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Mackie 1202, Decklink SP, FCP 4.5, controling levels?
Hey gang,
My local audio store is getting rid of all the analog Mackie stuff to make way for the digital boards, so they threw a 1202 at me for 200 bucks. I figured a helluva deal. Going through the level setting procedure I’m confused about some things.
I’ve got the main audio in coming from the decklink and main out back to the DL via XLRs. Works fine. Also have a VHS deck and a DV deck coming into different inputs.
Setting the levels though, is daunting. I soloed each track according to the instructions and fed bars and tone to it from FCP. Levels from FCP are set at 0 db and read -12 on the audio meter in FCP. It says to solo each track and set the gain, trim and aux to zero, send a signal through and tweak the trim so that the LED on the mixer doesn’t exceed +7db. Fine. Then when I do that to the other channel and solo both of them, the LED is spiking.
What’s confusing is that I now have control over levels from the Beta deck, the mixer and FCP. What the heck is the right way to make sure all this is right? I don’t want an overblown signal coming from FCP and made to look normal by the mixer or my deck. Especially as broadcast levels are concerned as I do a lot of commercials. I want to be sure I’m controlling this properly and hearing what’s right.
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1 Reply
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[Chris Poisson] “Especially as broadcast levels are concerned as I do a lot of commercials. “I don’t want an overblown signal coming from FCP and made to look normal by the mixer or my deck”
Well, “making a level look normal” is exactly what you WANT to do, its one of the benefits of having a mixer.
The level-reading on the DECK’s METERS when you dub-out is the only thing that matters for “broadcast levels”.
As long as the audio does not sound DISTORTED and it reads at the correct level on the Beta’s meters (if you are recording to Beta) then the levels ARE correct… you have ADJUSTED them to be correct… you can use the mixer to ADJUST the levels, “overblown” or “underblown” to the proper “broadcast” level.
That’s why we put TONE at the head of a tape, so we know how to ADJUST the level of the tape.
But again, if you have boosted the levels in FCP to the point of digital DISTORTION, then just turning down the mixer won’t help you with the clipping.
But if all is well (and undistorted) with your mix, but it is, across-the-board, a bit “hot”… turning it down with the mixer so the Beta deck “sees it as normal” is a good thing.
(Of course you COULD just “select” all of your audio tracks at once in FCP and adjust the entire timeline’s audio up or down by X dB just as quickly.)
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