Nuendo (sound for picture): How do you receive audio?

I am a professional composer for TV.

Different dubbing engineers will insist (or be relaxed about) specific delivery formats.

But the basics are:

1 number and name your cues consistently.

2 export separate files for each cue. I often provide stemmed mixes which are equivalent to a single file if all tracks are at unity gain. These stems are meticulously named. (Think about a naming scheme whereby if all your cues were in a folder alphabetically sorted, they would list in running order. EG 1M02 Capture.WAV then 1M03 Arrest.WAV etc etc. If you must later insert a new cue, do NOT re-number all subsequent cues. Name the new cue 1Mxxa (xx being the number of the cue preceding the inserted cue) and work through the alphabet if you must insert ANOTHER new cue (1Mxxb etc etc.) Avoid characters that are illegal on FTP such as “/” and " ’ " etc. a “-” is ok.

3 ALWAYS use the BWAV format at 48khz and 24bit unless asked for something else

4 place all your master wav files in a folder

5 deliver the folder via FTP and send a hard copy too. (As a courtesy, try to deliver to the dubbing engineers in house FTP. That way YOU wait on upload, THEY smile at download).

6 depending on the dubbing engineer you may be asked for a PT project containing your cues, or even Nuendo track archives (I have had this one, yes)
7 avoid sending files in a container such as OMF or AAF. You sadly cannot predict the result. And you won’t be there to oversee it necessarily.
8 Create a master project with no tempo changes into which you can drop (and test) your masters TO PICTURE. I run this master project on a separate machine all day running another Nuendo. You don’t need to do it that way - you can swap in and out on one machine. (This should have been step 1 really, sorry!)
9 consider carefully the start time of that master project in case you are sent AAF files from the dub (many engineers routinely run from 00.00.00.00).
10 backup.
11 backup.
12 er, backup.

Note:

Overlapping cues become the responsibility of the engineer. It’s his/her project - let him/her arrange it as they want. Unless asked otherwise. You could include a coded indication in the filename for cues that overlap (eg 1M09 lap Fight)

About stemming - discuss this with the engineer before deliver. A brief simple discussion. Show respect for their wishes. Your music will be louder if they think you’re a nice guy :wink:. Don’t provide a full mix alongside your stems. The engineer is used to stems and knows that all tracks at unity is the same as a full mix. Providing a full mix adds hassle to the situation.

Finally make sure you are definitely on the same cut (edit) as the dubbing engineer. I have found often that, as the dub gets delivered its material later than the composer, the cut, although locked, could have acquired ad break blanks according to network specs. Or even other changes that can still, amazingly, at times happen. Check this out. If your cut is old, demand an update from your producers immediately and check everything all over again.


Good luck!