Sonicfire, Pro Tools, and FCP

Creative Cow is always a good source of information and oftentimes it's worthwhile to click their advertiser links, which are relevant to filmmakers. One such link is Sonicfire, an audio application that's intertwined with SmartSound cinematic music. The free Sonicfire Pro 5 Express Track showcases 30 second previews of tracks that can be purchased. Music can be searched by style, intensity, albums, genre, and keywords. Once procured, music can be mixed according to length, variation, mood, and tempo. Downloadable albums are $99 each, but stay attuned to specials. SmartSound had a short sale, so I was able to buy an album called "Investigative Journalism" for $33. Who knows, that sale might come up again, so visit SmartSound to get on the email list.



Sonicfire offers a $99 audio sequencer called Sonicfire Pro 5 Scoring Edition, or download the 14-day demo. Although it has similar attributes as other audio sequencers, such as envelopes, it's definitely not as robust as Pro Tools, and certainly isn't expected to be. However, Scoring Edition and Express Track are adequate, if not somewhat overwhelming, for NLE video editors.



I prefer Pro Tools to take full advantage of its state-of-the-art editing features, so I don't need to buy Scoring Edition. When you buy SmartSound albums, you are guided through a stringent security question process to assure you and only you can open the large ssdl file. When clicked, it launches Express Track. After answering the security questions and accepting the licensing agreement (which I read thoroughly), the ssdl file extracts and produces very-well-labeled sds files, which play in Express Track, where you can modify and export. But because I prefer Pro Tools, the sds files need to be converted.



On the Mac, Amadeus converts sds files to aiff very swiftly using the batch processor. These files can then be imported into Pro Tools as "ticks", each track being a certain instrument, such as drums, bass, percussion, etc. The last track, however, is the full song, which I simply mute. By creating a group, the SmartSound song can be time-stretched and moved to any location on the timeline. The mixer and envelopes go well beyond what Express Track or Scoring Edition can do, and there are tons of other flexible features that Pro Tools has, perhaps incorporating Reason or other midi elements.



By importing an OMF and video from Final Cut Pro, the SmartSound song can be placed where appropriate and mixed and time-shifted according to scene. Make sure the video soundtrack is set to "sample" to avoid being affected by tempo or elastic properties. There are a lot more details about this process which you'll see if you know Pro Tools and OMF, and experiment with Sonicfire.

SmartSound albums are some of the best and professional cinematic music I've heard, certainly much better than what I can create using samples, construction kits, and Reason. With the flexibility of Pro Tools, I'm able to manipulate these stellar songs and incorporate them into videos to enhance moods, from exciting to solemn. And I've read the licensing agreement that does not say I can't remix the songs in this manner.

Soundbite

Soundbite+SmartSound

Soundbite+SmartSound+Reason