Craig Alan
Forum Replies Created
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Depends on studio. I think a Hypercardioid is better indoors. And the AT is a good mid price choice. Other than its characteristics it is used like a shotgun on a boom with a shock mount.
https://forums.creativecow.net/thread/30/862590
I like the Sony too. The Senn G3s work well too and the countryman mics are a good upgrade.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Yeah I’ve run into this monitoring problem with a variety of devices. Even the AJA KiPro has a crap HP out. I tend to check the return just to be sure the recording device is accepting the signal and isn’t all distorted or buzzing or something and then switch back to SD input monitoring. It tends to be more accurate as to the recorded sound than the poor HP out of whatever device we are recording to. How much more would it cost the manufacturers to start adding decent sound circuits on the excellent cameras they are producing? Even cams with solid XLR inputs can have cheap preamps, poor HP out, and so so meters. The human mind will fill in missing picture elements and adjust to picture quality if the content is good. Not so with sound. Sony, which has a long history of very good sound equipment, has cams with horrible sound circuits. Is there a technical reason the audio needs to be handled with separate devices?
Anyone using a headphone amp to improve weak headphone out amplification as in the original post?
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Renting is a good idea if each shoot demands a different mike.
That said, the AT 4053b is a great mike for the price and you would not regret owning one or more. They are not as convenient to use as cordless lavs, but unless you spend quite a bit for the lav kits, the sound is sweeter and less hollow sounding. I’m not an expert but my guess is this is because the lavs I have used are Omnis. On the other hand, I feel the AT is more exacting – can sound more like a studio recording. I like the intimacy of that kind of sound, but may not be as atmospheric – that is integrated with the room and b.g. noise.
The AT is very sensitive and will pick up b.g. noise so controlling your environment is important. Use moving blankets or whatever to absorb sound around your subject. Not a cure all but helps. Find a quiet location. Experiment with the angle of the mic. That’s where a good boom pole operator with headphone monitoring would work better than a c-stand mounted one.
I would buy a Sound Devices 302 ($1300) which will help you get better results regardless of which mike or recording device you use. If you never use more than two inputs, even consider a Sound Devices MixPre-D. Why sound devices – good metering, good headphone out, easy calibration with any recording device that has headphone or other audio out port, very good pre amps so you can turn down the crappy ones on cheap recording devices. This does not bypass the cheap audio circuits in many cams and cheap recorders, but does improve the captured sound – a lot.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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use a tripod. Set camera for manual focus and manual adjustment of exposure. Use the lowest F stop you can. If you are overexposed, lower the levels of your light. use a neutral density filter on your lens, or built in. increase the distance between your subject and your background. increase the distance between your camera and your subject and focus tight on your subject.
if all that doesn’t work you need a different camera with a larger chip. Try a DSLR.MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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That’s about $640 without monitor, or software, not enough ram, not supported by Apple. So another $300 for monitor. Plus OS. So call it $1000. For another $250 you can get Refurbished iMac 21.5-inch 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5. Still not enough ram. Still need external media drive. I think you want to be editing not be a hackintosh hobbiest.
Also you didn’t say what NLE you want to use. AVID works on both platforms; Adobe works on both. FCP 7 is EOL. FCP X – the jury is still out. So if you can’t afford a Mac get a PC. Setting up a true editing station costs more than your budget. Barebones you can get started. If you have FCP 7, stick it on a used Imac and you’ll be fine for a couple of years. Or if you are student get the ed discount on Adobe PP or Avid MC and stick it on a PC.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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I think not. The G3 kit from Sennheiser is a very good starting point for a lav kit. You can go higher but start at this price point. First the sound is sweeter and more natural than lower priced kits. You’ll be more likely to find a channel in a given location that is not picking up interference. It is easier to hide and mount on talent. It is rugged and field-tested. I would also consider a mixer from sound devices.
You can get very good pictures from decent consumer level cameras if you give them enough light or just shoot in good light. But working with cheap audio gear creates an end product that is just annoying to listen too.
And one more thing: monitor with a good set of monitoring headphones.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/49510-REG/Sony_MDR_7506_MDR_7506_Headphone.html.
No question audio requires some skill that comes with experience. But with a good mixer you can watch the meters and with good headphones you can hear what is being recorded and with a good mike you stand a chance of recording something your audience will enjoy.
I think you should consider investing as much in your audio gear as you do in your visual.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Hi David,
Great discourse here.
