The production process for video, film, or TV commercials is different from music production. Synchronization is always used, unlike in music production, where it is not always required. You need to work in absolute time: hours, minutes, seconds, and frames, rather than in bars and beats. Edits to the video, including changes to scene length, additional cuts, the use of slow or fast motion, and dialogue changes (or “redos”) are among the many situations that you will encounter when creating or editing a soundtrack.
The Event List in Logic Pro for Mac is ideal for precise placement of timing-critical events such as footsteps or dialogue in a video soundtrack. It also allows you to change event lengths, which is useful if frames are removed during the video editing phase of production. In linear editing windows, the ruler can display absolute (SMPTE) time or bars and beats (or both).
When working with synchronized video, you will want music, sound effects, and dialogue to play at a specific time, rather than at a particular bar position.
If the tempo of your soundtrack needs to be altered at a later stage, the absolute time location of events that have already been positioned will change. The Lock SMPTE Position function prevents this from happening. You can SMPTE-lock individual events in the Event List or entire regions. All events inside locked regions are SMPTE-locked.
The Lock (and Unlock) SMPTE Position function is available when Enable Complete Features is selected in Logic Pro > Settings > Advanced.
You can use the Move Region/Event to Playhead Position (Pickup Clock) key command to move a selected event, such as a note, a tempo event, or a region, to the current playhead position.
If you want a particular bar in the project to coincide with a specific time position, you can change the tempo of the preceding passage.
In the Event List in Logic Pro, choose View > Show Event Position and Length as Time.
All event positions and lengths are displayed as absolute (SMPTE) times, rather than bar/beat values.
In Logic Pro, select the region or event.
Do one of the following:
In the Main window, Event List, Step Editor, or Piano Roll Editor, choose Functions > Lock SMPTE Position.
All selected regions or events that were locked to a (SMPTE) time position are now fixed to their current bar position. This means that tempo changes will affect their position. The padlock icon in front of the name disappears.
In Logic Pro, move the playhead to the desired time position, such as a specific movie frame in the Movie track, for example.
Note: In addition to the usual position commands, you can use the Rewind One Frame and Forward One Frame key commands to move one frame backward or forward.
Select the region or event that you want to place at this time position.
Use the Move Region/Event to Playhead Position (Pickup Clock) key command to align the start point of the region or event with this time position.
Alternatively, you can use the Move Region/Event to Playhead Position and Select Next Region/Event (Pickup Clock+) key command to move the region or event, then select the next region or event.
Note: When using the Move Region/Event to Playhead Position (Pickup Clock) key command with audio regions, it is the region anchor—not the region start point—that is moved to the playhead position.
The Lock (and Unlock) SMPTE Position function is available when Enable Complete Features is selected in Logic Pro > Settings > Advanced.