Akai DD1500 User Manual page 178

18 - UTILITIES - RS422 - AUTO CONFORM
At the end of the process, you will have an EDL containing hundreds of such edits that
dictate where the original material comes from and at what times it will be placed in the
final edit (i.e. the destination reel or master tape).
To start the auto conform process the EDL floppy disk is inserted into the DD1500 and the
DD1500 reads that EDL. It now knows where all the original source audio is and which reel
it is on and it also knows the destination times for those pieces of audio (i.e. where they
will be placed in the final production). Using RS422, the DD1500 will control the audio
machine (typically an RS422 DAT machine but maybe Betacam, etc.), winding it on to the
source in time of the audio and automatically recording it into the DD1500. When that's
done, it will look at the next edit, wind the DAT to the source in time of the next piece of
audio that is required and again, will drop in and out of record. And so on. Although it is
an automated process, you can't quite leave the process unattended because when the
DD1500 has recorded all the source audio from one reel, it will prompt you to insert the
next reel (i.e. tape) into the DAT machine.
Once the DD1500 has recorded all the audio required from the source reels(s), it then
looks at the destination times in the EDL and will automatically place the required pieces
of audio between the destination in/out times as dictated by the EDL.
At the end of the process, you will have a project on the DD1500 that has all the source
audio automatically placed at the DESTINATION times dictated by the EDL. You have a
copy of the master video tape and so now, all the source audio and the assembled
picture are synced up.
Of course, with the location sound now in the DD1500, you can edit it, tidying up dialogue,
etc.. You can also add foley perhaps and sound effects, music, etc., on other tracks of the
DD1500 to sweeten' the final production. Once that's done, the whole thing gets mixed
down.
This is a basic description of the process. There are other ways the DD1500's Auto
conform process can be used, however. Often the director will supply a rough master tape
and EDL and the auto conform will be done. Later, after considerable work has been
undertaken on the post production, the director will supply the final version of the picture
(honestly...), together with a new EDL and a list of changes from the previous EDL (if you
are lucky...). DD1500 editing can then be used to make space for new or extended
scenes or to delete unwanted ones. New material can be conformed into the new scenes
using the IMPORT function with scope set to IN->OUT, followed by another pass of auto
conforming. Similarly, single tracks from the EDL can be imported to a selected DD1500
track for editing of the conform cues prior to actual recording in an auto conform.
Let's now see how the DD1500's Auto conform operates.
Page 170 Version 2.00 - March, 1996