Brad Hurley
Forum Replies Created
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“I meant that the surround panning somehow normalised the sound enriching it at the same time.”
Right, and as I said I think what’s happening is that the surround panning is doubling the signal (or perhaps multiplying by 5 if it’s 5.1 surround), which will make it sound louder and fuller.
I still think using the Gain plugin is the right way to go.
In a digital audio workstation (DAW) and even in an analogue console, there are several ways to control volume. The optimal workflow is called gain staging, and it starts with adjusting the gain controls: you use the gain knob or slider to set the track’s average signal to your desired target level (as noted above, typically -12 to -18 dBFS).
Then, once you have all your tracks set to the desired level, you use the mixer’s faders to adjust the tracks relative to each other, bringing up the dialogue, bringing down the music, and so forth.
Final Cut doesn’t have a mixer. As far as I can tell, the volume slider is analogous to a fader. To boost the volume of a clip that was originally recorded with too little gain, adding the Gain effect will increase the gain.
I would a limiter and compressor to help me meet loudness targets (which have requirements for peaks and LUFs values) and to help things like dialogue or voiceover stand out better in the mix, but I wouldn’t use them as the primary way to increase gain. That’s what the gain plugin/effect is for.
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My guess is that it’s doubling the signal, and Final Cut prevents clipping by virtue of its 32-bit floating point processing (which pretty much every NLE and DAW has these days).
As for boosting the audio, I assume you first tried selecting the audio clip and either using the volume slider on the clip itself or the volume slider in the inspector? That would be one way of recovering volume from a clip where the gain was set way too low. Another way is to go to the effects browser and look in the “Levels” section for the Gain effect and drop that on the clip. You can then use that to raise the gain. No need to use a limiter or compressor to do this.
What recorder was used for this lav mic? The new generation of Sound Devices MixPre recorders can record 32-bit floating point wav files (not to be confused with the 32-bit floating point architecture of Final Cut itself), which means you can set the gain to a very low level so you never have to worry about clipping. The files may sound silent but if you raise the gain you can bring them to appropriate levels.
Note that “0 db” on the clip slider scale is simply a relative indicator (if it’s less than 0 db it indicates that you’ve adjusted the volume downward from its original level). To set levels, you should use the sound meters; each individual clip should normally average -12 to -18 dBFs on the meter scale. That may sound too quiet, but when you have lots of audio tracks superimposed on each other their volume sums and your master track can end up clipping.
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It was likely a 32-bit plugin; Catalina only supports 64-bit plugins.
To be honest, I never use the RX plugins when using Final Cut or Resolve; they are very processor-intensive and lack many of the features of the full RX application. In Resolve you can set RX as an external editor, which is a great feature because it allows you to use the full RX app without having to export any files; Resolve creates a copy of your original audio file and sends to RX, and the changes you make to RX are saved to that file; you always have the original as a backup. It’s a seamless operation, like having RX available within Resolve. It would be great if FCPX could do something like that; even the Reaper DAW has this feature.
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See https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT209186
One USB-C port on the iPad Pro, and another in the Magic Keyboard; third parties are developing keyboards with more inputs including standard USB.
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“but this won’t happen(for me at least) until the iPad Pro has USB-C/Thunderbolt connectivity”
I’m confused: doesn’t it already have USB-C?
In fact with the expensive new keyboard you have two USB-C inputs, so you can use one to keep the iPad Pro powered and another for things like external drives, audio interfaces, etc.
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“I will actually research this subject a bit more.
I wrote an email to Scarlett and will see if they had something in the past. For not I will continue using my old USB and maybe will try splitter.”
Okay, good luck! Just to add a bit to what I wrote yesterday: when recording voiceover or dialogue you should aim for average levels of -12 to -18 dBFS on the meters, and your other clips in the timeline should generally be at that level as well (purchased music is usually much higher and you need to drag down the volume). This will give you plenty of headroom and helps ensure that you don’t cause clipping in the main mix as your music, dialogue, SFX, voiceover, etc. are mixed and added together.
In the final mixdown, that’s where you set the levels for your output, which depends on the loudness standards of whatever you’re delivering to (youtube/vimeo vs. broadcast vs. cinema; they all have different standards, and standards vary between the US and Europe for example). For that you need a loudness meter. The multimeter available in FCPX can sort of do the job; I much prefer the Youlean loudness meter but haven’t used it myself in FCPX as I do my audio work in Resolve.
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“Now I feel like the whole video need to be quieter as otherwise I cannot hear the mic.”
There is an option in the voiceover recording window to mute the project while you record your voiceover.
Overall, though, I get the feeling that you’re aiming for levels that are too high. In the analog world we aimed for 0 on the meter but that’s way, way too high in the digital world and will guarantee clipping. You should aim for average levels of -12 to -18 dbfs on the meter, with peaks going no higher than -5 or -6 dbfs. In fact that’s probably why Apple put that limiter in there, to prevent you from going too high.
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“Logic Pro X on the other hand seams to record fine.
Have you tried splitter and record 2 inputs as stereo?”Voiceover should be recorded in mono.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with keeping the levels below -6dbfs; it’s common practice to record at -18 to -12 dbfs. You can lower the levels of everything else and bring it all up to whatever your target level is in post. Remember that audio signals sum when mixed, so the sum of music, SFX, and voiceover could bring your master levels too high.
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“There is something else going on with VO recording. I use my Mix pre 6 as an interface, limiters are off. I can be right on top of my schoeps mic and yell and barely get 0 db on the X meters meanwhile the mix pre is all in the red. I think there is some built in limiter in X for which there is no on- off switch.”
Ah, I see what you mean, I just tried the same thing (yelling into my mic at close range) and while my interface was showing everything in the red, Final Cut never got above -6db. Not a big deal as I usually aim for average levels between -18 and -12 dbfs when recording anyway but it does look like there’s a built-in limiter to prevent peaking.
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“I do have the same problem. I just bought a luxury microphone and it’s recording up to -6db even if I’m screaming. I think it’s FCPx problem as I changed from steinberg to focusrite as I was thinking that there might be a problem due to software.”
The levels coming in to Final Cut from an external mic are set by your audio interface, not by Final Cut. So if you’re getting a weak signal, try increasing the gain on your interface. Also make sure there isn’t some sort of pad engaged on your interface (which would attenuate the signal; it’s used for loud sounds).