I'm wondering if this is the easiest way to do this.
I want to have individual project files for each cue of a film I'm working on. I want the cue to start at bar 9 in the right position within the film, here's what I've been doing.
Say I want my cue to begin at 01:09:56:09.54. I've been going into Project Settings - Synchronization - General and changing the following.
Bar Position - changing from 1 to 9, then changing "plays at SMTPE" to 01:09:56:09.54
Is this the way most people do this in Logic X?
If theres an easier way I'm all ears.
The way you are describing is exactly the right way to do it.
I disagree most strongly with what Saxer said - having 1582 bars of empty space in your project before the music actually starts makes no sense, adds all kinds of hassles, and there really is no good reason to do it that way. In addition, having an initial tempo at bar 1 and another tempo event at the bar number your music actually starts at will mean that your count-in might be at a different tempo than the music that's about to start - and this is no good at all. This will be the case unless you manually repair the tempo event at bar 1 every time you adjust the tempo at bar 9. Unless you leave the tempo event at bar 1 to a fixed value while you adjust the tempo at bar 9, the actual SMPTE frame that bar 9 aligns with will move every time you adjust that tempo at bar 1 - resulting in your count-in being at a different tempo than the music that's about to start - again, not good at all. So.....
- Definitely have each cue as a separate Logic project.
- Definitely use bar 9 as the start of your actual music in each cue. This gives you enough pre-roll to be able to hear what dialog / sfx leads into the cue, and if you need to hear the ending of the previous cue and how it will overlap with the current cue, you've got that eight-bar chunk in which you can insert a chunk of the rough mix of that previous cue to hear how it will interface with the current cue. That eight-bar chunk is also enough for any program changes, initial automation events, etc. - the stuff you need to have happening before the music actually starts.
- Going into Project Settings > Synchronization and saying "Bar 9 = SMPTE XX" is absolutely the right way to do it.
- When you do the "bar 9 = SMPTE XX" thing, you're basically creating a tempo map with one tempo change event that occurs at bar 9. The tempo of the eight bars preceding this tempo change event will be the same as the tempo at bar 9. There is no need to create a tempo change event at bar 1 and another at bar 9 - indeed, this will likely create more problems down the road if you decide you want to change the tempo at bar 9, or create a more complex tempo map. In short, do NOT create another tempo event at bar 1 - just let Logic figure out where bar 1 will lie based on the tempo that occurs at bar 9.
- If you do decide to create a complex tempo map, leave that initial tempo event at bar 9, and create further tempo events later in the project as needed. If you then decide that you need to move where the project starts relative to picture, you can just go to Project Settings > Synchronization and change the SMPTE number that bar 9 occurs at, and as long as you have not "locked" any tempo or MIDI events (which keeps them locked firmly to a SMPTE position) then the whole project AND the whole complex tempo map will move together to start at the new SMPTE number you've entered into the "bar 9 = SMPTE xx" window. You can also just open the tempo list editor and scroll or type in a new SMPTE number for that initial tempo event that occurs at bar 9. This is absolutely the same as scrolling / typing a new number into the "bar 9 = SMPTE xx" in Synchronization Settings. In fact, you can do some experimentation to help you understand how the tempo list and the "bar 9 = SMPTE xx" settings interact:
In a dummy project that you don't mind wrecking, enter a value in Synchronization Settings for "bar 9 = SMPTE xx", then open the tempo list editor. You should see a single event at bar 9. Double click on the bar position in the tempo list, and change it from bar 9 to bar 3. Now open Synchronization Settings and you'll see that instead of saying "bar 9 = SMPTE xx" it will now say "bar 3 = SMPTE xx". This will confirm that the first tempo event in the list corresponds to the setting in Synchronization Settings. Clear as mud, right?
In 25+ years of synchronizing Logic to everything from analog multitrack machines in the studio, to DA-88s on tour, to VCRs, Pro Tools rigs, and video playback machines while scoring, I've
always used bar 9 as my start point. With over 8,000 cues delivered using this method, I can definitively say you're doing it right!