With the release of Revoice Pro v4.3, Synchro Arts have raised the bar yet again. For those working in audio post-production the stand out new feature added to Revoice Pro in this release is Smart Align combined with a quick workflow that means you don’t need to leave Pro Tools to sync ADR to location sound.

Although Version 4.3 introduced an ARA version of the Revoice Pro link plug-in for Logic Pro users so providing instantaneous transfers back and forth between Logic Pro 10.6.2 or higher they haven’t abandoned Pro Tools users by providing a new set of AudioSuite plugins.

Quick APT With Smart Align

The APT processes, used to align the timing and pitch of multiple vocal tracks, now has SmartAlign. When this is enabled, it can align audio with significant gaps in the guide or dub audio. This new feature enables you to align longer performances, which previously had to be broken down into small segments.

The plug-in has two modes of operation. The first is a Quick mode which uses a temporary Revoice Pro session and can only contain one APT or Doubler process at a time. The second uses Link mode, which uses a Revoice Pro session to be saved and reloaded to keep adjustments and edits for future use.

In this article Mike Thornton focuses on the Quick mode, replacing the audio from some footage shot on an iPhone using the internal mic, with a separately recorded ADR recording, which opens his demo video…

What you have just heard was my first attempt at ADR from a video recorded on my iPhone here in the studio and in this free demo video I will show you how I did this using the new features in Revoice Pro 4.3

I have a video track, the audio from my phone, and my ADR audio in the Pro Tools session. All I need to do is open up an AudioSuite Quick APT plugin from the Other menu.

If Revoice Pro isn’t running, the plugin will ask you to start Revoice Pro, which you can do by clicking on the Start button provided in the AudioSuite plugin.

Once Revoice Pro is running, the really good news is with the latest version, we don’t actually need to see or interact with RVP, we can do everything we need from within Pro Tools using this new RVP AudioSuite plugin.

1. Select the Guide audio, which in this case is the audio from my phone.

2. Select the Dub audio, which in this case is my attempt to record an ADR track.

3. Set the RVP preset, which we can now do from the AudioSuite plugin

4. I chose to select the Smart Align Tightest Timing Preset from the Factory Presets.

5. Select where the aligned audio is going to go in Pro Tools.

6. One way to do this is to move the selection down from the Dub track, down to the appropriate track, in this case, the Smart Align track, using the semicolon key, with Pro Tools in Command Focus mode. However, I learnt after making the video, that all you need to do is place the cursor somewhere on the track you want the aligned audio to be placed and the plugin will place it in the correct place on the timeline.

7. Click on the Render Aligned button to create an aligned version of my ADR track ready to go.

Revoice Pro Can Now Handle Gaps With Smart Align

The other really clever thing I show in this free video is how Smart Align deals with gaps.

To demonstrate. I first removed a section of the guide and changed the preset to a non-Smart Align preset - Tight Timing to show how RVP used to handle gaps.

1. Because the guide track has changed it is necessary to click Capture Guide again

2. Move the selection down the Time Align track

3. Click Render Aligned and we will see what would have happened before v4.3. The problems start just before the gap but really go wrong after the gap. Also, note that the RVP extended the selection back to the beginning even though I had used the dub track selection.

So to end this demo, I showed how the new Smart Align mode handles the same example. As we haven’t changed anything, we don’t need to capture the Guide or Dub…

1. Change the preset to Smart Align Tightest Timing,

2. Move the selection down to the appropriate track

3. Click on the Render Aligned button

There you have it, speedy fitting of ADR using Revoice Pro, using the new Smart Align feature in the Quick APT AudioSuite plugin, all without having to leave Pro Tools.

Conclusion

As a veteran of Revoice Pro as it has developed over the years, this latest version provides the workflow it should always have had in my book.

Synchro Arts have been able to nail the workflow with an AudioSuite plugin, that drives Revoice Pro in the background with no need to have to switch back and forth between Pro Tools and Revoice Pro. You can stay in Pro Tools, select your audio and Revoice Pro preset, process the audio in Revoice Pro and drop it onto the timeline all without leaving Pro Tools.

Not only has Smart Align and the Quick APT AudioSuite plugin enabled this really simple, yet powerful, workflow, Synchro Arts has also been able to resolve the challenges of how to handle gaps. Before V4.3, you had to make sure there weren’t any unexpected gaps, or it was unable to work out what to do. Now with Smart Align, it handles the gaps perfectly.

If you felt that, in your experience, Revoice Pro wasn’t up to handling ADR, I strongly recommend you take another look, using the free trial of the latest version. Trust me, it is a very different tool now.

Job done!