Question:
How do the "professionals" set the sound on video tapes to be so good? I can't get my dvd player's audio adjusted nicely to hear all that is said by the actors. Background sounds seem to dominate the sound output.
How would I adjust Dynamic Range Compression and what have you?
At the moment I have surround sound ON and Dynamic Range Compression OFF.
:confused:
Umm, what do you mean. Just playing your DVD's through your amp? I never use the psudeo-surround from a DVD player as it never works well, just use a proper 5.1 setup for best effect.
Never mind. I'll just fiddle with the settings.:rolleyes:
The dynamic range is a measurement of the range between the quietest and loudest sound levels. DVD's (and CD's) have a large dynamic range, so quiet things are quiet (e.g. whispered dialogue) and loud stuff (e.g. explosions) is really loud :)
Analogue audio formats like audio cassettes and VHS tapes have a much smaller dynamic range than DVD's & CD's, so if you set the recording level so that the loudest bit of the DVD/CD matches the loudest level that your tape desk/VCR can handle, then you'll find that the really quiet stuff gets recorded too quietly and you probably won't be able to hear it for the tape hiss.
If you listen to Radio 1 FM on a bog standard radio, then you'll notice that everything sounds to be more or less the same volume - that's because they use heavy compression to limit the dynamic range. In other words, quiet things are made louder and really loud stuff is made quieter. If you've got a tape recorder that doesn't let you manually set the recording level, then the chances are it does compression on-the-fly.
So, anything you can do to compress the DVD/CD audio's dynamic range will help when you record it to tape.
How would I adjust Dynamic Range Compression and what have you?
At the moment I have surround sound ON and Dynamic Range Compression OFF.
:confused:
Answers:
Umm, what do you mean. Just playing your DVD's through your amp? I never use the psudeo-surround from a DVD player as it never works well, just use a proper 5.1 setup for best effect.
Answers:
Never mind. I'll just fiddle with the settings.:rolleyes:
Answers:
The dynamic range is a measurement of the range between the quietest and loudest sound levels. DVD's (and CD's) have a large dynamic range, so quiet things are quiet (e.g. whispered dialogue) and loud stuff (e.g. explosions) is really loud :)
Analogue audio formats like audio cassettes and VHS tapes have a much smaller dynamic range than DVD's & CD's, so if you set the recording level so that the loudest bit of the DVD/CD matches the loudest level that your tape desk/VCR can handle, then you'll find that the really quiet stuff gets recorded too quietly and you probably won't be able to hear it for the tape hiss.
If you listen to Radio 1 FM on a bog standard radio, then you'll notice that everything sounds to be more or less the same volume - that's because they use heavy compression to limit the dynamic range. In other words, quiet things are made louder and really loud stuff is made quieter. If you've got a tape recorder that doesn't let you manually set the recording level, then the chances are it does compression on-the-fly.
So, anything you can do to compress the DVD/CD audio's dynamic range will help when you record it to tape.
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