OMF doesn't export with gain or effects

[dparsons85]

When exporting an OMF from Premiere and importing it into Audition or ProTools it appears that the clips lose their effects and gain settings. Is there any way to keep those? 

This isn't a huge problem because the post sound engineer will probably zero out everything anyways but it would be nice if they could use what I had done as a starting point if they want. Right now they have to refer to the accompanying screener to hear my mix.

What's the best way to retain fidelity when sending audio for a mix (assuming this could go to Audition or ProTools, I have no say over what they use)?

Thanks!

[R Neil Haugen]

If the project is sent from Premiere to Audition, it keeps the items set in Premiere, that's fairly solid.

The OMF ... that's a bigger concern clearly.

If @SteveG_AudioMasters_  popped in, he'd probably know.

Neil

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

Actually I was going to leave this for SuiteSpot - he's the go-to for anything to do with this... but in general there are a number of restrictions inherent in OMFs - they don't support automation lanes or indeed any 'soft' aspects of a track. AAF supports rather more than OMF does - it's a newer framework, so I suspect that the OP has run into a fundamental limit of OMFs - but as I said, we might get this definitively from SuiteSpot.

[dparsons85]

Yeah, Neil is right. If I send to Audition directly from Premiere then everything translates correctly - all effects, clip properties (like gain), and levels are present in Audition. This seems to be the ideal way to send audio but my company seems to be stuck on OMFs because....?? that's how they did it last year? The audio engineers use ProTools? Probably both.

I guess OMFs are just too old a standard to send anything other than the clip levels. Steve is right that AAFs are a newer standard and can retain more information about the clips but Audition can't import the AAF format even though Premiere can export it. That seems bonkers to me but I'm not an audio guy so what do I know?

Post sound engineers, how do you like to receive your audio? Do you care at all if you retain the original mix from the editor or do you prefer to zero everything out at the start anyways so it doesn't matter?

Thanks!

[R Neil Haugen]

So Steve ... the OP would be better to try sending an AAF than the older format OMF? Makes sense.

Of course, if @SuiteSpot popped in, that would be good.

Neil

[SteveG_AudioMasters_]

My understanding is that if it's an export to PT, then yes, AAF would be better. And also yes, it would be good if SuiteSpot confirmed this... 😉

[SuiteSpot · Accepted solution]

Sorry, been a bit busy - finally getting some live audio production work happening down here in Oz...

Much of what has been said is reasonably accurate to some degree.

1. OMF should always be used as a last resort IMO

2. An OMF can/may contain clip volume keyframes and / or clip pan keyframes but rarely both and if it does the destination DAW may or may not be able to decipher it. The net result is that it may as well not contain either.

3. I have seen OMFs from Premiere which fall into the above category.

4. Audition's OMF doesn't contain clip gain or track volume automation but it will contain clip volume keyframes. It will also create left and right tracks if you have mono media on a stereo track - so be careful with that one as it will double the size.

5. It is said that AAF is better - this is true but it is a little like saying that standing in one pile of crap is better than standing in two.  OMF is an unnecessarily complicated piece of work. AAF takes that and goes pro.
6. An AAF can contain so much more detail.  In fact so much so that it is literally mind boggling - I mean literally mind boggling. This is especially true for Media Composer AAFs - they can contain FX settings and more - it takes several pages of xml code just to indicate that a clip is muted so you can see how a million lines of xml is not uncommon.  What is common is that very few other DAWs except for ProTools (another Avid product) can decipher these secret internal handshakes.

7. An AAF can contain heaps of detail but it is rare for many other DAWs to read all that detail if it can read it at all. For example - get 2 clips, xfade them in Logic and export an AAF then open it in ProTools and it won't look the same - it won't even look the same if you reopen it in Logic.

I could go on and on and on (if I haven't already) but back to the OPs issue

1. "When exporting an OMF from Premiere and importing it into Audition or ProTools it appears that the clips lose their effects and gain settings. Is there any way to keep those?"
No, kiss your FX goodbye
Gain settings should be saved if you use clip volume keyframes

2. "What's the best way to retain fidelity when sending audio for a mix (assuming this could go to Audition or ProTools, I have no say over what they use)?"
You have two options:-

1. Send wet and dry 24bit stems
Of course if you screw up any xfades, fades and other things it is hard to come back but on the other hand you have your fx burnt into a copy of the stems - of course they can't be unburnt but you also have the dry stems.

2. Buy a copy of AATranslator (yes I have no shame) it will convert your Premiere project, OMF, AAF, Audition sesx or whatever to whatever (which includes a ProTools PTX, Audition sesx, etc, etc) 

The best solution really depends on what your real needs are - maybe start with stems and go from there?

[krstrobe]

I know this is a bit unrelated to the original question, but I wanted to make sure this information is out there for anyone using a workflow from premiere to Logic Pro X.

- - - 

Hey all. Just wanted to post this solution. An AAF from Premiere Pro to Logic Pro X is working well for me. There are a few things to note. If you have clip volume levels, they will translate (but there are caveats)! They don't come to Logic Pro X as clip gain but as automation in the track. Awesome!

You'll probably need to show the automation and then select “volume” since it may default to "display off". You should then see levels. If there are no level changes on clips in a given track in premiere, the automation in Logic Pro X should be at 0db.

If you have any audio clips with automation in a track, as I said, those should come across. But... if you have additional clips later in the timeline without any changes, you will not see the automation go back to zero unless you add at least one keyframe on the clip in premiere. Then it will change the automation back to zero. You may need to do this to any clips that don't have any automation change.

In the second paragraph, I say “probably” and “maybe” because I found a great workaround for a project with a lot of tracks to have the volume automation display come across set to on. So, it's a weird bug, but if you add a keyframe to a clip after clips with automation in a given track, voila, when you import the AAF into logic and toggle on the automation view, ALL tracks should be already set to volume and display automation changes.

Please feel free to ask questions. I just figured these couple of things out today and was so happy to see that editor audio clip levels can come across and I can work from there. I also have any audio effects coming across burned into the audio with the same audio un-affected as well. See "Render audio clip effects" and "Include clip copies without effects" here: https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/export-aaf-files.html