Yesterday Apple announced huge Final Cut Pro Suite upgrades, including Soundtrack Pro 2. The new Final Cut Studio 2 production bundle includes Final Cut Pro 6, which introduces Apple’s ProRes 422 format for uncompressed HD quality at SD file sizes; Motion 3’s intuitive 3D environment; Compressor 3 batch encoding; DVD Studio Pro 4.2 for SD/HD DVD authoring; and Soundtrack Pro 2 with new tools for multitrack editing, surround mixing and conforming sound to picture. Final Cut Studio 2 also introduces “Color,” a pro color grading and finishing application.

But you want to know about audio, right?… the Final Cut Studio 2 audio editing/mixing/processing app is now equipped with powerful new multitrack editing and recording tools and a streamlined interface. It also debuts a very cool spotting display that lets editors precisely align effects and dialog with picture. Advanced take management tools enable editors to quickly combine pieces of the best takes to craft seamless performances, and a new Conform tool lets users synchronize and track changes between picture and sound editorial.

Stereo and surround mixing tools enable users to create 5.1 and stereo mixes in the same project. The bundle also comes with a royalty-free library of more than 5,000 Foley and sound effects, and 1,000 surround SFX and multichannel music tracks. Soundtrack Pro 2 has more than 50 audio effect plug-ins-many in true surround, including the Space Designer convolution reverb. Among its other ther surround enhancements are: discrete 5.1 mixing, busing, routing and an innovative surround panner for dynamically moving sounds within the surround field.