Results tagged “peaking” from Final Cut Studio, Avid, Adobe, and Video Streaming

During Editing

You've laid down your sequence, you've got your clips sounding consistent relative to each other - now you should check for peaks.  In Final Cut, this is as simple as picking Mark Menu -> Audio Peaks -> Mark.  Markers will appear above the sequence anywhere there's a peak.  Now, you could just pot down the gain on those clips, but if you do that you'll lose the consistency between your clips' audio levels.  So instead, you can hack out the individual peaks themselves.

You can do it by hand, or you can do it with a single step in Soundtrack Pro.  Read on ...

During Shooting

The 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.

One of the best ways to tell if you are in focus or not with the Sony EX-1 is by using the Peaking function. Peaking allows you to make precise adjustments to your focus and helps you ensure your picture is in perfect focus. To put into simple terms, peaking, applies a color around everything that is in focus. This is only in the viewfinder or monitor and not recorded onto your footage. The default color is red but you have your choice of yellow, blue, white or red. I do not recommend using white because it can easily be confused with your zebra lines. You can also choose the level of peaking from low, mid and high which changes the thickness of the peaking color. I prefer mid and the color blue but you need to play with it and choose your preference. Once you start using Peaking you will never turn it off. It is a must have feature that helps you ensure you are capturing the picture you need.