[Craig Alan]

HI TY,

Putting in an order. I have to deal with low ceilings, little or no absorbing material etc, indoors, and have learned that shotguns don’t cut it.

Been using hand-held and lavs, but would like to use boom-poles so students can learn.

On BHphoto:

The Audix scx-1 with hypercardioid capsule: goes for $500 each

Audio Technica 4053a for $400 each

The Schoeps cmc641 at $2000 each is over-budget.

So is the Audio Technica 4053a the best buy here?

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

That would be great John! Thank you. I’ll be in touch.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks John,

I actually thought lowering the fill might help because I noticed that the snake eyes would be more pronounced or even disappear depending on how the talent positioned their heads, where they were looking. But my crew–the audio tech, and teleprompter operator is on the fill side and get in the way of a lower fill light. Maybe I can bring the key on that side and put the fill on the other. I also have a reflector kit I can bring out and play with. We’ll give it a try.

Craig

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks Leo,

Yeah the space just isn’t big enough or high enough and there are tripping hazards as well.

I teach production at a high school. My professional background was as a writer.

In a school environment you can either say yes and figure out how to make it work or you can quit.

The space in question is the classroom. Would love to have a bigger room. Have no intention of shooting another day with snake eyes. I explained to the class what the problem was. Showed them how to get one catch in the eyes by moving the fill, but that left us with shadows on the muslin.

If I could just get the talent another 6 feet or so away from the muslin curtain that would do the trick. I know because before I added a teleprompter, we had another few feet and with some experimenting we could get the shadows falling behind the talent off camera with the fill in a good location. No snake eyes.

Maybe there’s a way to control the shadows falling on the curtain when I move the fill light where it should be. Maybe use flags or light the curtain. Black muslin can help here but I don’t like that look for talking heads except for some dramatic scenes or interviews.

What I’ve learned with the constant compromise of the school environment: Play first with the sound. Good subject, good sound, people will live with even ugly video. To transform ugly into decent, decent into beautiful, beautiful into revealing, play with the light. It’s one thing to find good light and capture it. It’s another thing to try to create it with a lighting kit.

Craig

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Hi Zane:

It’s the older production suite I’m having problems setting up. We have one license for it and one license for Final Cut suite 2. So I’m setting up one where I want OS X 10.3.9; the original suite with FCP HD 4.5 and the other apps and QuickTime 6.5.2.

What’s weird is if I run the latest QuickTime 7 installer it says the software has been successfully installed but it does not show up after the mandatory restart. FCP still launches and I don’t get an error message about QuickTime not being there. The 6.5.2 reinstall won’t work nor will the 6.5.2 installer.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks Ty. Yes what you say is my understanding. But I need the ignorant guide to doing this. Have no idea how to connect pins or how to connect the volt meter. etc. I’ll call Shure. I have to admit I’ve had better luck on the phone with tech guys than email where their responses are often inc. or over my head. I learned a lot, for example, talking to a guy at mole richardson about their light kit.

Anyway thanks for helping. I’ll keep your suggestions above about setting in mind once i sort out how to set the FP33 up. Shure still talks about it as a top end mixer and its still sold at BHphoto. But reviews of sound devices indicate its been replaced as the standard.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks.

Yeah, the vx2000 vx2100 pd150 pd170 all have noisy preamps. In my experience. it’s best to feed them a strong enough signal so as to keep the cameras levels set as low as possible. I have gotten better results using line level in. However, getting the proper line level in here is the challenge. And yes I wish I had bought the sound devices mixer instead of the Shure mixer. That said, the Sony cams in this group and the Shure mixer were both industry prosumer level standards for years, so I’m surprised that I’m not getting readily available clear instructions on how to marry these two.

I think for the pads I’ll get them with a short xlr cord. The shure mixer is in a porta-brace case and I should be able to run the short xlr out from the shure and Velcro it to the case. That part should be ok.

How do I use a voltmeter to measure the signals in and out of my mixer? Any suggestions on a model that won’t be over kill yet will take good measurements?

Also what do they mean by the voltmeter being parallel with the load?

