[Corbin Gross]

A guy I used to rock with had a rack mounted effect thingy that would do this very thing to his guitar. He’d pick any guitar and any amp from the selection. To his ears it was uncanny, I couldn’t tell any difference.

I suppose this, like anything, would be dependent on the weakest link. If you’re workflow up to the point of this effect is up to the task, it’d work. But this software isn’t going to be able to make a good recording from a bad mic.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

You may be able to put together a couple of shoots with other artists to get the footage you need. If you can find a videographer, sound man, stylist and/or whomever else you might need you could get some good stuff.

I’m a still image photographer primarily, but we do test shoots regularly with people who all just need a body of showable work to pull from.

Put an ad on CL.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

I use plain old halogen shop lights all the time. I have 2 2x500w and 2 2x1000w light stand style. Probably $120 investment total. And they all came with an extra bulb in the handle.

You can bounce them off of a piece of $4 foam core or off of a wall to change the shape. You can get black foam core to flag off light in your scene or block light from the lens.

If they have Craigs List in Au than you can probably get your shop lights for a heckufa lot cheaper than $100.

If you’re shooting inside than you don’t even need to worry about color. Just white balance and you’re good. Halogen is pretty close to tungsten, but a little warmer.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

And just ’cause I’m still learning, do I normalize first, then “hard limit” to -6…? Or am I normalizing to -6?

I wish there was a hard limiter dialog that worked like the curves adjustment layer in photoshop. Where you could grab the middle of a line on a graph and just drag it up until the wave form looked about right. That would be awesome.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

So this particular video was recorded pretty low. I was using a H4N for the first time and must have forgotten to push some button because my peaks are at about -15. The audio sounds real good though except for HVAC noise. There is no system noise, artifacting, or hum. Well, maybe a tiny bit of system noise. The HVAC is really what I’m working on though.

But I was just wondering in general too though. Is it better to clean it up then raise the volume or the other way around? Generally speaking, of course.

And I guess I pretty much always use a little noise reduction as a matter of course, unless I’ve recorded some VO in an extremely controlled environment. Most of what I do is in an office building and I have limited control over HVAC. And sometimes it’s just too hot to turn it off after I’ve lit the poor person on camera.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

So what is this “AME”?

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

Good. That’s what I was doing already actually. The trickiest part of steadying the footage is getting the deceleration at the furthest point of the slow rock. But the default easy ease is pretty darn close.

I fully respect the skill in handling a steady cam. I just wanted to give it a shot. There’s a big difference between my first shots and last shots though. I’d love to get a little more practice with these things.

I actually shot a few vignettes today handheld with the 5DMkIII and after stabilizing in AE it actually looks smoother than the glidecam. I’m going to need some practice. I think next time we’re in production I’ll plan a day for all the steady cam shots and hire a cameraman.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

You know, I just couldn’t find an app that would do everything I wanted.

Text editor, smooth scrolling (harder to find than you’d think), prompter monitor flip (so it’s correctly oriented in both the prompter and controlling device) and whatever else that I can’t think of now.

I wound up being able to borrow a computer fro IT so I’m good for a while. And everybody around here has a laptop, so I’ll just make sure that the boss’s computer has the software for next time and I should be fine.

Thanks for the suggestions though, guys. I appreciate the help.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

Thanks, guys.

What I went with this time is to start in AE. Key the file in it’s native format. Then import it as a dynamic link into premiere where I color it.

I’m definitely going to try that thing you mentioned though, Peter.

Thanks.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com

[Corbin Gross]

Great. That’s basically what I was doing. I just wanted to bounce it off of some other folks. I don’t work with any other video folks so my workflow gets a little inbred.

Corbin Gross | SANMAR
Photographer/Videographer | Marketing
22833 SE Black Nugget Road | Issaquah, WA 98029
206.727.5501 x5237
http://www.sanmar.com