Long files are too short

Question

I'v met this problem a few times...
I'm working on a DVD authoring.
The film is 1hour40min long.
The audiofiles I got from the 5.1 mixing studio came chopped as 6 acts (for the cinema release) so each file is aprox 17 min each. Now I need to bring all these files into Logic to merge the acts into continuous clips.
Each file for each act begins with a reference tone and silence, and they overlap, so the last seconds of act 1 are also the begining of act 2, aso. So you understand I need to have a reference to sync these to.
So, I have the stereo file, which is one continuous file, covering the whole movie... it is 1 hour 40 min long.
When I load this file onto the arrange window it shows as an audiofile only 1 beat long! But there is no problem listening to the file... I hit play, and it plays the whole file, but however I tug, pull, try to expand the file to its actual length, it will only be 1 beat long, visually.
Why is this?
I need to zoom in so I can sync the 5.1 tracks both visually and audioally.

Answer 1

Hi Per,
Well, it wasn't so simple really... "Bug" wasn't my first thought. Actually, I thought I was doing something wrong, and it took a while to figure out that "it wasn't me, it was the program".
Out of sheer desperation I created the shorter region as I described (desperation is the mother of invention).
When it came to working on cues for the back half of the movie, I had to repeat this operation and make a region out of the back end. That's where things got tricky.
I would suggest that you take the following steps and see if this works for you:
1. Add the audio file to the arrange window (let's say it's called "QT Audio")
2. Click on an empty area of the Arrange window and open the Event Editor
3. Look for the item called "QT Audio", double click on the position value, type 1 0 0 0, Enter.
4. Open your movie, set your SMPTE start time and check sync (for this example, let's say that your time code starts at 01:00:00:00.00
5. Open the Audio Window for "QT Audio"
6. View = SMPTE
7. This step is very important: Look at your cue sheet and pick a point that's about 1/2 way through the movie where there is no music. This will be where you divide the audio file. Let's say that point is at 32 minutes.
8. Select a region that starts from the beginning and ends at 32 minutes, i.e., 01:32:00:00
8. Save that region as an audio file (call it "QT first half")
9. Now, use the Toggle Selection function to select everything from 01:32:00:00 to the end (call it "QT second half")
10. Save that region as another audio file
Now you have two smaller audio files that should display OK in the Arrange Window (unless the breakpoint is 32 minutes!). And if you start a new sequence/song for the cues after 32 minutes you have a 2nd-half audio file that starts at a known point.
HTH