DEITY TC SL1 Smart Timecode Slate

In this week’s episode, we take a look at DEITY’s timecode slate: the TC-SL1. This slate is the latest installment in the TC family from DEITY and can be wirelessly synced to your other Sidus Audio timecode devices using the Sidus Audio app. In addition to this powerful connective functionality, the TC-SL1 is also physically compatible with other timecode ecosystems, supports a variety of project frame rates, and is easy to use in production and on set. In this video we walk through the TC-SL1’s feature set, discuss some situations in which you might want to use a timecode slate, and demonstrate how to use it with other components of the DEITY timecode family. Let’s take a closer look!

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. Our latest courses cover Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini and an Intro to Izotope RX.

Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com.

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

- DEITY TC-SL1 Timecode Slate — B&H, Trew Audio

- DEITY TC-1 Timecode Boxes — B&H

- DEITY NP-F550 Rechargeable Lithium-Ion Batteries — B&H

- XLR cables (high quality 59 C214) — B&H

- Sound Devices MixPre-3 II Series audio recorder — B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Trew Audio, Amazon

- Sound devices Pix-E stand (for the MixPre) — Amazon

- Prolycht Orion 675 FS LED Full-Spectrum Light — B&H

- Aputure LS 300X used for background light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon

- Aputure Spotlight Mount — Aputure, B&H, DVE Store, Amazon

- Rosco Gobo creates the pattern on the back wall — B&H

- Canon C70 cinema camera — B&H

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

- Schneider Radiant Soft diffusion filter — B&H

- Panasonic GH5 camera — B&H, Amazon

- Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens — B&H, Amazon

The intro and outro music for this episode is from Musicbed - “Dynamo” by Virgil Arles. 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: Mic Sanitizing, RX9, Q&A

In this week's Sound for Video Session, we cover your sound related questions. We also have a look at some UV sanitizing products for microphones and a quick look at the new version of Izotope's RX — version 9.

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 also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.

Sound on Sound article re: how balanced audio works (difference between balanced and impedance balanced)

Sound on Sound article re: cable types (see the section on balanced vs unbalanced).

Video on connecting the RODECaster Pro to ATEM Mini.

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:

- Violawave microphone sanitizers (UV and O3)

- Sennheiser Ambeo 3D VR microphone - B&H, Sweetwater, DVE Store, Amazon

- ART Cleanbox Pro DI box - B&H

- RODE cover for RODECaster Pro - B&H

- Allen & Heath SQ5 digital mixer - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Behind the Sound Cart by Patrushkha Mierzwa - Amazon

- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater

- 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

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series Recorders - 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 2021, Curtis Judd

Sound for Video Session: Q&A 16 May 2021

In this week's session, we cover your sound for video questions.

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

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 also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.

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:

- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater

- 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

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

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

Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd

ZOOM F2 Body Pack Lavalier Audio Recorder

In this episode, we take a look at and a listen to the ZOOM F2 audio recorder. This tiny little body pack audio recorder allows you to record with a lavalier microphone to a microSD memory card. The headline feature of the F2 and F2-BT is that you do NOT need to set the input level or gain. You just turn it on and start recording. If the levels are too low or too high, you just adjust them in your video or audio editing app on your Mac or PC.

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. Our latest course is Sound for Live Streaming with the ATEM Mini.

Support future review and tutorial videos by donating.

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

- ZOOM F2-BT (bluetooth version which is what I recommend) - B&H, Sweetwater, DVEStore

- ZOOM F2 - B&H, Sweetwater, DVEStore

- Timecode Systems/ATOMOS Ultrasync Blue - B&H, Amazon

- ATOMOS Ultrasync One timecode generator - B&H, Amazon

- Sandisk 64GB microSD v30 memory card - B&H, Amazon

- Tentacle Track E Recorder - B&H, DVEStore

- Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K - B&H, DVEStore, Amazon

- Sigma 24-70 f/2.8 DG IS ART lens - B&H, Amazon

- Canon C70 camera - B&H

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

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

Copyright 2021, Curtis Judd

Live Sound for Video Session: Tentacle Sync Track E Demo and Q&A

In this week's session, we have a look at and listen to the new Tentacle Sync Track E recorder. This little recorder can be worn by talent like a wireless transmitter but instead of sending wireless audio, it is a 32-bit float wide dynamic range recorder. You'll get to hear some samples and have a walkthrough of the control app. Then we answer your sound for video questions.

Thanks to Musicbed for the music for this session - “Neon Jungle” by Virgil Arles. Get a free trial of the best music for your videos at Musicbed.

If you'd like to submit your questions ahead of time, please join over at School.LearnLightAndSound.com. Opt in to the mailing list and I'll contact you once a week where you can reply with your question.

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 also just added a course on sound for live-streaming with the ATEM Mini.

