Proof of concept live in studio. -link now up

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Wagz
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Proof of concept live in studio. -link now up

Post by Wagz » Thu Aug 20, 2015 7:37 pm

Hey Tape oppers,

Did a proof of concept live video in the studio a couple months ago. Fairly rudimentary but I would love to expand on this.

https://vimeo.com/134676461

Have a list the size of my arm for the video end. Different lighting, some shoulder mounts for camera, cheap jib, etc.
Was my two camera guys first round too.. basically told them "Here is the shot I want you to go for"

Video wise, this was done with two cameras. We comped the video from multiple takes of the song and used our favorite audio take as the master. Didn't use a click so the video was a challenge to line up in spots.

Anyway, would love feedback on the audio end. Mic'ing, levels, too little/much compression? Oh, and room potential. This was two people but I would love to get bands in there with a drum set.. And if at all possible do that without having to move the singer to an Iso room.

So, yeah, fire away.
Last edited by Wagz on Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Fri Aug 21, 2015 11:59 am

I'm not seeing a linky-link.
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Almost forgot: Please steal my drum tracks. and more.

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Post by Wagz » Tue Aug 25, 2015 4:42 pm

I am so very smooth.
Link up
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Post by JWL » Thu Aug 27, 2015 2:57 pm

Concept proven, I'd say.

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Post by Snarl 12/8 » Thu Aug 27, 2015 10:02 pm

The audio is stellar, which I'd say is important. To nit-pick, maybe your next investment in this project should be lighting. I was a little bummed by how the background looked so crisp and edgy and all the shadows on the singer's face, etc. Cameras are so sensitive these days, you can get by with some high-wattage (40-60) compact flourescents and some sort of diffusion. For a cheap and fast diffuser try a white/translucent shower curtain over a boom mic stand.
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Almost forgot: Please steal my drum tracks. and more.

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Post by Injured Ear » Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:27 am

I have no complaints about the audio side of things, my critiques and suggestions are for the video side. And please take this all as constructive. I've been down this block and really enjoy doing this kind of stuff. You can track an entire EP in a day and have material to post online which has more social media draw than just an audio link.

Try to use less imposing microphones between the artist and the camera, UNLESS you are making the microphone a feature. The less you can block the artist's face and hands, the better. As much as I love a huge german side address mic and a pop filter for vocals, I've had to opt for smaller end address mics. Neumann 105, Shure Beta87/KSM9/SM7 work great on vocals. Also gives you less bleed/more control in the mix when more instruments get jammed in the room. If you *must* go with the big mics, consider setting them up sideways instead of dangling them vertically.

It's also a battle between making the artist comfortable performing (eye contact anyone?) and having good shots to work with. I worked with a director who made beautiful artistic shots but left the performers completely uncomfortable. It came through in the performances. It's a fine line. You did a fine job here, I'm just commiserating.

The background here is somewhere between being distracting or not interesting enough. There's no percussion or drums in the song.. why are they set up in the studio? Can't they be out in the hallway? Your furniture/acoustical treatments/B3 are plenty enough eye candy. The multiple rugs are also kinda distracting, though they might be necessary for absorption. Can you stick to one patterned rug in your shot?

Obviously your cameramen will get better and smoother (it doesn't take a steadicam rig or a jib to make these handheld shots work). The difference between handheld shots and locked off shots is visually jarring. You can also smooth this over a little with dissolves instead of hard cuts in the edit. But if you're doing tripod shots, don't be afraid to keep the camera head moving. You could have gotten away with most of your shots from a few tripod positions and used 2/3 less handheld and still had effective movement in all your shots.

I will second the lighting thing previously mentioned. It's a little flat and bright lighting-wise. Lighting rigs are quickly becoming cheaper, and/or folks are ditching their incandescant setups. Check your local Craigslist! Diffusion boxes can be expensive, but chinese lanterns aren't! You can pick up a few of them of various sizes, a few dimmable LED or CFL bulbs and be in business. Hang them from a few of your tallest boom stands. Lighting is an art like audio engineering. Just as complicated and expensive and time consuming. But you can get started cheaply!

I hope this helps. Keep up the good work!
-Greg

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Post by Wagz » Mon Sep 07, 2015 9:11 pm

Thank you guys so very very much.
Yeah, lighting has been one of the biggest feedback points so far, We had a couple of soft boxes up but I, in hindsight, could have placed them better.
Also it was suggested several times to get the ambient light down quite a bit.

Odd note.. Never even crossed my mind to pan on the tripod. I laughed when I read that because it was so simple.

Yeah, my friend instantly mentioned the pop filter on the mic and the fact that she never opened her eyes during the shoot. So either no pop filter, or a smaller profile one is going to be up for the next shoot.

I have an SM7 which I will probably end up using on sets where bleed is more prominent.

But yeah, I was pretty happy with it, looking forward for the next ones.
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Post by The Scum » Sun Oct 11, 2015 7:37 pm

If you're doing multiple shots & angles, be sure to check/set the white balance on each camera. There's a color discontinuity between the opening/closing wide shot versus some of the other shots. In the opening, the back wall is almost peach, in other shots it's a greenish yellow.

A gray card or a color-chip pallette can be helpful in matching shorts.

I'll ditto the sentiment on lighting...though the microphone analogy only extends so far...you can mix dynamic and condenser mics. Mixing flourescent/LED/tungsten doesn't work as well. You can find used Lowel Tota and Omni fixtures for not too much money, and they're great. My shots improved more with a pair of Totas than any number of lenses/filters/camera-side toys.

They're also extremely hot. Leather gloves, C-stands and sandbags!!

Speaking of lenses, if you can hold focus during long, slow zooms, that can be a nice way to add some movement without actually moving cameras.

I don't really mind the pop filter or eyes closed. If that's how it happened, let it come through.

I'm a little seasick from the shot that rocks back and forth, though.
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Post by Wagz » Tue Oct 13, 2015 5:13 pm

Yeah,
With color, the cameras are quite different. Did a white balance before and still ended up with some color differences. Basically had a couple of borrowed cameras. One a cheap sony and the other an ok Panasonic.

My big goal next round is to do a better job with lighting.
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Post by Trick Fall » Sat Oct 17, 2015 1:03 pm

More mood in the lighting and more tripod shot. I was getting a bit seasick. Overall though I thought it was nicely done and way better than what I would've come up with and most importantly I really liked the song. Also I did find the mic distracting. I would probably either use a live type dynamic mic that's smaller, or if I was recording multiple passes I'd do one for audio and than do the rest without the pop screen in front of the mic.

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