Fall is a confusing time for video professionals – especially those tied to Apple hardware. Cupertino maintains an aggressive development posture for their Mac operating system, therefore a significant new version drops around this time each year. Likewise, Adobe MAX hits now, which is usually when the newest application updates shift from beta into release products. I’m usually cautious and wait six months or more before updating macOS, but this year I’ve thrown caution to the wind.

First, the “why”

I’m looking into Brushed Pixel’s MuseBox, which is a Mac-based alternative to Adobe Lightroom. It’s inspired by Apple’s defunct Aperture software. Their system specs require Sonoma (macOS 14.x) or later, but all of my machines have been on Ventura (macOS 13.x). Since I missed the Sonoma update window (yes, I know I can still find downloads), I decided to take the plunge straight to Sequoia (macOS 15.x).

As the senior editor for a production company with in-house post, I manage five 2017 iMac Pros, along with my 2020 iMac and M1 MacBook Pro at home – basically six workstations involved in production, plus the laptop. I like to keep all of the systems at the same level of compatibility with apps and plugins, so if I’m going to update one, I’ll update all. Of course, I’m still cautious, so I updated one or two first – checked what worked and what didn’t – and then updated the rest.

Tread lightly

Every time Apple releases a newer version of macOS, older models and older technologies are deprecated and removed from the qualified list. In the past this has meant no more support for 32-bit systems. This time support for certain GPUs and CPUs has been dropped. I questioned the developer at Brushed Pixel why they were not supporting Ventura, since this meant cutting out a large number of potential customers. He responded that by dropping support for older, slower hardware, there’s a huge increase in minimum performance for the application. They could have supported the previous OS, but as a small development team, they had to balance development efforts against features and potential client base. In short, any time Apple drops some hardware support, the developer has to make up the difference. At that point, is it worth it?

In our shop, the workstations are all connected to two shared storage NAS systems (LumaForge and QNAP). Each iMac Pro is connected via a Sonnet Twin 10G dual-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet/Thunderbolt 3 adapter. Several of the workstations use a Focusrite Scarlett or Mackie Onyx audio interface connected via USB. The main color correction workstation adds a Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Express for video output (more in that in a moment). We are also a hybrid operation using Jump Desktop for remote access from home. The important concerns, whenever the operating system is updated, is that none of these devices become doorstops and that no functionality is lost. When you are talking about an iMac Pro that’s going on seven years in the wild, you tend to keep your fingers crossed.

The good news

Fortunately, all of the systems survived the updates. With a large OS update, you also have to go update all of the pertinent applications – for instance, everything from the Apple App Store (Pages, Numbers, Keynote, Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, Compressor, Motion, DaVinci Resolve Studio, etc) along with the various plugin packages, like FxFactory. Once you’ve done that, it’s important to go through every tab of your Mac’s system settings and make sure these are set properly. Apple adds a lot of consumer-style functions that you’ll want to turn off on an editing workstation. Then do this for every workstation, so that everything is consistent.

The biggest pucker factor for our shop was whether any issues cropped up with the Sonnet boxes or the NAS system. I’m happy to say that they were fine. Jump worked as well. But then…

The bad news, round one

Checking through the various systems, I found that the UltraStudio didn’t show up (No Device Found), even after updating the drivers via Blackmagic Design’s Desktop Video software. This is supposed to be good for Sonoma onward, but no luck, even using Apple’s suggested Terminal “hack” (more to come on that).

This bring us to another issue. The UltraStudio Express is a Thunderbolt 2 device and was connected to the iMac Pro’s USB-C port using an Apple adapter. Even though it was fine under Ventura, it was no longer working after the update. That’s in spite of the driver update and the fact that power was passing to the unit over the Thunderbolt connection.

The ultimate solution was to purchase a new Blackmagic Design UltraStudio Mini HD, which worked. It connects natively to the USB-C port and with the latest driver works fine in DaVinci Resolve. However, when I checked it in another application, like Final Cut Pro, even the new unit could not be found.

This bring us to what I call a Terminal “hack.” One of the privacy features Apple introduced with Sonoma and has continued in Sequoia is a camera indicator icon on the top menu bar. Any time you connect and use an external camera or video i/o device, an indicator icon is supposed to turn on to warn you. Whether or not this icon turns on is based on the coding of the device drivers. If that bit of code isn’t there, macOS prevents its use. Apple has publicized a support page explaining how to enable and disable this feature through the Terminal from the Recovery mode. Once I disabled this feature, then the UltraStudio worked in both Final Cut Pro and Premiere Pro, along with Resolve. It seems that Blackmagic could easily fix this, but hasn’t thus far.

The bad news, round two

Given the issues with the older Thunderbolt 2 UltraStudio, I was concerned whether or not other Thunderbolt 2 devices would even work anymore. After all, Thunderbolt 2 was originally championed by Apple, but they’ve since moved on. We have a few Thunderbolt 2 drives, including a Promise Technology Pegasus2 R8 with 32TB of raw storage. Since we have two NAS systems, it’s rarely used. But, it did see action during the Covid “work-from-home” days. Plus, clients occasionally bring in Thunderbolt 2 RAIDs. Uh, oh. Were these now kaput?

The answer is complicated. Thunderbolt 2 drives that just plug in (via the adapter) without the need for any special drivers or software continue to work. G-Drives, LaCies, and others would be examples. However, if you have a RAID system (even RAID-0) that requires software, drivers, etc, then it’s up to the developer whether or not they want to continue to support it. In our case, a simple driver update from Promise did not work. Once I installed their full software bundle, then the Pegasus2 mounted and worked on the iMac Pro.

On the other hand, one of our editors tested this on his M1 MacBook Pro to no avail. Apparently, this version of the Promise software still supports Intel Macs, but it’s not worth the development time to write software to make these legacy products work with the Apple Silicon architecture. However, Promise’s newer systems are being advertised as ready for Sequoia, which presumably also means Apple Silicon Macs. I haven’t tested that. In any case, the same editor had a similar issue at home with this OWC RAID and SoftRAID, but was able to fix that with an update.

Another friend has a G-Tech Thunderbolt 2 RAID – now under the Western Digital umbrella. The support tech informed him that an update might not be recommended, because of some known issues, although Intel machines might actually be fine. The bottom line is that they’ve tested M-series Macs, but not Intels. It’s probably not a high priority to test Intel Macs and Thunderbolt 2 RAID units, because both are legacy devices.

Whether or not a legacy device – especially one based on older technologies, like Thunderbolt 2 – will continue to work after an update to the operating system will depend on the developer. Do they have the resources and interest in writing the code to make up for changes in the operating system? And, of course, this is complicated by the fact that they have to do this for two different Apple hardware architectures – Intel and Apple Silicon. Therefore, some will continue to work and others won’t.

Adobe 2025

The last part of the equation is Adobe’s latest application releases. Adobe has been previewing many of these changes in beta form over the past months. Although the 2025 versions dropped this week, they still don’t include all of the features being touted, which are still in beta. I do not run beta software on a production workstation. I need to be sure that all workstations are running the same app versions and same plugins. This includes my iMac at home. As with the operating system update and application updates, you need to make sure the new Adobe versions work properly. Adobe does let you keep older versions on your system, but I usually go clean and only run the latest version.

After installing the applications, you want to clean up the Mac’s Dock, removing the older icons and adding back the new ones. Launch every Adobe application and check the preferences, delete the cache files, clean the cache database, rescan your plugins, and get familiar with the changes. So far, everything is working, with the exception of Film Impact’s Essential Transition Pack Lite. This is a free bundle offered through Adobe’s marketplace. Film Impact has typically been slow in getting an updated installer to Creative Cloud. As of this writing, those plugins are not compatible and won’t work in any existing or new Premiere Pro projects. I suspect that will get fixed in a couple of weeks.

Here are some items in Premiere Pro that haven’t been implemented yet. The release version has no generative extended video, clips still have square corners, and the color management is only partial. For example, source side color settings include a ton of new LUTs and camera color spaces, however the Lumetri panel for sequence clips doesn’t. It still has the limited set of LUTs from the previous version.

As an aside for Final Cut Pro users, many third-party audio plugins do not work, because the app won’t validate them. The list of plugins you can’t use in FCP grows with each update. That’s in spite of the fact that these same plugins work in all other NLEs and DAWs on the same computer, including Apple’s Logic Pro. Go figure!

Conclusion

As they say, “Your mileage may vary.” Overall, these updates have gone reasonably well, with only the need to drop $545 on a new UltraStudio Mini HD. It could be worse, I suppose. I’m happy that these older machines have continued to be viable, although that might not be the case this time next year. After all, these are the oldest Macs still on the current qualified list for Sequoia. Developer efforts will go towards the newest machines (M1 and M2 Macs) and newer technologies like Thunderbolt 3 and 4. So take it easy and do your research whenever you contemplate updating hardware and software.

