Sound for Video Session: Loudness vs Peaks and Cameras vs Audio Gear
This week we discuss a question from Kevin (AKA The Basic Filmmaker) on why the peaks are always at different levels after you loudness normalize an audio clip. Then I rant for a while on why upgrading your camera every time a cool looking new camera may not be the best use of your budget.
Sennheiser G3 Wireless Special Pricing
One of the first wireless lavalier systems I ever used was the Sennheiser G3. These kits are everywhere in the independent and documentary filmmaking world. And there's good reason for that: They're solid and reliable. Yes, you'll need to read the manual and learn how to use them and set up them up, but once you've got that down, they work reliably, are well built, and have some nice features like locking 3.5mm plugs.
These transmit an analogue signal. This is what most of the pro-level wireless systems do and there are some advantages to that. First, you're not sharing the rather overwhelmed 1.4GHz band with all the WiFi, Bluetooth, and other consumer electronics enabled devices out there (mobile, cordless phones, etc). Also, there are potentially distance benefits as well. But of course, you do need to buy a device with the right frequency band for your region so if you do look seriously at these, you'll want to research which band is suited for your region of the world. For those in the US, B&H is recommending models which transmit in frequencies below 600MHz. And the FCC has some FAQs here.
B&H has several kits at the regular price but with some bundled items which make for a good deal: a $100 B&H gift certificate and a case similar to a Pelican for the kit. I'm told that these bundle deals last through the end of September.
There's a dizzying array of model numbers, but here's the basic G3 kit with the ME2 lavalier microphone and a coldshoe mount receiver.
And here's the same G3 kit with the ME2 lavalier but which also includes an XLR plugon transmitter for handheld mics.
Orca OR-30 Sound Recorder/Mixer Bag, Zoom F8 & Sound Devices 633
Orca OR-30 Sound Bag and Zoom F8 Recorder. Note the Anton Bauer Digital 90 battery, Sanken COS-11D case, and Tentacle Sync pouch to illustrate what you can fit in the other side of the bag if you put your wireless receivers in the two external pockets.
A few weeks ago on the Sound for Video Session, I mentioned that when I'm booming microphones for a job, I use Orca sound bags. Orca makes incredibly sturdy and ergonomic bags. I say that knowing that bags are sort of like religion with nearly everyone having a different opinion. But the Orca bags really are nice. They allow you to access your recorder/mixer and other gear from every side with various openings and at the same time keep their shape with a lightweight aluminum frame and honeycomb inserts. All of the zippers can be opened both directions with multi-zips. Handles, shoulder straps, harnesses, and even wireless external pockets are all removable and configurable and, at the same time, incredibly sturdy and secure.
Clearly the guys at Orca have done or have someone on staff who has done some serious sound work for film.
I originally bought the OR-34. My thinking was typical American: A bigger bag like the OR-34 will fit my Zoom F8, an Anton Bauer Digital 90 battery and all the microphones, wireless, and other stuff I need for any job!
Sometimes, bigger is not better.
When you're booming a microphone or even just mixing wireless lavalier microphones, you want to be carrying as little weight as possible. Booming is physically taxing labor. The lesson I quickly learned: Your audio production bag should carry your recorder/mixer, wireless receivers, and as little else as possible. This way when you're actually on location working, you're not carrying any more weight than is necessary.
But wait, you might think, how am I going to carry around all the other stuff I need to bring to the shoot? That's where a "Go Bag" comes in. This is a separate bag that allows you to schlep everything you need to the location, but then once you're set up and camera is rolling, you only carry the minimum required - your mixer/recorder bag. You leave the go bag in some corner where it is out of the way.
I talked with the Orca guys at NAB and they mentioned that they also have smaller bags: The OR-30 for mixers the size of the Sound Devices 633 (my main mixer/recorder) and the OR-28 for recorders the size of the Zoom F8 or Tascam DR recorders (70D, 701D, etc.)
Recently, John Dingo asked:
I am currently looking into purchasing a OR-30 to fit my Zoom F8 as well. Do you have any shots of it fully loaded to share?
Deciding between getting the OR-28 / OR-30 sure is a tough choice.
Before I answer that, for reference, here's the Sound Devices 633 in the OR-30. This is the mixer for which this bag was designed. Note the perfect fit:
Orca OR-30 bag with Sound Devices 633
So this question about which bag for the Zoom F8 partly depends on how you're powering your Zoom F8. One of the challenges with the F8 is power. It accommodates 8 AA batteries in a tray in the back but once you're recording three inputs with one of them phantom powering a boom mic, you'll burn through those batteries rather quickly.
So my solution was to get a hirose to d-tap cable and power with one of my Anton Bauer Digital 90 batteries which easily provides enough power for a full production day (15 hours). I'm pretty sure that would fit in the OR-28 but it'll be tight. And remember, tighter is probably better to keep the weight down.
But if you're powering with the AA batteries, the OR-28 is probably a better choice. Smaller, lighter, and less temptation to carry around a bunch of extra stuff that you don't need to carry while booming.
Incidentally, the OR-28 is priced significantly less than the OR-30 at $179 which is a great deal for a bag that is incredibly versatile and is so well made, you should easily get several years mileage with it.
Which Microphones Do I Use?
We’ve done a bunch of microphone reviews over the last few years. One question I get is, “So which microphones do you use these days?” That’s what we’ll look at in this episode!
