Audition or SF for post & video work w/ Sonar?

Hey folks. I HAVE searched the forum archives...but can't find a clear answer to my question.

Do to some of the issues with using Sonar 4 (including all patch versions) for post-production and/or video related work, I'm considering a companion application. I do some live acoustic (classical) recording, so I've had my eye on a serious wave editor for some time anyway. I will choose between Adobe Audition 1.5 and Sound Forge 8.0. Whichever I choose needs to work right consistently and make video/post-production work easier & more stable than it is in Sonar 4.

Either will do what I need in the acoustic realm (noise reduction, sample level edits, basic mastering, etc.). I need something that allows me to lock things to SMPTE time, sync with video (AVI, MOV & MPEG format at least) down to frame level, navigate fluidly at frame level, and work at any professional frame rate (film or TV).

I think I can handle my multi-track audio in Sonar for now (as long as I don't mix MIDI with it...), and mix it down to two-track before doing the video/post work. But if you think that Audition's multi-track capabilities are a BIG plus for video/post, PLEASE say so. Also, I presently don't work in surround formats; and I don't know if either Audition or Sound Forge supports surround in any way. Thoughts on this would be appreciated. (Keep in mind, I do have Sonar 4 Pro. But if I'm doing post-production in another package, S4's surround capabilities might not help much.)


Does one of these two applications stand out for this type of work, or are they comparable?

I'm particularly interesting in input from tarsier and those who've contributed to our SMPTE/video threads.

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Mike

I use Audition and I think it is pretty good. I have used it to do a few quick promos (as we know that there are issues in Sonar as you mention!). It has great noise reduction tools and it has been rock solid for me. Obviously it is multitrack (and you can lock clips and work at frame level!) and has 5.1 surround. The ability to cut out things in the frequency domain (on the spectral view) is amazing and can lead to the design of some seriously crazy sounds...or the ability to cut out a cough or rustle from a classical recording.

You can import you two track master and like you say then add in your dialogue, foley and FX's (locked intime!). It has great tempo stretching (just grab the side of the clip and move!) and pitch shifting too.

Audition is not good at midi!

It may also worth looking at Samplitude if you are serious about your post work (although it does lack some of the noise reduction tools) but is a dream to work with.

Currently I do composition in Sonar, some audio editing and restoration in Audition and everything else in Samplitude. The amount of audio editing is moving into Samp now and I am saving the pennies for the high end noise reduction system to go along with it.

If you have any further questions, just shout.

All the best

Neil

Hmmmm.....I think I found a problem with Audition. It seems that it's sessions (multi-track sessions) cannot be saved or exported in any format except Audition. That means that I can't export them to other packages without first mixing down. ....not good.

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Mike

Whilst you're checking out solutions, have a good look at Vegas too. It might be overkill for your needs, and probably beyond the budget, but a combination of SF8 and Vegas 6 would cover you for just about anything. As SF integrates so well into Sonar via the tools Menu, and likewise SF and Vegas integrate well together, the combination makes for a simple yet extremely powerful solution. Highly recommended.