Adobe Premiere Pro is a deep program with numerous features that give it an editing edge. But if you don’t take the time to learn them, you might be missing out on some great time-savers. Here’s a Baker’s Dozen list of tips to improve your editing experience.

Audio Dissolves – When you cut dialogue, it helps to smooth out the edit points between clips by adding short audio dissolves. Set the default audio dissolve length in your application Settings (Timeline section) to four frames. Hold down the command key (Mac) and swipe across all cuts on a track to select the edit points. Apply the default audio dissolve. Play through the track and shorten or lengthen any dissolve to get the perfect sounding transition between adjacent clips.

Fade Handles – Recent Premiere Pro updates added audio fade handles, similar to those found in most DAW applications. If you add an audio dissolve, it automatically becomes a fade or crossfade. Or you can go to the edge of the audio clip and drag the fade handle icon inward to create a fade. Dragging left or right changes the length of the fade. But, dragging up or down changes the curve or “power” of the fade.

FX Badges – With the addition of fade handles, Adobe also added FX Badges and Audio Type Badges to the clips on a timeline track. Click the FX Badge icon to quickly access certain control panels. Unfortunately, I’ve found that when you have relatively small track heights, it’s too easy to inadvertently click an FX Badge or Audio Type Badge when you meant to adjust a fade. When you do that your interface may reconfigure itself in order to open certain panels. My recommendation is to uncheck “FX Badges” and “Audio Type Badges” in your timeline tools settings (wrench icon).

Adjustment Layer Effects – I will add an Adjustment Layer to the topmost track of nearly every sequence sent out for final delivery. I’ll add one or two effects to that clip. The essential clip for me is a video limiter set to the SMPTE standard. This keeps all video levels legal by clipping luminance that exceeds 100 ire. In some cases, I will also apply a Lumetri effect (below the limiter) and pull down the midpoint of the curve slightly. This will adjust for any gamma differences between what I see in the Premiere Pro viewers and the QuickTime player. Although that issue has largely ben solved, I still find some sequences where it’s beneficial to make this adjustment.

Frame Rate Change – Almost every project I work on has camera original media shot at different frame rates. Most of the DSLR cameras do not have slomo record-vs-playback frame rate settings (“over cranking”), like a higher-end video camera. Therefore, you have to correct this in post. For example, if the base rate for the sequence is 23.98fps, then any clip recorded at 29.97fps will need to be slowed to 80% of its recorded speed, otherwise you’ll see dropped frames. This change yields slomo with a 1:1 frame correlation and no motion artifacts. Obviously, you would do this with clips where sync sound is not a factor. Another approach is to alter the clip’s source setting (Modify>Interpret Footage) so that the default playback is 23.98 instead of 29.97. This lets you skip the need to add a slomo effect to the clip in the timeline. However, be careful if you need to move the project between different applications, because such a change may not translate correctly to a different NLE. It can also cause problems if you work with proxy media.

Transcoding – Since I work with a mix of media formats from various camera types, I am always weighing system performance using native media versus the time to transcode to an edit-friendly format. Transcoding is often the better solution, especially for H.265 media, iPhone clips, and if you work with NAS storage. Adobe Media Encoder is your friend for this task, but other options include Apple Compressor or a free tool, like Shutter Encoder or even DaVinci Resolve. Convert to ProRes or DNxHD at a matching frame size and rate and then use that media as your “original” footage within the Premiere Pro project. Often you can batch clips overnight, so the time to transcode never impacts your overall edit schedule. The result is a much smoother edit session, especially if you are working from slower drive arrays. Although this increases the amount of media, I find this workflow to be preferable to using edit proxies, because it means I am always prepared to deliver a finished master file.

Project Templates – Every one of my Premiere Pro (or Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve) edits starts with a project template. The template includes the project folders as they are to appear on the hard drive and a blank, default Premiere Pro project. That project is already organized internally with my default bin structure. I use Digital Rebellion’s Post Haste application to generate new projects from this template. However, you can also just save this set of blank folders to your local “Movies” folder. Then when a new project comes along, copy the template folders/project to your external edit drive, update the name and start the edit.

Adobe Podcast / Dialogue Enhancement – Adobe has put a lot of effort behind AI-based speech enhancement. This includes the development of a web-based application called Adobe Podcast, which is part of a full Creative Cloud account. Podcast’s speech enhancement feature is also available within Premiere Pro and is located in the Essential Sound panel. Both require cloud-based processing, although Premiere does this in the background. I prefer to upload and process raw tracks using the web-based Podcast site and then import the newly enhanced files into Premiere Pro. This keeps the sequence simplified. Unless you have an extremely noisy track, setting the enhancement level to the 50-65% range yields natural-sounding results. Note that this tool uses AI. If something is barely (or poorly) audible, the words may come out as gibberish. This is often the case with interviews, where the interviewer’s off-mic questions become unintelligible, even while the clean interviewee’s mic audio sounds great.

Remix – This “auto-magic” music editing tool started life in Adobe’s short-lived Soundbooth application. It is now available in Premiere Pro’s Essential Sound panel, as well as in Adobe Audition. I prefer to deal with it in Audition as a first step. Bring the file into Audition, set a target duration for the track, and then Remix will create edits to increase or decrease the length of the track. You can adjust several variables to change the number and location of the edits that it makes, but otherwise it’s automatic. The length won’t be perfect, but it’s as close to that target as works musically. Bounce (export) the track out from Audition and import it into Premiere Pro. Then make additional manual edits to fitness the length. You can also edit what Remix has done back into your timeline. It’s a good tool for beds, but manual editing is still better when you really want the timing of certain musical “hits” to land at the right spot in your sequence.

Stretch – This Adobe Audition feature is good for when you need to change the length of audio, especially voice-over dialogue. For example, let’s say you have an ADR recording to replace some on-camera dialogue and it needs slight adjustments to be in better sync with the picture. Bring the new dialogue into Audition, cut it up by words or phrases, and then use Stretch on each portion of the clip to expand or contract its duration. To do this, enable real-time stretch and then hover over the top half of the clip until a stopwatch icon with directional arrows appears. Then drag the clip edge left or right. Slight adjustments by a few percent won’t generate noticeable artifacts. However, large changes, such as from :10 to :15 might introduce some artifacts. The results will be better with human, high-bit-depth recordings than AI-generated voices often used for voice-overs.

Free Video Plugins – There are many plugins and plugin packs available for Premiere Pro, including some free offerings. One that I’ve found invaluable is right inside the Creative Cloud Marketplace. That’s Film Impact’s free Essential Transition Pack Lite. It includes four transition effects (Blur to Color, Flash, Push, Roll). These drop in like native transitions (no multi-layered nests) and can be modified for creative options. Push is my go-to effect to slide in clips and lower thirds. Film Impact also offers a larger paid bundle of effects that are all optimized for Premiere Pro.

Free Audio Plugins – Premiere Pro and Audition both support a wide range of AU/VST/VST3 audio plugins. There are plenty of options on the market that go far beyond the native tools, including numerous free ones. A Patreon donation may be suggested for some and activation methods vary by developer. Some of the free audio plugins worth investigating include those from Analog Obsession, iZotope, KIT Plugins, Kiive Audio, Native Instruments, Sonimus, Tokyo Dawn Records, UAD, and Venn Audio. Any time you add third-party audio plugins, you will need to rescan and enable the audio plugins in Premiere Pro’s preferences and the audio plugin manager in Audition.

Loudness – If you deliver for broadcast, streaming, or even social media, then maintaining the proper loudness level is important. This typically means a sustained average of -23 or -24 LUFS/LKFS, depending on the standard used. Premiere Pro offers two measurement tools to make sure you are compliant with your mixes – the native Loudness Meter and Loudness Radar, developed by TC Electronics. Both include presets for various international standards. If neither of these fit your fancy, another option is Youlean’s Loudness Meter 2, available in a free or Pro (paid) version. Place any of these onto the mix bus as the last effect in the chain and then adjust mix levels until you meet the desired target specs.

What more Premiere tips? Check out Tool Tip Tuesday for Adobe Premiere Pro, now running every Tuesday on ProVideo Coalition.

ColorSlice

The concept of vector-based color correction goes back to the original chroma procs on RCA color cameras. The color spectrum is divided into six vectors, which are the divisions that you see in a vector scope display. The very first DaVinci color correction system used vector-based control knobs instead of the trackball panels we are familiar with today. Although it’s a bit more hidden, Resolve has had six vector presets available in the Color pulldown menu. This has now been expanded through the addition of the ColorSlice panel.

ColorSlice is based on seven vectors: the standard red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, plus a seventh for skin tone. The latter isn’t really an official color vector, but rather it’s an overlapping region. Color correction for skin, regardless of pigmentation, generally falls into the pink-orange color range. Although this style of correction panel is new within Resolve 19, it’s similar to the PixelTools HueShift plugin for Resolve, as well as features in other NLEs and plugins, like Avid Symphony and Color Finale for Final Cut Pro..

