• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  Audio Levels in V.O. Tool

  Posted by Shelby Langley on May 13, 2011 at 3:19 pm

  Hi-

  I’m using FCP’s V.O. Tool to record Doc Narration. So far my levels are around -9
  to -5. Is this too loud? What would you recommend?

  They sound ok in with the one track of audio that gets recorded into the timeline. But when I dragged the original file into FCP with 2 tracks it’s a bit loud, though, there is no distortion. Should I judge the sound by the one track or the two tracks?

  Thanks,
  Shelby

  Shelby Langley replied 15 years ago 3 Members · 4 Replies
• 4 Replies

• 

  Andrew Rendell

  May 13, 2011 at 4:35 pm

  Peaking around -5 to -9 is a good healthy level (to be honest, I usually record a little bit lower than that, but I’m paranoid about distortion) so I’d just use it on just the one track.
• 

  Shelby Langley

  May 13, 2011 at 5:16 pm

  Thanks, Andrew!
• 

  Michael Gissing

  May 13, 2011 at 10:52 pm

  Ironically digital audio has best spec the closer you get to 0 dbfs. Distortion levels and signal to noise are best just before 0, however, when the levels hit zero all hell breaks loose. Distortion goes ballistic.

  The best practice is to record dialog with peaks around -10dbfs which leaves 10db headroom. So your levels are good, particularly if your voice talent has good control. Only use one track and pan to center. There is no reason to put a mono sound on two tracks, just a waste of tracks.
• 

  Shelby Langley

  May 15, 2011 at 5:35 pm

  Thanks, Michael!

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