# Questions - Hosting Video in Pro Tools 12 and Running w/ Logic Pro X?



## milesito (Mar 30, 2016)

Hi all,

I haven't seen too much on this, but every once in a while, I run across a sentence in a post stating that yet another "big" composer uses Pro Tools to "host" their video sessions and Logic as their DAW. 

For those who do this:
1) What is the benefit of doing this?
2) I read somewhere you would put pro-tools on another computer? So is that recommended or can you do it on the same system? And if I have an iMac running my Logic Pro X w/ VE Pro, and a slave system with Ve Pro, would it be wise to run the pro tools session on that computer?
3) How do the computers link together? Over Ethernet? 
4) Is the audio from the Pro Tools hosted video clip routed through the Ethernet router and through my imac w/ Logic Pro X?
5) Any good videos on how to set this up?

Thanks in advance all!


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Mar 30, 2016)

1) Being able to have master session and cue sessions because scoring a feature film where you're having to conform to new edits in a single session would be nearly impossible. Used to be needed for printing stems and offload video processing but nowadays that's no longer necessary because of batch offline exporting. 
2) You can run it on the same computer. Trickier to do on Windows but not a problem either. No problem with running it on the slave either. 
3) You can send midi over ethernet if you want but you also need digital audio sync which you could also do over ethernet.
4) I believe you can do that with Macs but I'm not sure otherwise you need to use a program like Dante Via or have an interface on the other computer and route it in. I find that it's useful to have it go through your main DAW so that you can solo dialog etc without having to go over to PT. 
5) Video Slave 2 has some good tutorial pages on setting up the sync. Other than that not really. There's not much to it other than getting the sync working. You can watch the Junkie XL videos but he doesn't go into detail about how he's go it set up (although he mentions that he will in another video).


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## jeffc (Mar 30, 2016)

1. Benefit - no bogging down Logic with picture, no worrying about synching up the dialogue/fx track from the video, don't need to worry about anything in the Logic sessions except the start time. Much easier to keep a Protools session with the whole movie in it and just import individual mixes so you can see how the whole thing plays as a whole, and then delivering the final mixes in Protools is pretty much automatic.

2. Works great on another computer, although works surprisingly good on the same Mac using IAC buss for midi. 

3. With 2 machines, you can do it midi over lan, but I prefer good old midi cables. Always works.

4. I've got an audio interface on the Protools machine and just route that into my monitor controller - which is great so you can mute the dialogue/fx and just monitor your Logic audio. This is a little trickier on the same machine - not quite as slick as you have to mute the audio in the Proools mixer manually - but still works pretty great. I've got it running on a Macbook Pro and just put Protools in a separate Spaces window off to the right to avoid clutter. 

5. No idea. Setup is really simple - in Logic X just to to the sync page and send MTC to the correct port and make sure that the frame rate is the same as the one in Protools. In Protools, just receive MTC on the correct port and put the machine online. When you press play in Logic, it will chase. That's pretty much it. I hear Video Slave is good as well, but it costs as much as Protools and with PT you get all the other benefits of having your final mixes in a universally deliverable format.


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## milesito (Mar 30, 2016)

Thanks guys. So it sounds like even though I have ve pro running on my slave I can still easily run pro tools and host the video too.


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## A3D2 (Apr 6, 2016)

I'm interested in doing the 'video in protools'-thing as well as I suppose this will spare logic's internal CPU and makes bigger projects easier to manage cue-wise.

I had a question still though regarding tempo-mapping: I tend to vary my BPM throughout 
a soundtrack when I'm composing, depending on which cue: how would I sync these tempo-changes with protools? Or would protools automatically in real time change tempo when I'm changing it in logic?


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## Ashermusic (Apr 6, 2016)

A3D2 said:


> I'm interested in doing the 'video in protools'-thing as well as I suppose this will spare logic's internal CPU and makes bigger projects easier to manage cue-wise.
> 
> I had a question still though regarding tempo-mapping: I tend to vary my BPM throughout
> a soundtrack when I'm composing, depending on which cue: how would I sync these tempo-changes with protools? Or would protools automatically in real time change tempo when I'm changing it in logic?



