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Final Cut Voice Over Tool – Strange Problem…
Having not used the voiceover tool for 4 or 5 months, I recently required it, took the dust sheet off my Se Electronics studio mic, plugged it in through my TASCAM Fireone via firewire 400, and started recording, and used all the usual settings I had used for the last 2 years.
Everything was going okay until I played back the multiclip sequence Pro Res timeline I had recorded in and noticed an occasional crackle and pop, I initially thought it was in the video audio, but it turned out to be on the voice over track, checked my levels, it wasn’t clipping due to recording gain, this left me wondering about the individual parts in the chain from mic to hard drive.
So I swapped out each in turn starting from the mic, XLR cable, fireone, firewire 400 cable, then firewire, then plugged in via 400 socket on the back of the mac pro, then tried through the firewire 800 socket, still there.
Well now I was beginning to wonder (and worry) that it might be the mac pro on the blink, so I opened up Logic and Garage band and just recorded to the same RAID some dry mic audio, recorded crystal clean audio. So it’s FCP related, then I got to thinking what upgrades I had made since I last used the feature. I have added a RAID, and I was working with 8 x 15min streams of 1440 x 1080 Pro Res in multiclip, and there are about 12 multiclip sequences, yes thats about 1 terrabyte of video on my RAID, this is the 2nd such project sat on the RAID. I noticed it in the last project occasionally, much of it disappeared after exporting through compressor, not this time.
Now the MAc Pro can handle the video, as can the Raid… Just. I had a out of memory message for the first time yesterday, although looking at the utility Activity Monitor I had 10 of 14 Gb of RAM “free”. So I’m not sure sure what’s going on there, FCP was using about 3 Gb Ram.
So I’m wondering if there’s a setting I’ve got wrong somewhere in FCP or maybe on the Mac settings. I haven’t tried an ordinary DV multiclip, but in the absence of the Cow mind collective, I’ll be doing just that next week, but I’d rather continue to work in Pro Res, not that I’m outputting in HD anywhere, save for “HD” to the web, but graphics and video looks nicer even after Compressor to SD DVD.
So “pops” and only on the audio track from the voice over, anyone got an idea?
This work isn’t for a client, just as as well,well I’m the client I suppose, so my customers will tolerate it, so long as a solution can be found soon, it’s really, really, really annoying, after so much work has gone into the project to turning out the best quality I can, to be let down, like this. It really riles my OCD…
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3 Replies
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Chris,
The bottom line is, the FCP VO tool works very, very nicely with USB mics, but everyone who tries analog mics has difficulty. So, you can either struggle or take the easy road.
If it’s any consolation, I too struggled with my wonderful analog mics, but then I saw the light and bought a $99 Snowball mic, and I’ve never looked back.
David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor/Colorist
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los AngelesPOST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™
EPK Colorist – UP IN THE AIR – nominated for six academy awards
A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, Indie Film & Documentary, and Film History & Appreciations forums.
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It couldn’t be that simple could it, I wouldn’t care, despite using se2200A mic a fairly standard recording studio mic, I still sound fairly lo-fi. Like working in HD it was another vanity purchase. A cheap USB mic, well at least it would be a cheap easy fix, a USB mic, will give it a try if it’s there’s not a settings answer from the collective.
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Do you specifically need the VO tool? Why not record a clean VO track into Logic or Sound Track Pro. Both will support a qt file as a reference video.
Also fitting and cleaning up a VO will be quicker in a proper audio tool. Export the final track all nicely EQ’ed and Dynamics processed and drop in FCP.
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