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Clap Spikes; Limiter doesn’t fix it
Hello,
In my video a coach claps a couple times and the audio peaks. I’ve applied the FCP Compressor/Limiter filter in the past to other audio clips and have had great success. For some reason though, it isn’t effective with the clap in this clip (but it does work with the coaches dialogue). I’ve tried adjusting all the parameters and they seem to have no effect.
I realize I could probably just isolate that frame with the blade tool and lower the audio that way, but for future reference, I’d like to know how to do it with the compressor/limiter filter because it seems faster.
Also, now that I think of it and I’m here, is there something I can put around my speakers(M-Audio DX4) to block radio frequencies. They keep interfering and making my speakers pop quite often and it’s really annoying when you’re trying to edit. If there’s nothing I can do, I’ll live. It’s just annoying because I have to stop and wait for it to stop. Do planes have anything to do with that? I heard they changed the flight patterns in Philadelphia and since then it seems happens more often because planes fly over my house.
Thanks for your help and advice.
Robert J. Grauert, Jr.
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4 Replies
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What changes have you made to the filter? You have to adjust the filter to meet the needs of each situation, you don’t just throw the filter on there and expect it to compress each shot in the default settings.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
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Appreciate that you are looking for the most efficient workflow Rob… but there really is no substitute for actually editing every now and again! I’m not being snippy, we just all need reminding once in a while 😉
If you’ve already added a Compressor/Limiter to your satisfaction for the track as a whole, then going in and adding additional filters to isolated sections would actually be rather inefficient … such adjust those levels manually and you’re golden. That said, you might want to have a quick play with your current Compressor/Limiter settings. What value are you currently using for the Ratio ? … the higher the value the more extreme the limiting. Set it too low and the highs will still potentially overmodulate … set it too high and you’ll mush some of the range you’re trying to keep. As with anything, its give and take. -
About the interference sound…
Do you have a cell phone with Cingular/AT&T (or something else with GSM)? GSM radio frequencies have a nasty tendency to interfere with A/V equipment.
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I do most of my challenging audio work in Pro Tools and don’t have a lot of experience with the FCP audio tools. Basically what you want to do is make the compressor respnd quickly, so lower the Attack of the compressor. You want to adjust the Threshold up and the Compression Ratio way up. With a high threshold the compressor won’t operate until the sound is very loud. With a high compression ratio the compressor will crush the sound when it exceeds the threshold. The low attack setting makes it respond very quickly.
John
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