Kraken Dialogue Editors Toolkit is a Mac app made by Marc Specter, a working dialogue editor. It runs beside Pro Tools and follows its timecode. In 2026 the Academy gave it a Technical Achievement Award. This chapter uses Kraken 3, the current version.
- Academy
- Sound Editing
- Dialogue Editing
- Chapter 03
Chapter 03Dialogue Assembly with Kraken
Kraken is a dialogue editor's companion app. It builds your assembly from the edit list, then sits beside Pro Tools and shows every take of the line under your cursor, ready to audition and spot.
0 of 7 lessons done
You will learn toAbout 3 hours + exercise
- Connect Kraken to Pro Tools
- Match and assemble an edit list for any kind of turnover
- Read Tighten Sync results
- Find and spot alternate takes in seconds
- Use cut tracks and reports to stay organised
Lesson 3.110 min
What Kraken is
In short
EdiLoad prepares the session. Kraken helps you while you edit it: it always knows which take is under your cursor, and where every other take of that line is.
| Job | EdiLoad | Kraken |
|---|---|---|
| Assemble production sound from an edit list | Yes | Yes |
| Fix small sync errors | Align Waveforms | Tighten Sync (Advanced) |
| Follow Pro Tools and show the take under the cursor | No | Yes |
| Find, audition and spot alternate takes | No | Yes |
| Search takes by the words spoken | No | Yes, with Krakenizer (Advanced) |
| Re-conform after picture changes | Yes | Compare EDLs on its timeline |
Official links
Download · Kraken 3.6Kraken, with a 14-day demo ↗ManualThe Kraken manual ↗VideosOfficial video highlights ↗YouTubeKraken's channel ↗
Basic or Advanced
There are two licences. Tighten Sync, Krakenizer transcription and the "bubbles" that choose which rolls to search are Advanced only. Everything else in this chapter works in both. Kraken is for Mac; a Windows version is in beta.
Lesson 3.220 min
Set up sync with Pro Tools
In short
Pro Tools tells Kraken where its cursor is over MIDI. Once that works, Kraken's timecode display moves with Pro Tools.
Kraken listens for two messages. MTC (MIDI timecode) streams the position while Pro Tools plays. MMC (MIDI Machine Control) tells Kraken when you click somewhere new or select a clip. It needs both.
Setup checklist
0 / 9Tick each step as you do it. Your ticks are saved in this browser.
Tip from the manual
To make Kraken always follow a track, put a clip group named Kraken as the first clip on that track. Every time you press Scan, those tracks become sync tracks automatically. MIDI timecode is frame-accurate, not sample-accurate, so on a track full of tiny edits Kraken may pick the neighbouring clip.
Lesson 3.340 min
Assembling an edit list
In short
Import the list, clean it, match it to the rushes, then Assemble To PTX. Kraken writes a Pro Tools session with every microphone sorted into groups.
Import the edit
Drag the EDL or AAF into the Edit List. Choose the frame rate carefully: it can't be changed later. A wrong rate means deleting the edit and importing again.
Clean it
Quick Clean removes copies and tiny sub-clips, heals cuts and squeezes clips onto fewer tracks. For more control, open Clean & Merge on the Timeline panel, which previews the result before you apply it.
Find Matches
Kraken compares each event's reel, clip name and timecode with your rushes. The number of matched events shows at the top of the EDL panel. Click through some events and check the waveform shows the right take.
Assemble To PTX
Kraken sorts every channel into groups. By default it makes Boom, Mix and Radio groups from the track names. Drag channels between groups, choose colours, and mute the Mix group. Group order becomes track order in the new session.
Match for the turnover you have
Remember from Chapter 01: what the editor cut with changes how you match.
| The editor cut with | In Kraken |
|---|---|
| The mix track | Find Matches. Reel and timecode point straight to the sound roll. |
| Camera scratch audio | Find Matches Using TC Only, or Find Matches Scene/Take. If you know the shoot day, select a file from it and use Force Match Current Audio File Reel. |
| All the isos | Clean first (Select Duplicates, Quick Clean), so each shot is matched once. Then Find Matches. |
When a match is wrong
Select the event and use Find Alternate Matches. Run it again to step through every candidate. Avoid Force Matches To Selected File: it ignores timecode, and the manual calls it the nuclear option.
