Audio peaking problem...

Question

Level 1

10 points

Audio peaking problem...

I tend to push the audio of my interviewees higher in the editing timelines of all my projects so that their voice is clearly heard above the background music. Yes, their voice would clip into the red during playback in the edting timeline, but the audio playback in that FCPX editing timeline still sounds great. In the old Compressor, I added a peak limiter at its default settings into a custom Quicktime H.264 droplet with AAC audio - those exported files sound great, just as they did during playback in the editing timeline.

Since upgrading to FCPX 10.1, and Compressor 4.1, audio still sounds great in the editing timeline, but when I use the same custom droplet, my export tests with the same projects sound absolutely terrible (just the voices that are clipping in the editing timeline). I've tried creating another similar custom droplet from scratch in 4.1 with the same default peak limiter enabled under the audio effects... but voices in the export tests are still coming out sounding terrible and harsh through the speakers.

Anyone know what peak limiting settings FCPX uses internally for playback in the editing timeline that makes it sound so great? Anyone know why the default peak limiter would work so well in FCPX 10.0.9/ Compressor 4.0 (the original exported videos with those versions/ same settings sound great)... but not in 10.1/ 4.1?

Thanks!

MacBook Pro (15-inch Late 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9.1), 2.5Ghz i7, 16GB, 1GB Rad 6770M, SSD

Posted on Jan 14, 2014 11:53 AM

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Answer 1

GeeD

Level 6

9,179 points

Jan 14, 2014 3:24 PM in response to CdnBook

Any reason why you can't just reduce the volume of the background music?

Geoff.

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Answer 2

CdnBook Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 15, 2014 7:41 AM in response to GeeD

Because my client prefers to hear the interviewee clearly when their computer's volume is set to only half volume, which means I have to increase the person's voice and decrease the background music a little. That and I really shouldn't have to go back and re-master the audio levels of thousands of individual clips in hundreds of projects... particulary when everything worked perfectly before the upgrade. Back to my original questions - anyone know?

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Answer 3

CdnBook Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 15, 2014 5:46 PM in response to CdnBook

Tried adding the Dynamic Range tool under the audio effects tab of the custom Compressor quicktime settings - still no luck... anyone know how to make audio that's clipping visually in the editing timeline (but still sounds great when played in the timeline) also sound great when it's exported, like it did when just a default peak limiter was enabled in 10.0.9 and 4.0?

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Answer 4

furrytoes

Level 2

235 points

Jan 16, 2014 4:51 AM in response to CdnBook

I don't know how to answer the question of getting audio that is peaking in the timeline to sound great through compressor - but honestly, I don't want to know 😉

I realize you might need a bulk solution for existing projects but for the future, I'd keep the audio well below the red/peak in the timeline and go into Audio effects & add a "Limiter".

I wouldn't use the "Amount" slider but rather press the little black button to open the Limiter editor, reduce the output to say -2.0dB and up the Gain as required (eg +6.0dB)

I just tried that on some voice-over and it sounded much louder with little increase in levels.

You probably want to put all audio (or just voice-over) in a Compound Clip to make applying this effect practical over many audio clips.

FYI I actually export my speech audio separately and put a master/limiter on it in LogicProX to achieve a similar result - but I avoid having to Compound all my audio clips by using "Roles" to export only speech audio.

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Answer 5

Jan 30, 2014 7:56 AM in response to CdnBook

I'm having a similar issue. I am using the limiter to increase my lows and decrease my peaks on some of my clips. It sounds fine in FCPX but when I export the file, as anything, my sound, simply, disappears. If I export without the limiter the sound it there so it must be the limiter causing the export issue. This is a real issue though because many of my clips need to be bumped up in volume but limited.

MacPro 2x2.4 GHz 6-core, 32GB, ATI Rad HD 5870 1024 MB

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Answer 6

Jan 30, 2014 7:58 AM in response to Potterycat

These clips are coming in as mp4s using Camtasia. I didn't have this issue prior to the Mavericks, FCPX 10.1 and Camtasia updates.

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Answer 7

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,809 points

Jan 30, 2014 8:15 AM in response to Potterycat

What are the complete specs of the media, especially the audio? What exactly is Camtasia outputting?

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Answer 8

CdnBook Author

Level 1

10 points

Jan 30, 2014 10:47 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Mine is 1920 x 1080p h.264 Quicktime files out of a 5D mark 3, and 48kHz wav files out of an H4n. I just use the camera's audio for syncing, then lower it to zero, and use the H4n's track in the timeline.

My export settings for audio are 48kHz stereo AAC, with render quality settings at "Best", and the target bit rate at 192kbps, with the default peak limiter enabled too. Exports sounded great before the updates, but the same projects sound terrible when exported now. New projects are exhibiting the issue too. I've tried fiddling with the peak limiter and dynamic range settings, even removing them all together without any luck.

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