Sound for Video Session — Isolators, transformers, splitters, and Q&A

In this week's session, we cover the basics of isolators, transformers, and line splitters for use in sound. Then we cover your sound for video questions!

Watch: What Are Audio Transformers? Why Do They Sound So Good?

Thanks to BillC for the diagram of a transformer. This diagram is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License here.

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We have a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini and just added Introduction to Izotope RX for Dialogue Audio.

Gear I often use or that we mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Waves, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

- Radial engineering JS3 microphone splitter/isolator — B&H, Amazon

- Radial engineering Ice Cube IC-1 line isolator — B&H, Amazon

- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater

- Epiphan Pearl Nano live stream encoder — B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon

- Canon C200 Camera - B&H

- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 lens — B&H, Amazon

- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H

The intro and outro music for this episode is from Musicbed. Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.

Copyright 2022, Curtis Judd

Sound for Video Session: Decibels & Q&A

This week we'll talk about the decibel — what it is and why the numbers seem different in different situations. Then we'll answer your sound for video questions. Read Ofuk Önen' article "Decibels - Here Are 6 Simple Truths To Help Explain dB" here and Steve DeMott's article "dBs Explained: A Musician's Guide To Understanding Decibels" here.

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We have a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini and just added Introduction to Izotope RX for Dialogue Audio.

Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Waves, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

- Earthworks SV33 studio vocal microphone — B&H, Sweetwater

- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater

- Neumann U87 Ai microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Universal Audio Volt 276 USB audio interface — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Epiphan Pearl Nano live stream encoder — B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon

- Canon C70 Camera - B&H

- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon

- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H

- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H

Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.

Copyright 2022, Curtis Judd

Sound for Video Session: Post Sound with Midge Costin

In this week's Sound for Video Session, we are joined by Midge Costin. Before joining the faculty of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Ms. Costin worked on the sound design of some of the biggest films of the 90s, including The Rock, Crimson Tide, and Armageddon! (The latter two receiving Academy Award nominations for Sound Editing.) She is a member of both the Motion Picture Sound Editors and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. She is also a filmmaker in her own right, having recently produced and directed a film that I'm a big fan of, and I suspect a large number of you are with me on this. That film is, of course, "Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound". Learn more about Midge's film, "Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound". You can stream Making Waves on Amazon and YouTube. Follow Making Waves on Twitter and Instagram. You can find Midge's IMDB profile here.

This episode was produced in part by our consulting producer, Rob Kristjansson. If you think you could use a little help upping your content creation game, DM him @RobKristjansson on Instagram or Twitter or email him at rob.kristjansson@gmail.com. And don't be afraid to ask him for a free consultation!

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders. We have a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini and just added Introduction to Izotope RX for Dialogue Audio.

Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, DVE Store, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Earthworks SV33 studio vocal microphone — B&H, Sweetwater

- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater

- Universal Audio Volt 276 USB audio interface — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater

- Epiphan Pearl Nano live stream encoder — B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H, Amazon

- Canon C70 Camera - B&H

- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8L IS lens - B&H, Amazon

- TA3-M to XLR-F Adapter cable to feed microphones to C70 or Blackmagic Pocket cameras - B&H

- ATEM Mini Extreme & Extreme ISO - B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Allen & Heath SQ5 Digital Mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel, pre-amp, EQ, compressor - Sweetwater, B&H

Take your films to the next level with music from Musicbed. Sign up for a free account to listen for yourself.

Copyright 2022, Curtis Judd

100K Thank You, Lighting, & Sound

Thanks for building a community focused on learning how to improve the visual and sound quality of video and film!

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F4, F6, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders.

Music for this stream was "Back to You" by Utah. Get a free trial of the best music for your videos at Musicbed.

Gear used or discussed in this livestream. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, Pictureline or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

- Earthworks SR314 condenser microphone stainless steel - B&H, Sweetwater

- Universal Audio Apollo x6 Thunderbolt 3 audio interface - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini Pro HDMI switcher & recorder - B&H, Amazon

- Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 DG OS HSM Art Lens for Canon EF - B&H, Pictureline, Amazon

- Canon C200 camera for demonstration shots and live-streaming - B&H, Pictureline

Copyright 2020, Curtis Judd

Get a Grip - Filmmaking Discussion on Light & Sound

Last week I had the pleasure of sitting down for a discussion with my new friends Felipe Baez and Gabriel Spaulding to talk light and sound for film. Had a great time and I'm impressed with the quality of their production! These guys have years of experience in the video production world. Our hour-long conversation felt more like 15 minutes. Thanks for Felipe and Gabriel for inviting me on their show.

