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744T files


bperlman

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Maybe someone out there can help me figure this puzzle out.

I use my 744T on a regular basis and still use DAT as backup (just insecure I guess).  I transfer my files using fire wire to my PC and burn a DVD-R.  The system works, the post folks are generally happy (relative term...) and everything is okay.  Except...

On two jobs recently, both which required using the DVD-R post telecine.  There were complaints that the level was way too low.  In both cases I was unable to find out what they were using to import the files.  The only common factor was that both incidents happened outside the US.  (Don't worry there is not a conspiracy theory about to happen)  One time was in Australia and the other in Canada.

Playback of all 744T files on my PC is somewhat low, but not critically so.  Is there something I can do, either in my 744T or on my PC to remedy this?  I generally record a little hot anyhow so more gain up front sure doesn't seem like a solution.

Any thoughts?

Bruce

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Maybe someone out there can help me figure this puzzle out.

Playback of all 744T files on my PC is somewhat low, but not critically so.  Is there something I can do, either in my 744T or on my PC to remedy this?  I generally record a little hot anyhow so more gain up front sure doesn't seem like a solution.

Any thoughts?

Bruce

I can't imagine there is anything "wrong" with the sound files. It is not the nature of the file to alter levels since they are an integral part of the data that IS the sound you recorded. If you typically record fairly hot then the level coming back on playback should be also hot, not low. There is some possibility, I suppose, that the way the 744T is set up, the metering may be telling you are putting down a hot signal, but it may not be the case.

I would hope Courtney could chime in here but I'm not sure he spends much time in this Discussion Group. Courtney is the hands down expert on both the 744T and all things file related (and he also probably knows a lot more about the various ways in which the 744T can be configured, metering, input levels, etc.).

Sorry I could not be of more help.

Regards,  Jeff Wexler

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Something I'm not crazy about in regards to the Sound Devices mixers and recorders is their use of green, yellow, and red LED's on their metering system - for me, it made me more conservative at first, and led to some underrecording.  How hot are you recording?  Are your peaks hitting somewhere in the -12dbfs to -6dbfs region?  I ask only because I have made this mistake before on Sound Devices mixers, and decided, after the second time someone complained about levels being too low, to start pushing the signal to the point where the limiters will engage on the peaks from time to time.

By the way, have you or the post house compared the audio from your 744T files to your DAT backups?

Tim

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i too under-recorded when i first got my 302.  i also realized this was happening a little when i was first working with my 744t.

it dawned on my today though, when doing some remote v.o. recording, that i NOW really do like the seperate colors.  i could read the script and take notes and just look out of the corner of my eye that my peaks were hitting one, two, or three red bars...and i could also gauge were my average was sitting easily too. 

...i guess this doesn't relate to the original thread.  though i am eager to read if anyone knows if there is something going on with bruce's 744t.  bruce - maybe check what your limiter threshold is set to?  just a thought.  did the telecine places say HOW low the recordings were?

-greg-

hi tim - great weather we're finally having here!

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The thing to remember with most SD meters is that their philosophy seems to be "what you see is what you get".  In other words, when the mixer gets to +4, you are outputting +4 if the output trim is all the way up.  In post I see A LOT of underrecorded files anymore, and one reason, I think is that SD mixers have most of their meters LED below zero--when recordists really should be worrying more about where their peaks are ABOVE zero.

Philip Perkins

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I noticed this when I began using mine a few years ago, and I have always tried to watch meters on the device that is actually recording, and get a feel for the relationship between the two sets of meters. It helps me, but I still feel like I'm doing it the hard way. I'd love to see meters relocated on Betacams though... Why can't there be a second set of meters on the opposite side, where they're not covered by the shooters head...

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I noticed this when I began using mine a few years ago, and I have always tried to watch meters on the device that is actually recording, and get a feel for the relationship between the two sets of meters. It helps me, but I still feel like I'm doing it the hard way. I'd love to see meters relocated on Betacams though... Why can't there be a second set of meters on the opposite side, where they're not covered by the shooters head...

This is exactly what I advise sound people who have been sending me low-level files.  One a job where you are doing a simple

interview etc set yourself up so you can see the camera meters, and see how they relate to what you  are seeing on your mixer meters.

Philip Perkins

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