Archive for the ‘audio’ Category

Adobe Premiere CC: Weird Audio-Repeat from Nested Multicam Sequence with Audio Transition (Crossfade)

Thursday, October 10th, 2013

UpdateL

Context:

  • I’m producing a video of a progressive rock band (Panic Room) playing at a party on-board a lightship…
  • The video has been edited in Adobe Premiere, initially in version CS6 and then in CC7.0 (105), the latter via opening the CS6 project-file.
  • The Premiere project structure is: [ Master_Sequence > Multicam_Sequence  > Sync_Sequence > Raw_Footage (XDCAM-EX) ].

Problem:

  • While previewing a complete draft of the video, that had been Exported from Premiere CC, I noticed a repeat, after 2 seconds, of the “big finish” of one of the band’s songs.  The repeat is quieter than the “real” (wanted) one.

Investigations:

  • The problem occurs when editing, but only at the Master_Sequence level.  It does not occur at the Multicam_Sequence level.
  • In the Multicam_Sequence, near to the problem part of the audio. is a Crossfade transition.  If I delete that Crossfade (leaving the audio transition to be a plain Cut) then the problem (at Master_Sequence level) no longer occurs.
  • The repeated element of audio is not that within the Crossfade transition, it is instead from a (short) clip (resulting from multicam editing) almost immediately preceding the transition.
    • This is suggestive of a memory issue, such as cache (RAM or file) or buffer (presumably RAM).
  • It feels to me like this is a bug in Premiere CC, broadly similar to something I once encountered (in a different project) in Premiere CS6.
  • I often encounter bugs when I go “off-piste” as compared to most people’s editing procedure, presumably due to programmers/testers not having thought similarly “off-piste”.
  • The only potentially (?) unusual thing I did in the edit of the Multicam Sequence was at certain places to cut just the audio track (via [C-Razor] tool, having selected only the audio part via [Alt-LeftClick].
    • The reason I did that was to separate the end of a song from the following applause etc., which was much quieter, to allow Clip:[Audio Gain > Normalize] to be carried out separately on that applause.  Then I added [Crossfade > Constant Power] in order to smooth the join to the applause.
    • I used this approach rather than Volume envelope because:
      • Audio Gain can increase gain by any amount, whereas Volume Envelope’s maximum gain appears to be 6dB.
        • Possibly the 6dB limit might be configurable in Preferences (I just saw a setting suggestive of that but haven’t tried it),
      • It is very convenient and less “messy” than fiddling about with Envelopes and Track Width etc.
  • Experiments:
    • As stated earlier, if I delete that [Crossfade > Constant Power] (leaving the audio transition to be a plain Cut) then the problem (at Master_Sequence level) no longer occurs.
    • If I replace the crossfade with [Crossfade > Constant Gain] then it makes no difference (the problem remains).
    • If I delete the multicam sequence element (audio & video) penultimately preceding the transition, i.e. the element containing the “big finish”, leaving a gap (black silence) then when I play the Master Sequence, the gap faithfully appears as expected but then the “repeat” (of the “big finish”) nevertheless happens.
      • By “penultimately” I mean not the clip that is the left-hand part of the transition, but the clip before that (which is not therefore any part of the transition).
    • If instead I delete only the audio part and then drag the previous audio (only) part forwards (in time) to fill the gap, then when I play Master Sequence, the “repeat” now comes from the end of what is now a different “previous clip” (the one that was prior to the one I just deleted).
    • This tells us the repeat comes from whatever clip is penultimate to the Crossfade audio transition, it does not happen only for one clip in particular.
    • …to be continued… (sadly)

WebSearch:

