Proper Master Volume Level????

brnijeff wrote on 8/4/2002, 12:09 PM
Hello,

I'm putting together my first home video from captured DV. It was taken at the beach, so the wind and waves overload the mic quite often. I'm using a volume envelope to lower the worst sections.

The master level indicator goes from around 57 to 3 (not sure what that is, though). As levels rise too high, it turns red-- I assume indicating digital clipping.

What level should I be shooting for so the volume will be at a reasonable level when played back on a VCR after printing to tape?

Thanks,
Jeff

Comments

Cheesehole wrote on 8/4/2002, 2:50 PM
the level doesn't really tell you how loud your signal is. you should definitely try to keep it from clipping, but loudness is a different measurement. the best method I know of is to capture a sample from television and make yours match in perceived loudness simply by listening and adjusting. it will take some experimentation but it's worth it so people don't end up getting blasted.

the way to increase loudness when you are already at the top of the meter is to use dynamic compression effects. if you have a lot of wind noise and dialog all at varying degrees of loudness, dynamic compression can help you get things closer together.

btw - for the level meter I usually shoot for -2 to -3db as a max.
brnijeff wrote on 8/5/2002, 8:30 AM
Thanks! I'll give it a try. If -2 to -3db is your max, where would you say the average sits?

Jeff
BarryB wrote on 8/5/2002, 7:12 PM
Cheeshole has a point, that it's true that with the proper settings, compression can help even out audio levels but be careful because it can also make background noise even louder! I'd try to EQ out the wind noise first before compressing it because Compression not only evens out the peaks, but it also raises the overall loudness. When you compress, you are essentially reducing the distance between the loudest and softest sound. If the softest sound is a useable sound, say a voice that happens to be too soft in relation to another voice, then compression can help within reason. As far as your master fader level, When you look at your master level it is showing you the decible level at which your audio is playing back at. In the digital realm, 0 decibles (db)is the loudest a sound can be without clipping. Make sure that you are not clipping the audio in the digitizing stage.
Control_Z wrote on 8/5/2002, 9:08 PM
Depends to some extent on your equipment, but the broadcast 'standard' (such as it is) is to aim for -20db with peaks at -10.