Lesson 3.420 min
Tighten Sync
In short
Tighten Sync compares every event with the editor's guide and works out how far off it is, in samples. You check the numbers, then assemble.
Prepare the guide
Name each guide track in Pro Tools starting with
KGT(Kraken Guide Track). Use mono tracks. The editor's AAF makes the best guide. Its media must be WAV, not MXF. Remove fades and heal cuts.Set the session start to zero
Just for the run. Save, then Scan in Kraken.
Run Tighten Sync
From the EDL panel's context menu. A search range of 5–6 frames suits normal errors.
Read the Sync Offset column
Then assemble as usual, and the offsets are applied.
Read the offsets
Samples at 48 kHz · 1 frame ≈ 2,000Three assemblies, eight events each. What do the numbers tell you?
Lesson 3.530 min
Finding alts
In short
Park on a line in Pro Tools. Kraken shows the take it came from and every other take. Click to listen, select the words, press S to spot.
An alt is the same line from another take: one without the plane, the fluffed word or the plosive. Finding one by hand takes minutes. With Kraken it takes seconds.
Park on the line
Click in Pro Tools. Kraken shows the source file, highlights the part used, and lists the other takes in the Media panel.
Listen fast
Turn on Play On Click and Live Solo: one click plays from that point, soloing the microphone you clicked. Maintain Zoom keeps you on the same moment as you step through takes.
Spot it
Select the words and press S. Kraken places a linked clip, with full handles, on the selected Pro Tools track.
Build a stack
With Stacked Spotting on, each spot lands on the track below the last, so you can compare several reads under the original and pick the best.
Practise the keys
0 / 5Click the box, then press the key for each action.
Press the key forClick here to start
Search by words (Advanced)
Krakenizer transcribes your rushes. In the Speech panel you can then type words from a line and see every take where they were said.
Lesson 3.615 min
Useful extras
In short
Small tools that keep a dialogue session organised: tracks that mark picture cuts, a report of problems, and an on-screen label for the clip you're on.
- Picture Cut Track
- Exports one coloured clip per picture shot. Drop it on a mono track, spot to its timestamp and ungroup, and you can see every cut while you edit.
- Report Track
- Marks unmatched events, and events whose Tighten Sync offset is over about 2 frames, right on the timeline.
- Metadata Panel
- A see-through window (⌘⇧I) that can sit over the Pro Tools video and show the file, roll and track names of the clip you're on.
- Import PT Tracks
- Start a Pro Tools track name with
(K), save and rescan, and Kraken imports it as an edit list. Useful for clips muted in the cut, which don't appear in the EDL.
Lesson 3.72–3 h
Practise and check
Exercise: assemble and find alts
Use the same scene as Chapter 01, so you can compare the two tools on material you know.
Name the turnover
Did the editor cut with the mix, camera audio or the isos? Write one line.
Assemble in Kraken
Clean, match, and Assemble To PTX with Boom, Radio and Mix groups (Mix muted).
Compare with your EdiLoad conform
Note any event that matched differently, and work out which is right.
Find three alts
Pick three problem lines. Stack-spot alts for each and cut in the best one. Keep the original underneath, muted.
Quick check
0 / 61. Kraken's timecode doesn't move when you click around in Pro Tools. What's missing?
2. You imported an EDL with the wrong frame rate. What now?
3. The editor cut with camera scratch audio, and Find Matches fails. What do you try?
4. Tighten Sync shows offsets near 1,000 samples on almost every event. What does that mean?
5. Which key spots your selection to Pro Tools?
6. What does Stacked Spotting do?
Key terms
- Alt
- The same line from another take.
- MTC
- MIDI timecode: Pro Tools' position during playback.
- MMC
- MIDI Machine Control: tells Kraken when you click or jump.
- Sync track
- A Pro Tools track Kraken follows to know the clip under the cursor.
- Find Matches
- Links each edit event to its location file.
- Assemble To PTX
- Writes a Pro Tools session with all matched channels, in groups.
- KGT
- Kraken Guide Track: the name prefix for Tighten Sync guides.
- Sync offset
- How far an event is from the guide, in samples.
- Live Solo
- Clicking a channel in the waveform solos it.
- Stacked Spotting
- Each spot lands on the track below the last.
- Krakenizer
- Kraken's transcription tool, for searching takes by words.
- Picture Cut Track
- Clips on a Pro Tools track showing each picture cut.
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