It might take a while for new users to get comfortable with ColorSlice, because it uses a subtractive color model. This means you are adjusting saturation and hue without altering the luminance of the shot. There are global controls plus the individual vector controls. Each vector has a center control, which determines what the midpoint for that region is. If you’re in the red vector, then center lets you zero in precisely where red is in that clip. Hue lets you shift the color. For instance, turn a red shirt into a magenta shirt. Then you have two sliders for saturation and density. As expected, saturation increases the intensity of the color for that vector. Density controls the lightness or darkness of that color.

Like any secondary color correction, the more isolated individual colors are from each other, the easier it becomes to cleanly swing a given color in more extreme directions without impacting the overall shot. For example, it’s easy to change the skin tones of a person in a shot with a greenish background and not alter the tone of that background. But if the background is in the same color and tonal range as the person’s face, such as beige, then this same level of control can’t be done using ColorSlice alone.

Film Look Creator

From Koji Advance (for FCP) to Colourlab Ai to FilmConvert Nitrate, there is no shortage of options to impart the characteristics of film. Now Resolve has added its own variation as a custom Resolve FX plugin (Studio version only). It combines both color styles and physical attributes/defects, like grain, weave, flicker, etc. What it does not offer is specific film stock emulations. However, there are Film Look Core Looks, which include Rochester and Akasaka (presumably a nod to Kodak and Fuji). When you first apply the effect the default will already display a basic look with certain features enabled. All of the presets impart some color changes to begin with. Select Clean Slate from the pulldown if you want to begin with the most neutral image and customize from there.

The controls are mostly self-explanatory, except maybe Split Tone. This creates a curve where the highlights and shadows pivot around a center point. As you push the controls, the highlights will become warmer and the shadows cooler. The Amount slider pushes the differences to be more extreme. Hue Angle changes the colors around the vectors and Pivot determines where the transition is from dark to light within that curve.

Some of the other settings, like halation, bloom, and grain may have already been enabled, based on the preset you selected. The Default 65mm will be slightly different than the Default 35mm preset, for example. While something like grain might be fine in the preset, I would definitely turn off Flicker, Gate Weave, and Film Gate until you know the look you want.

Defocus Background

Defocus Background is a new Resolve FX plugin that works in conjunction with the Magic Mask. When you first apply the effect, nothing happens, because there’s no mask yet. Let’s say you want the foreground person in focus and the background out of focus for a shallow depth-of-field effect. Using the Magic Mask tool, quickly draw squiggly lines over the person in the foreground on the first frame of the shot. Track the mask for the length of the shot to define it throughout. Now you can adjust the background defocus.

Besides a focus change, you can also change the saturation and even colorize the background. Note that you can go beyond the end stop of the blur amount and saturation sliders by mousing over the numbers and pushing the level even more extreme. Open Advanced Options to select between lens and gaussian styles of blur. The lens choice adds blur distortion characteristics of an anamorphic lens, as well as the ability to impact highlights for a bokeh effect. Remember that this is intended as a quick effect. It’s pretty convincing when you use it subtly. Resolve also includes a Depth Mask effect when more sophistication is needed.

Other

When you need to apply noise reduction to an image, there’s a new UltraNR setting under the Spatial NR section of the Motion Effects tab. It’s more processor-intensive, of course, but gives you better results. Unlike the other three modes, UltraNR includes an analyze curser/window that you can position over a target area within the shot for optimal results. This is similar to how the Neat Video noise reduction plugin works.

The last major color page addition is Node Stack Layers. I won’t spend time on it in this article, because it’s mainly a way to organize complex node trees. This is a power user feature. If you do basic color correction and you only get a few nodes deep, then it’s an advanced tool that you probably don’t need in your workflow. There are plenty of YouTube videos that cover this in detail.

Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve 19 is available for Mac, Windows, Linux, and the Apple iPad in free and paid (Studio) versions.

Blackmagic Design has been building cameras for over a decade – many with a DSLR form factor. The latest of these is the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K, launched at IBC 2023. This camera is designed as a serious filmmaking tool that offers some similarities to an ARRI Alexa Mini LF or a RED Komodo, but with change to spare. This makes it a good fit for an owner-operator.

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses an 36mm x 24mm full frame (FF) sensor with OLPF. That’s equivalent to the size of a 35mm photo frame. The maximum frame size you can record is 6048 x 4032 pixels (3:2 aspect). While cinematic settings like 6K DCI 17:9 and 6K 2.4:1 capture the full 6K width, other options capture a smaller, windowed section of the sensor. For example, if you select 1080 HD, then you get a 1920 x 1080 crop from the larger sensor area. The advantage comes when you want to record with higher frame rates. Shoot 6K Open Gate 3:2 and the maximum frame rate is 36fps. Take a 1080 slice instead and that goes up to 120fps.

This 6K full frame version offers a different feature set than its Pocket Cinema Camera  4K, 6K G2, and 6K Pro cousins. It uses a Leica format lens mount (L-mount) and records Blackmagic RAW files (no ProRes option). The camera body is built with a multi-button grip and features a tilting rear touchscreen LCD viewer with overlays. Optional Blackmagic accessories include a battery power grip and a top-mounting electronic viewfinder (EVF). 

The BMCC 6K is comparable in size to a Canon EOS-1D X and is built with a lightweight carbon fiber polycarbonate composite body. However, I wouldn’t consider this a “run & gun” type of camera. It feels solid enough, but it’s not a tank like some of the aforementioned competitors. Plus, with open vents for cooling, you’d want to be careful in inclement weather. Add a zoom lens, batteries, and accessories, and you’ve got a camera that’s at home on a Movi, tripod, dolly, or other support system. Mount it on rails and you’ll want to add a separate external viewfinder, connected via the HDMI port. There’s a built-in stereo mic along with two mini-XLR connectors with optional phantom power for external mics. My purely handheld rig of camera, power grip, and zoom lens weighed in at a manageable five pounds.

Things to know before filming

I’m a video/film editor, so camera reviews aren’t usually my thing. But, I do know my way around cameras. The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K and the associated post workflow piqued my interest. Blackmagic Design loaned me the camera, power grip with two additional batteries, and EVF for a couple of weeks. To round out the package, a friend loaned me his Lumix 24-105mm zoom lens (wide angle to short telephoto). The standard retail package includes the camera body, one battery, a 12-volt AC charger, strap, and a license for DaVinci Resolve Studio. A nice touch is that the charger comes with several interchangeable adapter plugs to fit different worldwide electrical outlets.

Each battery is good for about an hour. Attach the power grip for a total of nearly three hours of operation. Or, you can operate on AC power via the charger. The camera records to a CFexpress card (not included) or an external USB-C drive. I opted to use a Samsung T7 SSD formatted as ExFAT. Of course, attaching an external drive would require getting creative with Velcro. Since this was all loaned gear, I just taped the drive to the camera strap and set out for an afternoon of filming.

There are two compression schemes for the Blackmagic RAW codec – constant bitrate (3:1, 5:1, 8:1, 12:1) or constant quality (four levels). Constant bitrate recording yields more predictable file sizes. Constant quality means the bitrate is variable, which allows a higher bitrate (less highly compressed) for more complex images. The uncorrected camera raw file is displayed as a low contrast, log image. A video LUT can be applied to the display, EVF, and any external monitor. This LUT can also be embedded into the file or used separately as a sidecar file (more on that in a minute). A corresponding 1920 x 1080 H.264 MP4 proxy file is also recorded with every Blackmagic RAW file.

A day in the park with the BMCC 6K

I opted to keep things simple and record at a constant bitrate (3:1), filming in the “open gate” resolution (6K, full frame, 3:2 aspect ratio). My clips were filmed off-speed with a project setting of 23.98fps and an off-speed record setting of 30fps. This results in moderate slomo during playback. That’s better for handheld operation when you don’t need sync sound, because it smooths out camera movement. In addition, the Lumix lens includes optical image stabilization, which I used instead of stabilizing in post using camera metadata. The LUT was embedded into these files. Rounding out the picture is a 180-degree shutter angle for proper, filmic motion blur.

DSLR-style video rigs are often unwieldy in handheld situations. However, this is a very nice camera to operate, with numerous functions accessible via buttons and a dial on the grip. These and more are also available on the touchscreen. The optional EVF comes with several eyepiece cups for left and right-eye operation and is activated when you place your eye over it. It’s also got a diopter focus dial if you wear glasses. After a bit of familiarization, it becomes second nature to make adjustments on-the-fly for iris, focus, and color temperature. I quickly appreciated its ergonomics over a cube-style camera body for handheld shooting.

The Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K uses auto-focus, but it’s not self-adjusting. If your lens supports it, hit the focus button to automatically focus the image at the center of the frame. Reposition the guide in the touchscreen with your finger to focus on something along the edge of the frame. Likewise, there’s a button to adjust iris level, along with a manual iris control dial on the grip.