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

- Tentacle Sync Track E 32-bit Float bodypack recorder - B&H

- ZOOM F8n audio recorder - B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon

- Rupert Neve Designs Shelford Channel - B&H, Sweetwater

- Earthworks SR314 - B&H, Sweetwater

- Canon C200 Camera - B&H, PictureLine

- ATEM Mini Pro ISO - B&H, Pictureline, Amazon

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

Copyright 2020, Curtis Judd

Which Timecode Cable Do I Need?

One question which comes up quite often is which timecode cable do I need for this shoot I have coming up? Ambient has put together a little site which helps make it a little easier to answer that question. Of course it assumes you’ll be using one of their timecode boxes with a 5-pin lemo connector, but it does identify the types of connectors you’ll find on all of the major cinema cameras. So just substitute the type of connector you need for your timecode generator whether Ambient, Tentacle Sync, Denecke, Timecode Systems, Moze Gear, or others.

Another thing to keep in mind is that timecode cables are sometimes uni-directional. So you will need to take care to choose the correct directionality for your purposes. I.e., you might need one cable to jam sync the timecode box to your mixer’s timecode generator, assuming that’s what you’re using as the master clock. Then you might need a different cable to feed the timecode from the generator to the camera.

Ambient Timecode Cable Guide

Once you’ve sorted out which connectors you need on your cable, there’s a good selection of them available at B&H.

The link above is an affiliate link. As a B&H affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Sound for Video Session: Thoughts on Timecode

In this week's live Sound for Video Session, we talk mostly about timecode - when I use it and when I don't, some of the challenges and issues I've encountered and ways to solve those problems. Our active community had lots of valuable input and insights as well!

Here are the camera compatibility lists we talked about in term of HDMI timecode:

Sound Devices MixPre camera compatibility list

ATOMOS compatible camera list

Tascam DR-701D Camera Compatibility List

Episode demonstrating how free run timecode works with an external timecode generator:

Copyright 2019 Curtis Judd

Sound Devices 833: Why do Pros Use Gear Like This?

Sound Devices has a strong history of providing high end audio field recorders for film and TV production., having won several prestigious technical awards. Five years ago, Sound Devices announced their 633 professional recorder/mixer with three mic/line inputs and three line inputs. Today, the 633 is a very popular recorder amongst professional production sound mixers. Many who work smaller productions use it as their primary recorder. Others use it as a secondary recorder in a bag when they’re not mixing from a sound cart on a larger format mixer.

And now, Sound Devices has released the 833 - their next generation, pro level, compact mixer/recorder. In this episode we cover two main questions:

- When is an 833 a better fit for the job versus a Sound Devices MixPre II?

- What’s new in the 833 versus the 633?

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, F8, and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders.

Gear used or mentioned in this episode:

Sound Devices 833 Mixer/Recorder - B&H

Sound Devices 633 Mixer/Recorder - B&H

Sound Devices MixPre II Series recorders - B&H

Zoom F6 Audio Field Recorder - B&H Amazon

Sennheiser MKH 8050 Boom Microphone - B&H

Aputure C120T - B&H

Aputure C120DII - B&H Amazon

Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K - B&H

Sigma ART 24-70mm f/2.8 EF Mount Lens - B&H Amazon

Get a free trial of the best music for your videos at Musicbed

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd

Ethics statement: Some of the links above are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links.

Sound for Video Session: Q&A

In this week's live Sound for Video Session, we'll take a shot at answering your sound for video questions. You can submit them live, or for future sessions, just sign up for free over at our school and I'll email you when its time to submit.

Michael Wynne's video on setting up a com system for sound mixers, boom operators and utilities:

Sound for Video Session: Timecode Apps - Convert Audio Timecode to Metadata Timecode

When using timecode to speed up the process of syncing audio clips to separately recorded video clips, there are times when you need to use consumer cameras. These cameras usually do not have a proper timecode input so you have to record the timecode to an audio track via the camera’s microphone input. In this session, we cover a few apps which will convert that audio timecode to a format your video editing app (NLE) can use to quickly sync all your video and audio clips.

Please consider my sound for video classes.

Gear and apps used to record this episode:

DaVinci Resolve - works about 50% of the time in my experience (Version 15.4.2)

LTC Convert - Solid, straightforward option for converting audio timecode to metadata/file timecode

Tentacle Sync Studio - Included free when you buy a Tentacle Sync timecode generator

Timecode Systems Ultrasync One - Wireless timecode generator

Ambient Recording NanoLockit - Wireless timecode generator

Tentacle Sync E - Bluetooth enabled timecode generator

Nikon Z6 Mirrorless Full Frame Camera

Panasonic GH5 Camera

AKG C414 XLS large diaphragm condenser microphone - this is my new, main voice over microphone

Universal Audio Apollo x6 - Thunderbolt 3 audio interface used to take audio signal from the dbx286S channel strip, convert it to digital, and send to my computer for recording.

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd

Outro music from Artlist: Sunday by Rich Young Pixies - Amazing Journey. You can receive a 2 month discount on a subscription to Artlist, a subscription service for stock music you can use with your videos. Check it out at Artlist.io