Comments

Chienworks wrote on 3/4/2006, 5:25 PM
You could certainly record the audio separately in Vegas while capturing. It will end up as a separate .wav file while the original unmodified audio will be in the .avi file. You could then use the .wav file instead of the audio in the .avi file. However, there is no way to control the audio going into the .avi file while capturing.
tjglfr wrote on 3/4/2006, 5:29 PM
So, there is no advatage in recording a separate .wav file, right?
Chienworks wrote on 3/4/2006, 5:35 PM
Well, if you want to manually ride gain, it would be easier to do while recording it in real time than trying to adjust it in Vegas after the fact. However, adjusting it in Vegas is nondestructive and you can undo as many times as you wish. Also, recording a separate .wav file is most likely going to involve a digital->analog->digital conversion which can degrade the signal and add noise.
tjglfr wrote on 3/4/2006, 7:23 PM
Well, I posted the question because I have a tape that has audio recorded at a very high level. So I thought that there might be a way that you could control the level as you were capturing.
Chienworks wrote on 3/4/2006, 7:39 PM
If the whole tape is a uniformly high level then this can be adjusted with one quick simple easy mouse drag inside Vegas. Merely drag the track volume control down, or adjust the event level by dragging the top edge of the audio clip down. Done. That's a whole lot faster and easier than trying to adjust it with an external mixer.

On the other hand, if the audio is so loud that it's clipping and distorting, you're probably sunk and nothing is going to fix it.
Geoff_Wood wrote on 3/4/2006, 8:35 PM
If is clipping when recording, then turn the volume down out of your camera, or on the Mackie.

I would sugegst that once a safe level is set, don't do ANYTHING else while transferring, as that will complicate any editing you may want to do later.

geoff
farss wrote on 3/5/2006, 4:39 AM
That's the very last think anyone should do!

If the digital audio is recorded to tape clipped then turning it down during recording into Vegas will only yield lower level clipped audio, it'll still sound horrible, just quieter.

If it is recorded clipped on tape, capture the tape as per normal.
Open the audio in SF and use the Clipper Peak Repair Tool. If thibgs didn't get too ugly you may get a very good repair. At times to get the tool to work you need to induce hard clipping, try adding 0.1dB to 3.0dB gain in SF first, usually in cases of front end overload you'll need the higher amounts of gain.

Turning the level down during captur means the Clipped Peak Repair tool will not 'see' the clipping without you winding the level back up again. Also it's quite likely that the hard clipped peaks will get slightly rounded when going through the analogue process making peak reconstruction more difficult.

Once you have the clipping repaired and the audio back into Vegas THEN turn the level down to suit, using the volume control in the track header etc.

Bob.
doctorfish wrote on 3/10/2006, 8:28 PM
I think Geoff meant if it was clipping when trying to record through the mixer while capturing which then would benefit from being turned dowm.

tjglfr, how do you like the Canopus ADVC110? We're just about to get one up at work.

For your question, I would try both. First do a capture with the audio and video together then you can try recording the audio separate. Experiment a bit and see which way comes out better.

Dave