Jordan Wolf
Forum Replies Created
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It sounds like you are dealing with different color temperatures. Stage lighting (more like natural light) is usually 3000-3200 degrees Kelvin. When you white balance using one source of light (such as the stage light) and you switch to a shot primarily washed with light of a different color temperature, you will have to white balance using that source of light to correct the problem.
I’m sure others have more advice and I definitely have a bit to learn about this area, so I’ll leave off here for those with more expertise.
Good luck!
Wolf
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You might consider a pair of Shure E3/SCL3 “earphones”. They give you fantastic isolation and have a very good frequency response (ubt you need ot make sure the seal is good). I don’t know where you are located, but I got a pair from Guitar Center’s online store for $60. This was after I lost my first pair, which I paid $180 for. Plus, they are great for the iPod/MP3 Player; you’ll hear things in your music that you never did before (which may or may not be a good thing). I use mine for monitoring In-Ear Monitors that get used on stage for concerts, as well as listening to my iPod and for on-location audio. Make sure to buy a pack of the yellow foamies; they tend to give the best seal.
The ONLY downside to these is that they are not convenient to take in and out frequently. And, maybe, that your noise sources can be painful if they are too loud and you’re not expecting it – you can’t just rip these out of your ears.
Wolf
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Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I don’t think you’ll be able to salvage the vocals. The instruments sound alright (from the clip you linked to), but they might be distorted as well in other songs.
Distortion/clipping is something that is there to stay – the SPL was so high that it literally either overloaded the microphone (not too likely) or made the microphone produce more voltage than something else further along in the signal chain could handle (much more likely). Either of those being the case, you are stuck with it.
Any efforts that you make to salvage the vocals will also have an impact on the rest of the audio. I think that you should figure out what your time is worth to you and decide whether or not it is worth your time to try and fix this track or work on another project. Maybe let the group know that you goofed and will do another video for a reduced price, etc.
The easiest way to ensure a clean capture when the audio levels may be all over the place is to plan to record in mono (most people don’t even really understand what “stereo” means, anyway). Set one channel so that “normal”, speaking levels are around 3/4 of the way up the meters, on average, and then set the second channel so that the music reads about the same on the second channel’s meters. That way, during the loud parts, you have a usable track.
Best of luck!
Wolf
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Jim,
Can you get the exact model of his camera for us? That would let us find specifications on it.
You also don’t specify what types of connectors you used (as we both know, Neutrik makes many). Did you make an XLR-XLR or an XLR-TRS mini?
Star-quad is great cable, but it is only really meant for short runs in recording studios that needed to be extra RF-resistant. Once you start getting further away from the inputs there would likely be some loss in the high frequencies.
Wolf
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I just now realized that the OP said “hum” and not “noise”. If we are talking about the same thing, then this sounds like a grounding issue.
Have you tried a different AC outlet to power the mixers? There could be something else on the same circuit that is causing the problem (a dimmer for lights, etc.).
Oh, and just to make the point…NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER cut the grounding prong off of an AC connector. You are correct about lifting Pin 1 (the ground/drain) in the XLR connector in order to deal with the hum, but there are usually better solutions. If you do decide to lift it, lift it as close to the desitnation as possible – that way the signal has a floating ground until it reaches the other end of the cable and doesn’t just start out with no ground at all.
Wolf
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That’s probably the 6VDC that the camera’s putting out to the mic – think bias voltage.
I don’t know the values, but I know that Tecnec makes some cables that have blocking resistors/capacitors in the XLR shell.
Wolf
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How do you know what constitutes “-12dBFS”? Well, you looked at your meters to make sure. The point behind the reference tone is to make sure that “-12dBFS” on your meters is the same as -12dBFS on their meters. That way, the audio will be a perfectly accurate transfer of what you recorded/mixed.
Visual Example –
Your Meters:
—————|—0
—————|—0Their Meters:
———-|——–0
———-|——–0On both meters, the vertical lines represent “-12dBFS”. We can also see that -12dBFS is marked at different places on the two sets of meters.
The reference/calibration tone ensures that when “Their Meters” say -12dBFS it is the same as “Your Meters” saying -12dBFS.
Wolf
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It’s very similar to how an orchestra uses a reference pitch (A440, for one). That pitch is heard by each member of the orchestra and gives them all the same point to reference off of so that they can tune their instruments to play in the same key.
The reference tone allows the engineer to say, “Aha! When my meter says ‘0dB’, it actually means +4dBu/-20dBFS!”.
Hope that makes sense…corrections & additions welcome.
Wolf
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