EQ question and audio problem

erikd wrote on 9/3/2008, 6:03 AM
How do I do a simple EQ of a single event in Vegas without having to make another audio file? I apply a Sony FX EQ to the event, adjust to taste and then I am told that this is a non-real-time FX and I give a new file name, etc. I don't want to EQ an entire track or bus I simply want to EQ individual audio events and apply them in real time.

The next problem is more complicated so please bear with me.

I recently was bragging about the MXF proxy/conform workflow in Vegas using XDCAM and it is a sweet thing. However, I have come across a problem I didn't anticipate. The conform process went perfectly it seems until I listened to the audio playback. I have a number of clips that were originally shot on BetaSP and then dubbed to XDCAM discs many months ago using DVCAM 25mbs, 48000hz , 16bit format. The audio on the original XDCAM disc sounds clean and I can't hear any of the popping that sounds like a slightly over modulated audio signal.

I edit with proxies which are of a much lower quality but no hint of any audio problem but when I conform, this is precisely when the popping or slightly over modulated sound is happening. It is happening only to clips that came from the DVCAM codec as all of my XDCAM 35mbs files sound very good after conforming.

When editing with the proxies I often use normalize to get an acceptable audio level and I wonder if that has anything to do with the introduction of the problem?
I can turn off normalize now after conforming but I still hear the popping and crackling. I could try laying in the audio tracks from the proxies and running conform without normalizing and see if that helps.

Is anybody else getting any audio problems after conforming from XDCAM?

Erik





Comments

Randy Brown wrote on 9/3/2008, 6:24 AM
How do I do a simple EQ of a single event in Vegas without having to make another audio file?
Someone will hopefully correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you can without making another audio file.
My workaround is to put that clip on a separate track, EQ (or whatever effect you want to apply) and then minimize it so as to not clutter the timeline.
Randy
TorS wrote on 9/3/2008, 6:32 AM
I agree with Randy.
For single event FX the best is to edit copy in Sound Forge or some other audio prog OR in Vegas.
You'd get a better workflow and a cleaner display if you sort the events that need a particular EQ together on the same track and add the EQ to the track level. Then you get real-time. If you have several such track yoy can route them to separate busses and apply the FX to the buss.
I don't know why you don't want to sort the events to separate tracks. You see, in my book it's the way to go.

The other question I don't know about. Each time I have pops and cracks I adjust the latency and they usually go away.
Tor
erikd wrote on 9/3/2008, 7:10 AM
Thanks for the feedback.

I just want to say that after relaying in the XDCAM proxy audio WITHOUT NORMALIZING you can then conform WITHOUT AUDIO POPPING! So a big heads up to anyone doing work in a similar situation. Luckily, I only have about 20 or so clips that I will need to manually replace but if one had a large number of clips that were normalized before conforming they could have a very unhappy experience.

Regarding the EQ issue I am used to working on an single event basis because I could do this real-time with Discreet Edit for the last 7 years. I like to individually tweak clips and have a hard time imagining a "one-size fits all" EQ for sorted tracks. I already sort my tracks using typical, ANN, NAT, SFX, MUSIC etc. It seems more logical to me to organize the audio according to content as opposed to EQ needs.

If one does create a new file for the EQ where are the settings for the EQ stored? In the original clip or in the new clip? What if you want to make a further tweak? I see the problems with this workflow but I still can't imagine having a "add highs" audio track and a "roll-off lows" because the settings are always different. How do you get one setting to work for all the events sorted to that track?


farss wrote on 9/3/2008, 7:58 AM
If you create a new file i.e. render a clip out then the Eq is baked in.
So the only way to apply an FX to an audio event is at the track level.
You could well end up with a LOT of tracks.
The other way is you can use envelopes to control FXs but that can quickly become unmanageable.

Bob.
TGS wrote on 9/3/2008, 11:26 AM
If you use Track EQ, you can use 'Automation'
This will give you options on how you want to automate the EQ.
You could simply turn it on and off where you need it.
you could turn on each 'band' of EQ, one at a time if needed.
To use automation, it's the furthest green Icon to the right of the audio plug in window with 4 little red thing-a-ma-jiggers.
If you simply wanted to turn the EQ off at certain places, then choose 'Bypass', near the bottom of choices. A line similar to an envelope line will appear and if the line is moved to the top of the track, it will say "Bypass is true (which means EQ is bypassed) and if it's moved down "Bypass is false" EQ is engaged. there is no in between,,... it's on or off. But you can see by the choices, you could do each band that way or many other things too.
musicvid10 wrote on 9/3/2008, 11:37 AM
**The other way is you can use envelopes to control FXs but that can quickly become unmanageable.**

I totally agree about the unmanageable part. Putting the events you need to EQ on separate tracks and labeling them coherently is a much more manageable approach.