  • e.g. Google:[adobe premiere audio repeating], [adobe forum]
    • http://forums.adobe.com/community/premiere
      • (nothing relevant found, and today {and next few days} was unable to sign-in, presumably due to Adobe web system maintenance)
      • {BUT see my later post on this: http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/923}
        • Solution that worked:
          • Open the Cut-Sequence, i.e. the one where I cut between various multicam angles etc.
          • Menu:[Sequence > Render Audio]
            • This was extremely fast, almost instantaneous, worth doing on a regular basis in future…
    • http://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/kb/audio-video-glitches-avchd.html
      • Covers a number of issues but not mine.
      • Recommends sufficiently powerful CPU and in the case of spanned file-structure footage (like AVCHD or presumably XDCAM-EX), transcoding to a straight format like DNxHD or UT.
    • http://forums.adobe.com/thread/1047591
      • Strange audio problem in Premiere Pro CS6 (Aug 10, 2012)
      • Problem: All material has been shot on the Sony FS 100 camera – imported into PP with the Media Browser. In one interview the last part of a clip has corrupted audio. At one point on the timeline the audio stops playing, and it sounds like a scratch on a vinyl record – two words repeating themselves to the end of the clip (See screenshot of timeline). The images are as they should.
        • Sounds very similar to my problem.
      • Solution: (Delete) everything within both the /Media Cache and /Media Cache Files folders…
        • BUT when I tried that, in my case it made no difference…
    • http://blog.flickharrison.com/2012/04/problem-solving-in-adobe-premiere-audio-glitches-and-sync/
      • Problem-Solving in Adobe Premiere: Audio Glitches and Sync (Apr 7, 2012)
      • Problem:
        • I imported a few camera cards full of AVCAM / AVCHD footage from my HMC-150 and edited for a few days.  Then I clicked on one imported clip and found that the audio was wrong.  Glitches, skips, out of sync, weird things happening – all nice sounding, but not in the right places.  I checked the original MTS files on my HD using VLC player.  Sound was fine, everything was in sync.
      • Solution:
        • For each imported clip in .mts format, Premiere adds a file with the same name with .xmp as the extension in the same folder.  Feeling bold, I quit Premiere then deleted all these the .xmp files for that card – though i didn’t empty my trash yet.  I re-opened Premiere and double-clicked that file.  It was dead silent, as clips often are when first imported to Premiere.  It does some meta-data-ing… and then the sound was all back in proper order, problem solved.
        • The XMP files had been re-produced in that folder, although this time, apparently, without glitches.
        • {The poster of this solution appeared slightly concerned, at least initially, about the addition of [.xmp] (sidecar) files into the file-structure, as indeed I had reported e.g. at http://blog.davidesp.com/archives/901, but (like me) didn’t do anything about it, just bore the fact in mind}
      • {Doubts:
        • In my case, the file itself plays fine in Premiere, it’s only when nested that the problem arises, hence I doubt the same solution would fix my problem
          }
    • ??

Adobe Premiere CS6: Nested Sequence Silence (& Fix)

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013

A Sequence played with good audio, but when I nested it (inside another sequence), all went silent.  This turned out to be the latest incarnation of a crazy historical feature of Adobe Premiere.  It wasted a good part of an hour of my time experimenting and finally Googling to find the (simple, once you know) way out.

The problem:

  • A simple straightforward sequence consisting of video recordings from two cameras, each arranged in their own tracks, some audio tracks enabled, others disabled.
    • Audio plays ok
  • Embed (nest) that sequence in another sequence
    • No audio visible or heard.

Workaround:

  • Ensure all audio tracks are enabled in the nested sequence.
  • Don’t disable tracks, disable(audio elements of) clips.
    • Use Alt-Click to select just the required audio element(s).

(more…)

How to Avoid “Cheap Movie” Dialog Audio Quality

Friday, December 14th, 2012

Web-research produced the following:

  • http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/archive/index.php/t-260937.html?s=f59ef633f56960080b1be215f5bd6bd5
    or
    http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?260937-Bad-audio-in-films for (fully-formatted version):