VU Meter Adjustment
To set the VU Meters to a value other than the factory
setting (0 VU = +4 dBm), proceed as follows:
1. Connect a 600 load across the Left XLR output set
for Line.
2. Connect an ac voltmeter (such as the HP 400GL) in
parallel with the load.
3. Slide the 1 kHz tone oscillator switch to the On (up)
position.
4. Adjust the 1 kHz Tone Oscillator level with the Left
(inside) Master gain control until the ac voltmeter reading
is at the level desired.
5. Open the battery compartment door and adjust the
Left VU Level trim pot with a screwdriver until the Left
VU Meter reads 0.
6. Repeat the above procedure for the Right Output and
the Right VU Meter.
Limiter Threshold Adjustment
To adjust the Limiter threshold to a value other than the
factory setting (+15 dBm), proceed as follows:
1. Connect a 600 ohm load and an ac voltmeter across the
Left Line output as described in steps 1 and 2 of the
VU Meter Adjustment procedure.
2. Open the battery compartment and move DIP switch
1 to the Off position (refer to the chart on the inside of
the door).
3. Slide the 1 kHz tone oscillator switch to the On (up)
position.
4. Slide the Limiter switch to the Off (down) position.
5. Adjust the Left Master gain control until the ac voltmeter
reading is 2 dB above the desired output level.
6. Slide the Limiter switch to the On (LIM) position.
7. Open the battery compartment and adjust the Lim Adj
L trim pot until the level drops to the desired reading.
8. Repeat the above procedure for the Right output, using
the Lim Adj R trim pot.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Hi Ty,

Thanks for your help.

Yes I begin tone and set the master for a 0 VU reading, then adjust my camera audio input controls.
And the results are pretty decent but varies depending on what is fed into the Shure. And the signal is too hot so that a speaker talking into a hand held mike, for example, can easily overmodulate by raising their voice. Yes we have an audio person assigned to watch the level and adjust. But line out is +4 and the pd170 should recieve a -10 (about, line signal).

Yes the instructions talk about setting output limiters. But read the section on how this is done. This is how I got started emailing the company about how to do this.

“Connect a 600 􀀺 load and an ac voltmeter across the
Left Line output as described in steps 1 and 2 of the
VU Meter Adjustment procedure.” etc.

I have no idea how to do this. When they wrote back they suggested using external pads as if these instructions were not meant for end users. Here are some quotes from Shure.

1) Do you have the FP33 User Guide? (VU calibration instructions on in the User Adjustment Guide)

2) The VU meter adjustment may not the range to reach 0VU = -10dBm

3) A simpler method is to keep the FP33 at 0VU = +4dBM, then add a 15 dB pad after the FP33 line level output.

You can’t re-calibrate the vu meters with out the required equipment.

Lets make this simple. Just adjust the channel and master volume controls so the vu meters read -10.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

I’m using the Shure FP33. I went so far as to email the company and ask how to engage an internal pad to the Shure’s own output. Line out the Shure is +4, which is a bit too hot for the pd170s. Basically it was recommended to use external pads. The house board probably can be adjusted but so far the crew does not know how. Using the house board I get pretty good results with line out/line into the Shure/line into my cameras. But it is a bit over modulated. Using a line out of powered speakers, I see no choices. Mic level into the Shure is distorted. Line in gives fairly clean sound but is weak. Even though the camera’s meters indicate a strong signal, the final captured sound is too low. It sounds fine when monitoring with headphones but when we play it back on a television, the volume is low.

I’d really like a way to measure the level coming out of these sources.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Lighting a large green screen will be expensive too. But if you put the kit together you’ll be able to shoot in any location you want including stock footage. Don’t forget all the interconnects you’ll need. If you are doing a multi-cam shoot then you’ll need a monitor array as well. The last time I researched this I got a edirol 4 channel. It was the most bang for the buck. But new models are coming out all the time.

OSX 10.4.11; Quicksilver Dual 1 gig; G5 dual 2.5 gig; FCP 4.5, 3.0.4; Sony camcorder vx2000/pd170;Canon xl2; Pana consumer cams; write professionally for a variety of media;teach video production in L.A.