Audio Post Production 101: Conforming in Pro Tools

When the tv show, film, or other video project gets re-edited during or after you start audio post production, you will need to conform your Pro Tools session to the new cut.
You can do it manually or by using Matchbox to speed things up a bit.

[@jasonsayada2289]

Your videos are a serious game changer in audio post production. THANK YOU so much for sharing your knowledge. Especially on this video in conforming. I just had to deal with this with a client and it was such a pain. Would love to hear your thoughts on more techniques with blending the music cues with the rest of the show (i.e Dialogue, SFX, etc) when the director is really asking to crank the music on certain parts without losing the other sound elements. Thanks again!

[@ThomasBoykin]

At the end of the day it is their movie, not ours. I always speak my mind especially when it comes to things being too loud. “This is too loud, and I am struggling to hear the dialogue” or “I feel like I need to cover my ears, this is uncomfortably loud to me.” If they persist then I just chalk it up to lack of experience, shrug and move on.

[@jasonsayada2289]

@@ThomasBoykin True that, thanks for replying. I guess my real question would be do you have any mixing suggestions on raising the music while still being able to discern the dialogue. I've heard some mixer friends say sidechaining the music to the dialogue or making the music fill out more in the surrounds and give the dialogue more space in the LRC speakers.

[@ostromogothron]

I don’t know if you realize but in the world of post audio you are a superstar, thank you for the great material!!!!!!

[@ThomasBoykin]

Nah I’m just a blue collar guy.

[@bayburtluzihni8103]

Hey bro! It's awesome to hear that. You are teaching and giving advices to every part of the world

[@lushinjilo]

You answer questions I don't even know how to ask. Best wishes to you, thank you Thomas.

[@bent513]

I actually went back and got a refresher on one of your earlier videos today and wondered where you had been! Glad to to have ya back, Tom!

[@stevegeorge7773]

A two hour video is OK in my book! This was very productive and seeing you issues manage is a lesson in-of-itself and a BIG positive

[@cl_audio_90]

Hey Thomas! Thank you for another great tutorial, I've learned a lot with you. One thing I struggle a lot and I see a lot of people asking about it on internet is about volumes. Especially with music and with big dynamic changes in the film. With music I usually don't know how far can I go. I mean, I do it by ear but I never know if I could push things more or should tame things more. I think that's a nice topic to cover, I see a lot of folks confused by streaming standards, volume translations (movie theaters), DX dynamics, how sound pressure translates to a big screen etc, these kind of questions. Again, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us!

[@ThomasBoykin]

Good idea. Much more philosophical than technical, maybe a good change.

[@mdmamusicproduction]

I always get frustrated when the director comes back to me with a new edit and i have to manually realign clips, thanks for showing your workflow thomas

[@justkallmekai]

I love your insight Thomas! I'm still new to all this and have been doing mostly production sound and post for small shorts. Information like this helps so much, I'm eternally grateful!

[@IvanGonzalez-nt8ez]

Hey Thomas, I'm glad there is a new tutorial, thanks again.

[@julienauduc-vc9kr]

Pretty much clear than the officals matchbox tutorials 🤣 Thanks 🙏

[@coltenmarsh130]

your channel is so so helpful man, thanks for bringing us in!

[@lucianopoveretti]

You’re great man, thanks for sharing all this knowledge, these videos are really precious

[@BenjPostSound1488]

Been trying to learn about ho the industry conforms! Thanks for making this!

[@pinkadelic1987]

Amazing content as always. i will be happy and not me only i guess to see another video where you explain more advanced sound editing techniques. Thank you so much for your efforts.

[@ThomasBoykin]

Sure, I have some on deck that should fit that description

[@icrodriguez21]

Awesome! Good to have you back

[@subhrajitbaruah1994]

you are back 🔥🔥🔥

[@makisoundeditor]

Absolutely love your videos! I am a dialogue editor and would love more dialogue editing tips if you have time:)

[@offthebeatenlife995]

I work F/T as a tracklayer in a big post house but this was still super useful thank you. My suggestion is I'd love it if you can cover more audio post for unscripted projects as well.

[@ThomasBoykin]

Man that’s where I got my start. I remember not having enough time on a lot of projects. Can be pretty stressful in unscripted!

[@moqtev]

Thanks for another great and helpful video Thomas!

[@akszay]

Thank you for this! I would love to see those really difficult dialog editing techniques!

[@ray917]

Nice job Tom!

[@FreezerGT68]

Thanks for your videos brother, you have been helpful..I have learnt alot and still learning

[@ziaGameAudio]

you are great thomas you are great!

[@Dustbrigade]

Such a good video! Matchbox seems very neat indeed. What would be the procedure to add the missing holes in a protools session like takeswaps etc? Does it have an option to add that or do you need to track those things from an aaf/edl?

[@ThomasBoykin]

You need to grab them from the new aaf or assembly

[@ili6065]

very very very usefull. Thank You!!!

[@davidelaurito7084]

Question: is it match box only for PT Ultimate? For the videos, dialogue editing definitely would be helpful, but whatever you put out is super interesting honestly!

[@brainwasher3742]

Can you do a video about sfx selection philosophy? It’s extremely frustrating explaining to lay people what the ‘big deal’ is about picking and laying sfx and amb that sound natural and add to the story

[@ThomasBoykin]

That’s a tough skill to learn, let me think about it!

[@brainwasher3742]

❤

[@martins1254]

I always send a reference mix to editors if I know they will re edit. Then they send me an aaf with my reference with all the cuts, so I can reconform with those cuts. Another thing I do is video with thumbnails on, so I can see the video is the same on both te new and the old version.

[@ThomasBoykin]

Both of these can be useful, good tips

[@connerscorner7034]

@@ThomasBoykin I do it exactly the same way. So far the number of edits has always been manageable. Recently I started to turn each track into its own clip group. This way I can easily trim the old version back which can be super helpful.

[@Paulkruz1]

1st, as usual thanks TOM

[@ThomasBoykin]

My pleasure and my best to you and the family.

[@damianpress]

heheh "Little hanging Chads" great name random unwanted files