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Audio Level setting
Trying to capture Betacam through a Kona Lhe and the levels are coming in 6dB lower than expected–zero dB on the Beta meters comes in as -18 in Final Cut instead of -12. I’ve located a few posts related to this, but no real answers resulted. I could bump up with a mixer, but I’m looking to set up the system properly to a known reference.
I went to System Preferences to set the audio input level for the Kona device to 67% as per instructions from AJA, but when I go back to Final Cut, it gets set back down to 51%. It seems that something in FCP is setting that input level to 51% as a default. Why does Final Cut seem to override this setting and force a reset to 51%? The Easy Setup I’m using is Kona 8-bit uncompressed NTSC to DV50.
Final Cut Studio, FCP 5.0.4, After Effects 6.5 Pro, Quicktime 7.0.4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V1.2, 4.5 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT, G-RAID 1TB FW800.
Final Cut Studio, FCP 5.0.4, After Effects 6.5 Pro, Quicktime 7.0.4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V1.2, 4.5 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT, G-RAID 1TB FW800.
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3 Replies
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In your Kona control Panel (you have that installed, correct?) make sure you check the ‘lock input gain to unity’ tickbox checked. I can’t rememeber what tab it’s in, but it’s probably the audio tab. -18 or -20 is normal for broadcast. -12 is for dv. If you need a -12 level for a dv output then raise the levels once they are in. Or, run your beta through a mixer and amplify the level before you get to FCP.
Have you read the audio FAQ? IF not, read here:
https://www.aja.com/pdfs/KONA2_Audio_FAQ.pdf
Jeremy
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Hmm. I did read that Kona2 FAQ, but it didn’t hurt to read it again–right down to the LAST paragraph, which pretty much answers my question.
When Log and Capture is open, the Kona analog audio is simply E-E and there is no control over the level within the board (except by changing the setting in the Kona Setup tab to +18. which gives you 6dB more level but is not recommended for US broadcast).
In the v.5 FCP log and capture window the new clip audio gain slider is set full up by default and that is labeled as a gain of 1, aka, unity.
I was instructed by the Kona rep to set the Mac system audio input level to 67%. Turns out this has no effect during log and capture, because FCP’s maximum setting of “1” overrides the system setting, and the FCP setting corresponds to 51% in the system setting. It doesn’t go any higher than that and no amount of trying will make it stay at 67.
The trouble with our wonderful information age is that so much of the information conflicts! Anyhow, it all becomes clear in the end. Thanks for the input. You comments helped sort it all out.
-TomFinal Cut Studio, FCP 5.0.4, After Effects 6.5 Pro, Quicktime 7.0.4, G5 Quad 2.5, Kona-LHe V1.2, 4.5 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 7800-GT, G-RAID 1TB FW800.
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This what we have noticed:
If you bring in one channel mono it comes in 4db lower.
If you bring in two channels stereo it comes in 4db hotter.
When we set the input level at -12 on the FCP meters after capture the levels in FCP reflect the above numbers.
If you pan the mono input left or right it will match the -12 level. That doesn’t help because we don’t pan mono tracks after capturing. We ended up adjusting our levels on capture, mono captured at -6 = -12, stereo -18 = -12.HTH
Dajen Productions
Santa Barbara, CA
G5 Quad – AJA Kona LHe
Huge 1.2 Raid
FCP 5-OS X 10.4.2-QT 7
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