Final cut Studio Pro Audio Levels

[Boyd Mccollum]

There are a number of ways to do it. Once the clip is in your timeline, double click the audio track (or tracks if it’s in stereo) to open it in the Viewer. The audio tab(s) should be active and says either Stereo (a1,a2), Mono, or Mono (a1) Mono (a2). Adjust the audio levels as desired.

Before you do this, you should set you the audio levels of your system and whatever external speakers you are using to monitor audio. If these levels are too low or too high, you won’t be able to accurately set the levels of your clips. After you have you monitor levels set, don’t change them.

[Jeffbush]

Thanks for the info…I was wondering if there was a way to control the audio level going into FCP…during the capture…without a mixer…

[Boyd Mccollum]

You can adjust an analog audio signal, but not a digital audio signal when capturing.

I’m wondering, how are you determining what your audio levels should be? In your first post, you said the levels were good in camera, but sounded low in FCP. Did you adjust your monitors on the computer? It’s like the volume on a television, if you can’t hear the sound, turn it up.

Audio is probably the most critical component in making a film “professional”. Take a little time to learn some of the basics. The FCP manual is a good place to start. You can also search the Cow (in the FCP forum or the Audio Professionals forum). You should also get fimilar with the audio workflow, where and when and why to set levels, etc.

Quick and dirty, as per my original email, set your external monitors. Ideally this should be set to a reference signal. Open up a sequence in FCP, and from Effects/Video Generators, select Bars and Tones (NTSC) and drop this onto the timeline. Play that and set your external speakers to a level that you like. Don’t adjust your speakers after this! And you should probably redo this before you do your final audio mix.

You’ll notice that the tones are at -12 db. For digital audio, -12 db is where you want to set your levels. You also want to avoid having your peaks go above 0 db (which clips your audio). Simple audio mixing, done after you are locked with video, would be to set levels from clip to clip. Of course, one audio clip at -12 db may sound too soft or too loud and you’d need to adjust that based on the how the other audio clips around it sound. This would normally be for your dialog and narration. Music and fx would need to be adjust differently, based on what you’re trying to achieve in any given scene.

Ideally, when you captured your audio in producion, the levels were pretty consistent. If so, don’t adjust the levels coming into FCP. If the levels for an entire clip or tape are too high/low, you can open that clip in the Viewer, select the audio tab, and adjust the audio level. That affects the entire master clip. Usually what happens is that the levels on the tape or clip fluxuate up and down and depending on the actual piece of it you use, the levels need to mixed up or down. Another piece of that same clip might need to be mixed just opposite of the previous one you used.

As you edit, you can adjust the audio on an individual clip if it’s too loud or too soft, but most experienced editors don’t get too freaked by inconsistent audio levels early in an edit; producers on the other hand…

Anyways, quick and dirty.

[Jeffbush]

Thanks for all the info…as far as our levels go, we are seeking a vu meter that will enable us to match up all 4 of our editors so we can have a uniform audio output. Do you have any suggestions about where we can find such a vu meter? We have been using -20db as a “standard” when we tape and sometimes when we capture via firewire directly from our XD player or cam, the levels are too low. We have tried raising the audio level using the audio mixer in FCP and must rais them all the way up for the audio to be acceptable. Is this common? It seems unusual that we should have to raise the audio into the red, just to get a good level.

[Boyd Mccollum]

[Jeffbush] “Thanks for all the info…as far as our levels go, we are seeking a vu meter that will enable us to match up all 4 of our editors so we can have a uniform audio output. Do you have any suggestions about where we can find such a vu meter?”

within FCP the audio meters will be uniform from one station to another. Your outputs would be uniform at the same level. You can also go into Tools>Audio Mixer which will open as a window over the Viewer. This allows you to use sliders and the levels are a little easier to read. While its decent in FCP, audio really begins to take off when you use an external app such as Pro Tools – but then you are in the world of the professional audio editors/designers/engineers.

[Jeffbush] “We have been using -20db as a “standard” when we tape and sometimes when we capture via firewire directly from our XD player or cam, the levels are too low. We have tried raising the audio level using the audio mixer in FCP and must rais them all the way up for the audio to be acceptable. Is this common? It seems unusual that we should have to raise the audio into the red, just to get a good level.”

If your audio levels are too low, then you need to raise your audio levels when you tape. You should be shooting to record at around -12db (even up to -6db), making sure your peaks don’t go over 0db. The factors that determine this are the loudness of your subject, the distance of your mic from the subject you’re shooting, and the range of sounds your subject makes. When you do your sound check, have the subject go through a range, from the softest to loudest sounds they make, and set your levels to get the best sound possible. The quality of production audio will determine all downstream audio qualities. Ideally, you have an external mic(s) and someone with an audio mixer riding levels during your shoot. It’s part art and part science. For instance, you may accept a little over modulation of a short, sharp sound, like a door slamming, to get the dialogue you want. You’d then live with or replace the door slam in post.

A less ideal production scenario, but not uncommon, especially in live event/documentary-style productions, is relying on the onboard camera mic to record audio without the ability to ride levels. If there is a wide variation in the audio levels being recorded (really loud noises and low noises), then you are stuck with setting levels that might be too low for the soft sounds, but keeps the loud sounds from blowing out, or vice-versa. This is a judgement call you need to make, and depends ultimately on which sounds are going to be most important to you in the final project. You could also just use your camera AGC (automatic gain control) if it has one.

In post, if the levels are too low, you’ll need to just raise them until they meet your needs. This is where a good pair of head phones (Sony’s MDR-7506 and similar phones are industry standards) comes in handy. As you raise your levels, listen for distortion and for background/system noise (mics have a signal to noise ratio. As you raise the signal level, the noise inherent in the recording also rises and can become noticeable). If these stay within acceptable ranges for you, there shouldn’t be a problem. There are possible solutions for dealing with background noise, including audio filters, laying down ambience or music track, etc. While the individual clip levels can go as high as you need to go, your final output levels need to be at the -12db level (if it’s ever going to broadcast). Also before finishing your project, lay it off to tape or a DVD and play it on a regular TV to see how it sounds (you don’t want your levels distorting the speakers on a TV set, which is one reason for that -12db standard).

I’m not an audio expert by any means. You may want to post over on the Audio Professionals forum here on the Creative Cow. They have some really knowledgeable folks who could give you more indepth answers. I would recommend that you take a quick look at the FCP manual (accessible under the Help Menu). They have an excellent overview of audio and the audio workflow in Chapter III.