I was outside filming in shaded and sunny areas. As I moved the camera around, I would reframe or zoom, and then quickly tap the buttons with my thumb to adjust for the changes in light or focal plane. Sometimes the auto-focus will hunt for a second or two until it locks in, so doing this during an active shot isn’t a good idea. At the settings I was using, 30 minutes of content consumed a bit over 500GB of storage space. As expected, 30 minutes of continuous operation drew down the battery charge of a single battery by about 50%. Luckily, the camera didn’t exhibit any heating issues after lengthy recordings on a warm Florida day.

Blackmagic RAW in post

The Blackmagic RAW codec works natively in DaVinci Resolve, as well as with other NLEs using the Blackmagic RAW installer or third-party plug-ins. There have been changes in this codec over time, so install the latest version of Resolve or these plug-ins. The .braw file container carries camera raw video, multiple audio channels, timecode, and an embedded LUT. Long clips are continuous and not spanned like RED camera recordings. The drive or card also uses a simple file/folder structure without the tiered folders created by Sony camera recordings.

There was no need to copy or transcode files from the Samsung T7 drive. I simply plugged the drive into my iMac via USB and was ready to start editing in Resolve or Premiere Pro. The camera does record simultaneous proxy files, but I didn’t really need them. (These also don’t support the embedded LUT and require the sidecar LUT files.) The full quality 6K Blackmagic RAW media played fluidly and I could scrub through the timeline without any stuttering. (Blackmagic’s reps informed me that there’s an upcoming Blackmagic Cloud workflow, as well.)

Because I recorded embedded LUTs, the clips popped up with standard Rec 709 color applied. No need for the sidecar files. That’s helpful for fast turnaround edits. The LUT is not “baked” into the clip, so the camera raw data has been preserved. You can adjust the camera raw settings and grade the shot as needed from the raw data, with or without the LUT. For me, this worked perfectly well in both Resolve and Premiere Pro.

By default these full frame 3:2 aspect ratio clips will be pillarboxed (black bars on the sides) in a 16:9 HD or UHD 4K timeline. Changing the scaling in the inspector to “fill” will match the width of the frame, thus leaving room to move the shot up or down. “Crop” gives you a 1:1 pixel display. Then resize and reposition the shot within the full 6K resolution.

A word about stills

Although it’s not primarily a stills camera, the BMCC 6K does shoot nice 24MP (6K 3:2) stills in the Blackmagic RAW codec (no option for JPEG, TIFF, etc). You can fire off a still while you are recording a motion shot. Or you can change your settings to photography-based nomenclature (such as shutter speed versus shutter angle) and shoot a session of photos.

Unfortunately, the common photo apps like Photoshop don’t support the .braw codec. The workaround is to either stay completely within DaVinci Resolve or use it only as a camera raw processing tool. I simply created a 6K 3:2 timeline with one frame edits and the embedded LUT. Then I batch-exported the sequence as individual clips at native resolution in a TIFF format. This literally took a few minutes and then the stills were ready to bring into any common photo app for further work.

Final thoughts

I’ve only touched on the highlights, but there are many more features. You can shoot with anamorphic lenses, as well as in a vertical mode. There’s a timelapse mode. Work with the built-in LUTs or import your own custom LUTs. There’s a lot of visual information that can be displayed on the viewer and EVF, including guides, false color, focus peaking, and more. You can connect to a network (using a USB-C to ethernet adapter), as well as control the camera wirelessly through Bluetooth with the Blackmagic Camera Control app, as well as other third-party apps, like BlueConnect or Bluetooth+ on an iPhone or iPad. Network connection is useful if you want to transfer files directly from the camera to other storage.

Suffice it to say that the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K offers a lot of value with a great-looking, natural image. My total package (camera, lens, accessories, SSD, batteries) would run you at or under $5,000. If anything, with an hour of record time per battery, I’d probably skip the battery power grip and just swap out batteries as needed. The power grip also didn’t feel quite as robust to me as the camera body itself.

What the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K does well may not be the perfect fit for some. It’s not an all-in-one camera. But if you compete for high-end work, then its image compares well to the big name cameras, like ARRI, RED, Canon, and Sony. From my point of view as an editor and colorist, I’m happy that the files are as graceful to work with and look good to boot. Pair the camera with the right lenses and you’ve got a winning combination.

Read another opinion on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera 6K here on ProVideo Coalition. 

Before Blackmagic Design acquired the assets, Fairlight was one of the originators of the digital audio workstation. Thanks to its modern integration within DaVinci Resolve, Fairlight has added pro-level audio performance to this all-in-one application. When it comes to recording and mixing real musicians, as well as all levels of audio-for-film/video, Fairlight brings needed competition to the market. There are audio restoration tools, a built-in sound effects library, and advanced features including Dolby Atmos.

As a mixing application, Fairlight uses the traditional track/mixer/meter bridge configuration. Each track has a corresponding channel strip complete with fader, EQ, and gate/compressor/limiter, plus inserts for other plugin effects. The user interface is optimized for single and multi-display arrangements, but also accommodates Fairlight control surfaces with their own integrated screens.

Blackmagic Design offers a broad ecosystem of native hardware accessories to expand the system, similar to those offered by Avid for Pro Tools. This includes several console/control surface options, an Audio Editor panel, and PCIe cards for multi-channel i/o and audio effects acceleration. Put all of this in play and, according to Blackmagic Design, the system is capable of realtime playback with effects for up to 2,000 tracks.

The analog vibe

This makes Fairlight a nice digital audio workstation, with emphasis on the word digital. What it lacks is the harmonic color and character typical of native analog-style plug-ins available in Pro Tools, Luna, Logic Pro, and other DAWs. Furthermore, the presets are focused on film and TV mixing, but not music. For example, there is no suggested “kick drum” preset for the compressor. If you mix music in Fairlight and want those analog benefits, then that’s where third-party plugin effects enter the picture.

Typical “vintage” plugins emulate classic British and American consoles and outboard equipment from the 1970s. The goal is to duplicate the character of the hardware, such as their unique EQ curves, which would be hard to derive with most digital tools. But, the actual sonic character of these plugins is highly dependent on what was used to model the software, which is usually something you wouldn’t know as the user.

KIT Plugins Blackbird Bundle

KIT Plugins, which is a relatively new plugin developer based in Nashville, made their Blackbird Bundle available to me for this review. Blackbird Studio, one of the premier music studios in town, owns a huge collection of vintage gear, including iconic Neve and API consoles. Some of this hardware was used by KIT Plugins to model their software products. Since Blackbird Studio has its name on these products, nothing gets out the door until studio founder/mixer John McBride has put his stamp of approval on it. As a result, the software tools in the Blackbird-branded plugins match the sound and character of the actual hardware at Blackbird Studio.

The Blackbird Bundle includes six analog-style EQs as part of four plugin effects. Licensing is via a free iLok account. Through the iLok application, you can activate any of these licenses to the iLok Cloud or to an iLok USB dongle (generation 2 or 3). Dongles are popular with freelance mixers, because they are transportable between gigs ($45 for USB-A and $55 for USB-C at Sweetwater). If you opt for cloud activation (free), then you’ll need a working internet connection during your session. Activation to the local computer isn’t supported.

Applying the American and British sound

KIT Plugins’ BB A5 Channel Strip emulates classic API (Automated Processes, Inc) hardware from the API 500 modular series for that “American” sound. This plugin includes a 3-band (55A), a 4-band (55L), and a 10-band graphic (56L) EQ. The key to the character of the 3-band and 4-band EQs is an API innovation called “Proportional Q.” The filter bandwidth stays wide when the gain change is small. It narrows and becomes more surgical as the setting is increased in either direction. KIT Plugins duplicated this feature, which isn’t always the case with other API emulations on the market. Like the hardware, these EQs use stepped frequency values to quickly dial in a sound. However, the gain controls can be switched between stepped or variable.

The BB A5 interface sports a modern look. Frequency and level knobs are separate and not concentric like on the hardware. Separation makes more sense with mouse control, while concentric works when you can actually place fingers on a physical knob. There are some faux scratches on these interfaces to evoke “vintage.” Fortunately the designers didn’t go overboard with those.

The two Neve emulations (BB N73 and BB N105) give you the classic “British” sound. N105 is based on Blackbird’s highly modified Neve 8078 console. The Neve emulations look more faithful to the hardware with concentric knobs. The N73 uses the familiar 1073 design, but adds an output section modeled after the output bus of Blackbird’s Neve 8058 console. When you enable this function, it adds subtle additional harmonics and compression, depending on how hard you drive it. This master bus feature is also on the BB A5.

The last in this bundle is the MO-Q, which is based on a boutique equalizer built by the Motown engineers. McBride owns one of these in his personal collection, which was the basis for KIT’s modeling. It features seven fixed bands at musical frequencies.

