Jean-christophe Boulay
Forum Replies Created
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Let’s geek out!
Over here, we use mostly Avalon Vt737SP preamps. For mics, I used either Neumann TLM170 or 103, for creamier, smoother voices, or Sennheiser MKH-800, for crisper, more defined voices. Out of the Avalon and straight into the PT interfaces. Whatever is done after that depends entirely on the situation.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
If the only errors found are on permissions, there is no need to reformat. Mac OS has had that behaviour for years, where the few same permissions are always seen as having the wrong settings. As long as Disk Utility finds no fault in your Catalog, Multi-Linked Files or Ressource Forks without being able to repair them, don’t go overboard. If DU does find such errors and can’t fix them, DiskWarrior is the step you should take before formatting.
Mac OS doesn’t need to be reinstalled very often. As long as you regularly empty caches, run maintenance scripts and optimize the drive, the OS’s footprint doesn’t bloat too much. Most reinstalls or retrieves I’ve had to do in the last few years were caused by hardware failures, not software issues.
Save yourself a possible headache.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Some people say “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. I say “if it ain’t broke, still check it regularly”. DiskWarrior is super useful when the proverbial hits the fan but not that good at basic tests. Run TechTool pretty often, though. You can skip a few tests, like Surface Scan, which takes forever and is only useful when things are already going awry. Run the structure tests, memory tests and SMART. Permission checks should be on your regular to-do list, as well. If you have a drive for your video files that sees a lot of movement at the end of a project, defragmenting it is a good idea before dumping more stuff back onto it. Backup first!
Another little app I like is Onyx (https://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/download.html). It does pretty much the same things as TechTool, but makes it super-easy to do fast checks of your startup disk structure (without rebooting). Since it’s donation-ware, it won’t cost you to try it out. It also permits automation of regular maintenance tasks such as cache cleaning, permission checks, optimizing…
I’ve been coined as a computer health obsessive by some, but I run structure checks twice a week per computer, repair permissions and force-run maintenance scripts once a week and clear caches every one or two weeks. I’ve caught a few problems before they could wreak havoc with this schedule.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
No amount of EQ or expansion will give a convincing result. The best thing to do is a re-record or ADR, depending if it’s VO or sync audio.
You could try using an expander with the threshold set just below the lowest voice level you want to keep and try and duck the room away, but that usually sounds kind of crap on its own, as it only removes the room from dead spots in the audio.
Aside from waiting for someone to release the De-Echolizer plugin, you’re pretty much stuck with what you’ve got. Not everything can be fixed in the mix with audio.
Sorry.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
just to add a link to a Dolby white-paper that could be helpful in untangling the formats for your DVD:
https://www.dolby.com/uploadedFiles/zz-_Shared_Assets/English_PDFs/Professional/43_audiosource.pdf
If you want to dive deeper or research other Dolby-related topics, this is where to start: https://www.dolby.com/technicallibrary.aspx?id=306
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Hi Daniel,
The LtRt mix is a stereo file, so your proposed QC procedure is exactly what you should do if you expect the recipients to listen to the mix in stereo. If the conversion was done correctly, stereo compatibility should be close to perfection. There is no software that will open a stereo LtRt file and see all folded discrete channels, though. To get to the surround information, you need to decode the mix through some kind of Dolby hardware or software.
If you expect the recipients to listen to the LtRt mix in surround, your DVD really should include the complete surround mix as well, in either AC-3, MP2 or discrete PCM. Unfolded LtRt really doesn’t live up to true surround at all. In fact, I find it sounds like $#!t. That’s why DVD’s have eight audio tracks.
In case the LtRt mix will be upconverted, there is one thing you should watch out for. The information found in the surrounds will be treated correctly if you 4.0 mix is LCRS. If it’s a quad mix (stereo front+stereo surrounds), it may not fold back up correctly, as LtRt sums the surrounds to mono. Something to watch out for.
If listening in stereo is your only concern, you should be quite OK. LtRt’s are used very widely without issues.
Welcome to the oh-so-simple world of digital audio
IHTH
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
I think your problem is your mic selection. I work with 103’s all the time on VO, where they excel, but can’t imagine recording a fan with them. Too characterial, high noise floor, low sensitivity… it really isn’t a mic designed for picking up ambiances and SFX. I have no knowledge at all of the Rode, but if it’s a shotgun, there’s a good chance it’s not suited to the use either. Shotguns are usually not flat at all and the extreme polar pattern sometimes introduces other issues because of the backward lobe in the polar pattern.
Sounds like a mic rental to me. My personal go-to would be a Sennheiser MKH-800, but the list could be long.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
I’m not aware of any plugin that could do what you want. There’s loads of pro prodcuts that go the other way, but very few go from Lt/Rt to surround. If the recordings were processed through Dolby technologies, you’ll probably need a Dolby product to go the other way round. That’s just how Ray rolls, it seems: proprietary technology. Most pro Dolby machines are very costly, if they even let you buy them instead of loaning them to you, but there could be some other way. If absolutely pristine audio quality is not paramount (these are ProLogic DATs, after all), you could hook you DAT’s output to the input of a consumer home cinema decoder, set that to decode whatever format is encoded on your DATs and record the individual channel-outs to an audio interface.
If you want a totally pro signal path, I’d personally go with the DMU, but I’m not sure of other options. If you contact your local Dolby rep, he may be able to cue you in. Ah… Dolby.
good luck!
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Officially, the phrase “CD Quality” means absolutely nothing. 128kbps mp3 files are routinely referred to as “CD Quality”, yet anyone with a functional pair of ears knows that’s far from the case. There are stringent standards that define what a “CD – Digital Audio” is, but none relating to “CD Quality”. Forget “CD Quality”, it creates more confusion than anything else.
What you’d want for a solo VO is definitely not mp3 files. There is a big difference between compressing a full mix to mp3 and compressing its split tracks. The former is standard practice in many scenarios, but the latter is hardly acceptable in a pro context. On a solo VO, there is nothing to mask the artifacts of the mp3. The standard used in most audio post facilities is WAV/AIFF 24-bit/48kHz. That’s the format final mixes usually transit in and the format that’ll be striped to most broadcast media. 24/44.1 also works, but it’ll be converted to 48 in the end anyways. 16-bit is so 1990’s. Unless there are DATs involved in the project, 16-bit should not be seen in an audio post project, IMO. Note that WAV and AIFF are pretty much interchangeable.
In a pro audio context, mp3 is acceptable for client approvals and as a distribution medium for radio spots. It very rarely has a place in any project involving video.
Of course, rules are meant to be bent when needed. Still, it’s better to stick to them.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
1) I hate it. And I do mastering. In the end, we have clients and are bound by what they want, which is “louder, louder, louder” most of the time.
2) Yes. My ears can hardly stand half an album of big-release music at a time, so I listen in little bursts rather than long immersions.
3) Audio dynamic is the measure of the difference between the softest and loudest sound in a recording. In mastering terms, it usually means the difference between the RMS and peak level values.
4) No. Changes in mastering are a reflection of changes in the way people listen and hear. I’d posit that, by the age he’s ready to appreciate music, the average human being living in an urban area has either physiologically damaged his hearing or his psychological sense of hearing has been blunted by the barrage of noise of life.
Movies do not have to compete with one another level-wise, the excuse we constantly hear in music, yet have been subject to the same level raise as records.
Louder simply sounds better to most people. That’s not down to mastering, it’s down to the people.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com