[Khashyar Darvich]

Thank you very much for your feedback, Will.

Yes, I have always heard that you should record audio at the highest level without clipping.

The audio engineer also mentioned to me that you want to set the audio level a bit lower during a field recording in case their is an unexpected loud sound that could peak the levels.

I’m going to speak with him again (so that we can receive a clear understanding) after I receive a couple of more comments).

Thanks,

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

P.S…. essentially what the audio engineer was saying was that what really matters is how the audio sounds in the headphone, not what the audio displays on the audio meter (except if it peaks over zero).

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thanks, John.

I am having a sound engineer friend of mine mix the film in Pro Tools after the online is finished. I think he has a pretty new version of Pro Tools.

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thanks for your feedback, AG.

If I find that I need to, I will use one of the converter programs that you mentioned.

Actually, I tried to place the 24 bit and 16 bit audio tracks in the same timeline, and they seem to co-exist fine together. I will post information here if I find that it is becoming an issue. (I welcome anyone else to post if they have experienced probnlems mixing 24 and 16 bit audio.

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

I spoke with a sound engineer friend of mine (who has worked extensively with Pro Tools, as well as has done sound mixes for film on FCP), and he told me that the Audio Rate (48 khz) was the important thing to keep consistent, and that he believes that it does not matter if you mix different bit rates of audio, as long as the Audio Rate was the same.

I wanted to pass that along if anyone else had a question about this.

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

Well, I found out that the sequence that I created when I was first capturing my DV footage has an “Audio Format” of “32-bit floating point” and a 48khz “Audio Rate.”

So, it seems that the “Audio format,” whether it is 16 bit, 24 bit, or another bit rate is far less important than having the audio at the same 48khz Audio Rate.

I would appreciate if someone could confirm this for me.

Thank you,

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

Hi Matte,

Thanks for your response.

It seems as though I cannot change the BetaSp-DV conversion setting on the Kona LHe that will change the fact the audio is converted to 24 bit audio (at 48khz) instead of 16 bit (at 48 khz).

There is an easy setup setting in FCP whereby I can choose “8 bit to DV” conversion, but after I captured the footage, the audio is 24 bit/48khz…

I tried to combine 24 bit and 16 bit audio in the same timeline, and it seems to play fine. But, I don’t know how this will affect mastering, etc…. I guess I have to pay attention to audio pops and other audio issues…

But, I’ve rented a BetaSP deck for the weekend, and I want to make sure that the BetaSP audio that I capture is going to work, so I don’t have to rent the deck again.

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

Hello,

Andy and Jim mentioned that the vertical pixelation was a normal artifact of the compressed DV format.

I wonder if you show an uncompressed BetaSP clip at the same viewer window size, if you can also see vetical pixelation? I wonder this because I was reading that while computer monitors employ square pixels, NTSC video monitors use retangular pixels. Could this cause a distorted look when looking at DV video in a computer monitor?

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

I want to also mention that when I play a DVD of a documentary film in full screen view on the 30″ monitor, I don’t see any pixelation at all. Is this because the movie has a different (MPEG4) compression?

I believe that the film (“The Ballad of Bering Strait”) was also shot in DV, but it was later transferred to film for theatrical release.

Why does a DVD not show the pixelation when viewed in full screen mode on the monitor?

Khashyar

[Khashyar Darvich]

Thank you both for your feedback. I feel better, especially since I cannot see the vertical pixel lines in the NTSC monitor.

I bought the 30″ cinema monitor a month ago, and I suppose that I was not used to the improved image from my last CRT monitor.

I have a question, though. How are films, that have been shot in DV, able to be blown up to 35mm film without showing the pixelation? I know that video-to-film houses use special software as part of the conversion process (which “softens” pixelation, I believe).

Thanks again for your thoughts and feedback.

Khashyar