[Will Salley]

[Crow T Robot] “How much of that is the lack of a dedicated pre-amp, and how much is the mic itself?”

I’m of the opinion that separate pre-amp is not necessary if the microphone is capable of adequate levels and the exisitng mic pres are not too noisy. Most people who tout the pre-amp as a must-have are those who are seeking to “warm up” or affect the sound in a more pleasing way. While pre-amps can and do enhance the ablility to improve a recording, they are not the only way. I’ve recorded hundreds (maybe thousands) of sessions with the original AKG 414 and I assume the newer model is just as capable. The only devices in the signal chain: AKG 414>console (earlier it was a RAMSA, then it was a Yamaha02R)>outboard compressor (DBX122)>recorder (now that has changed a bunch of times). I now usually go straight into the Pro Tools rack (MOTU works the same) and compress in PT if necessary. As far as the siblance issue, it could be the Rode has a spike at the offending freq. (usually around 4k). Try another mic through the same setup to check. Nevertheless, you can’t go wrong with the 414.

Oh yeah – Some mic pres will actually enhance the sibilance. Some of the vintage Urei’s in particular.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

If the footage was shot 4×3 safe, I would suggest converting during capture (to save rendering) and then decide what, if any, shots you need to pan & scan based on composition. Then just re-capture the shots you need with an HD codec. I use After Effects for pan & scan but FCP will work. Of course, if most of your shots need manual cropping, It would make more sense to capture uncompressed or DVCPro-HD and then do the crop. It’s a re-render either way.

[Adrian Zehn] “I will need to uprezz all the footage and graphics and produce a final version for broadcast on standard definition”

I assume you meant “downrez”?

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

The 410 should work with FCP and DVDSP. The PCI based M-audio 5.1 card should work equally as well.

https://www.samedaymusic.com/product–MDOREV51

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

[lukewarm13] “Instead of making a blunt comment….how about explaining why the mics aren’t worth it”

These, and many other “budget” mics, are made in a factory somewhere in – let’s just say in a country where the employee assembling the mic has never even seen a picture of the inside of a studio, much less the real thing. They are paid to put part A into part B as fast as they can. If the mic is inspected at all, it is for visual defects and maybe a “does it work” test, not a true performance test as practiced by most manufacturers.

These cheap mics are also made with inferior materials that do not hold up to real-world usage. They may last a few years in a climate-controlled studio, with luck. As an example, all dynamic and condenser microphones have a thin diaphragm made of very delicate material, usually plastic or metal, which is adhered to a fixed magnet. The adhesive used, and the method in which it is applied, effect the lifespan and the quality of the sound of the mic. All the other components are of similar quality and when combined into a whole, it increases the probability that the mic will fail.

While many of these mics may copy the designs of a more respected manufacturer, that is only a third of the equation. Materials and build quality are still inferior – as is, most importantly, the quality of sound.

I say this as someone who has bought and used a few of these mics and experienced a failure with almost every mic (and other products) branded by Behringer. There are many manufacturers, European, Asian, and American who make good products at a good value but some of the better ones are:

Shure
Audix
Sennheiser
Neumann
AKG
Beyerdynamic
Earthworks
CAD
Rode
Electro-Voice
Audio-Technica

The Audix, CAD and Rode brands a very good value in my opinion, but be wary of some of the least expensive product.

…because you asked.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

Honestly, the mics aren’t worth the box come in.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

It looks like you’ve got a pretty good handle on it. I have a similar setup except for a few things:

– I keep all my 3D renders on another HD (internal SATA) because they are always used in a an AE composite and never in real time; and the 3D renders take so much longer to re-render, I like to have backups.
– There is a freeware app called “Silverkeeper” (Lacie) that will automate your daily backups and let you control what, if anything, gets overwritten. Very handy.
– Check out the Wiebetech Traydock. It lets you drop SATA drives into the tray and it takes about 20 seconds to change a drive out. I buy a single HD for every major project and use Silverkeeper to sync the backups. I also try to backup the user folder everyday to the SATA.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

Go to your Autosave vault (usually USER>DOCUMENTS>FINAL CUT PRO DOCUMENTS>AUTOSAVE VAULT) and COPY the last saved file to your current project folder.
Do not try to open the original file in the Autosave Vault, it may get corrupted as well and then you would lose even more work.

Open the copied backup in v 5.1.3. If it doesn’t work, you will need to re-install FCP from disk and do the update here:

https://www.apple.com/support/downloads/finalcutpro512.html

Before re-installing, go to ROOT>LIBRARY>RECEIPTS> and remove the file “FinalCutProUpdate5.1.2.pkg” and “FinalCutProUpdate5.1.3.pkg”.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

Big No No!
The ‘slits’ in the side of those mics are used to cancel sound pressure (SPL) coming from the sides and, to a degree, the rear of the mic. When they are partially covered, that directionality diminishes, but not only that, the character of the mic becomes thin and hollow because the mic element is designed to have those slits functional.

A better solution may be to find an offset mount for the mics.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

If you have a Mac, you can use Apple’s Soundtrack Pro and it’s supplied library of loops and efx for your purposes. It allows for easy editing and layering of tracks that can be of any length and style. It does take time to edit and mix the tracks, but you then have a somewhat unique music track and can make it a full mix, or just a “bed” mix to use under VO.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8

[Will Salley]

It depends on the hardware you have available. I use a Digidesign 002 Rack to output six channels of discrete audio via FCP, but this is really not the best solution. There is no “surround matrix” and the encoding can be tricky.
To do truly professional quality mixes you need to export your synced audio to a Pro Tools TDM system – and even then, it is a stand-alone application that requires an export using Digitranslator (a software tool by Digidesign).

Another possible solution may be Apple Logic, which, I think, can use third-party hardware to sync to QT video.
There may be other solutions of which I’m not aware, but many editors wisely choose to leave the surround mix to an audio post facility because of the skill, time and hardware involved.

Oh yeah. When mixing for 5.1, the listening environment is critical. The mix position, speaker placement, room treatment and size all effect a surround mix much more than a stereo mix; so most video edit environments naturally don’t allow for good mix environments.

System Info – G5/Dual 2 – 10.4.8 – QT v7.1.3 – 8GB ram – Radeon 9800Pro – External SATA Raid – Decklink Extreme – Wacom 6×8