    • The general rule, especially for beginners, is shotguns outside and hypercardioids inside. Lavs are okay when absolutely needed, though they often have a much drier, less natural sound to them because of where they’re placed. That missing ambience has to be added back in post. Wireless should be a last resort.
      • Unfortunately, a shotgun mic cannot be zoomed, and is not good at rejecting low-frequency sounds, including echos reflected from walls and floors.
      • Use of interference-tube shotguns are often the cause of that hollow, boxy sound you hear in low-budget indie films. Some shotguns, like the Sanken CS-3, use a different principle to achieve directionality, so are not susceptible to the same sorts of problems.
      • To get clean dialogue, the first and most important rule is to get the mic as close to the subject as possible. That means riding the frame-line with the mic and risking the occasional (hopefully rare ) dip into the frame. A lav mic on the subject can go a long way toward “solving” the problem of a reverberant room.
    • One of the biggest problems here is with small productions that have no sound person, and resign themselves to putting the mic wherever they can. On-camera is the absolute last place ever to place a mic for production sound. Get the mic off the camera and into the action. The effective working distance for a mic for on-camera dialog is 6″-20″, and 20″ is pushing it. The closer to the source, the more direct sound in proportion to ambient reflections will be recorded.
    • Audio that is recorded too low is going to have noise problems later. Not only will the levels have to be raised in post, increasing the level of any noise in the signal, low audio levels also create problems when audio plug-ins and filters are added. Since low (digital) audio levels don’t use but half, or less, of the available bits, processing through lots of things like compression and EQ can make the audio start to sound blocky (the sound equivalent of pixellated).
    • Room tone. Cutting dialog together requires some continuity of sound, and when taking a clip from take 1 and a piece from take 2 and cutting them together the room tone will be needed both to smooth out the edit (so that the room tone doesn’t disappear between lines) and often to keep continuity of sound between takes. If the traffic goes away, bugs start/stop chirping outside, or the room tone otherwise changes between takes, room tone is how you recover. Be sure to record :30 of room tone for each scene, and record it again if something changes. After the last take, ask everyone to stay still and quiet, and record in the same space with the same mics and with all the same equipment running.
    • Ambient sound beds add realism to the background. SFX and Foley replace all the sounds of people walking, moving, handling objects, etc. (none of that is actually recorded in production, where dialog is the only focus). Layers and layers of audio come together to paint the big picture.
  • http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Electronics_Fundamentals/Electromagnetic_Devices/Microphone
    • The most common unidirectional microphone is a cardioid microphone, so named because the sensitivity pattern is heart-shaped.
    • A hyper-cardioid microphone is similar but with a tighter area of front sensitivity and a smaller lobe of rear sensitivity.
    • A super-cardioid microphone is similar to a hyper-cardioid, except there is more front pickup and less rear pickup.
    • These three patterns are commonly used as vocal or speech microphones, since they are good at rejecting sounds from other directions.
  • http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?234912-Question-Shotgun-vs-Hypercardioid
    • {This has a mine of information on microphone types, designs and properties in-situ indoors etc.}
    • A shotgun uses an interference tube that relys of phase interactions between that portion of the sound wave hitting it from the front, entering the tube through the front and traveling down inside the tube and the portion of the same wave passing alongside the tube and entering it through the side ports.
      • For sound coming from dead-ahead, the two wave sets in the tube reinforce each other but for sound hitting it from the side the waves are out of phase and cancel.
      • However, when considering sound reflected from the environment, its phase is already shifted with respect to the direct component of the same sound and so the pattern of orderly cancellation in the interference tube breaks down and some frequencies are reinforced while others cancel. The result is called ‘comb filtering’ and results in distortion of the recorded sound, typically sounding like the source is down in a well or standing in a metal culvert.
    • In comparison, hypercardiods do not use phase interference to achieve their directivity, operating instead on pressure differentials. As a result, they are not subject to the same degree of selective frequency distortion of the reflected sound that an interference tube mic exihbits.
    • Sanken CS3-e is a shotgun with 3 capsule array giving it better and more even frequency balance for the sides. Many have found that it is a shotgun which can be well used also indoors, it is also fairly compact in length.
  • http://forums.creativecow.net/thread/30/865231
    • {Discussion thread about recommended makes/models of hypercardiod mics}
  • http://www.pinknoise-systems.co.uk/Used_Mint_Sanken_CS3e_microphone_with_Rycote_Modular_WS4_Kit_–product–1486.html
    • Used ‘Mint’ Sanken CS3e microphone with Rycote Modular WS4 Kit
    • Price: £1,260.00
  • http://www.visuals.co.uk/salesProductDetail.php?PRODUCTID=1021270
    • Sale price: £846.52+ Vat

Adobe Premiere CS5.5: Issues With VST

Saturday, September 1st, 2012

Just as I’m starting to get used to Adobe Premiere CS5.5, I notice that its audio effects listing (in menus etc.) does not my system’s VST collection.  Most annoyingly, because of that, my iZotope Ozone effects are excluded from Premiere.  Seems unreasonable, given my long track record of employing such plugins in Sony Vegas.

I spent a good hour or two trying to understand and solve this, including much googling.  At the end of that, I’m not sure what the problem is exactly, but it does look to me like Premiere is slightly lacking with regard to its ability to interface to VST effects.  For a start, one of its assumed registry entries appears inappropriate to Windows 7 64-bit.  Having hacked that into shape, Premiere at least noticed the existence of Ozone (and other VST effects on my system) then found itself unable to load it.

