[Marco D.]

I tried most codecs (Animation, Motion JPEG B, A and Photo JPEG).

All of them create a silly looking ‘moir

[Marco D.]

Just a short note to let you know I had this problem too. I tried everything, running Disk Utility in OS X, from the boot CD, I tried fsck -fy on system boot, etc. To no avail. When I tried the suggested fix of tossing iTunes 6.0.2 to the Trash, restarting and running Disk Utility again, I was able to fix and repair my permissions 🙂

Now, it didn’t solve the problem I had in the first place, which was that DVD Player always crashes (unexpectedly quits) when trying a few VIDEO_TS on my media drives… 🙁 I’ll post separately for that issue, but thanks for the permissions fix!

Marco

[Marco D.]

I use a Shure SM-58, connected to a small and affordable Alesis mixer. The mixer goes into the sound card of the G5.

No USB here, not sure I’d want it either. The setup we use was relatively cheap, and provides very good sound quality.

Now I don’t know how ‘high’ you mean when you say ‘high quality’ sound. This is very relative…

Good luck.

Marco

[Marco D.]

I’m lucky enough, the VHS are all cuts from broadcasters output for a corporate client. So all the original material was professionally shot, nicely lit, etc. However, I’m still stuck with VHS from which I need to edit and cut a DVD. Not ideal, but that’s what I have.

Anyone please let me know if you know a good way of dealing/improving my image quality before compressing my final cut.

Thanks in advance,

Marco

[Marco D.]

Dear Matte,

I would like to offer you my most sincere apologies for (visibly) insulting you and (per your post) other pros around here by asking my question. Despite the tone of your message, I will try not fall in the trap of answering with the same tone (escalating), but there are a couple of points I would like to stress/highlight/clarify, because it seems like you didn’t grasp them:

1- I clearly stated (first post) that I usually have my audio tracks fine-tuned in a pro facility (so I know its an art and science in itself)
2- The same post mentioned that for this specific piece of work I’m working on, my client can’t afford post-audio work
3- My audio recording was properly done (as opposed to poorly), the talent’s voice is OK, and the tracks need to be enhanced, not fixed.
4- In my last post, I clearly stated that I’ve searched for tutorials, which I didn’t find, but would gladly read if I was directed to a few good ones you’d know. I’m still looking.
5- I have to apologize for my utilization of the word ‘trick’, not what I meant, but yes, I am looking for some quick way of enhancing my track despite my lack of budget and audio experience.
6- Let me apologize at the same time for my lack of english vocabulary (hence my use of the word ‘trick’), as english is a second tongue to me.

I don’t think I insulted you personally, nor anyone in general. I’m here (and in this business) to learn.

If you didn’t like my post, you had the option of simply ‘passing by’. Maybe you should have afterall, since you didn’t bring anything to the table, other than flaming me.

Best regards your Highness,

Marco

p.s.: if other pros have hints/tips/cues/principles/guidelines for helping me out, I would really appreciate any help or directions. In the mean time I continue my reading on the subject (the Manual + Weynand), but a tutorial would doubtlessly give me a much quicker start. I know I could use some help… (and dare asking). Thanks again in advance.

[Marco D.]

My thoughts exactly Ian.

I appreciate the input received so far, but I’m still at a loss on how to do it. Compress the highs, careful with the lows… etc., what would be ‘over-doing it’ and what would be ‘under-doing it’ ? That’s for compressing the sound. And same goes with EQ, where I have strictly NO idea which EQ to use, and how to use them. I’ve search for audio sweetening tutorials, no luck so far. But I’ll be happy to read one if you point me there.

Thanks!

Marco

[Marco D.]

OK,

We’re narrowing it down. As mentinoned in my first post, I’m a real audio newbie. Whenever it counts and my production budget can afford it, I send my audio in an audio post-house. But right now, on this smaller job, I need to EQ my own stuff. So I guess I should clarify my question:

How should I use the EQ to give more ‘presence’ to my talent’s VO tracks ? What are the extremely basic principles in using the EQ filter to achieve good results ?

Thanks in adance,

Marco

[Marco D.]

Thanks Mark,

Two questions then… which Compressor, and which EQ to use ?

Under Apple:
– AUGraphicEQ
– AUParametricEQ

Under Final Cut Pro:
– 3 Band Equalizer
– Parametric Equalizer

I also have 3 choices for the compressor:

– Compressor/Limitor
– AUMultibandCompressor

Not sure which ones I should use and how to use them. Again, my only intent for now is to give more ‘presence’ to my voice. Make it sound deeper, more studio-like, more professional than it already sounds. It was recorded in our homegrown studio, using a Shure SM-58 microphone, into a sound console, into the G5, using the Voice Over tool. So there is no background noise, no hum, etc. The comedian has a good voice, but I just want to give the whole thing a bit of an edge.

Thanks in advance again,

Marco

[Marco D.]

3 different ways you can do this (well, certainly more, but here are 3 good ones).

1- Use DVDxDV. It’s cheap and good.

2- Read the thread entitled: converting a VIDEO_TS folder to editable clips

Jeff Carpenter writes:

[START QUOTE]
I use these two free programs:

This will extract the DVD:
https://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/22715

Then use this to convert the files that program creates into Quicktime DV files:
https://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/video/mpegstreamclip.html
[END QUOTE]

The good thing about the software Jeff suggests is that it’s free, and the results and sync are better than DVDxDV.

And finally, another cool and flexible way of doing it which I like a lot is to capture from DVD player to FCP directly by simply bypassing the copyright protection:

I use the following setup:

– DVD player out to DSR-45 (or other deck).
– Setup FCP to capture with non-controllable device.
– Play the DVD and capture in FCP.

This way, you bybass the DVD’s copyright protection. You’ll have the timecode you need.

Not to mention, you can capture in the format you want.

I do it all the time to build myself an ‘inspiration gallery’ from DVD menus.

Good luck, and let us know what worked for you.

[Marco D.]

dc,

you can download a Quicktime 6.5.2 ‘downgrade’ from Apple’s support pages:

https://www.apple.com/support/downloads/quicktime652reinstallerforquicktime701.html

I had to do it myself earlier this week. It worked perfectly for me.

Good luck.