Audition 3 vs. Sony Vegas

[SportsRadioDoc]

I'd like to get your opinion on this one. If any of you have worked with, or are familiar with Audition 3 and Sony Vegas, can you compare and contrast the 2 for me? I use Pro Tools and Audition 3. Never used Vegas, but, the place I work is getting ready to dump Audition for Vegas. I welcome your thoughts.

 

[Emmett1057]

What is their reasoning? Vegas is easy to use and can get nice results, but it offers nowhere near the power of Audtion or Pro Tools.

Emmett

 

[glmichaels]

I've used both but have Vegas and Acid on the production studios for the jocks. As was mentioned, and I agree, Audition is much more powerful...Vegas much more user-friendly to learn and use. Actually we use Acid most as it'll save all the files with embedded media as .zip files so networking the production computers is a snap. Vegas saves all the files separately so you'll have some file management work ahead of you. Vegas is a mighty fine software for most production applications...as I said, user friendly. Audition plugins are better though.

 

[bobbybooey]

I use and love all of the Sony products, but recommend getting the 3rd one, SoundForge, as a 2-track editor... it's got some really nifty plug-ins that Vegas doesn't (the pitch bend is awesome), and is a terrificly fast editor for voice tracks... though I'd suggest trying to get SF 8, not the recent SF 9 version that a LOT of Sony people are uninstalling due to an endless array of bugs.

 

[Emmett1057]

Sound Forge & Vegas combined puts you into something that resembles Audition territory. I still think, with a few exceptions (i.e. surround mixng), Audition is a more powerful editor and I think Audition's multitrack is more powerful than Vegas. But most producers will not get into the extras...I don't think I'd want Vegas without the help of Sound Forge.

Emmett

 

[SportsRadioDoc]

Thanks for the info guys! They did install Vegas 8 with Sound Forge, but I got them to leave Audition 3 in my studio as well. Got lots of toys to play with now.

 

[bobbybooey]

Emmett, can you give me some specific multi-track capabilitites in which you think Audition outperforms Vegas? I haven't used Audition since 1.5, but I was completely unimpressed with that program.

 

[kentkay]

Emmett, can you give me some specific multi-track capabilitites in which you think Audition outperforms Vegas? I haven't used Audition since 1.5, but I was completely unimpressed with that program.

Really???

 

[robnokshus06]

Count me in with the Vegas believers! I've used Pro Tools, Cool Edit (now Audition) and Vegas, and for what we do in radio, Vegas kicks ass! If you're making an album, then yeah, Pro Tools is where its at. If you want to save a hundred bucks or so, then get Audition.

Where do I start with Vegas? No file converting, drag a wav, mp3 and aiff file into the same track if you like, cross fade. No problem. No more real time bounces like in Pro Tools. Vegas utilizes a lot of Windows resources so it doesn't hog all of your processing power like Pro Tools proprietary interface does. (You can leave your email program on and not worry about crashes). The mouse and keyboard functions are windows based and very intuitive. Resize any window the way you like.

One of the coolest features is that you can have more than one instance of Vegas up at a time. Lets say you're working on a spot for a client and you need the disclaimer and music from a previous session. Just open Vegas again and copy from one session to the other. Major time saver!

AND its a video editor!

I could go on, but I won't. Just like nobody's going to tear me away from my Vegas, I'm not going to convert any Audition fans. It all boils down to what YOU like and are comfortable working with and with Vegas, Acid and Sound Forge I can create just about anything I can conceive and that's all that matters to me.

(I swear to god, Sony should be paying me!)

 

[Emmett1057]

Emmett, can you give me some specific multi-track capabilitites in which you think Audition outperforms Vegas? I haven't used Audition since 1.5, but I was completely unimpressed with that program.

Sure, I'd be glad to...

First and foremost, simply the quality/quantity/options of real time effects is much better. A lot more can be done without leaving the multitrack environment.

After that...Ripple delete, auto crossfading, bussing and routing options, automation options, fade and envelope options, MIDI integration...I'm sure there are some I've missed, but that's at least a partial list.

Vegas, of course, wins on video integration. It is, after all, a video program. And that's why it is behind with audio...It makes a solid audio app, but is certainly geared toward video users.

Audition is the most complete audio program I have ever used. I'd like to spend some time with Nuendo.

Emmett

 

[mrust]

Re: Audition - saving projects / sessions...

Can anyone help with suggestions on saving projects and sessions.

Has Audition 3 improved this? Files always seem to come up missing
for some reason when reopening sessions.

Thanks!

 

[SportsRadioDoc]

Re: Audition - saving projects / sessions...

Can anyone help with suggestions on saving projects and sessions.

Has Audition 3 improved this? Files always seem to come up missing
for some reason when reopening sessions.

Thanks!

When I work on a project, say a promo called "Junk", that I'll need to change or refresh down the road. I will make a folder called "Junk" and put that folder in my "Projects" folder. That way, I know where all my stuff is for any specific project I will need to reference multiple times. When I am ready to save my session and everything in it, while in the multitrack window, I do a save all. Then find my "Junk" promo folder inside of Projects, and that saves my session with every file I'm working with. Save session as, also works, but it will ask you if you want to save all of your files. Save all skips that step.

 

[roninMIKE]

when your saving a session, AA saves the file path of the file you're using. so if you move a particular file somewhere else, when you open up the session, it will appear as missing because it can't find it in the original location.

easiest thing to do would be to save all your stuff in the same place. ie. VOs in a VO folder, FXed VOs in an FXed VO folder etc. that way, everything is always in the same place.

basically that's the easy fix. if i'm importing stuff from a flashdrive or shared network drive, before i import it into the session, i copy it into a folder on my hard drive so that way it lives on my computer. because if you open the session and the flashdrive isn't plugged in, or someone deleted it off the shared network, it'll show up as missing.

hope that helps.
-rM

 

[Emmett1057]

I always save each session in its own folder. I give it a name like 'McDonald's - 022808'. Then, when I'm ready so save, I go to 'save session' and make sure the 'save copies of associated files' box is ticked. This means that there are duplicate files between many seesions, such as music beds. If I use the same bed four times for different clients, there will be four copies of the bed on my drive. Sure, it uses more space, but space is cheap. And it allows me to keep everything I need for each spot in an easily accessible place. It also makes it super-simple to transfer the entire session.

Flash drives are equally as easy. Each of my regular clients has their own flash drive. It contains the sessions and all of their files. It's easy and effective. As a bonus, if we part ways, I always offer to sell them the flash drive. I charge a pretty penny for the sessions, but then they can use them in the future. It's also nice if they decide to return...They just bring back the flash drive and we pick up where we left off!

Emmett