Even though digital video cameras allow for picture and sound to be recorded on the same tape, it is still desirable for a lot of situations to record picture and sound separately. Reasons for this may range from the camera operator desiring freedom of movement and not wanting to be “tied down” with cables, to the fact that best positions for picture and sound are not always at the same exact position.

“Double System Sound” refers to the process by which picture and sound are recorded on different devices and then synchronized during the post production process. All Avid products from Xpress Pro on up have a feature called AutoSync™ which automates the picture to sound sync relationship based on a variety of common timecodes or user designated sync points.

Xpress Pro does not have direct support for digital audio signals (AES/EBU) but does support file based workflows from disk based audio recorders such as the Aaton Cantar or the Fostex PD-6. These recorders create files called Broadcast WAVE (BWF) which includes not only the audio, but timecode, scene, take and other types of metadata. The files can be up to 6 tracks and import anywhere from 9-12 times faster than real time.

But for productions that record on digital tape based formats such as DAT, the workflow for recording into Xpress Pro is via a digital signal (AES/EBU). In order to record digitally into Xpress Pro, an external DV transcoder device must be used that supports digital audio input. Below is the diagram that shows how such a device must be connected in order to record digital audio into Xpress Pro. This device can be connected directly the FireWire input of the CPU and does not need to pass through the Mojo hardware. Deck control is done directly through the communications port via RS-422.