Low Budget Sound

ReelHotGames · May 23, 2003, 12:18:20 PM

It depends on what happened during recording, but one major issue we had was that a connection loosened between the mic cord and the camera plug in, this was an internal cam thing, and we had one channel audio and dropping in and out.

So for that I have to take one channel turn it into stereo output, split to 2 channels.

After that the most common things I am having to do is use a DEHISSER to melow out room tone.

Also having to filter out small inconsitant sounds, background noise, etc by taking room tone and swaping it under some.

zerocool41 · June 13, 2003, 07:58:24 AM

will most shotgun mic's plug and work fine in my Sony 950? i'm looking at the audio technica AT835b ...where do you buy these things reliably? best buy doesn't sell'em

Ghostboy · June 13, 2003, 08:43:17 AM

You'll have to pick one up at a more pro-oriented store. A lot of music stores, like Guitar Center, will have them. Or you can order one from an online video equipment place, like B&H. As for your camera, they'll plug into anything with an XLR Jack. If your camera doesn't have one, you'll probably be able to get an adaptor for it. Check out Beachtek's website and you'll be able to find one.

mutinyco · June 14, 2003, 11:00:54 AM

No matter how much legwork it takes, always record your dialogue on a separate device from your camera. There's more to sound than dialogue. A good short will average 10 tracks of sound.

I recently completed a mini-DV short for $50, and we were able to record each sound in the film and foley it all together to create stereo sound. Final Cut 3 on up will give you decent sound controls.

http://www.movienavigator.org/3200.htm

zerocool41 · June 14, 2003, 11:20:06 AM

i'm so lost..i was planning on buying a shotgun mic and plugging it into the camera to record the dialogue...i was then hoping to record background noise after (but i didn't really know with what)..and then add in music...what do i need here?

i'm already high on budget..

camera 1650
mic 250
premiere 599
aftereffects 799

aclockworkjj · June 14, 2003, 11:39:57 AM

Quote from: zerocool41i'm already high on budget..

camera 1650
mic 250
premiere 599
aftereffects 799

I don't know exactly what you are doing (filmwise), but do you really need After Effects?....I mean are you going to be doing a lot of special effects and stuff??? A way to maybe save money is to get Vegas Video instead....it's about the same price as premiere but allows you to do some of the basic things you would be using After Effects for. Just a thought.

Otherwise, I wouldn't sweat it....put your money into sound, picture, and story. If you have a good story, decent sound, and it's interesting to watch ....well, that's all you need.

mutinyco · June 14, 2003, 11:44:30 AM

Get rid of the fucking After Effects. You don't need it. You're overspending on everything. Find somebody with a student ID and you can get Final Cut Pro for $250. You can also get decent Sony mini-DV cameras for $300, that have great stabilization.

zerocool41 · June 14, 2003, 12:02:29 PM

i was going to get after effects for the film-look thing they offer...

i'm getting the sony trv950 or whatever it's called...it's the best 3ccd camera i can afford. And i wanted a camera that i wouldn't want to be trading up from so quickly.

i need premiere because i'm a pc guy....no special effects really..after effects was just a maybe if i wasn't happy with the look of the picture.

as for sound, HELP!! will this shotgun mic cover me? i figure i can capture background noise on my camera and just use the audio track with other video. i've never done this, so i'm using my mind to its fullest.

mutinyco · June 14, 2003, 12:12:42 PM

First up, switch to Mac from PC. But that's another topic entirely.

Don't sweat it. You're not making 2001. Pick a place to start, then once you're comfortable with the tools and process you can start upgrading. Yeah, the mic will probably be fine. Forget After Effects. You're shooting on digital, it's gonna look digital. Doesn't matter. The story is what's important.

Ghostboy · June 14, 2003, 12:27:17 PM

Recording on a DAT is nice, but don't worry too much about it. Just make sure you get really clean dialogue, and then go add all the ambience and whatever other sounds you need later. It'll be fine. Just get that shotgun mic plugged into the camera.

Don't worry about the film look in After Effects. Try to get as good a picture going into the camera as possible, that's what's going to make the most difference. You can't fix bad lighting or composition in After Effects.

sphinx · June 14, 2003, 01:05:29 PM

although it's better to get sound right the first time, premiere does have some nice noise gate filters up it's sleeve that work magic if you know how to use them

zerocool41 · June 14, 2003, 02:44:44 PM

just so you can all be up to date...i'm finishing up a feature script i'm going to start shooting july 4th weekend and finish it up mid-late august. can only shoot on weekends and night...but since i'm in alaska right now i get daylight till 11pm and later. going to be real quick stuff...no kubrick shots, but mainly for fun and to practice editing....put my money where my mouth is kinda thing...i've been talking movies to everyone including you guys forever and i'm finally getting my a$$ in gear.

does that interlacing thing happen during shooting or with premiere?

mutinyco · June 14, 2003, 03:56:27 PM

One really important thing. Get a good external hard drive. Every 5 minutes of DV equals 1 GB of memory. If you're doing a feature get an external drive with like 60 GB. Save everything onto that or kiss your computer's memory goodbye. Make sure to set all of your rendering to save on the external too.

ReelHotGames · June 14, 2003, 04:25:25 PM

Deinterlacing is best done during capture, as most decent capture boards and software will ask, OTHERWISE you can do it in premiere on export and I am not sitting at my control panel at the moment to give you more detailed instructions, but I can IM them to you.

Lastly - IM me if you'd like some help on the whole After Effects / Premiere / Audio issues and software, I might be able to help you in keeping your budget down.

Such as this - You need Premiere 6.5 and it costs $4-500 bucks. Instead spend the 4-500 hundred on Pinnacle's DV500 DVD capture card and breakout box and you'll get Premiere 6.5 retail already included. You get a two fer there.

Anyway, email me or IM me here and we can talk, I'll be happy to help you out.

Also, if its at all possible you want to plug the shotgun mike into a secondary recorder and record seperately from your video source, it makes things so much easier and quality higher in the end. Mini Disc recorders aren't expensive and they're excellent quality. DAT recorders even better, more $ but worth it.

Ultimately you CAn record directly onto your tape, but a thousand things can go wrong and then you'll have to do Foley work you didn;t anticipate and a bunch of ADR stuff.

Anyway, best of luck

guerilla-pictures.com · June 15, 2003, 12:00:59 PM

Quote from: redlumI was wondering what the filmmakers here were doing about the sound in their movies. I've gotten to the point where I want something more than the onboard mic of my camera but I dont think a £200-500 investment in a shotgun mic is worthwhile. This sort of price range seems to be what most sites are saying.

I think it's worth it. I use a two system approach. A grip holds a boom mic for dialog which is ran through my Yamaha ProMix 01 and then digitally transferred to DAT. Great digital sound that is easy to dump in and sync.