[Gary Hughes]

My completely subjective opinion is that adding an actual “bleep” sound is only to draw attention to the fact that you are censoring something. I really prefer to simply cover the word with silence or background ambience to keep it more subtle. Watch CSI reruns on, well I forgot which channel, but that’s what they do and once you get into the story, you hardly notice it, especially since they did it on a multitrack master so that the music doesn’t get muted.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I’ve not used it. I just don’t like the lack of a gui. But, you could tell if it’s working by looking at the main meters in fcp. Just watch where the average is and where the max is, then turn off the filter and compare the same place in the same clip. If you don’t see a difference, then it isn’t doing much if anything. I’m sure it works, but without the gui, you may have to make more drastic changes than you think you might.

You still won’t have a gui, but most any audio units compressor/limiter will also work in fcp. If you just don’t get what you want from the ones it came with, try some demos.

Here’s another tip. If you have Sound Track Pro, use FCP 5’s “Send To” feature to send your sequence to sound track. Then you have 2 choices.

1. You can add a compressor and or limiter to an entire track or bus or master so that everything gets effected by one setting.
2. If you need more control (and you probably do), in STP, you can right click on each clip individually and choose “open in editor”. It will open the full length of the media in a separate STP window and you can add effects to it there. When done, save it. IMPORTANT NOTE: This is destructive, which isn’t a problem if you understand that and know what you’re doing.

Hope this helps,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Mark,

Been pretty busy. Just now getting caught up on the cow.

The only problem I ran into was each time we would try to pass the job back and forth, I would have to manually locate and reconnect each affected clip.

If you are early in the process, I believe if you make the clips offline and delete the media, then rename the description and remove the dots, then recapture the clips, it will name the clips with your new description name. If a dot in the description is truly the issue, that should take care of it.

If it’s too late for that, I think I would at least try renaming the description and remove the dots, and renaming the media filename to remove it’s dots and the replication, then manually reconnecting. Maybe it will not continue down the same path it has started down if you get rid of all the dots.

These are just a couple of thoughts. I didn’t worry too much about it since it didn’t really cause me any problems, so I can’t verify that these fixes will work, it’s just what I would try next.

Let me know if you find out anything else.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I have had the same problem, and I’ve never used a san. I have a G5 Dual 2.7 with a G-Raid 500 connected via a firewire 800 card that I added on. My producer has an ibook with a fw400 drive. When we first got our macs, one of us would log and capture, then the other would get the project from the first and capture the media. (We work long distance.)

Here’s what I noticed. He would log and capture some reels, then send the project to me and I would also capture the clips. I would edit some and send the project back to him and he would open it and then he would rough out some ideas and send the sequence back. I would open it and try to reconnect and the problem would surface. After 3 or 4 times of passing a sequence back and forth, there would be several repeats with dots between them, like “jim sitting still. sitting still. sitting still.sitting still. sitting still. sitting still”

I don’t really know if it has anything to do with this issue, but I found that occasionally he would type a period or ellipses in his log entries, which I suspect is fine for the description, but not for the file name. I suspect that it would get confused by the dots and start repeating part of the file name. I say “I suspect” because I haven’t verified this, because it really isn’t an issue for me now that we don’t work exactly like that anymore, plus I would just find the clip and force it to reconnect and all would be fine anyway. I did use it to force him to stop typing dots. The first time he had problems reconnecting and I had to talk him through it over the phone, he was broke. By the 3rd or 4th time he was reconnecting, he was cursing himself.

Maybe this will help you troubleshoot. Let me know what you find out. I’d like to know for sure.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it.

Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I don’t think he means mapping it to an actual mouse button. What he means is to make it a button in the button bar at the top right of your timeline. Just drag any keyboard command from the keyboard layout window and drop it there.

Gary

[Gary Hughes]

You might want to check out SoundConverter. https://www.dekorte.com/projects/shareware/SoundConverter/ It’s a cool little $10 app that batch converts. You could actually batch export via compressor to aiff, then use this app to batch convert to mp3. You just drag a file or group of files and drop them on the open app and it converts them to the settings that you previously set up and saves them in their original folder. I use it all the time to convert 44.1 stereo mp3’s to 48k mono aiff’s, as well as my producer sends me scratch VO tracks from his ibook in m4a files. Again, stereo 44.1 to mono 48k aiff to use in fcp. I never convert audio in iTunes anymore.

Have fun.
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

Glenn,

I do not cut the frequencies unless that is needed for tonal quality. Actually, boosting just the right frequency a little can help the dialogue to cut through the music, but be careful if you don’t know what you’re doing. Changing the frequency has nothing to do with dynamic range.

Dynamic range is how much or little difference there is between the peak volume and the average volume of the audio, or in this case, dialogue. Here’s an extreme example of dynamic range. If you are at a shooting range and you record a guy whispering, right before he shoots his glock, you’ll have a high dynamic range recorded. If you are shooting a sad scene in a movie and someone goes from a whisper to a quiet talk, you have a low dynamic range.

