Mini DV Audio level in general
 

Hello,

I' m busy with a general problem I found out with MiniDV. May it be that MiniDV level is always lower than Beta for example? I connected a professional peak-meter on diferent minidv-sources and it always stayed much lower and just with a generated testsignal I reached "0". BTW: Meanwhile the XL1s control unit indicates sound is ok, the peakmeter stays quite lower.

Thanks for help,

Markus

Beta is analog, DV is digital. This means that DV needs to be -20dB compared to analog's zero. This is now the ATSC standard, so I suspect you'll see most NLE systems use -20dB for Bars and Tones. Vegas already does.

Thanks for this info but what about transfering DV to Beta. When I connect my Sony GVD1000 to a Beta it also stays to low. Does anybody has a good solution for transfer?

Best regards

Markus

Markus,

Most Beta decks have an adjustable rec audio level. I would recommend playing your dv into the deck and adjusting the levels to peak just over 0 DB on the Beta deck VU's, then re-rack and record.

Thanks Rob,

I dedicated the whole day to check out different versions of copying. The aspect of an always lower digital level is the key. So the only way in deed is to put between an amplifier because the direct connection destroys quality while amplifying.

It's a very interesting problem that never before I really payed attention.

Markus

It's a lower level, but it IS a spec level.
Output of -20 on your DV cam should equal 0VU on your beta deck. Output tones from your NLE to your DV cam and use that for calibration, or buy a Calibug and use that to send tones for calibration.
There is a short article http://www.indigipix.com/digtoanalog.htm that might provide some insight if you are interested.

Spot,

When mastering audio for DV, I've been aiming toward peaks of -3 dB. Basically, the highest final level without clipping. Does this translate into the correct Analog level for playback? It seems like it makes sense to use as high a level as possible for resolution, but I want to make sure I'm not over driving the sound when sending miniDV tapes to stations for broadcast. Or does it just not matter.

Second but related, the bar tone at -20 db (analog?) is 0 db (digital), right? I think I'm confusing myself. I may have to go home and do some tests.

You've got the digital/analog tones backwards. Output tones from digital at -20dBFS and match that to 0VU.
On your digital device, you should be mastering to as close to 0dBFS as you can. We keep our WAVES Ultra set to -.03, so it's peak point is raised to there with a very mild compression. Ozone's iZotope can be safely set to -.01dBFS, but I've not used that as much.

OK, so I'm right for reasons that I understand incorrectly. :)

As far as abbreviations, I assume dbFS is decibel Full Scale, right?

Yes indeed. Full scale is so much easier than having to deal with all the other scaling norms of the analog world, don't you think?

for the spotted eagle...
 

LOVE your book !

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Yikes!!!
Until now, we were unaware that site had been taken over. We had a number of sites compromised a while back when a guy named Gary Kleiner bought domains related to my name and VASST's name, and redirected them. We were unaware that this one too, was messed with. It's not a site we pay attention to any longer (obviously).
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Apologies to anyone inconvenienced.

Thanks DGE, always helpful.