The best solution I found was really a work-around.   Prom Premiere timeline, [aClip >RtClk> Edit in Adobe Audition].   That application has no trouble recognising iZotope plugins.  However before getting too blinkered, try the native Audition effects first, including Noise Reduction, because they are pretty-good.

(more…)

UNVEIL: De-Reverberation And Signal Focusing Processor

Monday, April 30th, 2012
  • http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?ForumID=4&MessageID=808171
    •  <<<
      UNVEIL is a real-time, de-mixing based plug-in that allows attenuating or boosting reverb components within a mixed signal of any channel count, including mono sources, as well as modifying contained reverb characteristics. Additionally, UNVEIL allows bringing the key features of a recording into focus, or moving them to the background, by attenuating or boosting perceptionally less important signal components.

      UNVEIL as well as a free trial will be available from the Zynaptiq website Monday, March 26th.

      UNVEIL comes as Mac AU (AudioUnits) Plug-In, with VST and AAX support for both Mac and Windows platforms planned for later in 2012.
      >>>

VST Plugins with Adobe Premiere

Monday, January 2nd, 2012
  • http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology
    • <<<
    • If you want to actively prevent Premiere Pro from using one or more VST plug-ins, create a text file called Blacklist.txt listing the filename of each plug-in one per line. Put the text file in the same folder as the plug-in files, one blacklist file per folder. The blacklist file is read only when Premiere Pro starts up.
      • You must restart your computer for the Blacklist.txt to work.
    • ….there is a limit to the number of VST effects that can appear in the list in the mixer panel, however all supported VST effects should appear in the list in the effects panel.
    • If some VST effects are not available in Premiere Pro when you expect them to be, search your hard drive for a file called Plugin Loading.log after configuring your search to find hidden files. The log may tell you why a plug-in is not being loaded.
    • >>>

VST Plugins

Monday, January 2nd, 2012
  • http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology
    • <<<
    • If you don’t have any VST plug-ins there are a number of them at:
      • http://www.kvraudio.com/get.php
      • http://www.kjaerhusaudio.com/classic-series.php
        • (Great Reverb, Compressor/Limiter, Delay, EQ and more… They sound good as well).
      • at http://www.elementalaudio.com you can download a free VST ‘effect’ called “Inspector” which will monitor your audio as you play your sequence, and, among other things, tell you by how much you have exceeded the 0dB maximum permitted level. You can then reduce the monitored fader by that amount and be confident there should be no clipping. It comes remarkably well documented (for freeware) and the help file is worth a quick check through. And another tip – if you export just the audio of your project with the “Inspector” vst window visible, it will provide the analysis of levels and clipping at high speed – on my PC, in about 4 mins for a 40 minute .avi – and the results it gives correlate with analysis in Audition, so it appears you can depend on it. In my test file, it showed that the level needed to be reduced by 0.4dB to avoid clipping – which was the amount by which I’d pushed the fader up before running the test. Using this method it would appear you don’t have to sit glued to the meters all the way through your project to avoid clipping.
    • >>>

iZotope Ozone 5 in Adobe Premiere?

Sunday, January 1st, 2012

I am a novice user of Adobe Premiere.  Having installed iZotope Ozone 5 I expected it to just appear as one of the audio filters.  However I saw no sign of it.

Web-research:

