Audio Level & Titles over video

[David A. Schwartz]

  Randy Clark <hawkgx at planetkc.com> wrote:

> Working on my first home video under iMovie 4 and have noticed
> something strange occurring with the audio level of a clip that's had a
> title applied over it. I first noticed it when running a striped
> subtitle (about 6 seconds total length) over a video clip. Upon
> watching the playback, it sounds as if the title portion's audio level
> drops about 30-40%. When the playhead hits the end of the title and
> reaches the untitled portion of the clip, the volume level "jumps" back
> up to normal.  It's obviously noticeable just listening to the
> playback.  It became weirder when the exact same thing happened on
> another clip about 5 minutes later in the video.  I then tried using a
> different type of title, but had the same result.
<snip>

Winston <winstonworks at sympatico.ca> added:

> I found a similar problem when I added Brightness to a clip. The sound
> changed for that clip but not the before or after clips!
> Any one else?

Titles that exceed a certain level of brightness can sometimes 
interfere with a video's audio track. Usually it manifests itself as a 
snowy-sounding type of static when the offending titles are on screen. 
Those cheesy late-night song collection commercials are frequent 
violators. This may be how iMovie 4 reacts to the problem. Winston's 
experience of the problem manifesting after adding brightness might 
indicate this sort of problem. Please try lowering the brightness 
levels of your titles and see if that makes a difference. In the 
broadcast world, white titles are often kept to 90 units instead of 100 
to help prevent this sort of thing.

Dave Schwartz