In this episode we cover the need to re-allocate filmmaking budgets to include lighting and sound gear rather than just cameras - the most common mistake people make when getting started in filmmaking.

Oh, and they shoot at true 24fps. These guys mean business!

Audio Normalization: Make Your Video Consistently Loud

What is audio normalization? What does it actually do to your sound clip or file? In this episode we cover the two main ways to normalize your audio and why you should use loudness normalization rather than peak normalization to get consistently loud videos.

Links to gear some of my favorite gear:

Zoom F8n - The audio for this episode was recorded with the F8n

Panasonic GH5s Camera - my favorite small camera for video

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 OIS Lens - this is the the lens I use more than any other on the GH5s

Sennheiser MKH 8050 Boom Microphone

Copyright 2018 by Curtis Judd 

Music - MzA - Copyright 2017 by Cary Judd, used with permission

Sound for Video Session: Sound to Camera, Matching Mics, Handheld Recorders, Etc.

In this week's Sound for Video Session we addressed several questions submitted by several of you:

- How to send sound to camera?
- How to make recordings with two mics sound the same?
- How to use a handheld recorder when booming a mic?
- Which type of mic to use when recording in very loud environments?
- Is there a single mic that can work in most situations?

Items discussed in this session and where to find them:
3.5mm Attenuation Cable

Sound for Video Session on Sending Audio from Mixer to Camera:

 Zoom F8 Audio Recorder

Sound Devices 633 Audio Mixer & Recorder

Izotope RX6 (Software for matching microphones)

Blackmagic Ursa Mini Pro (Recorded the talking head portion with this camera)

Furman PL-8C Power Conditioner

Antelope Audio Orion Studio Audio Interface

How to Get Consistently Loud Sound with Loudness Normalization

In the last episode we covered how to set the input or gain level on your audio recorder when recording dual system sound (sound recorded by a separate, dedicated audio recorder). One of the things I suggested was that it is best to leave some headroom so that if the person speaking suddenly gets very loud, the sound will not distort and clip.

But the problem is that most of the sound isn’t loud enough. So how do you manage this? You loudness normalize the audio. This ensures that it is loud enough and that it is consistent from video to video.

Here are three ways to do that. The third way is to manually loudness normalize and is a longer, more involved process. You can see how to do that here:

Gear used or mentioned in this episode:

————————————————————————————— 

Tascam DR-60DmkII Audio Recorder (good option for a beginner who wants to record higher quality sound - shown in the clip to demonstrate leaving headroom)

Audio Technica AT4053b Hyper Cardioid Microphone (for the talking head clips)

Sound Devices 633 (Talking head portions recorded with this)

Aputure Light Storm COB120t LED Light (Key Light)

Aputure Light Dome Soft Box (for COB120t key light)

Celadon LED Pro Radiant 2XL Pro LED Light (background light)

Panasonic GH4 m4/3 Camera

Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8 Lens

Copyright 2017 by Curtis Judd

The Music Maker

I am about ready to jump out of my skin because I'm so excited to finally show some of my work to all you who have been kind enough to watch my YouTube episodes!

My friend Levi Whitney asked me back in June last year if I would help him by doing the sound for a micro documentary piece on Joel Nowland, a guitar maker here in Utah. Joel makes amazing acoustic guitars which have been played by some big name musicians. But Joel is an incredibly humble guy who loves the craft of creating things for other people. And what's more is that he does it with a significant disability.

So here is what Levi and I made. I recorded all of the production audio for this piece with my trusty Audio Technica AT4053b hypercardioid microphone and my Sound Devices 633 audio recorder/mixer. I recorded a few foley clips with the Aputure Deity shotgun microphone, again with the Sound Devices here at my home.

Levi shot the piece with a Sony A7SII and graded and edited.

I hope you like it.

And I'd like to thank Levi for having the confidence in me to do the sound recording and mixing and Joel for opening his home, his workshop, and his story for the world to see and hear.

Levi will have a piece in the coming weeks over on his YouTube channel covering how we did the lighting. I've covered the sound from the film (both mixing and foley) in these previous Sound for Video Sessions:

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)