Sound for Video Session: Fairlight 16.2 Highlights & Q&A

In this session, we take a high-level look at some of the new features in DaVinci Resolve Fairlight 16.2 such as 32-bit audio support and automated loudness normalization. We then take your answers to the community and discuss.

To output from a dbx286s to a Canon 80D, you'll need the following. Full Disclosure, these are affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

- 1/4" to 3.5mm TRS cable - B&H

- 3.5mm female to 3.5mm male line to mic level attenuator cable - B&H

Please consider taking my courses on how to record better audio and post processing over at Learn Light and Sound.

Garrett Sammons is hosting an online film contest called Isolation. You can check out the details at the Isolation contest page.

Gear covered or used in this episode. Full Disclosure, some of these are affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

- RODE Wireless GO (White) - B&H

- TZ Audio Stellar X2 Vintage large diaphragm condenser microphone, used this for this livestream - TZ Audio

- dbx286S vocal channel strip - B&H Amazon

- RODE NTG4+ shotgun microphone - B&H

- RODECaster Pro podcast preamplifier/processor/recorder - B&H

- Sound Devices Wave Agent

- Accusonus Plugins - Accusonus

- Sennheiser MKH416 shotgun microphone - B&H

- Sennheiser MKH50 supercardioid boom microphone - B&H

- RODE NTG5 shotgun microphone - B&H

- Sound Devices 888 mixer/recorder - B&H

- Shure SM7B dynamic broadcast microphone - B&H

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series mixer/recorders - B&H

- Panasonic GH5 camera - B&H Amazon

- Canon C200 camera - B&H

- Audient evo 4 USB audio interface - B&H

- Cloudlifter microphone activator - B&H

- Fethead microphone activator - B&H

Copyright 2020, Curtis Judd

Sound for Video Session: Live Q&A

In this Sound for Video Session, we covered your questions about production and post production sound for film and video:

- wav vs BWF file formats?

- How do you store, clean, and maintain your microphones?

- What boom operating tools do you recommend to help with booming since I'm not super strong?

- How do I compare the noise performance of various USB Audio interfaces?

- Timecode battery for Sound Devices 888?

- DaVinci Resolve 16.2 Fairlight can now handle 32-float audio!

Please consider taking my courses on audio production and post production including in-depth options for the Sound Devices MixPre and Zoom F series recorders.

Gear discussed in this episode. Most of the links below are affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

- Boom Hanger - Gotham Sound

- Boom pole holder for c-stands - B&H

- Apple box - B&H

- Shure SM-7B Microphone used to record this session - B&H

- Sound Devices MixPre II series recorder used as the preamp for this session - B&H

- Canon C200 camera used as the A-cam for this session - B&H

- Canon 24-105 f/4 IS II L lens used on the Canon C200 for this session - B&H

- Panasonic GH5 used as the B-cam for this session - B&H

- Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens used on the GH5 for this session - B&H

- Sound Devices 888 Audio Recorder/Mixer - B&H

Copyright 2020, Curtis Judd

Sound for Video Session: Q&A 12 January 2020

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 http://school.learnlightandsound.com and I'll email you when its time to submit. In this session we talk advice for getting into corporate production work, microphones, recorders, body pack recorders (Tentacle Track E, Tascam DR-10), wind shields for microphones, and lots more!

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. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:

Sound Devices MixPre II Series Audio Recorders - B&H

K-Tek Avalon 150CCR Graphite Boom Pole - B&H

RODE Blimp Wind Shield - B&H

Rycote Supershield - B&H

Rycote Cyclone Wind Shield - B&H

Zoom F6 Audio Recorder - B&H

Panasonic GH5 Camera - B&H

Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini HDMI switcher for live streaming - B&H

RODE NTG5 Shotgun Microphone - B&H

RODE NTG2 Shotgun Microphone - B&H

Tentacle Sync E Timecode Generator - B&H

Sanken CS-1e Short Shotgun Microphone - B&H

Sennheiser MD46 Dynamic Microphone - B&H

Tascam DR-10X Plug-on Recorder - B&H

DEITY Connect Wireless Microphone System - B&H

Anker Powercore USB Battery for powering MixPre recorders - B&H

Orca OR-27 sound mixer bag - B&H

K-tek Stingray sound mixer bag for MixPre 3 and 6 - B&H

Copyright 2020, Curtis Judd

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 the Learn Light and Sound School and I'll email you when its time to submit. You can also find all of our sound for video courses there.

