Tone and levels from DV to Beta

[Wojtek Jezowski]

In Edit to Tape settings you have the possibility to set the value of the reference tone. I propose 0db. Calibrate to the reference tone and leave the project value unchanged.

Wojtek Jezowski

[Tom Matthies]

Anything that I build to go out to the analog world is a complete timeline including bars & Tone, slate & academy. The program is built complete with all necessary elements. At that point a simple edit to tape will get the job done.
When I lay out to Beta SP, I run the program through an Aja IO. The default audio levels on FCP bars are set to -12db. When outputting through the IO I set the reference tone on the bars to -20db and the audio will hit the Beta deck dead on every time. I will mix the time line audio lower when I know that the finished show will be going to analog for broadcast. It’s just kind of a necessary evil when going from digital to analog. You could fudge your timeline by setting the tone to a higher level and then adjusting the Beta deck record levels down to a lower level, but It’s a little trickier to reproduce the right levels if you ever need to go back in and make changes to the timeline. By mixing for analog and setting your tone to the proper level, you eliminate another variable in your work flow.
Tom

[Wojtek Jezowski]

[Tom Matthies] “The default audio levels on FCP bars are set to -12db. When outputting through the IO I set the reference tone on the bars to -20db and the audio will hit the Beta deck dead on every time. “

Your right. My bad on the previous post.

Wojtek Jezowski

[Chris Borjis]

-20 for bars/tone is the standard across the board.

I have no idea why anyone would use -12db ever.

Every tape I’ve ever came across was -20 except for
some amateur stuff for film festivals where the tone
was 0, the audio was as loud as a cd and the bars
were flat and didn’t even register (premiere 6.x and previous)

[Dave Jenkins]

[Chris Borjis] “-20 for bars/tone is the standard across the board.”

Not from Betacam the tone should be 0db. -20 is for digital levels like Digibeta. We edit at -12 because it matches the levels out to match DVD and 0db for beta. If we are going to digital will pull the levels back to -20db.

Dajen Productions
Santa Barbara, CA
G5 Quad – AJA Kona LHe
Huge 1.2 Raid
FCP 6.0.2-OS X 10.4.11-QT 7.3

[Chris Borjis]

[Dave Jenkins] “Not from Betacam the tone should be 0db. -20 is for digital levels like Digibeta. We edit at -12 because it matches the levels out to match DVD and 0db for beta. If we are going to digital will pull the levels back to -20db.”

I’m not sure how your betacam deck is configured, but -20 on digibeta shows as 0 on the VU meters of all the betacam decks I’ve ever used and thats what it is supposed to be when calibrating with tone.

With this configuration your maximum levels bounce up to around 10 on digibeta and just barely touch into the red areas of the betacam vu meters.

Thats exactly how its supposed to work.
If you use -12 bars the betacam levels are too hot, at least on Sony UVW-1800 decks.

I think you might be misunderstanding what I said, since what your saying makes perfect sense.

[Elliot Samuels]

I have a Sony UVW-1800 Betacam SP deck. Among other things, I do transfers from Beta SP to DVD, Quicktime, whatever the client needs. Many times the B&T that are on the tape are around 0db. I know this might be considered broadcast standard for some, but when I transfer the audio to another format, a lot of the time it peaks and the audio gets blown out. Any 1800 users experience the same thing? Any reason this deck does that? Any workarounds? Help! 🙂

Elliot.