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AC3 Audio: Why it sounds so low?
Hi all,
When i make DVDs normally I use .aiff audio. It sounds exactly the same than original QT movie.
Some times I need to use .ac3 and is frustrating.
Is almost inaudible.
What should I change in the Dolby preset (compressor) to make it sound loud without touching the volume of the computer?
I know that is nothing related with the data-rate (I set it high anyway).
I tried rising the level in “Dialog Normalization”: Nothing.
May be the Peak Mixing level?
Any help will be very much appreciated.
Cheers,
rafael
PS:Is M. Gissing around?(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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9 Replies
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I set the normalization at -31
and I turn the Compression to OFF.
Have never had an issue with the audio levels using AC3’s here using those settings. That’s all we change.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Hi Walter,
Thanks for coming in my help.
I will try your setting and I’ll tell you how is gone.
Cheers,
rfael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Great!!
it worked.
Thanks a lot Walter.
I think I tried all the Compression presets except “NONE”
This made the job.
Cheers,
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Glad that helped. That was a nugget from someone else on the Cow I think three years ago that I still use to this day. The compression schemes all seem to push the levels down instead of normalizing them. “None” just leaves everything set as you originally had it.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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From an article by Jeff Warmouth at the Ken Stone site:
Preprocessing Tab
There is only one crucial setting on this third tab: Compression Preset. You MUST override the default value and choose None. The default value of Film Standard Compression is used only when the AC3 file will accompany a theatrical film print; setting this for a DVD audio file will cause the audio level to be automatically adjusted throughout the AC3 file. The effect is much like an AGC circuit on a sound recorder. In other words: YOU DON”T WANT IT! This single setting will make or break the quality of your AC3 file, so make sure to set Compression Preset to None.https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/a_pack_warmouth.html
– Don
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Yeap.
I think I have to go through all the manuals again.
The truth is that they have been really improved from the first releases.
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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Sorry Rafael, but I was away on a mercy dash to help my aging parents into a nursing home and checking COW was not on my list.
Walter got it right anyway. Dialog norm is Dolby’s idea of getting everything idiot proof by encoding a value that best represents the dialog “normal” volume. The intention is that digital broadcasts or DVD’s would all sound the same average volume on dialog so no-one would have to adjust levels from program to program. Because it is based on cinema volumes, where the cinema sets up the playback level of 85db based on pink noise, it doesn’t translate well into domestic or broadcast environments, so it is better to work with absolute levels and apparent loudness and bypass the dialog norm at the ac3 level.
Same goes for compression. The Dolby decode chip does poor dynamic compression.
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Hi Michael,
Thanks for popping in.
I tried to find you because you are one of the few “skilled video editors” with a real knowledge and understanding on audio around the COW.
For me audio is a real “black hole”. Nothing that I can change at my 50’s.
Good to know that there is somebody like you around:-)
cheers,
rafael(and here some clips for the friends: https://www.vimeo.com/2694745 )
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[Rafael Amador] “Good to know that there is somebody like you around:-)”
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I guess I have been lucky in my 33 years of experience to have covered telecine, location sound, sound editing & mixing, online and production from film to video tape to digital.
As for editing – that’s one skill I admire but have not got the patience for. I spend a lot of time with editors talking through technicals, so I am familiar with the black holes editors have. Indeed, I think that creative editing and being on top of all things technical is near to impossible.
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