Locking markers and volume automation with a movie rather than the grid

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Locking markers and volume automation with a movie rather than the grid

Hi - I'm composing a score to video in Logic Pro X and was hoping there was a way to lock markers and volume automation to the frames in the video rather than to the grid?

Basically I have placed markers along the project that relate to the visual cues and I have also programmed volume automation on the audio channel for the video, however as I am composing/experimenting every time I change the tempo, my markers and automation are locked to the grid rather than to the frames in the video, so they're all in the wrong place unless the project stays in 120bpm.

Any ideas on how I can lock my markers and volume locked in position relative to the visual rather than to the grid, allowing me to freely change/automate tempo without them jumping all over the place?

Thanks!

Posted on Dec 27, 2020 3:00 PM

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Answer 1

yoyoBen

Level 4

3,499 points

Dec 28, 2020 1:31 AM in response to JustTryingToAskOneQuestionPls

I use to create marker from regions (Create Marker for Selected Regions) because this is for me the most convenient way to work with markers. In this case everything which applies to regions applies to markers too.

Automation and Regions:

Try a combination of Lock SMPTE Position and Region Automation. Because the default is set to Track Automation you have to convert all automation to region automation. Before doing this, make sure a region is underneath any automation node, no matter if the region is audio, midi or empty. Now Convert All Track Automation to Region Automation. Then Select All and choose Lock SMPTE Position. Now you can change the tempo and Unlock SMPTE Position again.

A personal note:

To work with tempo changes and movie is quite tricky, because any tempo change relates to a time signature (grid). When trying this I end up creating weird time signatures just to let the tempo change start on a certain (frame) position. To avoid a mess, I divide the work in pieces. I create a new Logic project for each musical scene, then export/bounce and transfer everything into a big project which does not have any tempo changes.

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Answer 2

Feb 9, 2021 2:32 AM in response to yoyoBen

Sorry for slow response - I rested this project for a few weeks, now back to it. Thanks so much for your response on this. I found your method slightly above my current tech abilities however I have just figured out a way to do it which I thought I'd leave in here in case anyone else is looking for the same solution.

Once I made my marker, I opened the list editor and navigated to the 'Marker' tab. I then selected my newly made marker, and under 'options' at the top of the list editor I selected 'convert to scene marker' and this locks the marker into its time positioning, meaning it stays locked in with the video even when the grid changes through tempo automation etc.

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Answer 3

yoyoBen

Level 4

3,499 points

Dec 28, 2020 1:43 AM in response to yoyoBen

... and worth to read, from the manual:

Work with absolute time code in Logic Pro

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Locking markers and volume automation with a movie rather than the grid

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