On the tech side, these plugins are built with KIT’s proprietary Full Range Modeling that has been sampled from 10 Hz to 96 kHz. There’s oversampling and a ton of presets. The API and Neve models include auto gain and continuous gain. There’s a a function called Analog Hum, which applies 60 Hz (approx.) noise to the signal with three level settings. It remains barely audible even at the full settings with the speaker volume cranked. The term “Hum” has a negative connotation, so don’t let that scare you. I didn’t really hear what would be considered traditional hum, but rather very subtle white noise. I think it helps some mixes, but regardless, its use is optional.

The Fairlight mix

I imported 20 source tracks from a studio recording session into DaVinci Resolve. The tracks included a female singer, background vocals, and the band. Each channel got an instance of BB A5, which effectively turned the Fairlight mixer into a virtual API console. Pre-amp and EQ control was handled through the Blackbird effect. The channels were routed to the stereo output bus without any additional instrument grouping/busing.

These plugins come with an extensive array of instrument presets from KIT, Blackbird, and several contributing mix engineers. While I normally treat presets as merely a suggestion or starting point, I decided to leave these pretty much the way they were set up. Pull up a different preset for each track – the kick drum, snare drum, vocals, etc. After some minor tweaking, plus level and panning adjustments, the mix was quickly in a really good place. Granted, it still needed some automation for punch here and there, but the mix was already presentable without it. The only other effects used in this mix were the native Fairlight compressor on the kick drum track, as well as the BB N73 and the native compressor/limiter on the stereo output.

One cool feature that’s usually not seen in other plugins is the Link function. If you have multiple instances of these plugins in the mix – as I did by placing BB A5 on each channel – then you can link the oversampling status, UI size, and hum setting. With link enabled, the setting for one instance will then be matched on all the others. That’s really useful when setting up 20 instances of the same plugin across all channels.

Some could argue that the difference between Fairlight’s native digital effects and using analog emulation is too subtle to worry about. You may or may not agree. But, using plugins like those in the Blackbird Bundle also let you get to a mix more quickly and reduce the amount of time lost to the indecision often caused by a plethora of digital options.

These benefits also apply to any film/TV/social media project. That’s why editors using DaVinci Resolve owe it to themselves to get comfortable with the Fairlight page. Once your project extends past a few tracks, then you’ll get a better mix using Fairlight than simply staying in the Edit page. Plugins, whether native Fairlight or third-party analog emulations, will make your mix sound more polished. I’ve used a number of brands and those in KIT’s Blackbird Bundle are high-quality and easy to use. Given the Grammy-winning pedigree behind the software, it’s a great way to add analog mojo to your digital mix.

Photos courtesy of Blackmagic Design and Blackbird Studio.

Audio mixing is a second thought for many editors. On projects with a higher budget, the final mix is often sent out-of-house or across the hall to an audio mixer or studio. But for many editors delivering local commercials, corporate marketing presentations, web videos, or social media content, the final mix comes down to what they do within their editing application. So it helps to understand the basics of mixing and mastering.

Modern audio delivery specs are designed to comply with averaged (integrated) loudness standards measured in LUFS (loudness units full scale). Those vary from one service, platform, or network to the next. A common rule-of-thumb is -14 LUFS for most web-based streamers and -23 LUFS for broadcast. Personally, I stick to the -23 average even for web video deliveries, since -14 is intended for commercial music.

Most NLE software today includes some type of metering plug-in that can measure LUFS values. I’ll refer to Premiere Pro for much of this discussion, however the tools and methods will apply to most audio and video editing applications. In Premiere, you can measure LUFS with either the loudness meter or Radar meter plugins. If you prefer VU meters, then the free plug-in from TBProAudio is a solid choice.

The last step in any mix is the mastering stage. In its simplest form this boils down to compression and limiting. This is just as necessary with any video as it is with a hit record. In the case of Premiere Pro, once you have the mix nicely balanced, then move to the mix track in the track mixer panel and apply these effects. For me, that’s usually a multiband compressor, a limiter, and the loudness meter – in that order.

Compressors are designed to constrain the dynamic range of your mix. They commonly have four main adjustment values: attack (how quickly it reacts), release (how soon it lets go of the signal), threshold (the dB value at which the compressor kicks in), and ratio (the change in output above the threshold). A ratio of 4:1 means that with 4 dB of input above the threshold, you’ll get 1 dB out. Depending on the hardware unit or software plug-in, there may also be input, output, and make-up gain controls. The reason to add a limiter plug-in after the compressor in Premiere Pro (or any other application) is to catch any transients or peaks that make it through the compressor.

There are many great compressor plug-ins, but the downside is that a single-band compressor will react to the entire signal. If you used a piece of driving music, then some frequency ranges will trigger the compressor more than others. For instance, a driving bass guitar or kick drum. Depending on the settings, this can cause the compressor to audibly pump more than you wanted. If you use a multiband compressor instead of a simpler, single-band compressor, then you can split the signal into several frequency ranges and control each separately.

FabFilter Pro-MB Multiband Compressor

Adobe includes a decent set of native compressors and limiters. But, they are not as versatile as many third-party products on the market. When it comes to other developers, I’m a big fan of FabFilter Software Instruments. They make a range of audio plug-ins, which sound great and feature intuitive, easy-to-use interfaces. VST, VST3, Audio Units, AAX Native, and AudioSuite formats (both 64-bit and 32-bit) can be installed. So they work in all of the standard NLE or DAW applications.

In this scenario, the first plug-in to add onto the mix track (or “2-bus” in audio parlance) would be the FabFilter Pro-MB multiband compressor. The Pro-MB functions like a combination of an EQ, a compressor, and an expander. You can split the signal from one to six adjustable bands and each can be soloed or muted. The crossover points between bands can be snapped to each other, or split to work as independent ranges. Each crossover slope can be adjusted. Since extreme changes at the crossovers can introduce phase anomalies, Pro-MB includes three phase modes – linear, minimal, and dynamic (default).

The Pro-MB offers four compression modes: upward and downward compression, plus upward and downward expansion. Compression squeezes a larger range of dynamics into a smaller space. If you compress with a negative range value then the compressed signal is lowered in volume. This is the way you typically see a compressor work. Upward compression (a positive range value) adds gain to the compressed section pushing the level up. The expansion mode takes a smaller dynamic range and expands it. If you use a negative range, the expanded section will be lowered, thus increasing the perceived dynamics around the threshold. A positive value will add gain if the signal drops below the threshold.

This may sound rather complex if you don’t mix audio every day, but it’s really quite intuitive, thanks to the graphical display and built-in analyzer. The Pro-MB comes with a healthy set of presets and you can start out with a simplified approach. In fact, even some mastering engineers stick to just three bands.

Like an EQ, you can isolate frequencies and do a filter sweep to hone in on the range you’d like to adjust. Solo a band and grab the the dot at the center of that region. Move it up or down (changes the output gain), left or right (changes the frequency range), while listening to the audio. Then, dial in the width of the band and lower the dot to attenuate that frequency range. Doing this with multiple bands enables you to sculpt your mix for the best possible results.

Of course, there’s plenty more that you can dive into, but these features are of more interest to mixers working on music projects. For example, expand the control panel by clicking the expert tab to reveal mid/side controls. You can also use Pro-MB on individual tracks, such as dialogue. Let’s say you need to get rid of some low-end in a voice-over recording. Apply the plug-in to that track. Set it for just a single band, extend the left boundary to the edge and now this band gives you a shelf control. Adjust your settings to compress and attenuate the low frequencies. As you can see, the Pro-MB can be a Swiss Army Knife for many audio situations.

FabFilter Pro-L2 Limiter 

Back to the mix bus. The last processing step is to add a limiter. My preferred tool is the FabFilter Pro-L2. This is intended to catch peaks that get through the compression step. It’s also where you would usually make final level changes. The Pro-L2 includes built-in metering, so you can easily see if you are meeting the target LUFS range. Set it to true peak detection, set your maximum output, and then adjust the gain and attack/release values. There are several style modes, which alter the roll-off as the signal approaches the point when you hit the limit. The safe mode is best in a broadcast environment. The analyzer displays how the signal is being limited.

Both of these plug-ins sound great, even with heavy adjustments. They also include lookahead and oversampling. Most of the time you won’t hear much difference. Depending the complexity of the mix and the horsepower of your computer, heavy oversampling can impact performance. I’m running a 2020 iMac and haven’t experienced any issues whatsoever.

Neither of these tools is a substitute for correctly mixing your clips and tracks. The intent is just to sculpt the final sound. When working a mix you’ll want the right processing balance between compression and limiting. So it’s best to do the bulk with Pro-MB and then stick to final tweaks with Pro-L2.

One last thought. If you need to hand off your project files to a client or another editor, then plug-in compatibility might be of concern. My recommended solution is simply to bounce out a WAV or AIF file of the mix with this processing applied. Import that file back into your project. Copy the sequence, strip off all audio and place the mix file back onto track one. Now you have a compatible deliverable that includes your final mix.

