generating tone on my dvx100

Ryan Wachter · March 2nd, 2004, 10:46 PM

But would those generally be places to use tone? Is it something that is normally used in festival submissions?

Barry Green · March 3rd, 2004, 12:13 AM

Well, yes, maybe they would... but keep in mind, tone & bars are useless if you didn't edit your video and mix your audio to comply with them.

For example, you should have mixed your audio so that you have good, consistent, strong levels, dialogue centered around -6 or so, peaks in loud passages no higher than -3 or so, etc. If you've done all that, then you'd put a 1Khz tone on the tape that's balanced at a common reference point, like -20db, so that the calibration means something. If you don't know where your mix is at or what levels you're at, then it won't matter whether you supply a standard tone. The tone is for the tech to be able to calibrate their system to yours, so yours has to be properly calibrated around the tone as well.

So, what I'm saying is, when you know what it's for, it all makes sense. But if you don't know what it's for, then it may not make sense for you to include it. By that I mean, if you just mixed your audio by ear, it may be better to omit the tone and let the tech ride the fader throughout, trying to balance your audio as best he/she can. When you supply a tone on the tape, it's like a tacit agreement between you and the tech that you know what you're doing, you've mixed your audio properly, and he/she can safely calibrate their system to yours and that all will be well.

March 2nd, 2004, 10:46 PM	#16
Ryan Wachter Regular Crew Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 164	But would those generally be places to use tone? Is it something that is normally used in festival submissions?

March 3rd, 2004, 12:13 AM	#17
Barry Green Barry Wan Kenobi Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: North Carolina Posts: 3,863	Well, yes, maybe they would... but keep in mind, tone & bars are useless if you didn't edit your video and mix your audio to comply with them. For example, you should have mixed your audio so that you have good, consistent, strong levels, dialogue centered around -6 or so, peaks in loud passages no higher than -3 or so, etc. If you've done all that, then you'd put a 1Khz tone on the tape that's balanced at a common reference point, like -20db, so that the calibration means something. If you don't know where your mix is at or what levels you're at, then it won't matter whether you supply a standard tone. The tone is for the tech to be able to calibrate their system to yours, so yours has to be properly calibrated around the tone as well. So, what I'm saying is, when you know what it's for, it all makes sense. But if you don't know what it's for, then it may not make sense for you to include it. By that I mean, if you just mixed your audio by ear, it may be better to omit the tone and let the tech ride the fader throughout, trying to balance your audio as best he/she can. When you supply a tone on the tape, it's like a tacit agreement between you and the tech that you know what you're doing, you've mixed your audio properly, and he/she can safely calibrate their system to yours and that all will be well.