If you’d like to learn how to record and post process your sound, be sure to have a look at my sound for video courses at the Learn Light and Sound School. My Dialogue Sound Post Processing with Adobe Audition course will launch in the next few days, so be sure to create a free account at the school now to be notified when it is released and to receive a discount code!
Gear mentioned in or used to record this episode:
RODE VideoMic Pro (my favorite camera-top Shotgun Microphone)
RODE NTG2 (favorite sub $400 USD XLR shotgun microphone)
Audio Technica AT4053b Hyper-cardioid (My favorite microphone for indoor dialogue)
RODE NT5 (good, less expensive mic for indoor dialogue)
RODE smartLav+ (Most convenient lavalier for recording to phone)
Aputure A.lav (Best sounding budget lavalier for phone or audio recorder)
JK MicJ 044 (Very good budget lavalier for recording to camera or audio recorder)
Sanken COS-11D (My favorite lavalier microphone)
ElectroVoice RE20 Dynamic (My favorite voice-over microphone)
Audio Technica AT2005 (Good budget dynamic mic for voice-over. XLR and USB output)
Shure SM58 Dynamic (Legendary dynamic microphone which sounds rich and works well for voice over)
Zoom H4n Pro vs H4n (Original)
Zoom recently updated their very popular H4n Handy Recorder with the H4n Pro. So what’s different on the new Pro version? Let’s take a look and a listen!
This entire episode was recorded with the Zoom H4n Pro and RØDE NTG2 Shotgun microphone outdoors on a summer evening. There is some ambient noise. But don’t worry, we also have a few clips in my studio where there is very little ambient noise. All of the audio was normalized to -24 LUFS and no other processing was applied - no noise reduction, EQ, compression, or anything else.
Sound for Video Session: Microphone Polar/Pickup Patterns and Orca Sound Bags
This week we're back with a question and answer session. The questions submitted this week asked about polar/pickup patterns of microphones: When would I use a hypercardioid vs supercardioid? What about microphones with multiple polar patterns?
Then we talked a little about bags for your recorder or mixer. Big lesson I learned: Don't buy a bigger bag than you really need. Instead, buy a bag which fits your recorder snugly but comfortably, and then have a separate bag for all the stuff you don't want to carry with you while you're recording.
Also had a look at my two Orca bags - bags made specifically for sound recorders and mixers which have a ton of ergonomic features which make recording in the field a much more pleasant experience and help ensure you capture the sound like you intended.
Orca OR-34 (huge bag for the Sound Devices 688, Zaxcom Nomad, or similarly sized recorders/mixers)
Orca OR-30 (smaller bag for the Zoom F8, Sound Devices 633, or similarly sized recorders/mixers)
JuicedLink Little DARling Review: Like Wireless Lavalier but Different
Wireless lavalier kits are expensive. And they are sometimes finicky. They drop the audio when the transmitter is too far from the receiver. RF interference can cause problems as well. Wireless has its place, for sure, but sometimes you also need a backup. Or perhaps you don’t have the budget for a wireless system just yet.
This is where the JuicedLink Little DARling comes in. It is a tiny little audio recorder which looks very much like a wireless lavalier microphone transmitter body pack. But instead, it records the audio from the lavalier microphone. Then when you’re done shooting, you sync the audio recorded by the DARling to your video clip in your video editing app.
This entire episode was recorded with the Little DARling and a Sanken COS-11D lavalier microphone hidden under my shirt collar. For this review, B&H lent me the JuicedLink Little DARling DAR123.
Hiding Lavalier Microphones
Ted Sim at Aputure brought sound mixer Stephen Harrod on to his recent episode to show us 17 options for hiding lavalier microphones. Good to have a few of these ideas in the back of your mind for the future.
I especially like the Neopax which are neoprene belts you can use to hide the transmitter packs under costume or even on ankles or thighs.
3 Audio Adapters for Mirrorless and DSLR Cameras: JuicedLink, beachtek, and Saramonic
If you shoot with DSLR or mirrorless cameras and you want to connect multiple lavalier or XLR microphones, an audio adapter may be a good option for you. But can you really produce high quality audio with one of these adapters? Let’s have a listen to three adapters and see: The JuicedLink Riggy Assist 222, the beachtek DXA-Micro Pro, and the Saramonic SR-PAX2.
The audio for this episode was recorded entirely with these adapters (noted for each clip) along with a decent to good quality condenser microphone (RODE NTG2 and Audio Technica AT4053b).
So that you can evaluate the sound quality from each of these adapters, we did not do any processing of the audio clips aside from loudness normalizing each clip to -23 LUFS, the European broadcast standard for TV loudness. No EQ, no compression, no de-noising, etc.
Full disclosure: For this comparison, B&H lent me the JuicedLink RA222, beachtek gave me the beachtek DXA-Micro Pro, and Saramonic gave me the Saramonic SR-PAX2.
Sound for Video Session: Practical Timecode 13 July 2016
In this session we ran through a demo of how timecode works at a practical level. I'm not suggesting that we all need to drop $500 USD on a Tentacle Sync Timecode kit for our no-budget passion projects. But some day when you're the sound guy on a production with a budget and they are willing to pay for timecode, you'll look like a sound ninja because you'll know exactly how to do it.
Get out and make some great recordings!
