[Dan Brockett]

Hi Kristoffer:

Not sure where you are located but if you are in LA, I noticed that Michael Alberts chimed in here. Just wanted to say that Michael provided these services for an A&E Biography that I produced and he is and his facility are very good at making your project meet the specs, we had no issues or problems with delivery to A&E.

I highly suggest farming this out to people who do this for a living. At the very least, you can output to your master format and they can make sure that it conforms to broadcast standards so you don’t get rejected during QC.

Dan

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[Dan Brockett]

Hi Ty:

Feature for feature, Izotope appears to have more options, but my Hollywood guys I have been interviewing for some articles swear that WAVES has more fine adjustment within it’s parameters, especially with broadband noise. They use it a lot.

I own SS Pro, it’s okay, but if you are not careful with tweaking it, it can make things sound metallic. I produced an A&E Biography with a lot of poor sounding sources from multi-generation Beta SP masters. I took a pass with SS Pro and made it sound what I thought was a lot better but then the sound designer did a pass with WAVES and it worked a lot better, especially in a scene with two actors standing in a heavy rain, whispering their lines to each other.

I will have to get a copy of Izotope, it is starting to build a buzz and looks very fully featured for the money.

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Laura:

If you have not already purchased, also consider the WAVES Restoration Bundle. I have SS Pro and it is decent but the Waves bundle does a lot that SS Pro and Izotope don’t. More $$$ though.

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Hi KC:

More than you will ever want to know about constructing acoustically inert environments https://www.acoustics101.com/

There are a lot of tricks to the. Forget egg crates, they are terribly in efficient.

Best,

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Mark:

Great post, I agree 100%. Back when I used to do a lot of corporate, my eyes would roll back into my head when clients would request this and I would tell them many of the same points that you make.

I did produce a pretty high budgeted 10 minute science fiction film for a national sales meeting opener for an live audience of about 5,000 people, but it was done with puppets voiced by the corporate “talent”. Script was written by an ad agency and we did execute it well, to the tune of about $200k. SHot on 35mm film, real crew, great model makers, etc. Film was a big hit, everyone loved it. It did have a message and the message was picked up on by the audience. But we didn’t emulate or parody a specific movie or show, it was just generic sci-fi. Talking robots, a female hero, a sidekick dog, a crash into a rogue planet sequence, etc.

It was actually pretty weird for a corporate film but was really fun and creative, the client’s loved it.

But in general, I agree with you. The audience does just look for the comparison in a parody. As pure satire, they can be fun, but for communicating a specific message as a business tool, pretty weak.

Best,

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Aja Tech Support came to my house, made me iced tea, fixed the washer and mowed the lawn. I love them!

Seriously, they shipped me a new BOB for the Kona 3 with no questions asked after I troubleshot it myself. The just said to return the old one when I had a chance. Aja is by far the best service and support I have ever received on ANY product I have ever owned, they are awesome!

Dan

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[Dan Brockett]

As nice as Premier Pro is, it has really only gained maturity as a professional level app in just the past few years. Fairly or unfairly, in the minds of most pros, Premier is still considered an “amateur app”, used mostly by hobbiests, not by professional post houses and editors.

Strangely, FCP has taken years to shake this same false image. I would say that if you want the work, buy a Mac and learn FCP. If you are wealthy or successful enough to not care, don’t.

I know if what I speak. Years ago, I owned an audio post company. We were based upon the PC Soundscape platform, a great tool, but it was on PC (strike one, at least back then in the days of Windoze ME) and it wasn’t Pro Tools (strike two). After years of fighting the uphill battle, I decided that it wasn’t worth it trying to be an evangelist for Soundscape and making excuses for being PC based when almost everyone else at the time was on Mac. Things have changed, but it is a depressing and frustrating thing trying to fight against what all of your clients consider the industry standard. Just a few short years ago, it was AVID and you had to make excuses for using that “Apple FCP” software instead of real system like AVID. Yes, things have changed.

But as far as the Premier thing, you will lose business.

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Wayne:

So glad you found the review helpful and thanks for your kind words.

Yes, audio is definitely neglected, compromised often and is the result of making or breaking almost every project. I spent some time with some of the best sound mixers and editors in Hollywood for an upcoming article for HD Video Pro Magazine and the mantra I hear from them over and over is, “that if the audio is compromised on location, we can improve it in post, but it is expensive, inefficient and the end result is still never be as good as if it were recorded correctly”. And this is from people creating the soundtracks for the biggest features and the top ten television shows where we all think that they have huge budgets and the best talent and gear.

I heard another quote that I really liked on another board, to the effect of, “in post, we can improve the quality of audio around 3-5%, but most non-audio enlightened users think that audio can be improved by about 80% in post.” I totally agree with this assertion, I wish more people did.

All my best,

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Stu:

You misunderstood my response to Brian’s inquiry. I never suggested that he buy a $4,000.00 mic system. I did assert my opinion that a “good” wireless mic system, as he inquired about via the heading of his post, costs in that neighborhood.

I have an Audio Technica 1800 series system sitting in my equipment locker that I am in the midst of reviewing and will be receiving a G2 system from Sennheiser soon for a wireless mic system review I am writing. I own two of the Audio Technica 100 series wireless systems. IMHO, all of the sub $1,000.00 wireless systems are barely adequate, none of them sound great, all are more susceptible to interference and have more distorted sound than the $4,000.00 to $8,000.00 wireless systems.

In a very simplistic summary, I categorize all wireless systems as either junk (not worth using or owning), adequate (for lower budgeted users, may work fine in some situations but also have noise and RF issues in many situations) and good (systems like the Lectro 400 series, Zaxcom,etc.) The “good” systems are the best that the technology has to offer at this point but in comparison to a $30.00 XLR cable, they still generally don’t sound as clear and have as much purity of sound and dynamic range. They are also still susceptible to RF interference and much less bandwidth availability as more HD broadcasting comes on line.

I personally use a $3,000.00 tripod on my $5,000.00 camcorder and IMHO, audio gear should be the best that your budget can support. For the average user or hobbiest, yes, a $4,000.00 wireless system would probably not be in their budget but there are situations where renting a $4,000.00 Lectro system for $100.00 a day totally makes sense if you are doing work for paying clients.

I still stand by my assertion that all wireless mics are a compromise and that mics in the $500.00 range only work some of the times and are still rife with RF hits, squelch and interference issues. My upcoming wireless review article will support all of this with carefully documented tests in real world situations. I would not consider any of these low cost systems to be “good”, hence my post.

Not trying to be snob, just a realist about what to expect when you uncrate it, hook it up and go on a real shoot in the real world of adverse conditions.

All my best,

Dan

Providing value added material to all of your favorite DVDs

[Dan Brockett]

Hi Brian:

Unfortunately, the terms, “good” “wireless” and “$400.00” don’t go together. You need to add another “0” to your price range to get good. Seriously, about $4,000.00 for something good that pros use like a Lectrosonics 400 series.

You can get barely adequate quality at about $500.00 to $1,000.00 with either the Sennheiser G2 system or the Audio Technica 1800 series. But the mics that both systems come with may not satisfy your needs for quality, you can check out my lav review at the link provided by Wayne above to determine which lav will go with your barely decent wireless system. It is most pros opinion that any wireless system below $500.00 works better as a paperweight than an audio system.

Best,

Dan

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