[Bob Kessler]

Tascam DR-100 – $330

Fostex FR-2 LE – $600

Marantz PMD-661 – $600

Tascam HD-P2 – $750

Tascam DR-680 – $800

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

Charles Maynes is the master of weapons recording.

https://designingsound.org/2010/06/charles-maynes-special-gun-recording-thoughts-for-2010/

https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1746/weapons_sound_effects_recording_.php

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

You can use a notch filter EQ for specific frequencies and a high-pass for low end rumble.

SSP Pro is okay for NR, but currently everyone is very hot on Izotope RX2. (RX2 = $300, RX2 Advanced = $1,100)

https://www.izotope.com/products/audio/rx/

One thing to keep in mind is not to make one pass trying to get rid of everything; several passes works much better

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

Two different cameras with different levels of audio implementation; probably different mics as well. So hey, just deal with it. I don’t mean that as a negative swipe at you; 90% of the time you will get audio files that have lots of problems – improper or non-existent labeling, wildly varying levels, lots of noise that needs to be cleaned up, out of sync, vague and/or contradictory instructions… you get the idea.

Until you start working with top tier professionals you are going to have to deal with folks who don’t have a proper grasp on how things are supposed to be, and, unfortunately, it’s our job to educate them.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

It’s a combination of performance and equipment.

Having a deep voice is not enough; you need solid mic technique and great performance technique. Those come with time and experience.

I know that you are probably on a very tight budget, but let’s face it, you’re using low budget prosumer gear. At a professional studio everything would cost ten times as much, so your sound won’t be as smooth and silky as in a pro shop. Your listening and recording environment – everything from speakers to how well the room is isolated and treated – make a difference as well.

Once the VO is done the sound is further refined/processed using a combination of EQ and compression. (Some record with compression, but I’m not a fan of doing that; I’d rather have the control on the back end.)

Comparing your VO work side-by-side with “the real thing” can help you get as close as your equipment and circumstances will allow; the more time and effort you put in learning to compensate for your situation the closer you will get.

For your “echo” sound (I assume for singing vox?) a delay or reverb might be what you’re looking for. That’s usually done with a send and a separate effects buss.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

I generally pick up another small collection (or two or three) with each project I do. On one I’ll need a “muscle” car, for another I’ll need weapons, crowd wallas for a third and, of course, I buy lots of one-offs from SoundDogs.com where you can purchase by the sound. Combine that with a very active field recording schedule and you will build your personal collection quickly. Sound folks also trade from their personal collections – I’ll give you my recordings of New England crickets for your recordings of Mid-West locusts, for example.

Another great resource is Freesound.org. You need to credit the creator of the sounds you use (it’s Creative Commons, read the license carefully) but it’s free.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

I’ve done quite a bit of ADR for no/low/micro budget projects. I have found that with talent lacking ADR experience, although it is counter to accepted practices, “hear and repeat” gives the best results – play the line and the talent speaks it immediately afterwards. Of course you have to slide it back into the proper spot to line it up with the original line of dialog, but the performances – at least in my experience – tend to be better. I also have found that the inexperienced talent is distracted when they see themselves on the screen.

Every actor is going to be different; some will get into the swing of doing ADR quite easily, others will have great difficulty. You will have to treat each actor differently and use the approach that gives the best performance.

Anecdotally – I once did a session where it took over two and a half hours to get one seven word line. I did another session where it took about 20 minutes to complete seven minutes of dialog.

From a technical standpoint your best friend is Vocalign.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

Most professional audio post houses use Pro Tools. At the indie level some are using Logic (Mac). On the PC Nuendo is used and the audio implementation in Sony Vegas is pretty good; it started out as a DAW.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

Even amongst professional boom-ops there are differences of opinion regarding technique. The only thing I know is that being a boom-op is one of the toughest jobs on the set. S/he has to hold a boom-pole overhead for hours at a time, constantly and noiselessly “swinging” the boom so that the mic is properly aimed at the actor speaking their lines while avoiding props, while keeping the mic out of the frame and not casting any noticeable shadows.

Here’s a few decent articles:

https://www.thompsound.com/old-site/Articles/QSFT/zen_boom.pdf

https://www.colinhartonline.com/?p=336

https://www.equipmentemporium.com/sound/tutorials-boompoles.php

The forum below is for professional production sound mixers, but there are a few threads on swinging a boom.

https://www.jwsound.net/SMF/index.php

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.

[Bob Kessler]

I’ve noticed that a lot of video editors like the Blue Sky MediaDesk system; about $1,600.

There’s a lot more to audio monitoring than speakers; proper placement, room treatment and isolation are also very important.

Peace,

Bob
____________________________________________________________________
Filmmaking is the art of the invisible;
If anyone notices your work you haven’t done your job right.