Adjusting Audio

Hello... I have some footage that unfortunately does not have adequate volume level as it was only recorded with the mic on-board camera. Obviously I know how to raise the volume to the max on the raw footage by dragging the red line on the audio track... while I do not recall how to do it, I once saw an editor send the clip out (export maybe) and then when he brought it on on a timeline, it came in with the volume on 'zero' which also included having raised it to level 12db (I hope this make sense :-(

It was a trick of the trade and it was simple... in fact it was with a version 3.1 or some such. Tt was not exported to Garage or any other tool sophisticated software... it was sent out and then brought back in....maybe to another project...?

I hope someone can help with this. I am on a MacBook Pro... FCP 6

Thank you.

the other editor may have raised the volume all the way then exported the clip as a self contained QuickTime Movie (same settings)

but there is a solution even simpler than that:
go to the effects tab in the browser,
Audio Filters > Final Cut Pro,
and drag the Gain filter onto your clips.

you can raise the volume with this quite considerably.


nick

The problem with simply cranking up the Gain filter on your clips, is CLIPPING. Anything spiking in the content will inevitably clip. This then necessitates the use of compressors, and to use compressors, you need to have experience.

If you have any audio software at all, a much better approach is to NORMALIZE the audio.
Normalize will find the highest peak, and crank it to the maximum possible level, leaving all the lower peaks higher as well, and no clipping. (up to -10dB)

If you want to go farther, you can choose to MAXIMISE using a Comp/Limiter.

I use Bias Peak, which allows batch conversion, so I can normalize EVERYTHING before it even goes into the timeline. Peak also allows you to Normalize RMS, which takes the average, and boosts it up to max (emulating a Comp Limiter, but no plug ins necessary)

Bare in mind if the audio was recorded at too low a level, your noise floor will also rise up in ALL of these methods, meaning HISSSSSSSSS.

it's a real drag that after all these years, there is still no "normalise" filter in FCP.

i know, you can round trip through STP, but for my workflow, which is off-line editing, that's not so good.


nick

There is a normailze function in FCP now - I think it came in in v6. Go to Modify > Audio > Apply Normalization Gain and set the slider to suit.