  • http://help.adobe.com/en_US/PremierePro/4.0/WS1c9bc5c2e465a58a91cf0b1038518aef7-7f0fa.html
    • <<<
    • Premiere Pro supports the Steinberg VST (Virtual Studio Technology) audio plug-in format so that you can add VST audio effects from third-party vendors. Premiere Pro includes VST plug-in effects that are available in both the Audio Mixer and the Effect Controls panel. Track-based VST plug-ins may provide additional controls. Apply VST effects the same way you apply other audio effects to tracks or clips.
    • In the Effects And Sends panels of the Audio Mixer, VST effects appear in the Effect Selection menus. In the Effects panel, they appear in the Audio Effects bin so you can apply them to individual clips. In most cases, VST effects appear in the Audio Effects bin and track type that corresponds to the number of channels the effect supports. For example, stereo VST effects appear in the Audio Mixer track effect menus for stereo tracks only, and in the Stereo bin in the Audio Effects bin in the Effects panel. After you apply any VST effect, you can open a window with all of its controls. You can leave multiple VST editor windows open as long as you want, such as when automating effects, but Premiere Pro closes all VST editor windows when you close the project.
    • If you previously installed a VST-compatible application other tha Premiere Pro, Premiere Pro finds VST effects in the VST folder that already exists. Inside the Plug-ins folder of the Premiere Pro application folder, there is also a VSTPlugins folder with plug-ins that are used only by Premiere Pro.
    • Note: When you use a VST effect not provided by Adobe, the specific control layout and results of the plug-in are the responsibility of the plug-in manufacturer. Adobe Premiere Pro only displays the controls and processes the results.
    • >>>
  • http://forums.adobe.com/thread/682375?start=0&tstart=0
    • <<<
    • I use a set of VST plugins by Voxengo with 32-bit CS4. I recently upgraded to 64-bit CS5. So, I went and snagged the 64-bit versions of these Voxengo plugins. I put them in the C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CS5\Plug-ins\en_US\VSTPlugins\.
    •  Here’s the info in the Plugin Loading.log file:
      •  Loading C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Premiere Pro CS5\Plug-ins\en_US\VSTPlugins\Elephant.dll
        Loading from the registry…
        The plugin was successfully loaded from the registry.
    •  Yet, the plugins do not show up in the mixer or in the effects list.
    •  I do not get any error messages. Also, I’m using Vista.  Any ideas?
    •  If you’d like to try the plugins yourself, there are free trials here:
    •  Thanks! – Jamez
    • >>>
    • <<<
    • I tried the 8 free Voxengo plugins in Premiere CS5, all of them 64bit and they did not show up.  Curiously enough, these 8 plugins are listed at ehe Adobe websiste  here: http://www.adobe.com/products/plugins/premiere/.
    • I tried the 32bit versions with Soundbooth CS5 (which is a a 32bit app) and they did not show up there either.
    • >>>
  • http://premierepro.wikia.com/wiki/Virtual_Studio_Technology
    • <<<
    • If you want to actively prevent Premiere Pro from using one or more VST plug-ins, create a text file called Blacklist.txt listing the filename of each plug-in one per line. Put the text file in the same folder as the plug-in files, one blacklist file per folder. The blacklist file is read only when Premiere Pro starts up.
      • You must restart your computer for the Blacklist.txt to work
    • If some VST effects are not available in Premiere Pro when you expect them to be, search your hard drive for a file called Plugin Loading.log after configuring your search to find hidden files. The log may tell you why a plug-in is not being loaded.
    • >>>
  • http://forums.adobe.com/thread/679366?start=0&tstart=0
  • http://forum.recordingreview.com/f44/plz-help-me-abt-izotope-ozone-plugin-18721/
  • http://forums.adobe.com/message/2970290#2970290

    VST Plugins: Folder & Registry Entry

    Sunday, January 1st, 2012

    Trying to understand why Ozone 5 will/won’t show up in various Windows 7 applications,  I discovered that:

    The folder on my system is:

    • [C:\Program Files (x86)\Vstplugins]

    The corresponding registry entry is:

    • HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Wow6432Node > VST > VSTPluginsPath
      • The name [Wow6432Node] sounds somewhat unprofessional, but I checked on my system and indeed that’s how it is.

    In Registry Editor:

    • In left-hand “explorer” pane, dial-down to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Wow6432Node > VST]
    • At that location:
      • Name: (REG_SZ) = [VSTPluginsPath]
      • Value: (REG_SZ) = [C:\Program Files (x86)\Vstplugins]

    iZotope Ozone: Purchase (& Reasoning)

    Sunday, January 1st, 2012

    Seems a little pricey, but worthwhile in my case because it addresses two requirements that have been nagging me (before I discovered that product):

    • Has intelligent compressor, maximizing loudness and minimising dependence on manual tweaking (eqials time in post).
    • Has good-quality reverb.