BorisFX didn’t have a dedicated booth at NAB 2023, but they did have an important NAB announcement – namely the acquisition of plug-in developer CrumplePop and their CrumplePop. Audio isn’t completely new for BorisFX (for instance, their Beat Reactor effect). However, this move adds a full-blown set of AI-based audio restoration tools targeted towards video editors as part of their creative suites.

CrumplePop has been developing video plug-ins, Motion templates, and more recently, audio plug-ins for about a dozen years. As part of the BorisFX brand, the developers will focus on the AI-based audio tools going forward. Legacy plug-ins will continue to work, but will no longer be sold, developed, or supported with updates.

The current CrumplePop bundle includes six restoration filters (AudioDenoise, WindRemover, PopRemover, RustleRemover, TrafficRemover, ClipRemover), two finishing filters (Levelmatic,  EchoRemover), and a standalone audio application (SoundApp). You get all of these when you install the bundle, along with a license management application.

These plug-ins are only sold as the complete bundle, much like BorisFX’s Continuum and Sapphire products. You can start with the free Starter plan, in which case SoundApp, PopRemover, and RustleRemover are fully licensed. The other filters also install, but run in a trial mode. They are fully functional, but have an audible watermark every few seconds. If you want the complete set, then purchase the Pro bundle as a subscription ($23/mo. billed annually) or as a perpetual license ($599).

Getting started

Once everything is authorized through the CrumplePop licensing application, all watermarks are removed. You do have to stay signed into this app in order for those plug-ins to remain authorized on that computer. However, you can operate offline without an internet connection after they have been activated. This activation process will likely change in the future to be in line with the other BorisFX products.

There are Windows and macOS installers, which add AU and/or VST plug-ins to your system. These plug-ins run natively on Apple Silicon Macs, but the SoundApp application will operate under Rosetta2. Nearly all of the usual NLEs and DAWs are supported, with the exception of Avid Media Composer and Pro Tools, since there are no AAX versions of these plug-ins, yet. However, according to BorisFX, Avid support is in the works.

SoundApp is an alternate way to process audio tracks in need of repair. It is also useful for Avid users who don’t have any other NLE or DAW software. This application’s window provides controls for each of the functions of the bundle. Import a file. Select one or more filters to use. Adjust the strength of restoration for each and then export a new, processed file.

A simplified interface design

The individual plug-ins use a “one knob” interface design. There’s a single knob in the center for the strength, plus an output level slider on the side. These plugins (except EchoRemover, Levelmatic, and ClipRemover) include low, mid, and high frequency range knobs so that you can dial in the amount of processing for each of these three bands. In the EchoRemover plug-in, these three knobs control dryness, body, and tone.

When you first apply a plug-in and open it, helpful information overlays appear for all of the controls. Click anywhere in the interface to clear them. Click the small information (“i”) icon just under the main control knob and they reappear. Unfortunately, the plug-in windows do not scale. When you resize the plug-in window, the interface boundaries enlarge, but the controls do not scale accordingly.

What about artificial intelligence?

Many developers are tossing around artificial intelligence and machine learning as part of their marketing. I asked BorisFX to enlighten me on the specifics of the AI-based processing used in these audio filters. They replied, “AI models are used by CrumplePop filters to generate clean versions of the audio signals. The original noisy samples of audio tracks are fed into the model and the clean version of the same audio is generated. We believe AI is uniquely suited to audio restoration where traditional DSP techniques require more audio engineering skills and editing efforts.”

In other words, modeling is used to identify unwanted sounds. Your tracks are compared and, based on this modeling, those sounds are removed. In actual practice, this explains why there are several specific filters to cover sounds like wind or traffic, rather than one, all-encompassing noise reduction tool. When you have several offending sounds in a track, you may need to apply several of these filters to catch all of the unwanted sounds.

How does it sound?

I’ve been testing these plug-ins on a range of real-world tracks and have been very impressed. I’m pleasantly surprised that they run very smoothly on my 2020 Intel iMac. The performance, especially in terms of latency, seems greatly improved over their legacy versions on the same iMac. The operation of each couldn’t be simpler. Apply the effect, open the interface, and dial in the percentage based on what you hear. No noise print to capture and everything works in real-time without rendering.

One interesting test was using the EchoRemover. I had a track recorded in a corporate conference room with a lot of reverberation, thanks to the hard walls in the room. I had used Resolve’s new Voice Isolation feature, which worked well. However, CrumplePop EchoRemover sounded better. It not only removed the bounce from the room, but it also seemed to enhance the voice quality and bring it more forward. That’s in part due to the three lower controls (dryness, body, tone), which enhance the sound of this filter.

Let me caution readers that there is no single set of audio repair/restoration plug-ins that is a universal panacea. Sometimes one brand will sound better on one clip and other times it will be a different brand. I used AudioDenoise on an outdoor clip with an on-camera boat reviewer. There were some slight wave, wind, and motor noises. The plug-in did an excellent job. However, on closer inspection, I noticed that soft sounds at the end of sentences (s, t, and sh sounds) were sometimes suppressed – often when a breath followed. For example, the word “lounge” became “loun” at the end of a sentence. These same sounds were fine when they appeared within the sentence. In any case, it was easy to fix by cutting back the original few frames. It’s possible this may not have happened had I used the WindRemover plug-in instead or if a different host had been talking.

The CrumplePop suite is a toolkit designed for video editors and most of the effects appear to be modeled around voice. If I apply WindRemover to a clip that only includes wind noise, it will not be completely removed. On the other hand, if the wind noise is behind someone speaking, then it will largely be eliminated.

Is this toolkit for you?

These tools cover a lot of bases, but I was surprised that there were no filters for certain common corrections, such as to de-ess (soften sibilance), de-breath (remove breaths), de-click (remove mouth clicks and sounds), or de-hum (remove constant-frequency electrical hum). And naturally, nothing that’s specific to music production, like removing the string squeaks from acoustic guitar tracks. Nevertheless, according to BorisFX, “We are working on a very aggressive roadmap for future filters. The current set is just the beginning. Again, similar to Continuum and Sapphire, more filters will be added to the CrumplePop set within the same price structure.”

Even if you already own or subscribe to other audio repair/restoration plug-ins, the BorisFX CrumplePop bundle is worth checking out. The potential for bad audio exists on every production an editor faces. So it never hurts to be able to offer multiple options to solve the problem. Test your clips in the trial mode and you just might be hooked.

When it comes to audio plug-ins, video editors have different needs than audio mixers. Sure, you need EQ, compression, and limiting, but the plug-ins you reach for most often revolve around the clean-up and enhancement of dialogue.

There are a number of third-party plug-in solutions, which augment the built-in enhancement features of most editing applications. However, solutions like the full version of iZotope RX can be pricey, especially for upgrades. Accusonus, another alternative, has left the plug-in business. The tools in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro, and DaVinci Resolve vary in effectiveness; however, they lack comprehensive user control, often presenting only an amount slider. So there’s room for innovation.

A friend recently pointed me to Acon Digital’s Restoration Suite 2. Acon Digital is a Norwegian software developer that offers a portfolio of audio plug-ins. The Restoration Suite includes four professional-grade plug-ins: DeNoise 2, DeHum 2, DeClick 2, and DeClip 2. Their larger Acoustica application (available in Standard and Premium versions) adds a few more repair tools. Yet, for most video editors Restoration Suite 2 fits the bill.

Version 2 was introduced in 2019 and added 64-bit OS support, improved algorithms, and Mid/Side processing. Acon Digital’s software supports Windows and macOS and runs natively on Apple Silicon, as well as Intel processors. The plug-ins install AU, AAX, VST, and VST3 versions.

DeNoise 2

Of the four plug-ins that constitute Restoration Suite 2, DeNoise 2 provides the most versatility. It’s designed to remove background noise, like wind or waves hitting the beach, but there are additional factory presets for voice and music. You can run it adaptively or with a noise profile (noise print). Adaptive processing can tackle broadband or combined noise. The difference is that combined processing takes into account noise with a tonal quality, like hum. Using the combined mode will affect the voice to a greater degree.

The noise profile works in a similar fashion to other tools. Run a piece of the audio that only has background noise for a few seconds and click Learn. Then click the “power” icon to apply that noise profile. According to Acon Digital, “Version 2 introduces the novel dynamic noise profiles that help reducing noise that varies randomly over time, such as wind noise or rustle from lavaliere microphones. Where the earlier versions merely captured a static noise print with time-constant noise levels, the dynamic noise profiles capture statistics from the noise to be reduced. The noise suppression algorithm then estimates the most suitable noise threshold curve for the noisy input signal using the measured statistics.”

Unlike most other noise reduction plug-ins, the DeNoise 2 interface includes controls for reduction, knee, attenuation, and reaction time. The Adaptation Time slider sets how long before the the plug-in responds to changes in the noise floor. A shorter time means that processing kicks in more quickly, but it can affect the desired signal.

