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Edit Review — Apple Soundtrack Pro

Oct 1, 2005 12:00 PM, By Gary Eskow

Audio post program combines recorder/mixer and waveform editor.

Final Cut Pro has long had an audio component, but Apple has upped the ante with the release of Soundtrack Pro, a standalone application that integrates seamlessly with the editing program. (It's also available, along with Final Cut Pro 5, DVD Studio Pro 4, and Motion 2, as part of the Final Cut Studio bundle.) For an affordable program with as many components as Soundtrack Pro, it's impossible for Apple to make each component hold its own against competitive products that cost substantially more. Still, audio post pros — and video pros who want to expand into this area — will find lots in Soundtrack Pro to make them happy.

At its most fundamental level, Soundtrack Pro is an application that offers users two distinct surfaces. Individual samples, or entire projects that have been reduced to a stereo mix (surround sound is not supported), can be loaded into the waveform editor for detailed work. A fully functional multitrack recorder/mixer surface is the other part of the package. In this area the user can record via third-party hardware, add effects, import videos for onscreen thumbnail playback (or external monitoring), and create stereo mixdowns. Let's start by taking a look at the multitrack area of Soundtrack Pro.

Multitrack recorder

Apple packages Soundtrack Pro with a fairly comprehensive and well-written manual. A feature-by-feature description would take nearly the length of this tome — 300 pages — so we'll focus on the main elements. Work is executed in two main screens. The multitrack page will be familiar to anyone who has worked with Pro Tools or any other digital audio workstation. You select whether the timeline will show beats or time (both are actually shown, but one is always dominant) and begin adding tracks. Bringing in prerecorded voiceovers, music beds, effects, and loops is simple, and a toolbar offers you a razor blade (to chop up your audio nondestructively) and a crossfade tool. (The toolbar is customizable, so you can add more tools.)

This device is a good example of the reasonable compromises you make when working with an all-in-one application like Soundtrack Pro. A number of standalone editors that cost more will give you a variety of ways to execute a crossfade. Practically speaking, the equal-power fade included in Soundtrack Pro is all you'll need.

Hitting the triangle on the left side of a track opens it up, revealing level and pan controls, and envelopes for volume, panning, and any other parameters you might wish to add. You can add as many break points as you wish; ducking that soaring brass line where it competes with the voiceover is a breeze. There is also a master fader at the bottom of the multitrack screen, and a helpful stereo-to-mono button that lets you hear how your mix will translate on the TV that Aunt Flora has sitting on the kitchen table.

Apple has done a good job helping you manage your workflow. The multitrack recorder's main area is clean and uncluttered, and so you'll be going into the Details window from time to time to examine tracks in greater detail. The Browser is excellent — which is a good thing, since Soundtrack Pro ships with more than 5,000 license-free loops. All of your audio files (supported formats include AIFF, WAV, MP3, and AAC) can easily be categorized and hunted down.

The mixer

I found the mixer to be the least intuitive area of Soundtrack Pro, possibly because I come from a music background and expect a lot from a mixer. Faders are laid out from left to right, mirroring the top-to-bottom ordering found in the multitrack area, but you can reorder them if you like. Record, solo, and mute buttons are at the bottom of each strip (which can be assigned to groups), along with meters, a pan control, and a rack for channel inserts and busses. Apple has done a nice job here, although I do have some niggling complaints. For example, you can't set up the program to put in line with the instrument any bussed effects that you might have assigned to track solo. I would also like the option of viewing the channel strips in narrow mode, as they are laid out, or in a wider view, as many DAWs permit.

Soundtrack Pro ships with over 50 effects that can be applied in multiples to any track. The only limit to the number of effects you can apply is your processor speed. It would be impossible to review each of them, so let's say that on balance, they are quite serviceable. I loaded up a drum loop, went into the mixer, and added the channel equalizer, and manipulated the loop in realtime. This plug-in will not compete with the Waves Rennaisance EQ, for example, but I would have no problem using it on music or voiceovers that live inside videos. The same goes for the package of reverbs. The Pro Reverb was serviceable and the Platinum Reverb was even better. Soundtrack Pro is an Audio Units host, so Waves plug-ins and other Audio Units can be used alongside included effects.

As I said, mixing functions, including adding effects and monitoring send levels, were counterintuitive for me. For example, I wanted to add a reverb to a shaker loop that's part of the Boat Scene demo that ships with Soundtrack Pro. I thought that simply clicking in the effects area of the shaker's mixer strip would bring up all the effects, but it didn't. (Instead you must Control-click, or right-click with a two-button mouse.) On p. 104 of the manual, users are told that the effects will be shown if you hit a track's effects button, but that didn't happen for me.

Although the mixer does offer many features found in the higher-priced applications — including automation — it is, for me, the area that requires the most work to master. On a more upbeat note, Soundtrack Pro supports the Mackie Control protocol, which means that if you're the kind of mixer who likes to work with hardware faders, you'll be able to find a control surface to use.

Waveform editor

You can do quite useful work in the waveform editor. Let's take a common audio post problem: dialog tracks marred by unavoidable hums and other unwanted sounds. I loaded up the dialog track that comes inside the aforementioned Boat Sequence demo project, soloed it, and opened it up in the waveform editor. The level of the boat's motor was acceptable — perhaps even desirable, considering that the woman in the boat could still be heard and the motor provides realistic ambience. As a test, though, I went to the Process menu and chose Reduce Noise, and a dialog box with a set of parameters appeared. I was able to tune in to the motor, reduce its volume, and clean up the track nicely.

While you're working on a clip you can check the Noise Only button, which lets you hear how much desirable signal you may be including in the noise profile you're creating. You can also choose a portion of your track that has ambience only, and use it to replace parts of your track that are unusable. Again, there are third-party applications dedicated to noise elimination.

For the most part, this area of Soundtrack Pro will do an excellent job. A good thing, too, because this program does not support VST, ASIO, RTAS, or MAS plug-ins of any kind. I missed this most of all when it came time to add compression to a stereo mix. The onboard compressor is OK, but it does not compare to the best software plug-ins of this type on the market. Waves and other top plug-in manufacturers offer Audio Units plug-ins that work with Soundtrack Pro.

Conclusions

One of the best aspects of Soundtrack Pro is the way it smoothly integrates with Final Cut Pro 5 and other video applications. Sessions that begin in Soundtrack Pro can open up in Final Cut Pro, and, of course, MP3 is one of your options when saving a file. This means that you can easily email a client a compressed version of your work.

It would be easy to focus on the aspects of Soundtrack Pro that don't quite match up to the package you could assemble if you began with a dedicated DAW and added a bunch of third-party plug-ins. But let's keep things in perspective. Less than 15 years ago you probably would have spent $100,000 to put together an audio post room that was capable of handling the type of audio post assignment that Soundtrack Pro can running on a G5. Anyone working on audio projects — from bar mitzvahs to episodic television — will find this application to be highly useful and of great value.

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BOTTOM LINE

Company: Apple
Cupertino, Calif.; (408) 996-1010

Website: www.apple.com

Product: Soundtrack Pro

Assets: Many serviceable effects are included, intuitive multitrack recorder and Browser, mixer supports automation.

Caveats: No support for VST plug-ins.

Demographic: Mac-based pros doing audio-for-video projects.
Price: $299; $99
upgrade for owners of Soundtrack

© 2008 Penton Media, Inc.