editing Sound Format Selection

K

Karxilas

Hello,

I would really appreciate it, if you could help me choose the sound format of my video, because I'm not familiar with sound formats and I'm really new to it.

Okey, I'm a Vegas Pro user. I'm currently shooting a short film that will be displayed at the local theater. I am really excited about it and I want the film to be perfect. So here I am asking for your help.

After reading some posts, I was about to go for the FLAC audio format. But then I saw that some people don't like it. I thought about the AC3 format, but I don't know if it is better than the FLAC... So please help me here, because I'm just a newbie!

Thank you!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
Alcove Audio said:
Ones and zeroes are ones and zeroes.
Click to expand...

mmm, only if they are the same ones and zeros!

Karxilas:- Audio formats fall into two main types, lossy and lossless. Lossy formats are designed to achieve small file sizes by intelligently throwing away information which it is believed will not be missed. Lossless formats are not so interested in small file sizes but in storing all the information as accurately as possible. Mp3, AAC and AC3 are examples of lossy formats. AIFF and WAV (or BWAV) are examples of lossless formats. FLAC is a bit of an unusual format because it creates small file sizes (using data compression) but is a lossless format. Think of FLAC like a zip file, when it is uncompressed, you get exactly the same data (bit for bit) as you started with. However, although FLAC is used a fair amount in the music business, it's almost never used in the film/TV business and so it's likely to be a format which the theatre does not support. There is a delay while the FLAC is uncompressed on the fly, which may cause sync issues, one of the reasons it is not used for TV/Film.

While the lossy formats do produce inferior quality recordings, I agree with Alcove that unless extreme settings are used the audience is unlikely to notice the difference. Consider that AC3 is the underlying format for Dolby Digital which is used for all high budget feature films. Also consider it's extremely unlikely that your audio will be of sufficiently high fidelity to be able to hear the difference with the different formats.

Having said all this, I would advise you to use the WAV format. It is lossless and natively supported by all editing software and specialist audio software and will certainly be supported by your local theatre (as they support multiple audio formats). I advise avoiding AC3 format because there are a number of settings you will need to get right and it's almost impossible to check the resulting AC3 file without some specialist audio equipment.

G
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0 Downvote
Karxilas said:
Thank you for the reply! That was a great explanation. I really appreciate it. So I guess, I'll go for the WAV! Thank you all! Greetings!
Click to expand...

You're welcome but to be honest audio file format is the least of your problems. Unless the theatre is willing to play with their output levels (most won't) or they have some system which bypasses their usual audio output chain, then your big problem will be getting the right levels and getting the balance, EQ, etc., to sound the same in the theatre as when you mixed it. Expect some surprises!

G
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I will go to the theatre three days before the festival and check how the video looks there. So I'll be able to make some changes before it is displayed... But I'll be expecting some surprises! Thanks for the advice!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Karxilas said:
I will go to the theatre three days before the festival and check how the video looks there. So I'll be able to make some changes before it is displayed... But I'll be expecting some surprises! Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...

Testing out in the cinema 3 days in advance will be a huge advantage! Make sure you make note of the audio output setting on the day of testing and that they are identical on the festival screening day! BTW, just to be clear, when I mentioned getting the right levels and balance, I was referring to the sound mix, not the picture, although you might get some surprises with the picture too!


G
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
AudioPostExpert said:
Testing out in the cinema 3 days in advance will be a huge advantage! Make sure you make note of the audio output setting on the day of testing and that they are identical on the festival screening day! BTW, just to be clear, when I mentioned getting the right levels and balance, I was referring to the sound mix, not the picture, although you might get some surprises with the picture too!


G
Click to expand...

Hey. Yeah the cinema gave me permission to do it, so I'll take advantage of it. Thank you for the tips again! I will check everything you said during the test! Thanks again!
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top