A histogram dynamically displays the audio signal versus the processing curve. Click Emphasis and you now have control at multiple frequency ranges. Let’s say you want to remove background wind noise. That’s usually a higher frequency noise. Simply drag down that control point and adjust the curve. You can then raise the other control points if you like. While sounds like wind noise work well in the adaptive mode, I got the best result setting a noise profile and using Emphasis to tweak the control points. Finally, there’s a Mid/Side mode if you are working with stereo source material.

DeClick 2

DeClick filters are commonly used to remove clicks, scratches, and pops in recordings. This is typical with any music tracks that come from an older vinyl LP. Another source of clicks can be from digital recordings. This filter can be used to minimize them if minor, but if the audio is completely trashed, you are out of luck. However, DeClick 2 has other uses, such as the reduction of plosives – a voice-over announcer popping “p” consonants. There are separate factory preset groups of 78 RPM, Vinyl, and Voice. The later group includes presets for reducing mouth clicks and for plosives. So DeClick 2 covers more audio artifacts than the name might imply.

DeClip 2

This plug-in is designed to restore distorted, clipped recordings, such as an over-driven voice recording. DeClip 2 replaces distorted peaks with an estimate of the proper signal level. The histogram displays the signal with a positive and negative threshold slider.

The first step is to adjust the input gain so the signal is loud enough for the filter to make a proper correction. But, make sure some headroom is left. Pick the worst-sounding section and click Detect for an automatic selection. Then manually tweak the two threshold sliders to fine-tune the sound. Adjust the output gain if needed. This filter did a great job for me in recovering the transients in my test clips, thus repairing otherwise distorted voice recordings.

DeHum 2

I didn’t have a real-world dialogue source with hum to test this last plug-in. Instead, I created my own, taking a VO track, mixing in 60Hz hum, and bouncing that out as my test clip. DeHum 2 completely removed the embedded hum without distorting the voice. There’s a preset for 50Hz and 60Hz sources, along with a variable frequency control. You can manually dial in the frequency and sensitivity or click the “target” icon to set the profile automatically. The hum in my test clip turned out to be 59.97 instead of a true 60Hz.

The number of harmonics can be selected, should the offending hum have those. This is displayed on the histogram. There are two modes selected by toggling the Notch Filter button. The Notch Filter mode reduces CPU load, but can impact the voice more. When it’s disabled, DeHum 2 subtracts a hum signal created through a re-synthesis technique in order to minimize signal distortions.

Conclusion

Acon Digital has developed a very useful audio enhancement/repair toolkit for video editors. It’s also handy for anyone producing podcasts – especially those recording interviews via Zoom. These four plug-ins are easy to set and adjust and give you plenty of control. Three include a solo function to monitor the noise being removed. In addition to the factory presets, you can save your own – tailored to your particular audio needs.

For complex challenges, stack more than a single instance of these filters onto a clip. For instance, you might apply DeClick 2 (remove plosives) plus DeNoise 2 (remove background noise) to the same on-camera presenter audio for the cleanest results. Each filter can tackle a range of similar audio artifacts.

When you compare that to competing products, others might require you to buy several plug-ins to tackle the same set of conditions. For instance, you might have to purchase separate filters for plosive removal and mouth clicks, rather than one filter that’s able to perform either task. With only four individual plug-ins contained in the Restoration Suite 2 bundle, you might mistakenly think another bundle with more plug-ins is also more comprehensive. That’s definitely not the case here.

Along with Acon Digital’s Restoration Suite 2, Acoustica, and a separate Mastering Suite, the individual plug-in products also include a handy, free reverb filter (Verberate Basic). You may run the software on as many computers as you personally own and have control of. All of the plug-ins that I tested worked well in the Apple and Adobe DAWs and NLEs that I use. Be sure to check out a trial version first if you have any questions about your particular kit.

Last year Blackmagic Design announced a new line of network storage products along with Blackmagic Cloud. The storage products include Blackmagic Cloud Store (a high-performance RAID-5 array), Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini 8TB (a RAID-0 storage solution), and Blackmagic Cloud Pod (an appliance to turn any USB-C drive into network storage). I reviewed the Blackmagic Cloud Store Mini in August. Now its big brother, Blackmagic Cloud Store, is finally shipping, along with lower prices.

Good things in small packages

Blackmagic Cloud Store comes in three sizes: 20TB ($7,595 USD), 80TB ($22,995 USD), and 320TB (built to order). Each uses the same canister-style enclosure as the company’s eGPU. It features dual power supplies and fast, quiet M.2 SSD memory cards, which are installed around a central core. You can literally leave it on your desk and hardly hear the fans running. Cloud Store runs Blackmagic OS and applies wear leveling, so each M.2 card won’t see excessive data writes. Every sixth M.2 card is used for RAID-5 parity/data protection. The quoted capacity is a net figure, meaning you actually have the full 20TB, 80TB, or 320TB of useable storage.

In the unlikely case of hardware issues, such an M.2 SSD card going down, you would need to contact Blackmagic Design support. Cloud Store is not designed for end-user repair. However, it would be easy to repair by an authorized service engineer, even though it’s not a rack mount design. Various internal assemblies can be unbolted from the core chassis and replaced.

For editors and colorists working with shared media, there’s a built-in 10G switch with four 10G high-speed (10Gb/s) ethernet ports. Connect an external network switch to one of these if you need high-speed access to the array from more than four computers. Next, there are two USB-C and two standard 1G ethernet ports, which can be used to connect additional users at slower ethernet speeds.

The intended use for the USB ports is to connect external drives for ingest and back-up. An ethernet cable from your internet modem or switch to the 1G ports is needed for Dropbox and Google Drive syncing (more on that in a moment). There is also an HDMI port for a monitor used to display real-time data, such as storage activity, drive health, and connected users. Functions like port aggregation of the 10G switch and the USB-C media I/O have not yet been enabled.

In theory, all eight data ports could be used to connect users, if you forgo syncing and the media I/O function. Although the M.2 SSD array is fast, the network connections will determine the true speed. For example, the 1G and USB-C ports yield write/read speeds of around 200-300MB/s, whereas the 10G ports perform in the 800-1,100 MB/s range.

Setting up a shared network

Download the Blackmagic Cloud Store set-up application to your computer. Run the installer for the set-up app, a user guide PDF, and the standalone Proxy Generator application. Review the network set-up section of the user guide. You can connect a device without using the application, but you’ll need it to set up media sharing over the internet. Bring your own standard 3-prong AC power cord for the unit, too.

I created a small workgroup by connecting the Blackmagic Cloud Store to my 2020 27″ iMac and my 2021 14″ M1 Max MacBook Pro. The iMac has a 10G port and was directly connected. The MacBook Pro was connected using a Sonnet Solo 10G Thunderbolt-to-10G ethernet adapter. If you use a bus-powered adapter like the Sonnet with a laptop, make sure you keep the laptop on AC power. Otherwise, the storage volume will tend to unmount. As with most NAS systems, each time you start the computer, you’ll need to manually mount the storage volume again within the OS.

The Cloud Store device is largely plug-and-play using standard network protocols built into the computer’s operating system. The iMac connected right away, but, I had to change the IP address for the MacBook Pro within its preferences. Other than that minor hiccup, setting up Blackmagic Cloud Store was the easiest installation that I’ve ever done with any NAS system.

If you are using Blackmagic Cloud Store on-premises in a workgroup, then you are set to go. Blackmagic Design intended this to be an easy system to administer. Therefore, you cannot subdivide it into different virtual volumes nor assign different levels of user permissions. The Blackmagic Cloud Store drive is mounted as a single drive volume on your desktop and shared media is accessible on all systems. This product is not solely built for DaVinci Resolve users. Apple Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere Pro library/project files also work fine when stored on the Cloud Store volume.

Syncing remote media

Blackmagic Design has factored in remote workflows, which is where Dropbox and Google Drive come in. Connect an ethernet cable for an internet feed to one of the 1G ports on the Blackmagic Cloud Store. There’s a tab in the Cloud Store set-up application for Dropbox or Google Drive. Now assign the Cloud Store volume as the location for your Dropbox or Google Drive folder. You can the opt to share only proxy media or full-res files and proxies. Proxy media files can be generated by DaVinci Resolve itself or using the Proxy Generator application.

Editors with whom you collaborate remotely will have access to the media thanks to Dropbox or Google Drive syncing. The remote editors don’t need Blackmagic Cloud Store units for this to work and can certainly work with other storage solutions. There are a variety of possible workflows, depending on whether it’s an editor sharing files with a colorist or an editor working with assistants on a feature film.

Dropbox and Google Drive syncing allows for an incremental workflow. For example, many productions are filmed over several days. As new media is added to the primary Blackmagic Cloud Store volume, syncing can happen automatically for all remote collaborators. Remember that the Dropbox and Google Drive options are based on your account and not Blackmagic Design. So you may incur charges based on your plan with these companies.