MixPre setup video:

Mark Owens mentioned this combination for powering the Zoom F8n:

Sony BP-U60 Battery - B&H

Battery adapter plate - Amazon

Copyright 2019, 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 25 March 2019

In this episode, we answer your questions on sound for video.

00:20 Recording Cars

03:57 Zoom H4n & Samson CO2?

06:22 How to sweeten dialogue sound

11:10 Which boom microphone for indoors?

13:00 Apps to automix dialogue in post?

15:00 MixPre as audio interface - does quality degrade when recording to screen recording app?

16:54 How much PC do I need to run Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve?

18:32 How to capture a noise sample? (Need more info)

18:57 Zoom H6 - remote reduces handling noise?

19:36 How to aim a super cardioid boom microphone

20:50 Replacing lavalier microphone for RODELink

22:28 RODECaster Pro multitrack recording to SD card?

24:12 Batch processing audio in RX and Audition?

25:14 Which sound effects should I record when I'm the mixer for a video?

28:05 Why is my compressor letting peaks through?

29:24 Boom and lavs to director's audio feed? AES42 digital audio with A10 and SD 633?

32:08 Panasonic 991 and timecode and post sync?

35:01 Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and MixPre - line level feed

36:28 Which specs can help you choose a recorder or microphone if you can't try it hands on?

41:11 Which boom mic and recorder do you recommend for interviews for $1200 or less?

43:18 RODE NTG3 or Deity S-Mic 2 sounds closer to the 416?

44:27 What is the difference between the Sound Devices MixPre-3 and MixPre-3M and can I use the "M" version for film and video?

47:55 How do I gain stage a Sennheiser G3 wireless system and Zoom F8n?

49:42 What is a timecode workflow for shooting music videos?

See this workflow information: 

https://www.bamfsound.com/how-to-music-video-playback-with-ltc-timecode/

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Gear discussed/used in this session:

RODECaster Pro - used to record this session

Sound Devices MixPre Series

Zoom F8n - Very good value for money on a pro/prosumer audio recorder

Sennheiser G3/G4 Wireless Microphone system - note that you need the correct version with frequencies you can use in your region. Contact a reseller in your country for details.

Deity S-Mic 2 shotgun microphone

RODE NTG3 shotgun microphone - I prefer the sound of this on most voices.

Sennheiser MKH416 shotgun microphone - the classic shotgun microphone that seemingly everyone is trying to mimic at enthusiast prices

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K - I find that I use this more often than any of my other cameras these days.

Tentacle Sync timecode generators

Izotope RX7 - my favorite app for cleaning and optimizing audio clips

Samson C02 - budget boom microphone - comes in a set of 2. Good budget option for interviews.

Zoom H5 - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputs

Tascam DR-60DmkII - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputs

Zoom H6 - budget recorder with 4 XLR microphone inputs

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd

Outro music from Artlist by Kick Lee. 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.

Sound for Video Session: Fairlight Questions

A week after publishing our new mini course on editing and mixing dialogue audio in DaVinci Resolve's Fairlight, I received a few interesting questions from my friend Jacob Fenn. Here are his questions and my answers.

While processing the audio for this session, it occurred to me that one of my answers was not very clear. Jacob asked, “Is it possible for Fairlight or any other digital audio workstation app (DAW) to clip since they do all of their processing in 32-bit float?”

This is the short answer: The internal processing of Fairlight will never lose data to clipping as long as the source audio was not clipped. However, when you export your mix, if the audio exceeds 0dBFS at any point in the mix, the exported audio will be clipped.

Fairlight Mini Course: Dialogue Mixing in DaVinci Resolve's Fairlight

DaVinci Resolve is an amazing video post app for editing, coloring, adding visual effects, and mixing sound. And with free and studio versions, anyone can produce very high quality videos and films. Fairlight is the incredibly powerful audio mixing module within Resolve.

We are happy to announce a new mini course on how to edit and mix dialogue and simple music intros and outros.

In the course, we’ll teach you:

- How to configure the Fairlight settings

- Import and sync your audio clips

- How to get around the Fairlight page

- How to use track layers

- How to choose which mic to use in a dialogue edit

- How to set up your channel mapping

- How to use keyframes and automation to dynamically adjust track and clip levels

- How and when to bounce tracks and timelines

- How to loudness normalize your final mix

One of the tricks with online courses is what to do when you have a question. We have you covered there. You can email me any time when you sign up for the course. We also hold weekly Sound for Video Sessions where we cover sound for video topics in more depth and even have Q&A sessions once or twice a month.

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.

Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd