Curtis Judd 3/16/20 Curtis Judd 3/16/20

Sound for Video Session: Live Q&A

Hello Soundies! This week we held a live Q&A.

For future sessions, you can submit your questions live in the chat or if you've already joined the school at School.LearnLightAndSound.com, you can just reply to my weekly email to submit your question in advance. Between all of us in the community, we should be able to get you pointed in the right direction and recording some great sound!

Gear discussed in this episode. Full disclosure - most of the links below are affiliate links. I earn from qualifying purchases.

- RODE NTG5 shotgun microphone - B&H

- Shure SM7B dynamic broadcast microphone - B&H

- Cloudlifter microphone activator - B&H

- Fethead microphone activator - B&H

- Zoom H4n Pro audio recorder -B&H

- Tascam DR-60DmkII audio recorder - B&H

- RODE TF-5 stereo pair cardioid microphones for ambient recording - B&H

- Rycote wind shields - B&H

- Cinela wind shields - Gotham Sound

- Sound Devices MixPre II Series audio recorders - B&H

- Zoom F6 audio recorder - B&H

- Focusrite OctoPre Microphone Preamp - B&H

- RME Digiface audio interfaces - B&H

- RODELink Wireless Filmmaker microphone kit - B&H

- RODE VXLR+ 3.5mm to XLR & power adapter - B&H

- Sennheiser MKH416 shotgun microphone - B&H

- Sennheiser MKH8070 long shotgun microphone - B&H

- Zoom F8n audio recorders - B&H

- Zoom L12 audio recorder for podcasts - B&H

- Samson Q2U dynamic microphone for podcasting - B&H

- Audio Technica AT2005 - B&H

- Audio Technica ATR2100x - B&H

- Audio Ltd A10 digital wireless microphone system - Gotham Sound

- Blackmagic Design ATEM Mini switcher, HDMI capture - B&H

Curtis Judd 11/3/19 Curtis Judd 11/3/19

Sound for Video Session: Thoughts on Timecode

In this week's live Sound for Video Session, we talk mostly about timecode - when I use it and when I don't, some of the challenges and issues I've encountered and ways to solve those problems. Our active community had lots of valuable input and insights as well!

Here are the camera compatibility lists we talked about in term of HDMI timecode:

Sound Devices MixPre camera compatibility list

ATOMOS compatible camera list

Tascam DR-701D Camera Compatibility List

Episode demonstrating how free run timecode works with an external timecode generator:

Curtis Judd 7/7/19 Curtis Judd 7/7/19

Sound Mixing a Short Film: Post Production Walk Through

Recently I worked with Uphill Cinema on a short film where I was the production sound mixer and also post production mixer. In this episode, I walk you through the finished post mix in Adobe Audition so you can see how we did it.

See the short film Listen:

If you’d like to learn how to make great dialogue audio for your film and video projects, please have a look at my courses including processing dialogue audio in Adobe Audition and DaVinci Resolve/Fairlight, recording sound, how to use the Zoom F8 and F8n, and how to get the most from the Sound Devices MixPre series of recorders.

Gear used to record the film:

DPA 4017b Shotgun Microphone (B&H)

Audio Ltd A10 Wireless Microphone System (B&H)

Sound Devices 633 Mixer/Recorder (B&H)

Countryman B6 Lavalier Microphone (B&H)

DPA 4160 Lavalier Microphone (B&H)

Tentacle Sync E Timecode Generator (B&H)

Sony FS5 (B&H)

ATOMOS Shogun Inferno

Get a free trial of the best music for your videos at Musicbed

Ethics statement: Some of the links above are Amazon.com, B&H Photo, or other affiliate links.

Curtis Judd 6/6/19 Curtis Judd 6/6/19

Sound for Video Session: Split Poly Wav Files with 3+ Channels

How do you deal with poly wav files which have three or more channels when you’re working in post production, edit, and mixing?

In this episode, we show you how to split up a poly wav file using either Adobe Audition (one file at a time) or Sound Devices WaveAgent - a free app which can split up a bunch of files all at once.

Download the WaveAgent app for macOS or Windows.

Please consider my sound for video classes available over at Learn Light and Sound.
Gear used to record this episode:

Shure SM7B Dynamic Broadcast Microphone (Amazon)

Universal Audio Apollo X6 Audio Interface

Curtis Judd 3/26/19 Curtis Judd 3/26/19

Sound for Video Session: Q&A 25 March 2019

In this episode, we answer your questions on sound for video.

00:20 Recording Cars

03:57 Zoom H4n & Samson CO2?

06:22 How to sweeten dialogue sound

11:10 Which boom microphone for indoors?

13:00 Apps to automix dialogue in post?

15:00 MixPre as audio interface - does quality degrade when recording to screen recording app?

16:54 How much PC do I need to run Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve?

18:32 How to capture a noise sample? (Need more info)

18:57 Zoom H6 - remote reduces handling noise?

19:36 How to aim a super cardioid boom microphone

20:50 Replacing lavalier microphone for RODELink

22:28 RODECaster Pro multitrack recording to SD card?

24:12 Batch processing audio in RX and Audition?

25:14 Which sound effects should I record when I'm the mixer for a video?

28:05 Why is my compressor letting peaks through?

29:24 Boom and lavs to director's audio feed? AES42 digital audio with A10 and SD 633?

32:08 Panasonic 991 and timecode and post sync?

