Rendered audio issue. Export audio is unusable

hello,

i have FCP 5.1.4 on OSX DC 2Ghz v10.4.11 tiger

I recently recorded a christening.

Put video files (log and capture) on hdd. Made a sequence DV PAL 720x576, with 16:9 anamorphic as i captured using the 16:9 SD on my sony camcorder.

I edited everything, cut video and sound etc.
I made a test export of 5min movie, as QT movie with 16:9 anamprphic. sound 8bit 44khz.

I play it on tv and audio is GARBAGE ! so noisy and there is a lot of artefacts in sound.

Went back to FCP and added LOWPASS filter and seemed it reduced the problem a lot. No problem during playback with speakers etc.

When I outpout as selfcontained movie, and playit with QT then same problem again. Noise everywhere, like trying to tune your fm radio and moving up and down the frequencies !

I tried also soundtrack pro and normalised, played back ok. then when I output even 16bit instead of 8, same problem again.

I do not know what to do ? Any help where the problem and solution is please ?

I hope I do not have to re-capture from tape again....

vassilis

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com

Quote

sound 8bit 44khz.

This is where your problem starts. If you don't need to make a super tiny file, you can use a much higher bit rate for your audio. I am assuming that you capture 16bit/48kHz audio. Use that and see how it goes. If you need to reduce the file size, look at audio codecs like mp3 or aac.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

You also didn't say what kind of compression rate you used for the exported movie. If you made the audio, say, 20kbps, of course it would be unusable.


www.derekmok.com

thanks a lot andrew,

i will try to change my sequence settings as well then. Because in my video settings i have set up DV-PAL, colours 24b millions, no data rate limit, quality 75, audio settings 44.100 stereo 8b, 25fps timebase.

i will do it 16b 48khz.

i check my HDD capture file, and inspector QT, says 16b, mono (2 channels), 48khz, blackmagic codec.

i will test and post respectively. thanks for your help

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com

hello derekmok,

the compression rate for the movie as in my settings in compressor,
in audio-video is DV-PAL @75%

when i export it just gives me a choice of presets only as drop down menu, then choose mine 'dv pal 48k Q75 169anamorphic' choice and save as self contained. The rest is auto I guess in s/w.

I never seen a selection for the rate at all. The garbage export when opened in QT inspector says data rate 29.52, sound 8b unsigned integer @44k

i hope i answered your question.

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com

Blackmagic codec? Is there a BM DV codec? Did you hook up the camera via Firewire and Log and Capture?

First get your sequence settings to match your footage.

Once you have that done, edit away.

When it comes time to output, dump out a full rez version of your sequence (Export - Quicktime movie) and then load that resulting file into Compressor. Use any of the presets there to make smaller versions for web delivery or MPEG2/ac3 files for DVD encoding.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

dear andrew,

thanks for your support again please.

I need to correct something. when i open the captured file (on HDD) The inspector does not say BM codec, but in the format says BM DV 720x576 (1024x576) millions. I hope did not confuse anybody. appologies if i did please.

Indeed i always hook the camera via 1394 and L&Capture.

My data rate (format info card in FCP) says 3.6MB/s and confirm in same menu says 16b/48k.

In regards to output, i will do a self-contained choice and butn the 5min on dvd to see if all are ok by the way.

then I will use compressor with your choices please. Never used it in the past as in its final size menu info, never decreased the size of my output videos in DV-PAL at all to be honest. I am usually burn this way i mentioned above with many problems in big sizes etc.

I always use DVD SP, afterwards and did not experiment with Compressor at all being affraid that i might degrade especially my image quality.

For dvd SP what settings would you advise to keep quality i.e. 75 or 100 and shorten the filesize a bit using other options, if any please ?

==== RESULTS ====
problem seems solved now in QT, no noises anymore ! Please accept my gratitude for your help !
Now inspector says BM DV 720x576 (768x576), 16b big endian, stereo 48k. data rate 30.35.
==============

thanks all for your help please !

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com

If the final product is 5min, files sizes shouldn't be too big an issue.
If the destination is DVD then use compressor to convert the self contained file to MPEG2/ac3.
In FCS2, Compressor has presets for DVD, High Quality, 90 minutes. That should give you two files, an MPEG2 (video) and an ac3 (audio).

---

This is what DVD-SP does in the background if you let it compress the file itself, you just have more control over the settings using Compressor. Nothing worse is going to happen to your video this way. All DVD burning program's turn video into MPEG2 files, it's how DVD's work. Either you do it with control or DVD-SP does it for you.

---

Import those two files into DVD-SP, add them to a track, make sure the track is set to 16x9 if your video is 16x9 and once you have your menu's set, test, then burn away.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

hm... ok !

great tips sir anrew kines !

thanks a lot for your help again please !

May I ask 2 more questions please ?

1) FORUM posts: if a querry gets replied and problem is solved do i have to delete the post to save space for others to post q&a or does not matter please ?

2) It belongs to another category i guess but, if you can answer it, according to your opinion, which is the best way to calibrate the speakers of mine to match approximately a medium volume setting on tv ? I say this because i edit audio and apart from looking at the FCP levels there is no sort of medium setting in the audio levels bar (low right).

I usually set my speakers to the middle and move the apple mac sound level (dots) in their middle distance while looking on screen visual. But I believe must be another way to do it better....

best regards to all support team and members of LAfcp as well of your families.

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com

The RIGHT way to set up your volume level is to use a sound pressure meter, but outside theatrical audio mixing, I don't know anybody who goes to that much trouble.

Sound for television is customarily mixed with peak level at -10 dBFS, and average dialogue at -20 dBFS. That's not a hard-and-fast rule; for example, lots of TVCs are mixed with the average dialogue level near, or even at peak, 'cause clients WANT THEM TO BE LOUD. The important thing is to set your peak audio level to something reasonable, then just mix so you get the kind of dynamic range you like.

(Please note that I am NOT an audio expert. This is just how I do it, when clients want me to do a sound mix for them.)

thanks for the reply back to me jeff.

it is a very handful tip for me at the moment that do this mixing in FCP only as i have sound from built-in camera mic always !

best regards,

---
Vassilis Triantafyllidis
www.LemnosExplorer.com