FCP audio limiter for whole sequence?

[Rob Forsythe]

This works for virtually all filters in FCP.
You apply and adjust the Filter on a clip of your choosing.
When, you get it exactly the way you want it, select ALL of the clips in the timeline (other than the one you’ve just adjusted) and drag the Filter’s Icon from the Viewer window to any one of the highlighted clips. (They will now ALL have the same filter.)

As to which filter to choose…
I like the Compressor/Limiter.
Add the Compressor/Limiter Audio Filter to a clip and click it into the viewer “Filters” window.

As a starting point, adjust the Settings to my “all 2’s” formula:

Threshold (db) -20
Ratio 2
Attack Time 20
Release Time 200
Preserve Volume CHECKED (very important!)

Now click the viewer to display the actual audio track and set the Level to “2” or “3.”

Now, when you play the track it should be at a “more consistent” level.

You can play with my “all 2’s” formula if you want, but its a good starting point for compressing the levels without a lot of compressor “pumping.”
The “Threshold” setting will affect the clip the most… as you slide left, it brings more of the low levels UP.
The actual volume adjustment now comes from the “Level” slider on the actual audio track (and you can key-frame that in any clip if you want.)

[Jeremy Garchow]

You can use the audio mixer and turn down the master volume to whatever you want. As far as filters for entire tracks, believe it or not FCP does not have it.

You can also nest all of your audio tracks into two tracks (stereo) and adjust the volume or add filters to the whole set that way.

———–
G5 Dual 2Ghz <> 4GB RAM <> FCP 5.02 <> Kona 2

ATTO 42XS <> Huge Systems 1.25 TB 4105 Fibre

[George Mandl]

Thanks for all the advice. In working with the compressor/limiter more, Im realizing that it definitely behaves very differently than in Adobe Premiere. In Premiere, you can actually give it numerical indication of where you want it to peak. So if your audio shouldn’t rise above -6 db, it wont, no matter how compressed it gets at that point. This is not to be used in lieu of adjusting volume levels, but in addition to. If there is anything that can more accurately put a “stop” to audio above a certain level, Id love to know about it. For now it seems like a guessing/tweeking game, with some less-than-intuitive controls.

Thanks again.

[Annaël Beauchemin]

FCP’s compressor controls are pretty much the same as any compressor controls… threshold, ratio, attack and release.

The name of the effect implies that it’s both a compressor and a limiter, but in my experience it’s not a good limiter because of its attack time which can’t be set lower than 1ms. Any real limiter will go much lower than this. This is why FCP’s “limiter” will not smooth very fast transients, like a “brick wall” limiter would. The best you can do is set the ratio to 100 the attack to 1 and the threshold aout 2-3db lower than your target peak level.

I recently looked into Soundtrack Pro and the tools provided for audio mastering seems very very great. I don’t know how great is the integration with FCP, others could comment on that.

[Carsten Orlt]

The best plug in I found and bought is Final Plug from Wavearts:
https://www.wavearts.com/FinalPlug5.html
This is Peak-Limiter which does exactly what you want and it does it perfectly well.
When I edit/mix I adjust volume to about -10 (or-12) but don’t bother about the occasional peak.
Then I nest or export my audio tracks so I then can apply Final Plug to the whole track(s).
It works in FCP or Soundtrack Pro (and any other audio software).
Not only can you set the max level but through the threshold level adjustment you can compress the signal to get more subjective volume without acceding the max level. Quite amazing how far you can push it without audible distortion.
This not only helps broadcast but does also wonders for web or dvd delivery!
You can download a demo that works 30 days to get hooked 🙂
Cofe

[Blearyeyes]

Unfortunatly I cannot use all of my Logic Pro Plug-ins in Final Cut as there are great mastering plug-ins there and I already paid for them……
So third party AU plugs work…ummm

You can nest audio seperatly from the video?

Daniel R. Shattuck
https://www.ipeace.tv

[David Bean]

Rob, thanks for this, it worked for me too.