts Guide. Again, I thought it would just be a cool thing to see but didn’t realize the power it would provide me. This exports a color-coded track that shows which cuts are being used and when they cut. This allows me to create scene maps with perspective shifts. This came in handy for creating reverb snapshots for my dialogue, ADR, and foley as well as scene and perspective guides for building my BGs.
Assembling the dialogue alone saved me months… all of the other features that Kraken has ended up saving me more and more time.
With projects allowing less and less time with a smaller and smaller budget, Kraken paid for itself within minutes by doing the impossible. Thank you, Marc! Kraken will forever be a must-have in my dialogue editing toolkit.”
Ryan D. Young
ADR Mixer – Dialogue Editor – Supervising Sound Editor – Re-Recording Mixer