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Audio distortion mastering to tape
I have a 20 min program for a client – audio is fine in the final sequence, that sequence nested and on the QT file of that sequence – no issues. However when I go to tape, I have a few dropouts and distortions. I am on a Mac Pro 8 core, the media is on a separate internal drive (not boot drive). I have tried print to video and edit to tape…same issues. I have tried 2 different Sony decks, 2 computers and 3 different new tapes…I need to deliver the master within the hour!!! I have never had this issue before ! HELP!
Ann -
5 Replies
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Go up to the Sequence menu, select the “Render Only” section and choose “Mixdown.”
See if that helps. It isn’t always needed, but it should be a step before any printing-to-tape is tried as it can often eliminate problems like this before they appear.
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Yes, I did an Audio Mixdown, but the distortion still occurs and only on output to tape. The QT fil and the sequence both play fine.
Since this particular tape was for mastering to the very few clients that use VHS, I finally burned the QT to a DVD and reimported – certainly not an ideal solution with extra compression and generation loss, but they had to send the tapes to the Dupe house today along with the DVD master.
I wonder if the media somehow becomes corrupt on output. The issues are always at the same places in the program.
I am an Apple Trainer for FCP, but I tell you I am stumped on this one!
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Just thought I’d bump this thread and mention we’re having the exact same issues, even after an audio mixdown, when printing to tape we’re getting lots of dropouts as well as audio distortions. We’re running on an 8 core Mac with 16gb ram, Kona 3, and Nvidia Quadro FX 5600 graphics card, so we’re not exactly hurting spec wise. We have a 30 minute infomercial with seven layers of video (lots of graphics) and two layers of audio (mixed down). Even after nesting the video, we’re getting all sorts of errors but only upon edit to tape or print to video. Right now we’re exporting an Uncompressed 10 bit quicktime of the whole project, and then upon re-importing that qt, we’ll see how it prints to tape. Will let all of you know how this works. This has been one heck of a learning experience for us, and like the original poster, we have to get betas out asap!!!
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Anne
Make sure you check for transient audio peaks before you output.
Load your sequence into the Viewer window, then choose Mark menu > Audio Peaks > Mark. This will put markers in your timeline at every point where the audio exceeds 0 dBFS. If you have any, then go in and bring those levels back down to the right levels.
Just asking here … but your audio is all native 48 kHz AIFF, right? No dodgy MP3 audio in there or similar?
Cheers
Andy -
Anne,
Did you happen to find a solution? From what you’re saying, I’m having the same issue.
I did notice that the issue occurs when using the “Edit to Tape” feature, but not when playing back from the timeline and recording directly to tape.
Here is the COW thread I started, which explains my problem in more detail.
https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/8/1018502
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