If you have your MIDI sync prefs properly set up in both Logic and PT, PT should chase it flawlessly, although I have not tried this in years.


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## A3D2 (Apr 6, 2016)

Ashermusic said:


> If you have your MIDI sync prefs properly set up in both Logic and PT, PT should chase it flawlessly, although I have not tried this in years.


Thanks Jay, great to hear PT automatically does whatever Logic does tempo-wise . Ok, then I will definitely try the PT-logic combo: I find that large video files often cause Logic to stutter or freeze from time to time (in combination with a large orchestration), so I guess playing the video file from within PT will remove that issue.


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Apr 6, 2016)

A3D2 said:


> I'm interested in doing the 'video in protools'-thing as well as I suppose this will spare logic's internal CPU and makes bigger projects easier to manage cue-wise.
> 
> I had a question still though regarding tempo-mapping: I tend to vary my BPM throughout
> a soundtrack when I'm composing, depending on which cue: how would I sync these tempo-changes with protools? Or would protools automatically in real time change tempo when I'm changing it in logic?



It's syncing to MTC which is like SMPTE timecode so Pro Tools would follow the Logic timecode regardless of the tempo map. You would just have to create the same tempo map in Pro Tools if you want it to have it in there (it won't automatically put in the tempo changes).


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## A3D2 (Apr 6, 2016)

Gerhard Westphalen said:


> It's syncing to MTC which is like SMPTE timecode so Pro Tools would follow the Logic timecode regardless of the tempo map. You would just have to create the same tempo map in Pro Tools if you want it to have it in there (it won't automatically put in the tempo changes).


Thanks, good to know that I do need to import the tempo map! It's a pity PT can't do it by itself though, would save some time . Do you think that I would have synchronisation issues if I use many BPM changes in the music in Logic while running the movie in PT and then bounce and export that cue to protools: would it still be in sync with the picture or would it matter that PT doesn't have that BPM mapping? I'm a bit confused about this


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## Gerhard Westphalen (Apr 6, 2016)

A3D2 said:


> Thanks, good to know that I do need to import the tempo map! It's a pity PT can't do it by itself though, would save some time . Do you think that I would have synchronisation issues if I use many BPM changes in the music in Logic while running the movie in PT and then bounce and export that cue to protools: would it still be in sync with the picture or would it matter that PT doesn't have that BPM mapping? I'm a bit confused about this



As far as I know, MTC is irrelevant of tempo mapping. Changing the tempo makes on difference to the timecode in Logic and therefore makes no difference to the MTC it's sending out to PT.


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## jeffc (Apr 6, 2016)

When you drop your mix from Logic into Protools, it will be in sync with the picture. Regardless of tempo changes in Logic. There's really no reason to get the tempo map/bars and beats in Protools unless you're recording a live orchestra. In which case, just export the midi click from Logic, import it into Protools, and you can have bars and beats. But most of the time, Protools is just in timecode, not bars and beats, if you're just using it to host picture. There's no need for bars and beats.


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## A3D2 (Apr 7, 2016)

Thanks @Gerhard Westphalen and @jeffc for making this clear for me.  I understand now, then I'll just go ahead and buy PT. Good to know about the tempo map, indeed for live orchestra i'll export the MIDI click. Anyway, looking forward to work in this new manner: it's always a joy to improve my workflow and work more time-efficiently.


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## resound (Feb 24, 2017)

I'm getting ready to start on a film and I am testing this method of syncing ProTools and Logic X, but the sync has been jittery. Sometimes it syncs up fine and sometimes it takes anywhere from 2-8 bars to sync up. The video stutters as it tries to sync. Has anyone experienced this? I have Logic sending MTC to IAC Bus Port 2 and PT receiving on the same port, and set to online. Are there any other settings I could be overlooking?


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## resound (Feb 27, 2017)

Anyone? Bueller???


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