Guerrilla independents: it's never been a better time to post in unconventional environments

Post, March, 2004 by Christine Bunish

"I've found Avid software to be the least problematic and most intuitive editing software I've tried," Meyer says. "Xpress DV and Xpress Pro are designed to handle DV footage, which is ideal for us. It's amazing how, with the introduction of DV, editing software can be used on laptops. Ease of use doesn't even begin to describe it compared to how things used to work. We can edit a small series of clips without the external drives in a coffee shop, a library, wherever we need to be. Everything is possible."

Meyer acknowledges that "this project probably wouldn't be happening if not for the technology" which permits him and Rothschild to work inexpensively but at a high quality at the same time. "If we had to rent an edit suite, we couldn't do it," he observes.

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LOS ANGELES -- Record producer/film music supervisor Tim Bomba (323-256-5499) is a guerrilla independent who's defied the supposed capabilities of his equipment. "Digidesign once said there was no way that my Pro Tools LE 001, as it stands, would lock to SMPTE timecode, but it does," he states. "For the price of an LE, G4 and a MIDI Time Piece AV converter, you can lock pictures to all your music for in-the-trenches stuff."

Bomba's LE supplements a complete home studio outfitted with a Pro Tools Mix Plus 5.1 and MOTU Digital Performer, each running on a G4; Neve pre amps; Distressor and UREI 1176 limiters; DynAudio speakers and a pair of vintage ROR speakers; and a heavily-modified Soundcraft Spirit console that he vows not to give up "until it falls apart."

Bomba has used his LE on several recent independent features. He was music mixer, recording engineer and music editor on the documentary I Am Trying to Break Your Heart about the Chicago bandWilco. He recorded shows at the Fillmore and then mixed these and other tracks from the film for director Sam Jones. Bomba mixed to a SMPTE timecode DAT using his Spirit console. After the mix he employed the LE to make sure music files maintained sync with the picture.

He made even more extensive use of the LE on What the #$&! Do We Know?!, a part narrative, part documentary feature about quantum physics directed by Mark Vicente. Bomba, who served as music supervisor and music editor, did all the prep and most of the music line ups in the LE with source tracks from 25 bands. After receiving OMF files from the Avid picture editors, which he put through Digidesign's Digi Translator, he lined up the music and locked to picture on a table in his dining room because his main studio was in use. "The LE is so straight ahead and works so efficiently," he says. "I carried my FireWire drive to the final mix at Enterprise Post, plugged it in, and we were fine."

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Bomba believes many in his business are cognizant of what LE can do. "If people aren't aware of this after so many years they should be," he says, adding, the LE's 32-track capabilities are more than sufficient for most source-music editing. "The most I ever run is three or four stereo pairs for the final mix on stage." Bomba uses almost no plug-ins during final playback. "If I want to EQ, I'll stop and do that in my audio suite in realtime."--Christine Bunish