I follow to an extent.
Want to truly grok the mechanical difference between X’s connected, parent/child clips vs. traditional tracks, particularly as it relates to relative vs. absolute time. I’m not adding anything of my own here, just want to follow the leaders, get the complete idiot’s guide to the thread. So if the analogy below is misguided then please suggest an alternative that would be as concrete. Though most likely one has already been suggested and went over my head or under my radar.
If I understand correctly, the traditional timeline is comprised of a stack of (layers of) linear tracks that begin at 0 and progress in absolute time to infinity. Each track is independent of the others with a set of rules that govern what is seen by the viewer when played back? Each track can be as empty or as full as the editor decides. So in a traditional timeline at any given point in time the tracks have a defined vertical relationship, but horizontally they are independent.
In X, and forgive me but they still look like tracks to me, there is one track (storyline) and all other clips (below or above) must be connected to it. For all connected clips, their relationship to time is dependent on the connection and not on a specific amount of time from zero. Further, although these connected clips may appear to be on a certain track, they are treated independently of each other unless they are grouped together in a secondary storyline. Even then, this child storyline needs to be connected to the parent and has no specific place in time of its own.
If I were putting data in an Excel spreadsheet, I could fill whatever cells I wanted in each row or column. A1 could be filled, A2 could be blank, and A3 could be filled. I could make each cell and all cells in the same column as wide or as narrow as I wish. But if I make cell B2 wider, then all of column B is wider and all columns from C on are rippled away by that exact amount from the edge of the left margin. I could move or copy whatever data I wanted from one cell to another without changing the width of my spreadsheet.
So would it be fair to say that traditional timelines function like a spreadsheet in that each cell can be empty or full and emptied or filled independently? And not like a spreadsheet in that a clip on a track can be expanded or contracted independently of the clips in the tracks above or below it. If the track was a row in a spreadsheet, cell B2 could be made wider without affecting the width of B3 or any other cell in B column.
Would it also be fair to say that X is like a spreadsheet in that I can insert a cell and ripple the rest of the spreadsheet cleanly out of the way by that exact amount? For example if I insert a cell between B1 and C1 then any cells in columns C D E … are rippled out of the way (the former C1 becomes D1, D1 becomes D2 etc.). And not like a spreadsheet in that there is only one actual row and all other cells must be connected to that row at a certain point. So I could connect a cell (B2) to (B1) without creating an independent row 2.
Using the comparison from a different perspective, I feel like X behaves more like a spreadsheet in that clips behave like cells that have a defined spatial relationship to each other and can therefore be very cleanly pushed one way or the other, whereas in traditional timelines everything is defined by time and all clips and all tracks must play by the same set of rules governed by an absolute constant with the smallest component being a frame. The frame and therefore time is relative only in that you can have different frame rates.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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Sure. Just clone your drive before experimenting. You can try out all your stuff on the new OS and when you’re happy, clone the new OS partition, wipe the drive clean and clone it back. Or you could leave your drive alone and set up the new OS on an external drive.
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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If you still have these Shures, the best thing to do is to isolate the problem. Try them in an environment where there isn’t a lot of competition. Try them with xlr adapter. Try different fresh batteries. The fact that you had the gain cranked all the way up suggests there was a problem. The very first time I tried a Senn. G2 system I had terrible sound with this constant buzzing. There was something in the air where I live. In every other environment I tried them they were very reliable. It’s possible that an auto sync cordless system in crowded air doesn’t work well. BTW my Sony UTX-B2 and URX-P2 works fine at home.
What do you mean by generic Sony’s?
Did you set the transmitters to 0 or -10. If 0, was the poor sound one of distortion?
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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your media should be on an external drive. raids are best. thunderbolt is fairly new and therefore expensive but wonderful. Check out pegasus for high end. if the drives can be swapped in and out of the raid enclosure it will hold unlimited amount of media. Just buy HDs as needed. For software you can go with FCP7 if you can find a copy. Still being used but won’t be updated. FCP X looks like Imovie but is capable of pro work with new features being added. Adobe premier is closet to what FCP 7 was. AVID MC feels a bit old school but is an industry standard and very solid.
Your specs can run any of these. Forums here on all these programs. Get a book and learn how to use one. Plenty of tutorials on line as well. If all you want to do is edit the stuff down, apply some transitions and titles and music track then Imovie will meet your needs.MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.