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Script Writing on the iPad with Celtx Script

Sep 15

Posted by admintg in Mobile Computing | Comments off

In this “Post-PC” era I find that I am using traditional desktop and laptop computers less often.  Instead, the iPhone and iPad satisfies most of my computing needs.  The iPad allows me to work where I want, when I want, without the cables that come with my laptop.  This is not to suggest that the iPad can replace a PC yet, but for the vast majority of my needs, it can.

Recording voice-overs with the iPad is just one area where the iPad has replace the PC; script writing is another.  Most of my script writing is now done exclusively on the iPad.   Prior to owning an iPad, I used Celtx on the PC  for my script writing for about two years.  Celtx for the PC and Mac is available on their site for free.  Celtx has now released version 2.0 of their iPhone and iPad script writing tool.  It is available as a Universal app (iPad, iPhone, and iPod) for $9.99, though it is occasionally available for up to half off.  While version 1.0 was a good start, it wasn’t a replacement for the desktop version.  With version 2.0 it is now feasible to work strictly on the iPad.  Celtx Script 2.0 gives me the ability to grab my iPad, and work on a script anytime I have a new idea.  When writing or doing significant edits, I use a Apple Bluetooth keyboard with my iPad which allows me to efficiently type.  When I don’t have access to the physical keyboard, I find that the built-in iPad virtual keyboard works quite well.

Celtx Studio on iPad

Celtx Studio on iPad

The script text can be one of the following styles

  • Scene Heading
  • Action
  • Character
  • Dialog
  • Parenthetical
  • Shot
  • Transition
These styles have met most of my needs.

The 2.0 version for the iPad you can now email the script as a PDF or print it directly from the iPad using an AirPrint compatible printer.  I am hoping that some of the story development tools that exist in the desktop version also come to the iPad.  These tools allow users to enter notes, and character details. For now they only exist in the desktop version.

I don’t like to have to transfer files from my iPad to my desktop, but Celtx has an add-on service that makes this trivial.  It is called Celtx Studio.  It is a web based service that allows the iPad, iPhone, PC and Mac to all sync scripts up to a server that Celtx maintains.  This service does come with a cost, it is 4.99 a month of 49.99 a year.  For this amount up to 5 users can access the scripts.  Additional users can be added for an additional fee.  The Celtx Studio service keeps track of all of the versions of the scripts so that if I mess up one version, I can go back in time and view older versions.  It also tracks which users are making the changes to the scripts.  With Celtx Studio, I never need to worry about losing work done on my iPad or PC as there is a backup already available on their servers.

Celtx Studio

Celtx Studio

I have been using the Desktop version for several years now, and the iOS version since it was launched.  Over that time Celtx has been very active about putting out new features and improving both the desktop and mobile versions.  Since the release of the 2.0 version, it is very unlikely that I will ever head back to a desktop or laptop.  I find the iPad to be the most productive way to write.

iPad with Keyboard

iPad with Keyboard

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Recording voiceover with an iPad

Aug 16

Posted by admintg in Audio Recording, Mobile Computing, Partnership for a Czar Free America | Comments off

The recent recordings that I made for the voiceover for Leon’s Kickstarter video requestfor the Partnership for a Czar Free America was done entirely on the iPad.  In the past I have worked with a mAudio Delta 1010 and with a Fostex MR8-HD.The Delta 1010 had good sound quality, but it had to be paired with my PC which brought a ton of fan noise along.  So for personal recording, it wasn’t very well suited.  I didn’t use it often enough, and each time I did there was a learning curve as I tried to remember how to configure it correctly.The Fostex MR8-HD is a nice stand-alone device that I have used often.  It is able to record 4 tracks at a time which can be a plus.  It’s single wheel input device leaves much to be desired, and has a smallish lcd screen.  It is quiet enough to do most recording that I need to do, but is still larger than I would desire for my sound booth.The sound booth that I use was homemade out of 2″x4″s, plywood, insulation, and foam.   It works pretty well for isolating most noise around the house.  I do most of my recording at night, so that helps as well.  There is about 3.5 feet by 3.5 feet of floor space available for use.The iPad seemed to be a perfect alternative.  It is silent, and is small enough to easily fit in my sound booth.  I have a first generation iPad with 64 GB of storage.  The 64 GB of storage is sufficient for almost all of my recording needs.  The main drawback for the iPad is that it is only able to record one track at a time.

I picked a Blue Microphone’s Snowball as the microphone to connect to the iPad.  This microphone is a USB microphone and can be connected to an iPad using the Apple Camera Connectivity Kit.  The microphone is powered off of the iPad through the connectivity kit.  The microphone comes with a table top microphone stand, but I preferred a floor based microphone so I switched it to that one.

The Camera Connectivity kit connects to the iPad’s charging port as shown here.

Camera Connectivity Kit

Camera Connectivity Kit

When selecting recording software, I started looking at Sonoma Wire Works.  They make a nice iPhone software for recording which is called FourTrack.  For the iPad they make a larger version know as StudioTrack.  This larger version allows for the playback of up to 8 tracks.  Each track can be muted or put into Solo mode.
StudioTrack

StudioTrack

For my recording, I use one track per take.  Each song can then hold 8 takes before I need to create a new song.  I can also quickly delete tracks if required.  Rather than edit  tracks together, I kept recording until I produced a version that I was satisfied with.   There were two problems that I encountered while recording with StudioTrack:

    1. When monitoring my recording with head phones there was a slight delay between when I spoke and when I heard it in my ears.  This was minor, but was present.  I am not sure if this is a problem with the software, or with the iPad.
    2. I occasionally ran into memory problems with StudioTrack.  The memory issue could be worked around by not having other programs loaded into memory.
StudioTrack has a nice WiFi sync capability that allows you to easily copy wave files directly to a Mac or a PC for editing.Once I was satisfied with a track, I copied it into MultiTrack DAW.  While I could have edited the track further in MultiTrack.  I mostly used it because it has a nice waveform display of the audio that follows along when playing.  This assisted me in matching the puppet’s mouth to the audio track.  More practice would help as well. Â
MultiTrack DAW

MultiTrack DAW

Overall the effort worked pretty well.  The only area that wasn’t as easy to use as I would have liked was editing.  I use Sony’s Vegas Pro software for audio and video editing.  I find it very intuitive to use, and a mouse, keyboard, and two screens make the PC environment very comfortable for accurate work.  On the PC I might have gone through and edited out all the breath noise on the track, but I wasn’t willing to go to that effort on the iPad.  So hopefully enhancements to MultiTrack DAW will come out that will make editing on the iPad as easy as the recording was.

The following photo shows all of the equipment setup in the sound booth.

Recording Setup

Recording Setup

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