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beta cam audio
Hello, not exacly sure where to post this but i’ll try here and wont mind being corrected if this is the wrong spot.
So I used to do alot of eng tv production, I was a boom op and mainly mixed on an fp33 into a betacam. I am having trouble remembering the details of a small safety trick that I used to do. Basically on the two tracks of audio on the beta cam tape, one track was closer to the magnetic strip on the tape. I would run my main signal to the “safer” track and my backup safety level, (usually a few db lower) onto the track that was closest to the video information on the tape. I know its a far cry but does anyone know which track (or channel) that was on the tape. I think I remember track 2 being on the edge and track 1 being closest to the video, Im just looking for confirmation. and also is this even really an effective procedure. I was turned on to it originally by our audio post guy way back in the day (around 2000/2001)…Thanks for any help. -
14 Replies
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Hello Shannon and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
I’m thinking LTC and VITC. The LTC track runs longitudinally along the edge of the tape. VITC is part of the video stream. So, to answer your question, I think VITC is what you’d want.
Anyone else?
Regards,
Ty Ford
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Track 1 of the betacam is the track closer to the video section on the tape, and track 2 is on the edge.
I always ran track 2 3db lower than 1, I also did the same on the BetaSP machines on tracks 3/4.https://betacam.palsite.com/format.html
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Hey, thanks alot guys..
Brian, so because of track 1’s proximity to the video info, Im assuming you would use track 2 as your “main” audio track and track 1 as your backup?You just like to set your main mix (track 2) at 3 db down from your backup or “safety” which is track 1 ? or do you do it opposite in which case track 1 is your main and track 2 is safety.
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I thought I had heard that using the edge track was chancy in case the tape was not tracking properlu and got chewed a bit.
Some clarification?
Regards,
Ty Ford
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you know, thats was always a concern to me as well. Then there is that issue of having audio info to close to the video info.. (or magnetic info etc) So im a bit thrown as well as far as whats best.
The big question I guess is which track should you track your main audio to and if you can which track should you route backup audio to…
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Track 1 was the “center” track, and thus the main track, because of its protection from the above-mentioned possible edge damage. Track 2 was the backup (if you are going double mono).
Tracks 3 & 4 – if you’re on a BVV/BVW SP machine, are recorded as part of the picture info. Their audio quality is much better, yet they’re not accessible if you run into PVV/PVW machines.
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Thanks for that Alan.
What a trip down memory lane. 🙂 I knew one was supposed to be better than the other, but I couldn’t remember which it was.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
Watch Ty play guitar -
We used Ch1 as the main dialogue channel and Ch2 for Fx for news / current affairs productions, mainly for ease of use with the added bonus being that Ch1 was more robust.
Often on VERY hot days in Australia 40deg C we had camera tapes fail on the edges if they were left in hot cars to long.
The original betacam audio was only slightly better s/n ratio than a domestic compact cassette (but it had less wow and flutter).
But despite its short commings of betacam it was way better than low band or high band Umatic recordings (Im showing my age now, and who can remember the sore sholders?)…..but this was a huge jump forward from Mag stripe 16mm film… NOW I am sounding old!!! -
Thanks everyone for helping out on this… very much appreciated!
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So does that apply to tapes these days too eg digibeta /HDCAM/DVCPro
Thanks
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