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Audio playback problem
Here’s what I’m working with:
Final Cut 7.0.3 on a Mac Pro computer using OSX 10.8.5
My issue is this:
I have digitized footage from my Sony deck (HVR-M15U) and my HDV using a DV/Firewire cable. The audio and video appear to go in fine. I can see and hear as it captures. When I play back the clip in Final Cut it is very low volume and distorted. If I quit FC and put the clip on the desktop and open it in Quicktime it plays perfectly. So I have concluded there is no issue with the capture process. It must be a problem with the FC playback. As you suggested I have trashed preferences with no improvement. I tried doing the System Pref/Users Groups thing someone mentioned and when I get to the password part I can’t go any further because I don’t know the previous owners password. This is a used Mac I recently purchased. So I’m stuck.
Things I’ve tried:
Trashing preferences
Changing Audio/Video settings
Digitizing from 2 different sources
Changing out the DV/Firewire cable
Changing speakers
Going to Utube and following instructions on how to correctly set up a FC Pro projectI am perfectly OK with paying for expert help. I haven’t been able to edit the program I shot in a month because of this audio issue. I can’t edit if I can’t hear the audio!
PLEASE HELP! I’m desperate. The gun’s getting closer to my head! -
6 Replies
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Is the audio dual mono? I’m guessing you have a phase issue between two mono channels which was probably an issue with the audio feed to camera.
In QT it plays both channels out the left & right so you think its OK. In FCP the audio is likely to be panned centre and the phase cancelling happens. If the audio is dual mono, just unlink and delete one channel of audio. If that fixes the problem then it is a phase issue that is only apparent when monitoring the audio as mono in FCP.
Also any details of how your computer is hooked up to monitoring. Do you have a card like Decklink or AJA? It may also be a monitoring issue but i doubt it.
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yes it could very well be a phasing issue.
I think the default in FCP is to capture as Stereo, so unless that has been changed by the OP it could be a monitoring issue.
been a long time since i captured something off tape so i could be wrong!nick
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Michael and Nick . . . Thank you, thank you! Deleting one side of the track worked! I remember now that when I shot the video I used a gizmo that changed the audio cable from mini-stereo to XLR and I switched the audio on the box to mono. I’ve never shot in HD before so don’t like the mini audio connectors on these cameras. I don’t need stereo and in FC I always make all the audio mono anyway before output, so it made sense to just change it when we shot it. I’ve been struggling with this issue for a couple weeks now and so glad there are smart people like you guys out there.
John Hensel -
I’d like a dollar for every time I’ve seen mini jack to XLR adapters wired out of phase. It is impossible to fix when people pan this sort of thing and mix it with other correct audio and then ask me why the dialog all disappears on a phone but is fine on the laptop.
As an audio post veteran I can hear the phase error in stereo and I always check mixes for mono compatibility so this problem doesn’t make it through.
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glad it got sorted ☺
Michael, rather than discarding half the audio, would it her better for John to pan his clip Left and Right?
nick
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[Nick Meyers] “Michael, rather than discarding half the audio, would it her better for John to pan his clip Left and Right?”
The audio is dual mono so fixing by throwing one side away is correct. Panning hides the problem. The phase error remains and when mixed in with other correct audio cancels just that audio when listening in mono. I had this exact disaster when a friend did the pan fix and uploaded videos which played on phones and small tablets with all the scene dialog cancelled out and the music & effects intact.
We had to go back in and fix it by deleting one side and panning the audio to centre. Much easier to do it when editing by cutting in just one side to a mono track.
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