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FCP & Audio Normalization
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Absolutely…My recipe was to apply Levelator only to the mono voice tracks of interviews. Along the way we lost sight of the original poster. He claimed to be an amatuer FCP editor and needed a simple solution for normalizing some tracks. Wow, does Levelator fit that bill!
However, when we get DVCAM and Betacam tapes with interviews from across the country with different record levels, different amplitude of voice, and different frequencies of voices, we have found the Levelator to be a sweet little tool to quickly and painlessly get a real solid level on what are otherwise very uneven levels on the interview tracks. We do not use levelator on mixed tracks.
And the fact that our audio post house has used Levelatored tracks without complaint and to great success and in most cases spending less time getting all the voice tracks leveled, this tool has proven its worth to our corporate clients who love workflow solutions just like this one.
Nothing we do is broadcast, as is probably the case with our original poster, but everything we do is of the highest quality and I will stand by it….as will our audio house. (check our site)
Don’t like this little gem of an app that is free and does what it does (to voice tracks) very well? Then leave it be….but I’ll bet it’s just the ticket for our amateur editor!
Rich Rubasch
Tilt Media -
[Tom Wolsky] “I think Rich Rubasch, who suggested Levelator, specifically referred to using this for narration tracks, not for final mix exports. “
Exactly Tom.
And, now we all know that the next time we’re considering heading off to Tasmania for a final mix with Michael, that he might blow a gasket if we premix our V.O.
Here he is going after the last offender…
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.
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[Tom Wolsky] “I think Rich Rubasch, who suggested Levelator, specifically referred to using this for narration tracks, not for final mix exports. “
Yes, but you don’t even want to add this to a narration track if you’re sending your files to an audio post house. There you want all the files, including narration tracks. to be raw.
If you’re doing the final mix in FCP, then by all means, use all the filters at your disposal. Better yet, go into Soundtrack Pro. If you’re going to an audio post house, their tools will almost always be superior to anything inside of FCP.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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Rich’s experience, and the audio post he works with, is clearly different from yours. It’s also more appropriate to the original poster.
All the best,
Tom
Class on Demand DVDs “Complete Training for FCP6,” “Basic Training for FCS2” and “Final Cut Express Made Easy”
Author: “Final Cut Pro 5 Editing Essentials” and “Final Cut Express 4 Editing Workshop” -
“And, now we all know that the next time we’re considering heading off to Tasmania for a final mix with Michael, that he might blow a gasket if we premix our V.O.
Here he is going after the last offender…”
Frankly David, I have no interest in getting personal with you and as a Cow host, I expect you to play the ball and not the man. Your statement – “In the digital domain there are no ill effects from adjusting amplitude or pre-mixing,” remains factually incorrect.
If you wish to stand by it, then fine. I suspect you have confused amplitude with gain adjustment. If you adjust amplitude, you change the relationship between the peaks and troughs of a waveform. If you change that relationship, you are either compressing or expanding the sound. Compression, if done incorrectly will raise the noise floor. That’s why good compressors have a threshold setting. Even so, applying compression will change the noise floor relative to the maximum peak.
If you meant gain adjustment, unfortunately you are again incorrect. Gain changes automatically raises or lowers the noise floor. Relative to the sound, the noise floor remains constant. Because digital signal fall into their own ugly noise floor, it is important than they be gained by a much higher bit rate than their native rate. Best solution is to use floating point processing so they you don’t introduce too many artefacts from that digital noise floor when you gain.
Lots of simple normalising programs don’t do floating point, which is why I constantly warn people against changing the raw media as digitised.
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Oh and thanks for the appropriate user pic…
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“Rich’s experience, and the audio post he works with, is clearly different from yours. It’s also more appropriate to the original poster.
”I think it should be made clear that I am not saying the original poster shouldn’t use the Levelator. It may be perfect for his application. I didn’t respond to any of the arguments except factually incorrect statements and to remind all FCP users of the need to consider sound post before considering any audio processing of the raw file data.
For many, audio is misunderstood and I will always challenge errors or omissions that further obfuscate.
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[Michael Gissing] “For many, audio is misunderstood and I will always challenge errors or omissions that further obfuscate.”
Yes, this is very good statement. I made a lot of audio errors in the past before I started working with the audio designers. I found out there was a lot that I was doing in FCP that I really should have just left alone.
Michael you’re always welcome in the forum. Some folks just feel like they have to know everything about everything and they’re always willing to let you know that. I’m smart enough to know that one person can’t possibly have all the answers. That’s the strength of this community. Thousands of folks sharing a wealth of knowledge.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Biscardi Creative Media
HD and SD Production for Broadcast and Independent Productions.STOP STARING AND START GRADING WITH APPLE COLOR Apple Color Training DVD available now!
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“Michael you’re always welcome in the forum”
Thanks Walter. I have been posting here for years as Michael G but I seem to have been re registered after a change of email and the real names policy.
I am just as stubborn as some of the forum stalwarts so I don’t plan on sulking if someone wants to have a go. They better do their homework though. I pioneered digital location recording and post sound in 1984 for film & video and have mixed nearly 800 broadcast docos so I feel more than qualified to speak my mind.
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Guys i want to thank all of you for those answers. U really helped me.
But i want to remind you that i am an amateur user and do not have access to audio production house and even if i did, the budget wont allow it.
For my sequence is impossible to manage each audio separately.
So, Levelator is my only choice?2 minds are better than one.
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