Virtual Katy–made by Virtual Katy Development Ltd. in Wellington, NZ–is a software-based application developed for use on the audio for The Lord of The Rings trilogy, and is now in commercial release. This clever tool is designed to sync the audio of various versions of a project, which traditionally was done manually and was therefore time consuming.
Essentially the software links in with Avid’s ProTools, takes the EDLs from Avid, and compares and logs the changes to reconstruct the audio for the new version. The lists are archived so that one can return to any list at anytime, and take and use that information. It also can be used for cutdowns, such as going from a :60 to a :30.
“It gives you the time back to do something creative, so I see it as a productivity tool,” explained John McKay, director of product development for Virtual Katy and a sound editor. “It keeps the audio professionals focused on what they need to do.”
Among the first users of Virtual Katy in the commercial arena is Nomad Editing Company in Santa Monica. Nomad assistant editor and sound designer Tom Stamatio likes to use the system for its ease of use and speed. “Usually you do about 30 versions of a spot,” he said. “With each revision we have to match the previous sound to the new version, which is very time consuming. Virtual Katy speeds up that conform process so we spend more time doing sound design work.”
He reported that McKay has worked with Nomad to add features to benefit a commercial pipeline, including improvements in the software’s ability to read a master video time line. “He’s very good at communication with us in terms speeding up the commercial workflow,” Stamatio said.
McKay estimated that Virtual Katy can speed up its task five times over handling it manually. He added that this is especially important as production cycles are getting shorter and shorter. “On Lord of the Rings, everything was being done simultaneously and that’s the direction that postproduction is going in,” he said. “It’s a paradigm shift; it’s everything at once. That’s just the way it is.”