35:01 Pocket Cinema Camera 4K and MixPre - line level feed

36:28 Which specs can help you choose a recorder or microphone if you can't try it hands on?

41:11 Which boom mic and recorder do you recommend for interviews for $1200 or less?

43:18 RODE NTG3 or Deity S-Mic 2 sounds closer to the 416?

44:27 What is the difference between the Sound Devices MixPre-3 and MixPre-3M and can I use the "M" version for film and video?

47:55 How do I gain stage a Sennheiser G3 wireless system and Zoom F8n?

49:42 What is a timecode workflow for shooting music videos?

See this workflow information:

https://www.bamfsound.com/how-to-music-video-playback-with-ltc-timecode/

Gear discussed/used in this session:

RODECaster Pro - used to record this session

Sound Devices MixPre Series

Zoom F8n - Very good value for money on a pro/prosumer audio recorder

Sennheiser G3/G4 Wireless Microphone system - note that you need the correct version with frequencies you can use in your region. Contact a reseller in your country for details.

Deity S-Mic 2 shotgun microphone

RODE NTG3 shotgun microphone - I prefer the sound of this on most voices.

Sennheiser MKH416 shotgun microphone - the classic shotgun microphone that seemingly everyone is trying to mimic at enthusiast prices

Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K - I find that I use this more often than any of my other cameras these days.

Tentacle Sync timecode generators

Izotope RX7 - my favorite app for cleaning and optimizing audio clips

Samson C02 - budget boom microphone - comes in a set of 2. Good budget option for interviews.

Zoom H5 - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputs

Tascam DR-60DmkII - budget recorder with 2 XLR inputs

Zoom H6 - budget recorder with 4 XLR microphone inputs

Outro music from Artlist by Kick Lee. You can receive a 2 month discount on a subscription to Artlist, a subscription service for stock music you can use with your videos. Check it out at Artlist.io.

Curtis Judd 8/12/18 Curtis Judd 8/12/18

Audio Normalization: Make Your Video Consistently Loud

What is audio normalization? What does it actually do to your sound clip or file? In this episode we cover the two main ways to normalize your audio and why you should use loudness normalization rather than peak normalization to get consistently loud videos.

Links to gear some of my favorite gear:

Zoom F8n - The audio for this episode was recorded with the F8n

Panasonic GH5s Camera - my favorite small camera for video

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 OIS Lens - this is the the lens I use more than any other on the GH5s

Sennheiser MKH 8050 Boom Microphone

Curtis Judd 6/23/18 Curtis Judd 6/23/18

Adobe Audition Analysis Tools

Adobe Audition is an incredibly powerful, rich tool for editing and mixing your sound for film and video projects. Sometimes something doesn’t sound as great as you’d like but you can’t quite put your finger on it. That’s where the analysis tools in Audition can help. Here we quickly show the amplitude statistics, frequency analysis, spectral frequency display, phase analysis, and spectral pitch views. Let us know if you’d like to learn more about one of these.

Links to gear discussed and used to shoot this episode:

Sennheiser MKH8050 Boom Microphone - this is the microphone I used

Sound Devices 633 Audio Recorder/Mixer

Aputure COB 120t - This is the light I used as a key in the talking head clips

Aputure Light Dome Soft Box - Used to soften the key light

Lupo DayLED Fresnel Light with Barn Doors - Used for the “rim/hair” light

Blackmagic design Ursa Mini Pro Cinema Camera - used for the talking headt shots in this video

Sigma ART 24-70mm f/2.8 OS Lens (Canon EF Mount) - Used this lens on the Ursa Mini Pro

Panasonic GH5 - My most versatile small camera for video

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 OIS Lens - incredibly versatile lens that is on the GH5 most of the time

Music - MzA by Cary Judd, used with permission

Curtis Judd 12/3/17 Curtis Judd 12/3/17

Sound for Video Session: Order of Operations - Processing Dialogue Audio

In this week's sound for video session, we cover my thoughts on which order I apply each effect or process when cleaning and sweetening dialogue audio.

This episode shot/recorded with:

Sennheiser EW112 G3 Wireless Microphone Kit (be sure to check which frequencies you are legally allowed to use in your country)

Voice Technologies VT Duplex Headset Microphone

Panasonic GH5 Camera

Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 Lens

Curtis Judd 2/6/17 Curtis Judd 2/6/17

Sound for Video Session: Mixing with Buses and EQ

This week we have another film mixing session where I show you a couple of basic tools for mixing in Adobe Audition: Buses and EQ.

With a bus, you can make adjustments to multiple tracks at the same time. Huge time and frustration saver. With EQ, we essentially make room in one track for another track, e.g., we reduce the midrange of the music so that dialogue is easier to hear without pulling the audio down so far that it is hard to hear.

Gear used to produce the short film and this episode:

Audio Technica AT4053b Hypercardioid Microphone - used this to record the interviews out on the street. Works well as long as you have a good shock mount and wind protection (see Cyclone below)

Rycote Cyclone Windshield and Shockmount - this is what prevented the wind from blowing across the microphone capsule and making that low frequency, distorted sound.

Sound Devices 633 Audio Mixer/Recorder - my go-to recorder/mixer

Electrovoice RE20 Dynamic Microphone (Voiceover for this session was recorded with this)

Antelope Orion Studio Audio Interface (Voiceover for this session was recorded with this - couldn't be happier. By far, the best audio interface I've owned)