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FCP’s audio meter
I have been working in FCP for a while now and I come across this issue constantly and can never figure out an answer. I make music videos and every time I receive the mastered audio from the band and put it into my timeline, the audio meters always light up to say the audio is clipping. I know for sure that the master is not clipped. Someone once told me that FCP adds 3db onto everything but that seems ridiculous. I don’t want to take the track down 3db in case it will sound quiet next to the other songs when it is played on television but I also don’t want it to be distorted. It doesn’t actually sound distorted to me but sometimes it can be hard to tell on a snare drum or a hand clap and the display is worrying.
Has anyone had any experience with this?
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50 Replies
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Is the track set or your timeline set to mono? Have you tried panning the audio so it’s stereo?
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The audio is definitely stereo – the meters for left and right show me that the information is different for each side and it definitely sounds stereo. The file is stereo when I double click it even though it doesn’t give me separate panning options for each side… which is another strange thing. It just says the audio is panned all the way left but the meters and my ears tell me that the track is stereo and evenly balanced. If I put the pan slider in the center the file becomes mono and if I put it all the way to the right it is stereo again.
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Have you put this in your timeline? If you are playing from the viewer, it will be mono.
Jeremy
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I have it in the timeline. It sounds stereo both from the timeline and the viewer…
Both make the clip lights come on in the meter. -
Just to be sure, open the audio mixer (option-6) and see if tracks 1 and 2 are panned to left and right.
If they are, then simply turn down the levels of the tracks in your timeline. Part of the job of editing is to make sure that everything is balanced from all sources.
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All those settings are fine. When I export the audio and bring it into Pro Tools it is not distorted. I think it’s just a problem with the display in FCP not having enough resolution to cope with something that is mastered hot. I don’t want to mess with the mastered file by turning it down. That shouldn’t need to happen. Thanks for your attention to my problem though.
Isobel -
[Isobel Knowles] “That shouldn’t need to happen.”
Why not? It’s not going to degrade the quality at all. Are you sure all of your levels including the master sequence level are set for zero in FCP?
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Why not? A) because we spent time and money mastering it to the level we wanted and I’ve had the experience where I’ve turned something down a little then seen it in screening program and the audio on my project is noticeably quieter. And B) because it doesn’t make any sense that FCP would make the audio louder for any reason. The master is definitely not clipped so I don’t see why it should be clipped when I bring it into the editing software.
I’m pretty sure all my settings are fine. I have just used an ntsc preset. I’ve checked through everything I can find and everything is at 0.
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I think that there may be something wacky with the hardware in your computer.
I’m assuming you have done all the usual stuff like reinstalling the system and FCP etc?
I agree with you. That shouldn’t happen. And lowering the level is a bad idea.
Harry
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[Harry Bromley-Davenport] “I think that there may be something wacky with the hardware in your computer. “
Just curious, but what makes you say that?
[Harry Bromley-Davenport] “And lowering the level is a bad idea. “
Why is this? If the level of the audio is hot mixed to, say -1db, that’s too hot for broadcast video. You, as editor or sound mixer or whatever, need to being that overall level down to match the rest of the levels in your timeline. Conversely, if you raise the levels of everything else to match your hot mix, you run the chance of raising the noise floor.
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