Tone in FCP

[Vince Sanchez]

For the shows we’ve delivered its always -20dbFS for digibeta and 0db VU for analog (Beta SP) for the tones. Program level not to exceed -10dbFS on the digibeta. To do this we mix audio to hover around -20 and set the peak limiter to brick wall at -10dbFS. This seems to work really well when dubbing to Beta SP, gives us a full level without overmodulating the SP deck.

[Toby Dalsgaard]

“First of all, it’s Walter, and there’s a bunch of us on here who have said -20db so it’s not just me being “correct.”

umm..ok.

[Walter Biscardi]

[Proper Modulation] “”First of all, it’s Walter, and there’s a bunch of us on here who have said -20db so it’s not just me being “correct.”

umm..ok.”

I meant, we’re just casual here. No need for “Mr.” anything. Mr Biscardi is my dad, I’m just Walter or Wally.

Walter Biscardi, Jr.
https://www.biscardicreative.com
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“I reject your reality and substitute my own!” – Adam Savage, Mythbusters

[Hamish Boyd]

I remember working in the UK a few years ago (now back home down under). Digi decks I worked with all set to -18db.

but in the end, in theory it doesn’t matter does it? If it clearly says at the beginning of the tape what the tone is set at. Then thats all that is needed. Its just a reference point so all users of the tape are on the same page. is it not?
so is it just a matter of stations standardizing the process so there is no possible glitches or mistakes on settings?

Audio has always confused me for the same reason its a long thread here. Different standards. I don’t do final mixes for broadcast for that reason, I send it to a audio house.

[Rafael Amador]

In the end nobody had explained jet how to use the tone. First the tone has to be a reference for your self when editing. When somebody tells you that wants the audio at -12 or -20 or whatever the important matter is not the levels of the bars but the audio average level. If you work (i.e) -12db, set few seconds of bars and tone (-12db) in your time-line a play it. You will see in the FC audiometer that the green horizontal bars stay at -12db. Set the volume of your loudspeaker so the tone is clear and hight enough but do not disturb you. Now DO NOT TOUCH THE VOLUME OF YOUR LOUDSPEAKER ANY MORE because this will be your reference for the whole editing. And now you have to start to lie your audio down setting the levels so the mix your are getting through your loudspeakers its sound OK to you. If you set a dialogue for example the green bar of the audiometer should be around those -12db. The other thing you must to look at is the small horizontal yellow bar in the audiometer. That mark de peaks and you shouldn’t let it rise much on top of the -6 dbs. If they ask you to work at -20dbs, just do the same but adjusting the audio at with a tone at -20db and your average audio level around this.
As I tell you the tone has to be a reference firstly for your self. If you set few second of tone in the beginning of your film this will help to adjust the optimal level when reproducing the film What I do is to ask my customers which audio level they want. If they don’t know, i go to -12db. I have never had any complain and the truth is that I have been requested to set -20dbs in a documentary that was going to a film festival and was to be shown in a big screen. About specs you will find people very strict and people that don’t give a damn.
Somebody mentioned Beta-cam. When we are recording digital or anagogic signals, we are in two absolutely different worlds. When you digitalize the same audio with to different levels, you are getting two completely different files (two different strings of “0’s” and “1’s” that you get in your tape or in your hard drive). When you are recording in anagogic and you are rising the AUDIO REC level the only thing you are doing is giving more strength to the magnetic field you are creating in your audio heads. In anagogic is very important that the metal particles of the video-tape get magnetized to the higher possible level but without over modulate. This is what you get in a Beta-cam when you record a tone at 0dbs, the optimal magnetic flux, the higher signal to noise ratio. When you play the tape, the reproduction will be optimal. If you had record to low you can increase the volume when playing, but you will rise the noise too. if you record too hight, then you risk interferences in-between the adjacent audio-tracks or even with the video-tracks, also problems of print-through in the tape. A similar process of the Audio is done to the video signal when adjusted through a TBC with.
In digital tapes the strength of the magnetic signal that you lie in the tape is not that important. You are writing “0’s” and “1’s” and as long as the video heads can tell between a “0” and a “1” you will recover the full information without any loose.
Salud,
Rafael