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FCP’s audio meter
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If you are delivering this for broadcast transmission the audio level should be nowhere near 0dBFS anyway as there should be 10dB of headroom allowed.
There is not a single music track in 15 years of editing that I’ve not had to reduce in level for mastering to legal broadcast spec.
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[Isobel Knowles] “I’ve checked through everything I can find and everything is at 0. “
The easiest way is to look at the audio mixer. ALl the little sliders should be at 0 (as long as your CTI is parked over anything audio track with a clip in it), including the master level.
Jeremy
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Isobel said that when she exported it to Protools there was no distortion – by which I understood her to mean that it did not clip.
I’m therefore assuming that the material itself is ok and that the fault lies with the Mac’s brain or with FCP. Where else is there to lay the blame?
Harry.
PS. I understand what you are saying about matching other levels etc, but I guess I was suggesting that lowering the level isn’t going to solve the initial problem which is that the track appears to have gained a few DB during the importing process. Naturally I did not intend you to think that I was advocating delivering a red hot overmodulated track for broadcast.
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[Harry Bromley-Davenport] “I’m therefore assuming that the material itself is ok and that the fault lies with the Mac’s brain or with FCP. Where else is there to lay the blame? “
No offense to Isobel, but operator error could be the cause here. Before recommending a complete reinstall of the program, it’s best to find out exactly what’s going on.
Isobel, any chance you can post a bit of the file? 1 second would do.
Jeremy
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I have always delivered the video with the mastered track as is to the post production house –
I assume they make the levels right for broadcast. I didn’t realise they needed to be so much lower.I just wanted to solve the mystery of why FCP displays clipping when clearly the audio is not clipped before I import it, nor after I export it. This problem has occurred for me over and over through different systems, different versions of FCP, etc. It’s just one of those things that always confuses me and I thought maybe someone else had experienced it too and could tell me why.
Isobel
PS. This is a music video – there are no other audio clips to match. Just the song.
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Definitely no operator error involved!
Unfortunately I do not know the answer, but I think your guess is right: FCP is not accurate enough at the top end of the meters.
BUT because you double checked the signal is ok and because you have a post house setting the final levels for you, I think you shouldn’t change anything.
Because if you start to pull the level down, you have to know where to as there are a few different audio standards in the broadcast world. Possible, but might be a can of worms which you don’t want to (unless you like worms) worry about.Have fun!
Carsten
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[Isobel Knowles] “I just wanted to solve the mystery of why FCP displays clipping when clearly the audio is not clipped before I import it, nor after I export it.”
Isobel,
There is precious little headroom in the digital domain, and so FCP meters are set on the sensitive side to warn you of the “potential” for clipping slightly before it happens. It’s like getting innoculated before being exposed to an infection rather than afterward.
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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[Carsten Orlt] “I think you shouldn’t change anything. “
Sorry guys, hate to be a downer, but this is like saying you shouldn’t double check your video levels because they came from color correction. If the cc was done for non broadcast, then the levels might be too hot for broadcast. If the music mix was done for non broadcast, there’s a good chance that they are too hot. It is similar to any piece of stock music you get from your fav stock library, all of those are mixed hot. Too hot for tv, anyway.
Jeremy
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Isobel,
As a relatively easy test, try doing this:
1. Make a new sequence in FCP and pull in a “SLUG” with 0db tone.
2. Export it as .aiff.
3. Import it into Protools and check that it is 0db.
4. Now reimport it into FCP and see if it’s still 0db.
If it stay at 0db throughout, your original music material is too hot for broadcast and has to be decreased. If the 0db level changes you have a hardware or software or operator (?) problem.
Right??
Best wishes,
Harry
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[Harry Bromley-Davenport] “1. Make a new sequence in FCP and pull in a “SLUG” with 0db tone. “
That’s a very good thought. Even FCPs self generated tone comes in with a level of -12, which is of course wrong for NTSC digital delivery. -20 is more commonly used. That’s 20db below 0.
If the levels are clipping, there’s something set wrong somewhere (which is operator error, again no offense to Isobel, just trying to get this sorted out proper).
My first guess is that the level of the audio file has been raised above 0 or the level of the entire sequence has been raised.
Isobel, and chance of posting 1 second or less of the song? Another thing to do is turn on the audio waveforms for the sequence (command-option-w). If the audio waveform is flat at the top, the levels are over driven.
Jeremy
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