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There is a function in FCP that is often overlooked… and it can help with many audio and video “skipping”, “sticking” and “missing” problems.

You should “Mixdown” the Audio for playback before you dub out of FCP, or during the edit, if you have audio/video stuttering, drop-outs, sync-slippage, or freezes.

NOTE: Mixdown has even been demonstrated to help with slipping, skipping problems (or “missing” audio clips) for files being EXPORTED as QT (or similar) files out of FCP.

First, SELECT ALL of your audio tracks (highlight them) on the timeline, then:

Sequence Menu > Render Only > Mixdown.

You should see a dialog box telling you its rendering.

It might seem to make little sense that “Mixing down” even simple audio tracks will “fix” complex video “freezes” or random audio dropouts to tape or export, but it CAN.

NOTE: It does not matter of you only have one audio track, if there are random freezes during output, you should try the Mixdown.

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A good “studio condenser” mic will have the wide frequency response and high sensitivity to pick up any audio that’s there, but…

No matter what kind of mic you choose, the resulting audio from just recording the “room tone” will not represent any kind of actual conditions in the home (or other location.)

You will likely have to increase its level by many times to allow the low sound it to be heard clearly on the audio track.
There would be no “reference” to tell just how loud the actual audio was at the location. (The playback system would also be a factor in being able to hear the sound clearly (if at all.)

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For “legal” purposes, you need to contact a company that can bring out a Sound Pressure Meter (or Sound Level Meter) that can determine and isolate the frequency and amplitude of a given audio source.

Those kind of SPM units are calibrated to a reference level before being used in the field, so that the info they provide is useful in a laboratory, case study or courtroom.

The SPM’s also usually have an audio (mic or line-level) OUTPUT, so that a technician, audio engineer or camera operator can record the audio that the unit’s mic is picking up.

You could then state (in numbers) the actual measured dB level of the sound, and play your “enhanced” version of the sound for demonstration purposes.

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[massachi] “if I make sure the dubs are done via a digital signal path, will the quality of the sound on the DVCAM dubs be identical to the DAT originals?”

Identical, for all intents and purposes, unless there is a technical glitch at some point.

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[Dan H] ” some of the media start/end times are inconsistent or faulty… does this make sense? “

Yes.

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Double Double Post Post

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My first thought is to suspect that this is related to the files in the Capture Scratch folder.

If you want to experiment, “make off-line/trash” the files which contain the problem “slipping” clips and then Batch Capture them again.

Then, see how they behave with a new export.

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Sorry.
If the clipping is severe, there’s not a lot you can do.

There are many digital audio apps that do offer a “de-clipping” function, but they can only do so much.

Some earlier threads from this forum-

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/30/856945#856945

https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/30/856490#856493

Try a Google search for, “repair audio clipping” to find many others asking the same kind of question.
And see several apps that feature the “de-clipping” function.

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[James Williams] “Am i correct to assume the quality of the audio will depend more on the quality of the mic and not the camera?”

Yes.

I own many of these little home video miniDV camcorders.
I bought mine from pawn shops for under $125 each.

The shops here all have money-back guarantees on electronics, but I haven’t had any problems yet.

I take a tape with me that I have recorded on one of my good cameras to see if it play OK in the used unit.

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Not here.

Sounds like you might need to trash the FCP Preferences.

Click the following link for instructions.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/trashing_fcp_prefs.html

A great way to do this is to use “FCP Rescue” a free Apple Script that will Trash the Preferences for you (and restore nearly all of your user settings afterward).
There are versions for FCP (Pro) & FCE (Express) and a new one for FCP 5.

Download these free Apple Scripts at

https://fcprescue.andersholck.com/
or
https://pistolerapost2.com/fcprescue/

This is one FCP tip that has helped in solving hundreds of “odd” problems.

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[Colin McQ] “Unless, of course, it’s your best friends brother’s cousin’s sister’s aunt’s son’s best friend, as that would be you,, and we all know you don’t have the disks to begin with…”

I love a good joke as much as the next guy, but…

I don’t GET it?

[Patrick Morrow] “I did not order the discs thinking they came with it.”

He said he didn’t have the discs.