[Rob Neidig]

Some great advice has already been provided. I would agree that the sound blankets probably will not reduce the sound anywhere near enough for you. Also, instead of unplugging or finding the breaker box, many times you can just turn down the “coldness” level in the fridge to get it to shut off. That’s the little wheel with numbers (sometimes one for fridge and one for freezer). As someone mentioned, make sure the owner is o.k. with it and make sure to note where the settings were to begin with so you can reset them when you are done. We often leave our car keys in the fridge so we don’t drive off and forget to reset it.

Have fun!

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Congrats on getting the speakers! Let us know how the work for you.

I’ve got a pair of On Stage metal stands that work well (I’m at work right now and they are at home, they may be Quick Loks instead). I’ve also got a pair of fake wood stands I got on sale at Guitar Center. They also work well and look just a little nicer because they have a channel for the cable to run up and a black plastic cover to hide the cable. The most important things about the stands are that they are stable, don’t rattle, and their size places the speakers at ear height for optimum listening. You can also add a pair of Auralex MoPads to isolate the speakers from the stands a bit.

https://www.auralex.com/sound_isolation_mopad/sound_isolation_mopad.asp

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Amos,

You asked about monitors for around $250…

First of all, monitors are one of THE most important pieces of audio gear. If you don’t know what your audio actually sounds like, it’s tough to create a quality experience for your viewers/listeners. So don’t go too cheap. With that said, there are a few monitors in your general range that are fairly decent.

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I used to use the old (unpowered) Monitor One speakers. They were a great bargain. I believe you can still get the latest version of Monitor Ones, which would require a separate amp, or there is a powered version.

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Do yourself and the world a favor and just don’t go there.

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Both the BX5 and BX8 (speaker size of 5 inches and 8 inches, respectively) are good bang for the bucks. I think the latest model numbers are BX5a and BX8a. The BX5a speakers cost about $300 for the pair, while the BX5a run closer to $500.

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I compared the MR5 models to the KRK RP5s (see below) and was pretty impressed. These are pretty good and also around $300/pair. Very clean and transparent high end.

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KRK RP5.

As I said above, I compared the Mackies to these. I was hoping to do a side-by-side comparison with the BX5a’s as well, but the store was out of them at the time. I have been using the KRK RP5’s in a Final Cut suite for about 5 months now and have been very happy with them.

Bottom line, if you can compare them in person with a CD you are very familiar with, do so. I think I would have been pretty happy with the Mackies or the BX5a’s as well as the KRK’s. More comparitive listening might have revealed more differences in stereo imaging or frequency reproduction. It’s important once you have made your choice to get to know your speakers. Play your results in a variety of environments and on different systems to make sure the mix you made translates well to the real world.

Anyway, hope this helps.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

I believe the one you referenced said “table top” in it. That means the receiver is a rack unit that needs to be plugged in. For a documentary, I would suggest looking at the version where the receiver is a bodypack unit, which is battery powered. Much easier to deal with in the field. As Ty said, the G2 units are solid, just be sure not to get the “C” frequency units. More info can be found by searching here. Lots of posts on wireless lav setups.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Adrian,

I’m not Ty (though I wouldn’t mind playing him on TV), but as a Certified Legal Videographer who has done several hundred video depositions, I will chime in my meager opinion.

That Behringer and Nady equipment you are considering will pass the sound to your recorder. Both brands, however, make gear that is not of the highest audio or build quality and tends to wear out quickly. You are going to be recording audio that is being used in somebody’s trial. It matters – a lot. You are being fairly well compensated for recording this depo, right? If not, you should be. And the attorneys are all charging $150 an hour and up to be there. If your witness is a doctor or other “expert witness”, they may be charging $300 and up per hour to be there. Do you really want to use bargain basement gear that sounds crappy and might fail in that situation? If you’re going to be a professional, buy professional gear.

Hope that’s not too harsh, but you’ll appreciate it in the long run.

Suggestions for minimum level of gear:

Mackie 1202 VLZ Pro mixer (Behringer ripped off their design)
or the Sign 44 Mixer
lavalier mics from Audio-Technica, Sony, Sennheiser etc.
PZM or boundary mic from Crown, A-T, AKG, etc.
A decent shotgun wouldn’t hurt either, maybe one of the Rode models

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

George,

You’ve received very good advice in the previous posts. But noone has addressed a very important part of your problem – you hear the audio in your editing program, but you don’t when it gets to DVD. I’d say you need to check your settings as you are making your MPEG files. Somehow you are not getting both channels. As things are right now, you should be able to hear the dialog on the DVD. It may be screwed up in its panning – some left, some center, some right – but you should at least hear it.

Now all that said, if you center up all your dialog, that is better in the long run whether you solve your encoding problem or not. As was stated earlier, dialog goes in the center (unless placing it elsewhere for a given line to come from the space where the character is), music should be stereo (left and right), and effects should be placed where they make sense in the sound field.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Roberto,

In Premiere Pro, click on the audio track, then in the Audio Effects choose “Fill Left” or “Fill Right” (depending on which channel your mono audio is in) and it will put the same audio in both channels.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Dave,

Don’t know anything about the particular gear you are looking at, but it sounds like the audio decoder is maybe causing the audio to be behind by taking a few frames to decode it? If there’s no way to change that, then a possible solution might be to put a delay on the video so that they match. Ain’t technology wonderful?!?!?

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Fulano,

Just to add to Ty’s response, there are a number of factors that work against you making a live recording sound like it’s a studio recording.

The very first is that a large part of the sound of a recording can be the room that it’s made in. That’s why typically recording studios are constructed so that they have “dead” areas, when it is desired to have no sound of the room recorded, and “live” areas, like wooded areas for drum recording. In the studio they have control over things like that. The live recording you have contains the sound of the venue it was recorded in. That sound, the reverb, the acoustics, cannot really be taken out. Manipulated a bit with EQ and gating or downward expansion, maybe, but not completely taken out.

Secondly, studio recordings are normally done either with a lot of isolation between instruments, or done one instrument/voice at a time as overdubs. That way the sound of one instrument does not leak into the microphone set up for another instrument. In live recording, an attempt is often made to close mic instruments, but since everyone is playing together in the same space, there WILL be leakage of sound from all kinds of instruments into mics for other instruments. That limits your ability to EQ just one instrument without affecting the sound of all instruments.

As Ty said, if you have multitracks of the live recording, you may be able to EQ the individual instruments or voices to improve their quality, but you still will have leakage and room ambience in there. Not to mention the sounds of the audience.

So you might be able to improve on the live recording, but it’s still going to sound like a live recording more than a studio recording.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon

[Rob Neidig]

Mark,

Is there a Firewire (IEEE1394) output? If so, that will carry both video and stereo audio. Otherwise it will take two passes as others have said.

Have fun!

Rob

Rob Neidig
R&R Media Productions
Eugene, Oregon