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Audio Normalization Issue for Project
Hi folks, I’ve done some searching and reading have become only more confused. I am doing a project that will be shown as video on screen and also on the web. I am trying to figure out what to do with the sound. I have clips modulated in the sense that when I want certain tracks to ramp up or down over others etc. BUT even after reading I can’t figure out how to set the volume for the entire project. I have clips that were imported and the audio ‘line’ that runs through those clips is 0db and others are -12db. 1) I don’t know how to make the change and 2) I’m not certain which of those is the level of choice. From what I’ve read I THINK it should be -12db but want to make certain. I see the Auto Normalization but will that make everything flat? I know that when raised the bar on 0db clips to -12 they certainly got quiet. Also, once that 0db or -12db is chosen, does that mean that all of my adjustments (ramping up) must max at -12db if that was selected and at 0db if that was the correct option? I see that as a possible problem because some of the clips I have are quite low in volume and if I raise the low points up, then to get any range it would seem that I would need to raise the peak spots above the level 0db or -12db, which was used.
I did bring a small clip into Soundtrack to get rid of some popping and I noticed that on the particularly quiet section the Peak meter on the right registered -20db. If this cannot be fixed (It is one of two audio tracks and the conversational one will be okay I think once I get your answer and make the necessary adjustments) I could likely find a different snippet of footage (this audio is the one that syncs with the video) that would work, tho I prefer to keep the one I have now.
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3 Replies
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The line through an audio track is a display of what gain is being applied to the track, it isn’t a measure of what’s recorded there. To assess what’s on there, you need to play the clips and use a combination of your ears and the level meter. Your ears are very important in this as the level meter is really a measure of modulation in a technical sense and isn’t very good for measuring loudness (I actually use a more sophisticated meter, called a PPM, but you don’t really need one of those unless you’re supplying something for broadcasting). As a rule of thumb, adjust the levels so that the level meter shows between -6 and -12 on the louder parts of each clip. You can grab the line in the clip with your cursor/mouse to change it and you can put in marks with the pen tool to set a level in a particular place and have the computer work out the ramping for you (there are other ways of doing this, but that’s a very useful way of doing the cross fades between tracks as well as controlling the levels along a clip).
[Sound mixing is a rather large subject and I’m only scratching at the surface here.]
If you get to a point where your mix sounds right, but the overall level across the project doesn’t seem right, there is an overall level control in the Audio Mixer tool. Normalisation is a way of automatically setting the loudest part of the sound to be at the highest acceptable level – the way I’d use it on a project like this is to do the mix so that it sounds right (without using normalisation), then export it as a single audio file, bring that back into FCP and use it to replace the audio on a copy of your timeline, normalise that and you’re ready to export the timeline for delivery.
Hope that helps
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Thank you for this…it made it a bit clearer for sure and I can proceed. I am sorry but I am just a wee bit unsure of this point
“..then export it as a single audio file, bring that back into FCP and use it to replace the audio on a copy of your timeline” It SOUNDS just right and like something I could manage…but I’m not quite clear on where it is that I am exporting it to before I bring it back.
I am certain that this seems an obvious process to those less green but I am so appreciative for the help.
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When you have a finished timeline put an in point at the start and an out point at the end of the timeline, the highlight it in the browser window and do an Export as Quicktime Movie. You want to select Settings: Current Settings and Include: Audio only, give it a title that means something to you and choose where to save it (I usually make an extra folder on my capture drive for things like this, but that’s my own habit). Then when you’ve exported the file, do an Import file (or you can just drag and drop it into the FCP browser) to make it part of your project. Duplicate your sequence and delete all of the audio clips on the copy and drag the exported/imported file onto the audio tracks. I’m sure that you’ll get the hang of it 🙂
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