    It’s a plugin (DirectX /DLL), no standalone application.  Hosts / plugin formats:

    • The manual refers (Page 119) to <<Pro Tools, VST, AU and MAS versions of Ozone … (and) DirectX version>>
    • The website
      • Plug-in formats:
        • Pro Tools 7.4+ (RTAS/AudioSuite), VST, MAS, Audio Unit, DirectX
      • Plug-in host compatibility:
        • Pro Tools, Cubase, Nuendo, WaveLab, GarageBand, Logic, Audition, SONAR, ACID, REAPER, Sound Forge, Peak, Ableton Live, and many more
        • Does not mention:
          • Sony Vegas (even though I found it works in this)
          • Adobe CS5.5 Production Suite e.g. Premiere.  Can it work with this and its siblings?
    • c

    iPhone 4: Audio: FiRe (“pro” audio recording app)

    Monday, September 26th, 2011

    FiRe not only records audio, in a much more powerful/flexible way than Voice Memo, but also allows you to add metadata such as location and a photo (e.g. taken live from the iPhone’s camera)…though I couldn’t see any way to export a format that could maintain that metadata (possibly my newbie-ness, like it mentions Broadcast Wave somewhere but I can’t see how to export that).

    It can “multitask” the same way that Voice Memo can.  That is, it can be set going, then left running in the background even when say taking a photo.

    When running, under its Settings, Input, has a range of presets, including for example “Dictation” and “Lecture”.   Under Effects there are such things as dynamic range compression and hiss filters.  Playback has sped-up (like tape – not pitch-corrected).

    Its recordings can be exported from the device as follows.  When I tried it exporting a WAV file, that product was 16 bits, 48 kHz, mono.

    Exporting-steps:

    • On the iPhone, FiRe app, tap Share from the toolbar, then iTunes Sharing
    • Multi-select the required export format(s)
    • Connect iPhone to computer, iTunes comes up (else launch it manually)
    • iTunes:
      • On left side menu, select the iPhone device
      • On top menu, select Apps
      • Look at the bottom of the interface (scroll if necessary) to find File Sharing section.
      • In the Apps column there, select FiRe
      • As required, drag files listed there to destinations

    Additionally, recordings can be uploaded via FTP, DropBox or SoundCloud (whatever that is…).

    Mac: GarageBand: First Impressions

    Monday, September 26th, 2011

    I have never used Garage Band before, so had a play with it to see whether it could be useful as an audio editing/processing tool.  The answer is a resounding “yes” – despite its “domestic” looking interface.   Not only that, it can edit videos, leaving the video stream alone and affecting only the audio stream.  Just drag a file into it – I tried with a M4A audio file out of iPhone’s Voice Memo.  Some features I discovered were:

    • Basic cutting
    • Envelope shaping (on keyframes)
    • Effects such as:
      • Dynamic range compression
      • Reverb etc.
      • An “Autotune” pitch-stabiliser

    “Whatever gets the job done”…

    iPhone 4: Audio: Voice Memo: Audio Enhancement

    Monday, September 26th, 2011

    Having extracted my iPhone’s VoiceMail recordings, I reviewed them and they sounded boomy – from room resonance.  The best audio enhancement app I know is iZotope RX2, which I have for Windows 7. Windows 7 was run within a virtual machine under Parallels within Mac OS.  I allowed this Windows to read, but not write, Mac OS files.

    • The first enhancement was a parametric EQ
      • Settings: frequency 274Hz, gain -21dB and Q=1.
      • The result sounded better and looked more even in the spectrum analyzer, which prior to that “glowed” around 300Hz.
    • The next enhancement was Denoiser
      • Settings: Advanced, Algorithm D (best, slowest), defaults (including -12dB reduction)
      • Not quick – not much faster than real-time as compared to the recording.
    • Finally, following this “tonal & broadband attenuation” processing, some amplitude processing in terms of dynamic range compression and overall gain.

    iPhone 4: Audio: Voice Memo: Audio File Extraction – on a Mac

    Monday, September 26th, 2011

    I audio-recorded some lectures by using the Voice Memo app in-built on my iPhone 4.  How does one get such recordings out of the phone and into an audio editing (or indeed audio/video editing) app on Mac or PC?  Here’s what I found, mainly by experiment:

