Audio
May 19, 2024
This week’s episode is a quick tutorial covering how to set up and record audio directly into DaVinci Resolve! This can help simplify your voiceover and podcast signal chain and workflow all the way from setup to post-production. First we’ll show you how to configure your system audio settings, then how to properly route your signal into audio tracks in Resolve, and finally walk through how to actually record and make the most of the controls available to you in Fairlight. Let’s see how it’s done!
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. See https://school.learnlightandsound.com for more info!
Support my work creating videos by donating at Ko-Fi.com: http://ko-fi.com/curtisjudd
Gear used or mentioned in this episode. The links below are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, Sweetwater, or other affiliate links. As an affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases:
- dbx 286s Mic Preamp & Channel Strip — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/YLOb
- Universal Audio Apollo X6 Thunderbolt Audio Interface — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/NO4X
- Mogami XLR Audio Cables — B&H https://geni.us/awnBq2I
- Canare XLR Audio Cables — B&H https://geni.us/8y4B
Some of my other studio gear:
- Earthworks ETHOS microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/8G8UdBB
- Sound Devices MixPre audio recorder — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/O8e0
- Sennheiser MKH50 microphone — B&H, Sweetwater, Amazon https://geni.us/iYb065
- Impact Turtle-Base C-Stands — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/8a8tt
- Aputure LS 600x Pro Bicolor LED Light — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/EreRQa
- Aputure Light Dome III Softbox — Aputure, B&H https://geni.us/AVHU1p
- Amaran 300c RGBWW Single-Point LED Light — https://geni.us/uGkDX
- Amaran Spotlight SE — Aputure, B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/4DuyTz
- Rosco Prismatic Glass Gobo in Cool Lavender — B&H https://geni.us/GWKt
- Canon C70 Cinema Camera — B&H https://geni.us/ABYB
- Canon RF 24-70 f/2.8 lens — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/qwsEs
- Panasonic GH5 camera — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/InspOl
- Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 II lens — B&H, Amazon https://geni.us/gr47
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: https://geni.us/G7by
Copyright 2024, Curtis Judd
How to record a USB-connected microphone/audio interface directly into DaVinci Resolve's Fairlight page (works in both the free and Studio versions). First, in system Sound settings, select your audio interface as both input and output (so you can monitor with headphones through the same interface).
In DaVinci Resolve, create a new project, go to the Edit page, and even for an audio-only recording you need a timeline: open the Media Pool, right-click to create a new timeline, and set the audio track type to Mono (for a single spoken-word/voiceover track) or Stereo if recording two channels.
In the Fairlight page, arming the track (pressing R) will initially fail (flashes red then turns off) until you tell Fairlight where to get the audio. Open the Mixer, click the track's Input, choose Input to open the Patch page, select your interface's input channel on the left and the destination track on the right, then click Patch — this routes, for example, input 1 on your interface to Audio 1 in the timeline.
Once patched, arming the track (R) works and shows live input; press Record to start, and press Space or Stop to end — you now have a recorded clip in Fairlight. For a stereo recording, you need two microphones (or a stereo mic across two inputs), change the track type to Stereo via right-click on the track header, then patch both the left and right destinations to their respective interface inputs before recording. Hope that was helpful — get out there and make some great sound, and we will talk to you again next week.