There’s a lot of options and methods for how to mix audio, but with the type of video you are doing, you’re better off with a low dynamic range in the voice. Voice naturally has a lot of dynamic range, and if you don’t treat it, and if you mix your music kind of loud, at some point, the voice is going to get quieter and be drowned out by the music. So by treating it, it’ll stay high and above the music the whole time. Treating it is, however, not an exact science. It’s more of an art. To treat it, you’ll use some sort of compressor and/or limiter. They go by many names. Mastering limiter, compressor/limiter, dynamics compressor, and then there are actual model names. Elemental audio calls theirs Neodymium and Finis. All too confusing for many, but the bottom line is they are simply compressors or limiters or a combination of both. Not to make light of one brand over the other. Many are just not that good and others are really nice, some are easy to understand and others are really hard to figure out.

In FCP, (or at least in mine), in the “Effects” tab in the browser, in the “Audio Filters” folder, and in the “Apple” folder, there are a couple of filters there. AUDynamicsProcessor and AUPeakLimiter. And in the the same location, but in the “Final Cut Pro” folder, there’s Compressor/Limiter. If you don’t have Sound Track Pro or Peak, you can use those, but I don’t, so I don’t know what the best settings are. I use Sound Track Pro and I just bought Peak Pro 5, so I’m going to start using it. Telling you what settings to use is pointless because you have to tweak it for the content you’re using. I will give you some pointers to get you started though. I’ll start with “what not to do” because I think it’s almost more important than “what TO do”.

What to avoid: Like most things in the creative field, less is more. If you use too much compression or too much limiting, you’ll start to hear it “pump”. It’ll sound like the volume slide is being ridden by a paranoid person trying to keep the audio level perfectly the same. It could even start to sound distorted. The better the tool, the less of this you’ll hear. Some compressor/limiter plugins cost upwards of $1,000.00 because of how much work has been put into making them sound like they aren’t doing anything. That may sound pointless, but actually that is the whole point, to try to squeeze the volume peaks and averages closer together without making it sound unnatural.

Gotchas: Noisy background or lots of ambient reverb in your raw audio can really be a problem. If you compress a clip with background noise, you’re actually making the background noise louder while turning the voice down. You better use some sort of noise reduction or elemination tool, like the one that comes with Sound Track Pro or Sound Soap, BEFORE you compress that clip. Get rid of the noise, then you have a clean clip to compress. As for reverb in your clips, there are compressor limiters that do a good job of compressing the louder audio while reducing the quieter audio. Those will work for reverb filled clips. Usually it’s just the way you set the one you already have. One really really nice one is the Elemental Audio Neodymium compressor. As someone with an audio background, and completely understand the way compressors work, I find it very refreshing and visual and easy to understand. I’m not sure that same impression would come across to a complete compression newbie though. They have a demo that periodically mutes the clip so you can’t actually get work done with it. https://www.elementalaudio.com/products/neodynium/index.html This is why I like theirs, it is set up to be up to 4 compressors in one, and each can be set for compression or expansion, which is the noise reduction part. You can set one zone for compressing everything from the quietest “S”s in your audio, up to the loudest peaks, and set another zone from just below the “S”s down to reduce the volume. This works great for compressing noisy audio, audio with reverb, or audio with bleed-over from other people on stage or off-set, including nearby UPS trucks. Their Finis limiter is nice too. It’s a “brick-wall” limiter, so that if you set it to limit to -6dB, absolutely nothing will go over -6dB. The two plugins work in Sound Track Pro or Peak and are $159 each or $209 for the set. Don’t rush out to get them if you haven’t played with what you already have though.

Your Goal: To squeeze down the peaks so that they are closer to the average sound level which in turn allows you to turn back up your audio without going above your original peak. Everything compressed will sound louder and more even. When you play your timeline, with only the dialogue track audible (solo it or mute the others), you’ll notice that you may have peaks much higher than where the average level is staying on the meter. For instance, let’s say your peaks are averaging -6dB while occasionally going almost up to 0dB while the bulk of your audio is down around -16 or -20. After compressing and limiting, that same audio could be peaking no higher than -6 while the bulk of it is averaging -9 to -12. Those transient (really quick) peaks that were above -6 weren’t really noticable, but would be a problem in a broadcast situation. However, -9 or -12 is going to sound considerably louder than -16 or -20, therefore sounding more even in volume.

The Method: Common to all compressors are a few terms to become familiar with. Some of them call these something else, and some do them automatically so you don’t have to (or get to) mess with them, so don’t panic if you don’t see these exact terms in your compressor.

• Threshold sets the level at which the compressor starts working. If the threshold is set to -6 and your audio peaks at -3, it’s barely going to do anything. It’ll only compress the top 3dB in that case.
• Ratio sets how hard the compressor will work. A low ratio is barely going to compress. A very high one will turn the compressor into a limiter or even a distortion box. Since you’re just starting out, try settings between 2:1 and 5:1. I bet you’ll hear it working at 5:1 and you’ll probably settle on somewhere inbetween.
• Output is a volume slider to compensate for how much volume was dropped by the compressor. A good setting here will put your final peaks roughly where you want them to end up on your timeline.
• Autogain is an automatic volume compensation and really takes the place of using the output slide. However, it can sometimes allow your peaks to go too high, so you might try turning it off and manually adjusting the output gain.
• Input is a setting that is only occasionaly available. Most compressors assume that your input is already set.
• Attack is how fast the compressor starts to work once the threshold is reached. Faster is generally better for dialogue. Slow works great for slap bass guitar because it doesn’t compress the initial attack of the thumb slapping against the string, so you get a quick peak then suddon drop in volume for the rest of the note.
• Release is how fast the compressor lets go once the threshold is crossed on the way back down. If there’s an auto setting, use it. If not, set it for around 100ms till you are comfortable with everything else.
• Knee. Setting the knee to soft, which is generally a higher number, will soften the blow of the compressor and allow it to work a little more without noticing it as much. For dialogue, I use a soft knee.
• Compression meter vs Output meter. The compression meter shows how much the compressor is working. If your meters are vertical, it will start lighting at the top and working downward toward the bottom. It’s like turning a typical peak meter upside down. You’ll only see it if you’re actually compressing. The output meter is the same as the FCP peak meter. It shows the output level. Some compressors will have an input meter as well. It’s nice to compare the input to output so you can see exactly how much you’re changing it.

To get you started, set the ratio to 4:1 and start turning down the threshold till you see the compression meter working. If it’s working too much, staying near the bottom most of the time, your dialogue will start to sound like the Monster Truck Rally Commercial DJ. If it’s rarely moving, your not doing much. Find a happy medium. Then set the output so that the peaks are where you want them. Then compare by toggling between bypass and active. It’s helpful to have your peaks coming in already where you want them to begin with. And again, do this outside of FCP if you can. You’ll get a nice gui with the same plugin and it’ll be much easier and make more sense.

Then, you’ll probalby want to use a limiter, which is often built into the same plugin. It’s not much different from a compressor as far as settings go, but without the ratio or knee settings. Start by setting the limit or output to the exact level that you want for your peaks. Then start turning down the threshold adjustment (or up the input) till you just see it working occasionally. All it needs to do it cap off the extreme of the peaks. There are nicer mastering limiters out there, but just start with this excercise and save that for later. Once you get used to everything, start playing with input or threshold to make it work a little harder and see what it does.

Once you’ve done this to every dialogue clip in your program, your show will sound consistently even in volume from beginning to end, and you’ll be able to set your music a little louder and the dialogue can still cut through, and if you send your programs out to broadcast, they’ll be much happier with your audio.

Setting compression will never be a “cookie-cutter” experience, but if you find settings you like, save them as a preset. You’ll find you won’t have to tweak much, especially if the next clip you work on is for the same talent. You’ll probably only have to adjust the threshold between clips. If you always compress, setting a limiter is much more of a “cookie-cutter” experience though. Because most of the work is done by the compressor, the limiters settings will rarely need to change.

That’s my 2 cents on dynamics. Again, it’s subjective and I doubt in a group of 10 audio pros, you’d find 3 that agree on any one thing. This is just one method, that works for me. Hope it helps you.

Gary

[Gary Hughes]

I’m not going to say it isn’t good, but it isnt’ the way I work. That way has a purpose, but it isn’t for me. There are many right ways and since I don’t use that method, I don’t want to comment on it. Someone else take a stab at that one.

My thought is, if I always make sure that the nest is built by dragging from the browser, then I’ll never have to keep up with “what does this and what does that”. I have one way, and if there are other variable, I always try to make sure that the end result is by my one way, then I’ll always know it’ll work the way I want it too.

Other editors will purposefully use two ways so they can one time have a nested instance, and another time have a nested copy. I simply do that by duplication as I said before.

Thanks,
Gary

[Gary Hughes]

How true you are, Don! And you’re absolutely right about the fact that it’s not possible to fit everyone’s situation, but the truth is, it’s not desirable for you to try. You should try to either fit your audio to a perfect system and leave the rest up to the homeowner, fit you audio to a THX certified system and leave the rest up to the homeowner, fit it to standard TV speakers and hope that everyone’s TV will make you shine, or you should try to find the happy medium with the dialogue volume, or best yet, hire an audio for video pro to mix it for you and trust them.

I always seem leave some important info out, for some reason. My reasoning is subjective, and it is for my type of project, which is 2 channel audio with dialogue as the focus (usually either marketing or instruction or informational). I would not even apply it to a feature film project, or a music video project, or even a surround sound project for that matter. For any “entertainment” projects, I would hire someone who mixes and masters audio full-time to do it for me. That used to be me, but now, I’m a video editor and have lost part of my touch, and certainly not kept up with the equipment of today when it comes to audio. But even if budget didn’t allow me to hire someone else, I still wouldn’t take my own advice in those types of projects. So, not only is a good mix subjective, and good EQ subjective, but also the projects themselves have variables.

IF, you are working on a dialogue based project with background music, my method will work. There are many other right answers too. If you’re not working on that type of project, just take my advice as a lesson for future experience and move on.

Good luck.
Gary