Jean-christophe Boulay
Forum Replies Created
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We do client approvals this way all the time and use either Sorenson 3 320×240, MPEG-4 640×480 or good old MPEG, depending on the client’s computer-saaviness. We ship to clients using Webcargo (www.webcargo.net) which sends a link to the client’s e-mail and lets us track the shipment.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
I’ve updated on a G5 machine running FCP 5.1.4 and we’ve been using it a few days without anything noticeable, good or bad.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Unfortunately, we can’t boost what is no longer there. I really wish we could every time I work with phone audio. The best I’ve found I could do is to work with a multiband dynamics processor, namely Waves C4, and combine compression of the high-mid and what little highs there are in a phone signal with a slight expansion in the lower mids. That comes after noise reduction, of course. If it sounds really harsh, using a sidechained compressor as for de-essing takes the edge off. I don’t compress or limit the result, personally, as anything recorded through a phone is already compressed a fair bit. But I generally hate working on phone audio as I like to output good audio and it’s pretty much impossible with phone audio. The damage is already done. There is no magic technique that makes it sound great. If there is, I most definitely want to learn it.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Although I’ve never used their website personally, APM are the giants for stock music. I believe you can preview their massive collection through their site: https://www.apmmusic.com/main.php
good hunting!
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Well, I’m one of the preamp guys. For most music applications, I’ll go straight into the desk without any niggles. For voice-overs, though, I want my good preamp. VOs are usually very exposed and, at times, the sole conductors of the mood of the piece. In that situation, I may want it warm, but I may also want it cold, dry, hyped, whatever… I want to be able to shape my sound towards that goal before hitting the converters. Compressing the peaks before conversion lets you hit the ADCs hotter without fear of clipping, which lets you take full advantage of your bit-depth. And you can always compress some more later. But I digress…
As for sibilance, it’s usually dependent on the talent in front of the mic. On the exact same setup during casting sessions, I get wildly different levels of sibilance. If it’s really nasty, it may be down to equipment, but it may just be par for the course for that talent. De-essing is a good thing to have in any VO signal chain and is essential in many cases, such as yours. And that is something you want to do in the box, once the recording’s done. Good de-essing works wonders.
And you can’t go wrong with 414, that is sure.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
I’ve never been a set recordist, so I can’t give you straight up tips on positioning. But I’ve done enough post to tell you I rarely go for the lav channel first. Even if you find a good way of placing those lavs, do not discard the boom mic. It will always offer the most realistic audio perspective, and most dialogs sound really good if the recording has been done correctly. I unmute the lav channel when I need to add clarity to a line here or there, and even then I filter out all the bass and mix it in with the boom, so clothes rustle isn’t that big a problem, as it’s mainly low frequencies that are bothering. If the higher frequencies in the rustle are prominent, I mix the foley a little higher at that point and that usually does the trick without ringing any bells to the average listener. What you absolutely want to avoid is the mic banging on the talent’s body, which produces a thump that makes any audio happening at the same time a lot harder to use. Normal rustling isn’t so bad.
So my point is to not only listen to your set audio, but think of what will be done with it afterwards. If only all recordists thought that way, I’d be in post-heaven.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
As usual, Mr. Ford is right on the money. That’d be your cheapest solution that would actually work. There are small SmartMedia recorders around that sell for less, but they usually record in some sort of compressed format, which will compromise lip-sync when you convert it back to WAV or AIFF, much more than a sample rate conversion. I’ve had to work with recording done on some such machine (an Edirol, I believe) and had to timestretch to sync to picture on same takes. Mini-nightmare. You don’t wanna go there.
There really should be more pro options, though.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
Interesting situation you have there. There are many upmix algorythms around in stand-alone software or plugin form. I personally have more experience using the TC System 6000 algorythm, but most pro options do a very commendable job. Where your situation gets tricky, and thus interesting, is that you start with a binaural recording, which has no crosstalk between left and right channels. You will get a surround mix out of an upmix algo, but it may sound a little weird, as those algorythms are based on a “conventional” stereo input. And as far as creating your own upmix, the problem isn’t solved as your binaural sources would need to be somewhere between your L/R and Ls/Rs pairs. And then it just gets more complicated.
What I’d suggest is to process your recording using an upmix algorythm and see how that sounds. If that’s not satisfactory, or if you’re curious like me, you could try to bleed a little bit of each channel into the other in a DAW. I’d go for relative levels of -3dB, -6dB and -12dB of bleed and reprocess those in the upmix algorythm and see what sounds good. If you get there, it’d be cool if you could post about your results. Just be careful to check that your source doesn’t have low-frequency rumble from wind or mic manipulation, as is common with binaural recordings. If there is some, you should filter it before upmixing, as it may screw with your LFE channel output. You could also look into the surround alternative for binaural: https://www.holophone.com/home.html
Have fun.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
What you want for all-around use is probably a medium- to large-diaphragm condenser mic. Depending on your budget, the choice can be huge. In my experience with VO (that means half my work hours), I’ve found the Neumann TLM range to be most versatile. They can give you the boomy trailer sound when put up close to a big man, or a smooth, breathy, sexy sound when placed in front of a petite woman. The reange also has mics at many price points, depending on your budget and features you need.
The RE-20 suggested above would be great for super-deep ballsy VOs, but the day you get a small girl in front of it, you’ll be crying out for another mic. Also don’t neglect the importance of the preamp in VO work, and allocate a substancial part of your budget on getting a good one. My hands-down favorite for VO is the Avalon Vt737SP. Smooth creamy goodness.
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com -
At this sound studio, we deliver HD sound either on HDCAM or as a 5.1 mix on an MPEG-2 4:2:2 file when delivering electronically. Some broadcasters have asked for AC3 files as well. It really depends on the station’s acquisition standards. If I was to deliver to a video post house, I’d give them 6 AIFF files plus a stereo Lt/Rt (ProLogic) AIFF file. How they lay that down, I have no idea. For bigger productions, we deliver the mix on MO disk written with the Dolby DMU CPU, though that goes to a duplication house who work with about every format ever created by man.
The broadcasters probably have acquisition norms regarding dynamic range range for LCR and Ls/Rs/LFE channels. They must also have specific requirements regarding bit-depth and sample rate. If you have doubts about this or don’t understand a thing I just wrote, hiring an audio post house really is the best option.
Aren’t format switches fun?
JC Boulay
Audio Z
Montreal, Canada
http://www.audioz.com