Octava mic test at DVinfo.net

Brian Luce · April 26th, 2009, 02:11 PM

An engineer told me this clip is not usable. Thought I'd get a second opinion here.

Sacha Rosen · April 26th, 2009, 03:11 PM

did he say why?

Seth Bloombaum · April 26th, 2009, 03:27 PM

Peaking at -25db, yes that's too low, but when I brought it up the noise floor was OK.

Surely not the pinnacle of narration recording, but far from unusable... good enough for many purposes, I think. Good enough for you?

Brian Luce · April 26th, 2009, 04:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sacha Rosen

did he say why?

He said the levels were too low.

Thanks Seth.

Rick Reineke · April 26th, 2009, 07:06 PM

The editor probably could not get them loud enough via the NLE's volume controls and knows not how to normalize.

Brian Luce · April 26th, 2009, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rick Reineke

The editor probably could not get them loud enough via the NLE's volume controls and knows not how to normalize.

Is that what it takes to "Make it right"? Normalizing? If so, can it be done in Vegas?

Seth Bloombaum · April 26th, 2009, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

Is that what it takes to "Make it right"? Normalizing? If so, can it be done in Vegas?

Yes, which is what I did. Right-click on the audio clip in the timeline. Pull down to Switches, and select Normalize.

If you have additional clips that need the same setting, you can repeat the above - or - right click on the clip which has been adjusted, select Copy. Select all the other clips (via shift-click and/or ctrl-click) to receive this setting, right click on one of them, and pull down to Paste Event Attributes.

Steve House · April 27th, 2009, 03:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian Luce

An engineer told me this clip is not usable. Thought I'd get a second opinion here.

Aside from low levels it appears to be recorded at 32kHz instead of video standard 48. Not a disaster but not a good idea. IMHO, original source recordings should always be done at as high a quality as possible. There's a bit of squeaky sibilance so a touch of de-esser will be needed.

David W. Jones · April 27th, 2009, 05:58 AM

If this was submitted for broadcast, I would have rejected it as well.
A QC or broadcast engineer's responsibility is not to fix out of spec material.

Brian Luce · April 27th, 2009, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve House

Aside from low levels it appears to be recorded at 32kHz instead of video standard 48. Not a disaster but not a good idea. IMHO, original source recordings should always be done at as high a quality as possible. There's a bit of squeaky sibilance so a touch of de-esser will be needed.

Squeaky sibilance? is that background hiss?

About 32k, the camera menu says 48k. Maybe when I exported it to quicktime? I don't think the JVC can record at anything but 48k.

April 26th, 2009, 03:27 PM	#3
Seth Bloombaum Inner Circle Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Portland, Oregon Posts: 3,420	Peaking at -25db, yes that's too low, but when I brought it up the noise floor was OK. Surely not the pinnacle of narration recording, but far from unusable... good enough for many purposes, I think. Good enough for you? __________________ 30 years of pro media production. Vegas user since 1.0. Webcaster since 1997. Freelancer since 2000. College instructor since 2001.

April 26th, 2009, 03:11 PM	#2
Sacha Rosen Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada Posts: 86	did he say why?

April 26th, 2009, 07:06 PM	#5
Rick Reineke Inner Circle Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: New York Posts: 2,038	The editor probably could not get them loud enough via the NLE's volume controls and knows not how to normalize.

April 27th, 2009, 05:58 AM	#9
David W. Jones Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,383	If this was submitted for broadcast, I would have rejected it as well. A QC or broadcast engineer's responsibility is not to fix out of spec material.