Sound for Video Session: Mixing with Buses and EQ

This week we have another film mixing session where I show you a couple of basic tools for mixing in Adobe Audition: Buses and EQ.

With a bus, you can make adjustments to multiple tracks at the same time. Huge time and frustration saver. With EQ, we essentially make room in one track for another track, e.g., we reduce the midrange of the music so that dialogue is easier to hear without pulling the audio down so far that it is hard to hear.

Gear used to produce the short film and this episode:

Audio Technica AT4053b Hypercardioid Microphone - used this to record the interviews out on the street. Works well as long as you have a good shock mount and wind protection (see Cyclone below)

Rycote Cyclone Windshield and Shockmount - this is what prevented the wind from blowing across the microphone capsule and making that low frequency, distorted sound.

Sound Devices 633 Audio Mixer/Recorder - my go-to recorder/mixer

Electrovoice RE20 Dynamic Microphone (Voiceover for this session was recorded with this)

Antelope Orion Studio Audio Interface (Voiceover for this session was recorded with this - couldn't be happier. By far, the best audio interface I've owned)

Silhouette Lighting Look Quick Howto

In some of my previous microphone reviews, I’ve used silhouette shots to take the focus off of me, and naturally help viewers to focus on the sound. In this episode, we quickly run through how to achieve the silhouette look with lighting and a tiny bit of post processing in DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, or Final Cut Pro X.

Sound for Video Session: Setting Gain or Gain Staging

When first learning the art of dialogue sound recording, one of the more mysterious matters is setting up your gain. What is gain? What is trim? What is a pot(entiometer)? What is a fader?

In this session, we introduce the concepts and put you on the path to getting things set up for the best possible dialogue recording.

Shooting an Interview

B&H Photo put together one of the most helpful pieces I've seen on shooting interview/talking head style pieces. The coverage of audio is a little light due to time constraints (I'd add that a cardioid condenser mic is probably the best choice for indoor/studio interviews) but great info overall.

Production Sound Recording Course Discount

If you're interested in saving a little on my Production Sound Recording Course, I'm happy to let you know that we have a discount code for $20 off for the holidays. Simply use coupon code SOUNDHOLIDAY2015 at checkout. https://youtu.be/047jFy1RCwA

Come have a look over at school.learnlightandsound.com.

Raya 7 Bulb Softbox 2 Light Kit

If you need an affordable kit for talking head style video, B&H has a great deal on this Raya 7 Bulb Softbox 2 Light Kit.

I find that I like to have 2 soft lights for most of my interview setups, one as a key, the second as a kicker. Then I'll often pull in a third hard light for the background.

Or if filming both the interviewer and interviewee, one soft light for each as a key which then double as the kicker.

You should be able to get all the light you'd need out of these.

Dracast 500 LED Panel Special Pricing

B&H Photo has special pricing on Dracast's 500 bi-color LED Panels toady. If you're in the market, these are worth considering with their 95 CRI spec (I haven't tested that but other reviewers are saying that the color is quite good). This model comes with a v-mount for Sony v-mount batteries and it can be powered via AC as well.

They look to have a pretty thoughtful design with the yoke that can be mounted vertically or horizontally to enable a good range of motion for aiming the head. Cooling is passive so no noisy fans.

It seems to me that LEDs are finally here with decent amounts of output and color that will blend decently with other sources. I have to imagine that in not too many years  we'll remember back to the days when a decent LED lighting instrument ran at least $1000 USD...

Sennheiser AVX Dynamic Range and Outdoor Distance Tests

https://youtu.be/uUSd_ulXdno Sennheiser recently introduced their new digital wireless system called the Sennheiser AVX. There are various kits available and in this episode I used the kit with the transmitter, receiver, and MKE2 lavalier microphone (their higher-end pro lavalier microphone).

We did a few tests to see how well the AVX does in terms of outdoor distance (keeping its signal without dropping out), and the dynamic range feature Sennheiser touts as preventing clipping and distortion when the sound gets much louder.

The outdoor distance test was as expected: Solid up to 50 meters, and my first dropout occurred at around 75 meters. You need to pretty much be in line-of-sight to get a solid signal at 50 meters. I never shoot this way, but it is good to know the limits of one's tools.

The dynamic range feature was way more impressive than I expected. It really works and sounds good! I feared it might be like Automatic Gain Control like they include in many of the DSLRs and that AGC feature is awful in those cameras. It stupidly pushes the gain up through the roof during silent sequences and that just makes an unbearably noisy mess of the audio. But on the AVX, it sounds very transparent and clean. I really like it!

Final review should be here later this week. Let me know if there are other things you'd like me to test before I have to send it back to my friends at B&H Photo.

Interview with Location Sound Recordist Scott Vanderbilt

If you've ever wondered what its like to be a location sound recordist/mixer for film, here's an opportunity to get the perspective of Scott Vanderbilt. He records sound for feature and short films, commercials, and corporate pieces. He's based in Los Angeles and has some good insights for those trying to improve their sound recordings for film.

Sound for Video Course Released!

After many long weeks of work, sweat, and a few tears, my online course on recording sound for video and film is ready and available!

I wanted to do something that would work for a subject as in-depth as recording sound for video. Just posting a bunch of videos wasn't going to cut it because there are plenty of places to get stuck while learning the fundamentals. So with the course, we will also hold weekly online help sessions where you can ask any question related to recording sound for video and we'll discuss options for solving those problems.

The pricing, a one time fee, is normally $79 but for those of you who have subscribed to my YouTube channel and frequented my blog, you can get the course for $49 through the end of September 2015. That's as a token of thanks for all of your support, comments, questions, and encouragement!

Can't wait to meet up with you on the weekly help sessions!