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Reverb is virtually impossible to alleviate.

Any EQ that you apply will reduce the primary (wanted) audio frequencies, since the reverb is identical in frequency to the primary source.

The room needs to be “treated” (deadened) and the mic carefully positioned before the recording is made.

Sorry.

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[ektransition] “I purchased a Dazzle external converter awhile back and have found it to be more or less useless.”

Wish you’d have asked here FIRST… the Dazzle is a FIZZLE!

Best idea is to dub to a DV camcorder (many have the capability of using their A/V “outputs” as INPUTS to record analog sources to DV tape). Check to see if YOUR camcorder can do this.

If you WANT timecode (and I virtually ALWAYS do) then dubbing to a DV tape first is a great idea and generally will work better (be more stable) than just capturing analog “direct” via an A-to-D converter.

If you want to do this dub to DV tape, and the DV camcorder or deck has analog INPUTS, you don’t NEED your Canopus DV convertor at all in this process.

OTOH, Canopus makes various highly-recommended A-to-D converters ($200-$300 entry-level).

https://www.canopus.com/products/videoconversion.php

They CAN be used to import analog sources directly to FCP’s Capture and it will have it’s own “temporary capture TC” for use in FCP… and it will work fine… for as long as it STAYS on the Hard Drive.

But, if there’s ever a need to recapture all or part of this footage again, any TC info will be totally useless as it was only a reference and not “locked” to any footage in the first place.

THIS is why there are so many who recommend dubbing first to DV (or other digital tape format) then capturing only from the new tape (and keeping the DV dub for future reference.)

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Not if it does not have an input specifically marked for a microphone (a “line input” will not work.)

You can buy a USB audio adapter (Griffin iMic, for example) and plug a dynamic or small “electret condenser” (battery-operated) Mic into that.

Another method is to plug a Mic into a camcorder or deck, and feed that into the Mac with FW.

I think the BEST method is to connect the mic to a camcorder or deck and first RECORD your VO onto a TAPE, and then capture it like any other clip.
That way, you can SAVE the tape, and it will have Timecode on it for future reference.

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I suggest you connect the mic to a camcorder and record the VO to tape first.

You’ll have the VO on a storable timecoded source, and the camcorder can supply the phantom power for the mic without the need of the “preamp”.

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Capture the tape in under-10-minute sections and see what happens.

Then report back with results.

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You can’t remove reverb.
It not really possible to reduce it very much.

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The first thing to always try is to Quit FCP, Restart the Mac, Open your FCP project and try again.

Next:
THE FOLLOWING COMES FROM THE KEN STONE WEBSITE:
“Over 5,000 years ago Confucius wrote: ‘If you are toiling away, you have changed nothing and FCP heads South on you, [starts behaving in strange ways] then it is time to trash your 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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SAVE the FCP projects (they are very small files) either on your HD or over to a CD or other storage).

But make any files captured from tapes OFFLINE (“remove from Disk”) they are very LARGE files.

Then, if you need to go back for a re-edit at a later date, you can just BATCH DIGITIZE from the master tapes again.

Any imported graphics, music or other audio files should also be saved so you have access to them in the future.

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[Victoria] “I can make a dub of a tape with these two pieces of equipment, but not with timecode. What should I do? “

I woudn’t worry about the TC matching.
The chance of anything happening to your master the few times you play it is almost NIL.

If you just make a clone with the TC “close to” that of the Master, you’ll be fine.
If you DO ever need to use the clone, you can match it by eye.

OTOH, you can pay a production house to dub it with TC for you.
Of course that means GIVING THEM your master… I you DARE. 🙂

I suppose you could RENT a pro deck that has a setting to accept external TC and Playbackon your camcorder or deck.

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Here’s more on this for the “lurkers”.

https://www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/24p_in_FCP_nattress.html