Clipping, and Limiting Audio 2 (Back to the Basics series)
During ShootingThe first step comes while you're producing your footage in the first place: if you happen to be a one-man show and you're doing your own taping, be absolutely sure to check your audio levels on your camera as you're shooting. Most cameras can be set up to show some kind of audio meters on their display; as a last resort, though, almost all will let your plug in headphones and listen for gross distortion.
It's important to
avoid clipping as you're shooting, because there's not much you can do
if your original audio is poor. Although the camera's microphone does
have limits to the intensity it can record, it's an analog device -
and, like I said earlier, pushing the limits of analog recording sounds
much better than doing so with digital recording.
So find and love the input gain controls on your camera - and keep the audio in each scene from hitting the 0dB mark. This may mean adjusting the camera's gain a bit between shots: so be it! Fixing consistency between shots is what normalization and Soundtrack Pro are for, and neither of the above can fix digitally clipped sound.
Next time - Fixing clipping in editing
So find and love the input gain controls on your camera - and keep the audio in each scene from hitting the 0dB mark. This may mean adjusting the camera's gain a bit between shots: so be it! Fixing consistency between shots is what normalization and Soundtrack Pro are for, and neither of the above can fix digitally clipped sound.
Next time - Fixing clipping in editing
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