[Sandy Chase]

But if the input levels were too high, why are the recorded levels only at about -6dB? In Final Cut Pro, if the audio is peaking, those waveforms would stretch all the way to the top and bottom of the window. They would be slamming 0 and giving me distortion. I think there’s something earlier in the chain that’s maxed out, then the final stage (the recording device) is set to a safe level.

[Sandy Chase]

I think one was a Sennheiser ME-66, two were wireless mics, like lavs, and I don’t know what the fourth one was. The music was super loud percussion in parts. Audio guy used some type of field recorder.

The rec levels were okay, but obviously something is getting slammed in the system here. I can’t imagine this is the most accurate recording I can get from these mics. I need like an “ND filter” for audio. Or else just put them further away if possible??

[Sandy Chase]

Awesome tutorial – thanks for the tip.

If you use a plain rectangle for the mask instead of the duplicated drop zone, then it stays glued to the rest of the project and FCP gives you a window for your Drop Zone media.

In other words, you CAN manipulate the media inside FCP! But only position. I can’t figure out how to zoom without making subclips, etc.

Hint: in Motion, make sure your Drop Zone isn’t cropped (you won’t need any crop once you have the mask. No crop allows your dropped-in media the most manipulation possible once you’re inside FCP.

Thanks again guys. These forums are lifesavers!

Sandy Chase
Fluid Film

[Sandy Chase]

Side-by-side comparison I do prefer working in 648X486 because as far as I understand, going from 720X540, the pixels have to be reinterpreted/mapped to 90% scale; in other words, generating new pixels from an approximation of the original. Going from 648X486, the pixels are stretched, but each pixel keeps its original color/position, so there is less artifacting. It’s subtle, but on text and fine lines it can make a difference.

I do work in Photoshop with non-square pixels (especially helpful for HDV with its more extreme pixel stretching), but some programs, like Cheetah3D, I’m stuck in square pixels.

I guess it would be ideal if every program could accommodate different pixel shape views. Occasionally I run into the reverse problem; for example, exporting production stills from Photoshop and 3D graphics, where I designed everything for non-square video, but they need square pixels to print.

[Sandy Chase]

[Noah Kadner] “simplify the project or work in less layers or at a proxy resolution.”

Good advice in general, but what I don’t get is why even when I haven’t started doing anything complex, it doesn’t really SAVE THE FILE when I hit “save”. (I look at the modified date and it isn’t updated, for instance.) Only when I close the file nicely (no crash) does it actually save anything. That’s either a bug or it makes the save command kinda useless in my opinion. “Save frequently” becomes “save-and-close-and-then-re-open-the-file frequently.”

Anyone else notice this?

Thanks,
Sandy.

[Sandy Chase]

Wow, this just solved a HUGE mystery on our end here. I was generating 720X486 progressive animations (animation CODEC) from Motion and FCP kept interpreting them as lower field dominant no matter what we did. It was driving us CRAZY!! Setting the fields dominance to none from the FCP BROWSER fixed it.

Thank you.