Raising the volume on my entire movie without having to export and import back in?

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Level 1

9 points

Raising the volume on my entire movie without having to export and import back in?

Hi. I have a feature length movie that I'd like to enter into festivals. However, I feel the volume is too low and would like to raise the volume of the entire movie 3db's. Most of my audio files are at their limit (when we recorded the audio the levels sounded fine but we learned our lesson that the recording levels need to be raised a bit. Being new at this, I was afraid of distortion and unusable audio if the recorded dialogue was too loud.) Anyhow, I exported the movie as a Pro Res file, brought it back into FCPX, raised the entire volume 3 db's, exported it again as a Pro Res and now the movie has errors with the sound. It's sticking and unusable.

Maybe if I Compound all the Audio? But that could be a complete disaster if I release the compound and all my audio has somehow shifted. My audio shifted once when I moved around scenes (uncompounded), what a nightmare, I learned my lesson.

Is there an easy way around all this? Anyone have any ideas?

My next step would be to import the ProRes into Premiere, raise the volume, and export there...... but I'd rather just keep it in FCPX.

Thanks! And Happy Valentines Day to all.

:)Christine

MacBook Pro 13", macOS 10.13

Posted on Feb 14, 2020 10:06 AM

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Answer 1

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Feb 15, 2020 5:50 PM in response to CTKArtist

There is this command:

Relative volume can adjust up or down all the various levels. Absolute sets all to the same level.

Hit Command-A to Select All the Timeline and adjust to taste.

Al

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Answer 2

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Feb 15, 2020 7:16 PM in response to CTKArtist

Relative changes the audio level from its current point.

Eg. A clip set to -15 db if adjusted up by 3 db will set that clip to -12 db. One or more clips or can be altered with the command.

All audio levels are preserved relative to the starting point, including keframes.

Al

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Answer 3

Feb 14, 2020 10:22 AM in response to CTKArtist

I am quite ignorant about audio, but it seems to me that parts of it may be clipping. Just adding 3db throughout may not be feasible.

I hope someone here may come up with better ideas (and knowledge).

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Answer 4

CTKArtist Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 14, 2020 10:35 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks Luis. Well I made sure raising 3db was in a good range throughout the movie (under the red zone), otherwise I would have raised it even higher. I tested it and even went back to 25 sections of the movie to lower some runaway high peaks and exported the movie again....So I'd assume it's more of an export problem (kinks in the software) than a clipping problem.

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Answer 5

CTKArtist Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 15, 2020 6:07 PM in response to Alchroma

Thanks Alchroma. There is some camera audio that I used in the movie also. Would I need to detach that audio from the video first? I assume so, so all audio would be isolated and all can be selected together. And would the raised volume be reflected inside each and every audio clip? Or would it be like an “effect”?

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Answer 6

CTKArtist Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 16, 2020 9:44 AM in response to Alchroma

Thanks Al.

One more thing though. If most of my audio clips are already at 12db (and not in the yellow/red zone) will the adjustment move up past 12db to 15db? even though the clip volume levels don't go that high? I'll need to do a test.

Actually this morning I was able to bring my FCPX Pro Res file into Premiere and raise the volume there, however just raising the volume on the audio clip didn't work!, when exporting in Premiere my friend told me to go into Effects/Loudness Normalization and pick these settings I'm attaching (in case anyone wants to do this too.) Then it worked! So problem solved.

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Answer 7

Alchroma

Level 7

23,918 points

Feb 16, 2020 7:53 PM in response to CTKArtist

😀👍

Al

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Raising the volume on my entire movie without having to export and import back in?

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