    • For a Mac:
      • The iTunes app allows you to transfer/sync an iPhone’s Voice Memo audio recordings onto the computer.  In iTunes, under the device representing the phone, there is a Voice Memos folder. Inside this there is a list of recordings (objects) e.g. as follows:
        • 1  ✓ 21/09/2011 09:33
        • 2  ✓ 21/09/2011 10:43
        • 3  ✓ 21/09/2011 11:01
      • These entries correspond to M4A (FourCC=”MP4A”) files.
        • These files can be transferred (moved/copied) as follows:
          • Copy a file by dragging it out of Voice Memos folder in iTunes’ interface.
          • Move a file by dragging it out of iTunes’ user-specific Voice Memos folder in file system.  That folder is described below.
        • Additionally iTunes can export MP3 equivalent copies of the files:
          • iTunes (Voice Memos): Recording >RtClk> Create MP3 Version
      • The files are stored at (in my case) at:
        • /Users/davidesp/Music/iTunes/iTunes Media/Voice Memos
          • 21_09_2011 09_33.m4a
          • 21_09_2011 10_43.m4a
          • 21_09_2011 11_01.m4a
      • The nature of the files:
        • These files are stated by Mac’s Finder to be of type “MPEG-4 audio”, and are about 30 MB per hour.
        • VideoSpec is able to analyse them, it reports:
          • Container: M4A – QuickTime
          • Encoding: MP4A (FourCC), constant bitrate of 64 kbps, 16 bits, 44.1 kHz, stereo
            • However it makes no sense to encode stereo from a one-microphone device and indeed when imported to an audio editor (Audacity 1.3.13 beta) it only produces a single mono track.
      • Audio Editing/Processing (cuts/envelopes/effects e.g. dynamic range compression) was subsequently achievable by any of these:
        • Audacity (1.3.13 beta) can import the M4A file.  My (multi-platform) old-familiar.
        • Garage Band (e.g. as explained at http://macmost.com/editing-audio-files-in-garageband.html).
        • SoundTrack Pro (but can’t simply drag the file in – instead have to use File>Open).  OK but a little clunky (in my “newbie-to-this-app” opinion)

    Avid MC: Update 5.0-5.5: SmartSound Sonicfire Pro

    Tuesday, August 16th, 2011

    Installed SmartSound Sonicfire (“The Music Score for Your Vision”). Wanted to install version 5.5.2, from Avid MC 5.0 install disk (it is unchanged in MC 5.5), but the installation hung (problem with disk or at least incompatible with my MBP’s reader?).  No download was available for this product on my Avid Download account, while on the SmartSound website, only the latest version (update), namely 5.7.0 (on Windows, else 5.7.1 for Mac) could be downloaded.  However that downloaded and installed fine.  The Sonicfire app also pulled in some additions to its sound library, initially from the web and subsequently from SmartSound’s Core Sessions disk (which was fully readable); spontaneously once I inserted it.

    (more…)

    Audio Perceived-Loudness – NuGen Audio VisLM

    Friday, April 22nd, 2011

    http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/forums/ShowMessage.asp?MessageID=757879

    •  For TV adverts, how to maintain legal audio loudness.
    • Can use NuGen’s Audio VisLM, then (for US ?), level audio files using ATSC/A85 preset.
    • Compact version, as of 2011-04-22, costs $186
    • They say:
      • True cross-platform, multi-format loudness meteringThe most fundamental question in audio production, how loud is it? Simple and yet elusive, with loudness inconsistency and incompatibilities present every day in broadcasts across the world.With detailed, objective loudness measurement, history and logging facilities, VisLM provides a simple, ITU, ATSC and EBU standard compliant* way to measure, compare and contrast loudness during production, broadcast and post production, on the fly or for entire sections of audio.VisLM introduces several essential parameters for audio measurement.* True-Peak level metering (inter-sample accurate level monitoring)* Loudness Range (to help decide if and how much dynamic compression to apply)* Momentary ‘instantaneous loudness’ for mixing by ear* Short term loudness (3 second time window)* Program Loudness (long term integrated loudness measurement)

    Nokia N95 8GB Audio Recorder – Details

    Friday, August 27th, 2010

     On the Nokia N95 8GB, where is audio recorder and where does it store?

    • [Applications > Media > Voice Recorder]

    Settings:

    • Recording Quality = “High”, Memory in use = “Mass memory” (as opposed to “Phone memory”)

    Save-Location:

    • [\\Memory card\Sounds\Digital]
    • (as opposed e.g. to [\\Memory card\Sounds\Sound clips])

    The Zoom H4N Audio Recorder

    Sunday, July 25th, 2010

    Zoom H4N Audio Recorder, looks great:

    Wireless Audio Kit

    Sunday, July 25th, 2010

    Need better wireless audio kit.  Production Video provide good advice.  Also, to help gain familiarity, here’s a good-looking article on the Sennheiser MKE105S-EW: http://filmtools.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/sennheisers-new-ew-series-microphones/