I personally have reservations about leaving your storage directly connected to the internet. As many NAS owners who had systems exposed to the internet can attest, getting hacked and having your media held for ransom is a very real risk. So take precautions – you’ve been warned.

Blackmagic Cloud and DaVinci Resolve

Blackmagic Design has specifically tailored the workflow for DaVinci Resolve, which works with a database (library) containing multiple projects. There are three types of databases: local (stored on your computer), server (stored on a separate networked computer), or cloud, i.e. the Blackmagic Cloud server. Anyone can sign up at the Blackmagic Design website to get their own free Cloud account. If you decide to add a library to Blackmagic Cloud, then the charge is $5 per month, per library. Of course, a single library can contain multiple projects.

In a typical Blackmagic Cloud scenario, the main editor adds a Resolve library to Cloud and creates the active Resolve project there. When its time to share the project with other editors/VFX artists/colorists, turn on multi-user collaboration within Resolve. The library owner sends an invitation to the email address tied to the remote user’s account. The second editor has already received the media via a shipped drive or synced over the internet. That editor logs into their Blackmagic Cloud account to gain access to the library and that project. Open the project, relink the media, and it’s off to the races.

The first person to open a sequence has write access to that sequence. Everyone else has read-only access to the open sequence, but write access to any others that they open. If a change is made to a writeable sequence and saved, the library on Blackmagic Cloud is updated. This is relatively fast, but not as instant as if the database were local. Anyone viewing the sequence in a read-only mode is prompted to refresh the sequence. Both Resolve Studio and Resolve (the free App Store version) worked fine.

Who this is for?

There are three potential use cases for Blackmagic Cloud Store. You could simply use it as a local drive attached to one computer. This wouldn’t be the best solution, because Thunderbolt arrays are faster and cheaper. The second use case is the small workgroup under one roof. For example, this could be a small post house or a team of editors cutting a film. Simply connect four computers to the Blackmagic Cloud Store unit and now everyone can share media and project files.

The final use case embraces a remote workflow. One or more users are connected to a Blackmagic Cloud Store at one location. They can then share media and Resolve projects using the built-in syncing and Blackmagic Cloud. For example, you might be a great editor, but not the best colorist. Using this workflow, you could share your project remotely with an experienced colorist and work together through a sequence interactively. Or it’s a feature film and several editors, each working remotely, is editing a different reel of the same film.

There’s plenty of competition in the market for shared, networked storage solutions. Most require a certain level of IT knowledge to set up and administer. Blackmagic Cloud Store is a deceptively simple, yet powerful, storage device that can fit many operational models. It’s a high-performance drive array that can sit quietly on your desktop without the need for rack space or extra cooling. Couple it with a Blackmagic Cloud account and you have one of the simplest way to collaborate across town or across the country.

Images courtesy of Blackmagic Design

Nearly all Fairlight features and effects are the same in both Resolve versions, with the exception of ATMOS and spatial audio mixing/monitoring, which requires the Studio version. If your only interest is stereo recording and mixing, then Resolve is one of the only, truly free DAWs on the market. No significant feature restrictions and no Blackmagic hardware required. Plus, it works in Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Along with this software development, Blackmagic Design expanded the ecosystem of companion Fairlight hardware products. These include an accelerator card, a modular chassis, control surfaces, controllers, and an audio interface. The Fairlight page also supports Blackmagic’s two editor keyboards. You can run Fairlight without any external hardware, yet it’s scalable up to a full-blown, recording studio console configuration. On a Mac, any Core Audio device will do, so recording into Fairlight and monitoring the output is compatible with simple USB audio interfaces, like PreSonus, Focusrite, and others.

Understanding the interface

If audio post for film and TV is your primary focus, then Fairlight is up to the task. Resolve will import XML, FCPXML, and AAF files for both color and sound finishing. Fairlight includes an ADR recording routine, a free sound effects library, and a foley sampler plug-in.

The Fairlight interface is compatible with single and dual-display configurations and uses UI panels that can be turned on and off or slid onto the screen as needed. You can show or hide individual pieces of the mixer, as well. Unfortunately, on a single-display system, like an iMac, you cannot display the mixer panel full-screen. A project with 20 to 30 or more source tracks requires left to right scrolling. However, after the 18.1 update you can now display the meter bridge with two rows of meters.

The mixer uses a channel strip format for each track, which includes input/output/send routing, effects, and a built-in parametric equalizer and compressor. This is much like the channel strip of a traditional analog studio console, such as classic SSL and Neve desks. Unlike some other DAWs, you can also change the signal order of effects, EQ, and dynamics (compression) within each channel strip.

Modern plug-ins 

Resolve comes with native Fairlight FX audio plug-ins that cover most common needs. But since this software is targeted towards the film and TV post customer, it doesn’t include music-centric plug-ins, like the guitar amp and pedal emulations offered in Apple’s Logic Pro. That focus is true of the plug-in presets, as well. For example, the factory preset choices in the compressor will be for dialogue and not musical instruments, such as a drum kit or guitar. That won’t keep you from working on music with these plug-ins. Presets are just suggestions anyway, so you should tweak based on what sounds right to you.

Fairlight does not color the sound. The sonic character, interface, and plug-in design takes a clean, modern approach. There are no “vintage” options and none of the plug-ins are designed as skeuomorphic emulations of studio gear synonymous with classic recordings from the 70s. After all, film re-recording mixers have never been particularly precious about certain consoles or outboard gear from ages ago. Other than maybe a love for old Nagras, I doubt there’s much fondness for old audio gear like mag dubbers. At least not in the same way that music recording engineers still like to use analog recorders in their signal chain.

If you do want vintage tools, then Fairlight supports third-party AU and VST plug-ins. However, as with other video applications, I’ve found that some of the skeuomorphic effects don’t always work or look right. For example, I often use the free VU meter from TBProAudio. In Fairlight, only the AU version will appear as intended. And if you own an M1 or M2 Mac, then double-check that your favorite third-party plug-in is natively supported.

Setting up your tracks

I’m a video editor, not a mixer. But as a hobbyist, I like to experiment with music mixing to hone my audio skills. To test Fairlight, I started with multitracks of song covers available from Warren Huart’s “Produce Like A Pro” YouTube channel. I didn’t record my own tracks, other than to test how recording might work. I’m a big believer that a great mix is achieved by doing 90% of the work at the time of the studio recording. It’s not about building the sound through plug-ins and tricks, but getting the right blend of gear, mics, and performance from the players. That was already there in these multitracks, so the mix was more about finding the right balance of these elements and enhancing what was there.

Fairlight works with as many tracks and busses as are created in your timeline. My standard layout for mixing is to use summing busses. You can create as many as you need. The 35 tracks for this song include drums, percussion, bass, piano, electric and acoustic guitars. I route each set of instrument tracks to a buss dedicated to that group, even if there’s only one instrument track in that group.

These six busses are then routed to a submix buss, which in turn is routed to the master stereo output buss. This allows for gain staging and quickly balancing  levels. You can apply effects onto any track or buss for total flexibility. Fairlight’s default setting automatically routes the first buss (drums in my case) as the output to the speakers and on the Deliver page. Be sure to change each of these to your master buss for the proper output when you deviate from Fairlight’s default assignments.

Polishing the mix with Fairlight

My goal was to come out with a result that hit desired loudness targets and sounded good to me, primarily sticking with the stock plug-ins. You’re going to adjust levels, but most of the effects center around EQ, compression, and reverb. Each of these is adequately covered by the complement of Fairlight FX. If you have singers, then there are also vocal processing effects, like de-essing. However, an investment in iZotope RX is certainly a useful add-on. For example, RX includes a specific tool to remove or reduce guitar squeaks and string noise. The Resolve 18.1 update added many audio-centric features, including a new voice isolation feature. It works well for any vocal situation and in my opinion has fewer negative artifacts than most of the competing options.

I adjusted level, panning, EQ, and compression on each channel strip. At the buss level, I added more EQ and compression, plus some reverb. The last stage was a multiband compressor and a brick wall limiter on the submix buss. Only meter plug-ins were added to the master buss. Of course, Fairlight includes its own useful set of level and loudness meters.

Since Fairlight is built into an NLE, the project supports multiple mixes. You can use bins and timelines to organize the tracks and mixes for different songs, as well as different versions of each mix. Resolve 18 added new cloud collaboration tools; however, you can also collaborate on mixes by exporting a timeline file to send to a colleague. Assuming the other system has access to the same audio files and third-party plug-ins (if used), then it’s simply a matter of importing that timeline file.

Processing for this number of tracks and effects was easily handled by my iMac. It could have handled more, including more intense third-party plug-ins, like Gullfoss, Ozone, FabFilter, or Sonible. If you really need to go BIG, then Blackmagic Design promises up to 2,000 real-time tracks with a full Fairlight hardware installation! So if Pro Tools isn’t in the cards for you, then make sure you give Fairlight and Resolve a closer look.