The new Proxy-first workflow offers a way to shoot in XDCAM by rapidly uploading proxies from the field for download and edit and then associating full resolution files for final mastering and render out. By using the Loudness Meter you can ensure that your commercial is compliant with both CALM and EBU R128 (the regulation that many EU nations are adopting) and that your sound is less likely to be altered by its distributor. While most broadcasters and cable companies use automated systems to ensure compliance of ads they run, these systems can affect the way your project sounds. The Loudness Meter looks at multiple aspects of the audio signal to determine its loudness. An audio program’s perceived loudness is more affected by compression or limited dynamic range then it is by overall gain or volume level. Loudness metering is not as simple as monitoring the traditional VU audio meter to ensure that your audio doesn’t exceed the maximum headroom available for your projects distribution. The Loudness Meter allows you to ensure that your audio mix is in compliance with the CALM act (Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation act) which limits the perceived loudness of the audio of a broadcast or cable commercial. The ability to take your edit along with you to a re-shoot on something as portable as an iPad can be very useful. This iPad app can also be a valuable tool even for the small or one person production company. Vegas Pro Connect offers streamlined collaboration between editors, directors, producers, clients, and anyone else involved in the project with an iPad. By syncing the iPad with Vegas Pro 13, edit notes and markers for projects that were reviewed offline can be uploaded. Offline project proxies can be exported from Vegas Pro 13 and opened for review and notation in the app when working away from the edit suite. The app allows multiple users full control to move along the timeline and leave frame accurate markers and notes directly to an open project file. Vegas Pro Connect is an iPad app for review and notation of Vegas Pro 13 projects. The new audio meters for loudness and the iPad companion app are two new features that are very exciting and really stand out not only as additions to Vegas but as unique tools for the video editor. They’re already crammed with functionality and options that it’s hard for new features to stand out. That’s no fault of the major editing software packages. It’s not often that new features to NLEs are something more than codec or resolution support. While subscription software services are great for the full time editor who keeps up with the latest in hardware and software, it’s not a good match for everyone.
If you’re on a subscription program such as Adobe Premiere, you have no control over when the software updates, and you may have to upgrade or replace your editing computer just to be able to keep running the software.
If your project standards stay the same and the type of footage you’re editing stays the same, you can use the same software for years when you are ready to upgrade, you can buy new hardware and use your older system as back up or for basic tasks. You buy an NLE to match the cameras you shoot with, the editing hardware you own, and your project delivery standards. This is of particular value when you consider that some of the NLEs on the market are only subscription based and the annually cost can be more than what Vegas retails for.įor small production companies buying software makes sense. Vegas Pro 13 is very competitively retail priced at $599.99. Given some of Vegas’ advantages such as an outright software purchase as well as collaborative editing abilities and integrated audio features, Vegas may be worth the learning curve even for seasoned editors. For seasoned editors who have been working in more traditional NLEs like Avid or Premiere, you will find working in Vegas a bit challenging due to the GUI and workflow even some of their descriptive terms are atypical such as media in the timeline being referred to as events and not clips. If you’re new to Vegas, it may take some time going through the help files and tutorials conveniently included in the application to get use to the interface. It’s much less of a learning curve than Avid or Edius. For beginning editors, things are arranged in such a way that you will find it to be one of the easier professional editing software packages to learn. Vegas has a unique workflow and graphic user interface (GUI). Are you looking for a NLE that isn’t being offered through a subscription? Here’s a review of Sony Vegas Pro 13.