YIKES! Our H4N is giving us a continuous timecode in FCP7

[Jeremy Garchow]

That’s the problem. There is no timecode from an h4n.

Try selecting the file in the browser and choose Modify > Timecode. “Frame to set” at first and change tc to zeros.

Jeremy

[Malika Zouhali-worrall]

Thanks, Jeremy. We’ll try that – although do you know if we can use that to set each individual audio file’s timecode to start from zero, or will this just reset the timecode for the whole stringout? As I said, we’d ideally like our transcribers to be able to transcribe using basic software such as Quicktime, which means that in FCP we’d need an individual timecode from zero for each audio file in the timeline.

Also, I just spoke with an editor, and he told me that it’s most likely a time-of-day timecode, which he said he sees all the time, but that’s a real pain. Does anyone have any idea how to reset that in the H4N? I can’t seem to find reference to it in anywhere in the manual.

Thanks again,
Malika

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Malika Zouhali-Worrall] “Thanks, Jeremy. We’ll try that – although do you know if we can use that to set each individual audio file’s timecode to start from zero, or will this just reset the timecode for the whole stringout?”

You would do this on every audio file. Stringouts (assuming it’s on a timeline) are different as that would use sequence tc which defaults to a value of one hour.

[Malika Zouhali-Worrall] “Also, I just spoke with an editor, and he told me that it’s most likely a time-of-day timecode, which he said he sees all the time, but that’s a real pain. “

Could be a BWF file, then? What are your recording settings?

[Malika Zouhali-worrall]

[Jeremy Garchow] ”
You would do this on every audio file. Stringouts (assuming it’s on a timeline) are different as that would use sequence tc which defaults to a value of one hour.”

Oh great, I guess that might not be so bad after all then. Do you know if it’s possible to add an auxiliary timecode starting from zero for each clip, but all in one go? I.e. as opposed to having to laboriously select each one, and go to “Modify” etc., can I select all and then go to “Modify”?

[Jeremy Garchow] “Could be a BWF file, then? What are your recording settings?”

I don’t think so, but I’ll have to check the settings and get back to you. I don’t have the H4N with me now.

Thanks so much for the prompt and useful responses!

[Malika Zouhali-worrall]

And one other question (which I hope will be the last!): am I right in thinking that the auxilary timecode won’t show up in the viewer or timeline? We need to take selects using this aux timecode, so it would really be easier if we could reference it easily. Please let me know if there’s a way to see it in the viewer or the timeline. Sorry if these are dumb questions!

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Malika Zouhali-Worrall] “Please let me know if there’s a way to see it in the viewer or the timeline. Sorry if these are dumb questions!”

All good and they are not dumb questions!

Yes. After adding FCP aux tc, you can then load that clip in to the viewer, right click the tc on the right corner and choose Aux TC from the drop down. Now the tc overlays in the timeline will show aux tc.

To keep things organized (meaning all clips using the same Source tc track instead of having mixed aux and regular), I would copy the source tc to aux tc and then modify the source tc starting from 0.

This has to be done clip by clip.

Jeremy

[Malika Zouhali-worrall]

Great. Thanks much, Jeremy.

Also – I just realized, I think all files recorded in stereo/4ch/stamina on the H4N are indeed BWF WAV files. Does that provide any insight as to why it might be showing a time of day timecode? (although then it would have to be a setting on the H4N, I guess, because we don’t have time of day timecodes for the audio from our previous shoots, also on an H4N)

Although, I just spoke with the U.S. distributors of the Zoom H4N, and the guy there seemed really perplexed by the situation. He said all clips should start from zero, and he wasn’t away of a continuous or time of day recording setting…

This is all very confusing!

[Jeremy Garchow]

I’d have to do some more checking on it on my end as well.

I try not to use the zoom too often. Fine recorder, just a pain to try and sort out audio with no tc.

Jeremy

[T. Payton]

Actually we record with the h4v using time of day time code, but then again our entire workflow is based on time of day so it works for us.

However removing the time of day is simple. Just drag your WAV files into compressor and transcode to Aiff format. Probably 48k 16 or 8 bit. Just pick the aiff preset that matches what you captured. Your new aiff files won\’t have the embedded time code track.

Enjoy!

——
T. Payton
OneCreative, Albuquerque

[Malika Zouhali-worrall]

Thanks, Timothy. It’s strange because a few folks have told me that the H4N doesn’t have timecodes, but you seem to be saying that it does. Could you tell me what the setting is on the H4N that makes it record with a time of day timecode, rather than a regular Record Run setting (i.e. starting from zero for each clip?) because I really can’t seem to find any reference to it in the manual. (I’m also confused, because the counter on the recorder’s screen was always starting from zero when I hit record. If it was recording with a time of day timecode, you would have thought it would show me that on the screen, no?)

Thanks again,
Malika