Star Trek: Nemesis score pushes Pro Tools HD - Post News - Brief Article

Post, Oct, 2002 by Marc Loftus

BURBANK, CA -- Digital Music Technologies (DMT Rentals), which specializes in the rental of high-end digital audio converters, recorders and processors, recently provided an assortment of gear for use in recording the score for the upcoming Star Trek feature film, Paramount Pictures Star Trek: Nemesis is scheduled for release on December 13th and is one of the first films to incorporate a score recorded using Digidesign's new Pro Tools HD3.

Doug Botnick, founder of DMT (www.dmtrentals.com), says they regularly provide iZ RADAR systems for scoring applications, and recently contributed to the latest Austin Powers film, as well as to Signs, Spider-Man and the Silence of the Lambs prequel Red Dragon. In the case of Star Trek, it was a matter of meeting the needs of the film's scoring mixer Bruce Botnick -- Doug's brother -- who has a long-standing relationship with the film's composer. Academy Award-winner Jerry Goldsmith.

"[Bruce] wanted to try the HD system," says Botnick "He had experimented with it while it was in prototype and actually we provided a very powerful [96-channel-capable] system.

"The HD systems are really quite excellent," he says. "The quality of the HD conversion is so far superior than anything Digidesign has done before. It was time for me to get on board with Digidesign and start providing HD systems."

While the quality of the digital recorder may not have been in question, configuring a system that could meet the challenge of recording a large orchestral score was an obvious concern.

"HD has the capability of running at 192 kHz," says Botnick, "however, when you run it at 192 kHz, you turn it into a 24-track recorder. For film scoring you need to have a minimum of 48 tracks. It was impractical to run all 48 channels that Bruce wanted to record at 192 kHz."

DMT came up with a solution of running everything at 96 kHz/24-bit, but also used high speed external Pacific Microsonics/Euphonix converters, running at 92 kHz, to capture five higher resolution overall tracks.

"We can mix sample rates by doing that," Botnick explains. "And to my knowledge, we are the only people to have done it so far."

The score was recorded at Paramount Picture's Stage M in Hollywood, over a five-day period, using a 96-channel, AMS Neve V Series console. To capture the live performance, five Neumann M50 tube mics were hung over the orchestra and were recorded at both 192 kHz and 96 kHz.

"[They] recorded 48 channels at 96 kHz and 10 addition channels at 192 kHz" explains Botnick. "[They're] also running Avid AV XL in these sessions. So we're pushing the Pro Tools HD system close to its [maximum] capabilities."

In addition to the Pro Tools HD systems, DMT provided a Genex recorder, as well as a TASCAM MX2424, which was used for editorial purposes. dB Technologies A-to-D and D-to-A converters were used with the Genex and TASCAM systems, as well as Sony DRE-S777 sampling reverb and TC Electronic System 6000.