Learn Light and Sound

After livestreaming for 5 years, I have a few observations to share regarding livestreams, their strengths, and their weaknesses.

In this episode, we talk with Allen Cavedo, a production sound mixer based in Virginia. Allen is in the market for a new production recorder/mixer and hasn't yet decided whether to go with the Sound Devices 833 or 888. We talk through the pros and cons and which fits his type of work better.

Here are some of my thoughts on when it makes sense to use a dedicated audio recorder rather than just run a microphone to camera.

In this episode we talk with Cary Judd about the Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera 6K. We've both shot with this camera for 6 months and here we talk about what we like and don't like about this rather popular camera.

In this episode, we are joined by Bandrew Scott who does microphone reviews over on the Podcastage YouTube channel. We explore the observation that different podcasters, sound for video mixers, and audio engineers can have very different opinions about the same microphone and why this might be the case.

In today's episode, we have a talk with Karl Winkler of Lectrosonics. Lectrosonics is the pro-level wireless microphone brand you encounter most often on the sets of larger film and TV productions. Karl walks us through what makes Lectrosonics wireless systems unique and gives us a tour of the Lectrosonics product lines.

In this episode, we answer your questions on sound for video.00:20 Recording Cars03:57 Zoom H4n & Samson CO2?06:22 How to sweeten dialogue sound11:10 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 microphone20:50 Replacing lavalier microphone for RODELink22:28 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 feed36:28 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/Gear discussed/used in this session:RODECaster Pro - used to record this sessionSound Devices MixPre SeriesZoom F8n - Very good value for money on a pro/prosumer audio recorderSennheiser 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 microphoneRODE 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 pricesBlackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K - I find that I use this more often than any of my other cameras these days.Tentacle Sync timecode generatorsIzotope RX7 - my favorite app for cleaning and optimizing audio clipsSamson C02 - budget boom microphone - comes in a set of 2. Good budget option for interviews.Zoom H5 - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputsTascam DR-60DmkII - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputsZoom H6 - budget recorder with 4 XLR microphone inputsCopyright 2019 by Curtis JuddOutro music from Artlist by Kick Lee.

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.

In our first audio-only Sound for Video Session, we cover the new features Zoom added to the F4 recorder in the 3.0 firmware update. Now F4 users have AutoMix an the Advanced Hybrid Look-Ahead limiters that were previously only on the F8 and F8n.We also cover my impressions of the Fairlight digital audio workstation page in DaVinci Resolve 15.2.4. It is getting pretty close to the point where I can move to Fairlight and away from Adobe Audition. There are still some minor issues. In fact, in mixing this episode, I learned that Resolve has issues exporting audio only projects. Sigh.And finally, we talk about a new wireless lavalier microphone I just received in for review: Sennheiser XSW-D Portable Lavalier Set. I have yet to do the review, but cover some of its features here. This is a consumer/prosumer grade wireless system that is made to be as easy to use as possible. The review should appear on my YouTube channel in the next few weeks.Gear used/discussed in this episode:Zoom F4 (Amazon) audio recorderDaVinci Resolve - Free video editing, coloring, and audio mixingSennheiser XSW-D Portable Lavalier Set - Wireless microphone system for those who need wireless to be as simple as possibleRODECaster Pro - Mixer and recorder used to record this sessionGolden Age Project R1 Active mkIII (Amazon) - Affordable ribbon microphone which I used to record this session.Copyright 2019 by Curtis Judd