Ty Ford
51
Audio Coins
54
COW Coins
Forum Replies Created
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Hello Bill,
Welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
Lavs can be either end address or side address. The Sony ECM 77b is an end address. The Sony 88b is a side address.
The diaphragm in the 77b is mounted so it points out the barrel of the mic (its end).
The diaphragms of the 88B are mounted so they point out from the sides of the body.The Countryman B6 and B3 are end address mics. The Countryman EMW is a side address mic.
Thay are all omni mics, but………….EVEN OMNI MICS ARE DIRECTIONAL AT UPPER FREQUENCIES.
End address mics when mounted toward the face sound a bit more direct. Mounting them upside down makes them sound less direct and takes off some of the top end. It may also help with nose snort popping. Probably what you’re seeing is due to ease of mounting on a t-shirt or crew neckline.
You may have heard some refer to “that nasty lav sound.” Normally they are talking about that “In your face” sound of an end address lav. As a result, as an EXTREME generalization, news and talk sows may prefer end address while movie makers may prefer side address.
Side address lavs normally point out from the chest rather than at the face. They sound a little more roomy and a little more natural.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
And as with anything, ear-prompter requires skill and practice. Do not expect cold reads.
As the ambient noise level increases, ear-prompter gets more difficult.
Small analog cassette recorders with speed and pitch control are also useful over digital recorders especially when the producer asks you to speed up or slow down the read.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Hello Patty,
Good Question. I’d try different kinds of paper. Maybe thicker wrapping paper or thick plastic wrap. Corn stalks and shucks. A hand full of weeds from the back yard or a local field or meadow.
Try crumpling aluminum foil or black wrap. Tear apart one of those bushel baskets made of slats or other vegitation.
You’ll probably have to change the pitch to get the right sound.
Layering several different ones together may sound better.
Let us know how you did.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Hello James,
You can try some of the noise reduction softwares. Apple’s SoundTrack Pro and Izotope’s NR may help, but unlike HVAC noise, the traffic noise is pretty random.
The best thing you can do is do a better job of not recording it in the first place.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Allen,
Fascinating. I have never had a problem getting the e6 on someone, from men or women. The fiercest response has been, “I usually use a lav. What’s this?”
I can’t help but wonder if by asking if there were a problem, you didn’t create one.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Hello April,
Yes there are, but……………..
The mix that you’ll get only has the sound that comes through the board. It doesn’t contain sounds from instrument amplifiers.
Not so much a problem if you don’t have amps and everything is miced, but that rarely happens. With singer/songwriters who sing and play guitar you’ll be OK, but with bands, you’re only capturing part of the mix.
If you have a good relationship with the person mixing, and their board allows, you might be able to get an alternate mix that includes some room mics that will fill in the missing parts, but then the job is adjusting both mixes during the shoot to make sure they are right. One mix is usually enough to keep a good mixer busy.
As a fall back position, you can take a board feed and add camera audio if the camera mic is in a good position to capture something usable. You’ll have to time align the mixer audio with the camera audio.
Even if you smpte locked the two audios (board and camera) the board audio with be ahead of the camera audio because the camera mic will be X feet from the stage. That means about 1 millisecond per foot. 10 feet = 10 milliseconds. This is not a problem if you are editing on a non-linear editing system.
If you want to see/hear what can be done by combining camera and board sound, go to my OnLine Archive. On the top level, there’s a “Karyn Live The Rain.mov” I recorded the board audio and camera audio and combined them in FCP as described above. Not a prefect mix, due to the lack of total control, but it works.
But I digress, any good recorder can be used provided it interfaces well with a board. I use a Sound Devices 744T. Pricey perhaps, but it gives me four discrete tracks so I can sometimes get vocals, instruments, effects and something else on separate tracks and mix them with the camera audio for even more control.
I suggest staying away from recorders that only record mp3 or windows compressed audio. Find one that records 16 bit 48 kHz audio if possible. The Sound Devices 702 is a 2 track recorder; little brother to the 744T. It’s highly reliable, sounds quite nice and you can use it to double record audio during other shoots. You will probably find that it’s audio surpasses the quality of your camera audio.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
If they have to pay extra for noise reduction later because the noise makes it difficult to her what’s being said, they may concede.
I get jobs from law firms from time to time where something went wrong with the deposition recording
I like your thought. Offer to make it better by asking. Having one to let them hear the difference also helps sometimes.
Reards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Allen,
Yes with the power module. Sorry, I thought the link showed the variations.
Might want to ask about the over the ear one though, unless you’re shooting video and someone is really hinky about seeing it. The audio quality with a mic that close to the mouth is really exceptional.The over ear mics do well even in nasty sounding environments.
If you want to hear my E6, look/listen to the Ty Ford Mic Tutorial.mp4 in the video folder in my online archive.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
Hello Allen,
I think we can handle your questions here. 🙂
The 831b looks good on paper, but the 830 C omni sounds better.
https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/e7e24e09738e83de/index.htmlI have both.
AT also makes a mic that slips over the ear and snakes ou along the cheek.
https://www.audio-technica.com/cms/wired_mics/c2bbc55a9ef29034/index.htmlThat’s what I’d use if I had the chance but not the budget for a Countryman E6.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com -
If you want to see and hear the AT2020. Go to my articles archive and look in the Video folder for AT2020.mp4
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. More at: https://home.comcast.net/~tyreeford/AudioBootcamp.html
or https://www.tyford.com