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Best Audio Record & Mix Workflow For FCPX?
Hi Everyone. I’m new here.
I’ve been able to get a few questions answered by looking around here but getting a clear idea of the ‘big picture’ continues to evade me.
Background: Shooting with a Canon Xf100. Picture & audio editing with FCPX latest version.
Shoot: Should I record bars and tone on each cf card? Is so what db? -12?
Should I leave audio input levels on auto, or adjust manual?
Should I follow camera instructions which is to rarely let camera’s audio meter go over -18db? When set to auto the meter often goes way above this. Issue?Edit: Ideally should all clips remain at the 0db setting and any adjustments be done via other settings? e/g/ loudness, limiter, compressor, etc?
In what order should audio be adjusted: level on clip itself, limiter, compressor, loudness… etc. What’s the best order to adjust in?
What should the level be on my 27″ Imac speaker? When I follow basic rules it then seems the playback is too soft on my computer. When I watch most youtube videos at same level the mix is much louder. How do I reconcile all of the above?
If you are kind and generous enough with your time I’d greatly appreciate it. If there are other links going over all this I’d love to know where. In the meantime I’ll continue to cobble together the info as best I can from various sources. Thanks!!
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1 Reply
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Hi. OP here with some answers to my own questions. figured i’d post what I found for others in same situation, or for correction by the community:
bars and tone. go ahead and record a few seconds of each on your card. may come in handy for diagnosing problems later. not critical, but can’t hurt. i’m going to use smpte bars and -12db tone.
i’ve experimented a lot now and can say nothing beats the auto setting on my canon xf100 for sound. i’m using a wired lav and a wireless lav. both in thru xlr. one needs phantom the other doesn’t. for basic voice recording this gave me a level around -12db. That seems to be a good level for the original recording. It jumps up to -10 occasionally with regular levels of voice.
The auto sound setting put levels above the recommended -18db stated in the manual but it all came out fine with strong level and lots of room on top for anything unexpected. Played with limiter, compressor etc in fcpx and each was able to use the signal I had just fine and give lots of room to play ion the mix.
learned that loudness setting isn’t necessary if you learn to use audio compressor and set custom settings for your liking. limiter important.
have set my Imac speaker at exactly half way up.
OK, that’s what i’ve got so far. any comments?
thanx.
jr
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