Curtis.Laronde
Active member
Just wondering if there are any good audio mixer software out there. Would save a bundle. Robert Rodriguez mentioned somthing about a good audio mixing program on the computer in one of his 10 minute film schools.
any good audio mixer software?
- Thread starter Curtis.Laronde
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Ted Spencer
Veteran
Yeah there's loads of 'em. Start by looking at Pro Tools.
Steve House
Veteran
Plus Protools there are Audition, Vegas, Acid, Soundforge, Nuendo, Wavelab, Traction and any number of others. What are you looking to do with it?
Curtis.Laronde
Active member
pretty much emulate a physical sound mixer. or if anyone has advice on great sound program to acheive some nice bassy cinema like sounds
Curtis.Laronde
Active member
k i found out that if I want good audio going to my labtop ill need a ALESIS 8 CHANNEL Firewire MIXER anyways. All I plan on using is 1 boom mic.
Curtis,
If all you are going to record is a boom, there are a couple of other devices that can work that have a very limited number of inputs - I have one from Mackie (it's an Onyx device, but I can't remember the name) and it has 2 inputs and a FW interface. I have also heard some people using the the Sound Devices USB Pre as a front end to Boom Recorder when only recording 1-2 tracks.
BTW, are you looking for mixing software or recording software or both? For just simple recording software, the two channel version of boom recorder is very inexpensive. See the other posts above for more mix-oriented software.
Phil
If all you are going to record is a boom, there are a couple of other devices that can work that have a very limited number of inputs - I have one from Mackie (it's an Onyx device, but I can't remember the name) and it has 2 inputs and a FW interface. I have also heard some people using the the Sound Devices USB Pre as a front end to Boom Recorder when only recording 1-2 tracks.
BTW, are you looking for mixing software or recording software or both? For just simple recording software, the two channel version of boom recorder is very inexpensive. See the other posts above for more mix-oriented software.
Phil
Steve House
Veteran
In an analog world physical mixers are used for a variety of purposes. Are you looking to do multichannel recording, like 8-10-15 mics on the drumkit, instruments, and vocals in a band, do multi-track post production mixing, music tracking, use a computer-based mixer to control a live-sound PA system, or just what?
Those "nice bassy cinema-like sounds" have little if anything to do with the choice of software for mixing. All but the most rudimentary programs allow you to adjust the equalization on each channel and track and most either include or support compression and expander plugins, etc. Mixing and mastering for those subjective qualitative issues is more a matter of having a high-quality audio interface and especially high-quality, accurate monitors in a working space with decent acoustics than it is anything else. Boosting the bass to compensate for cheap speakers just turns the sound into mud.
Curtis.Laronde
Active member
Thanks for the info guys. Would I lose sound quality from the usb pre?
Or since im planning on using a rhodes it won't make a difference. I've seen tons of threads about boom mic's and stuff but if you wanna throw an idea of the best $400 boom.
What would be the best Foley style mic to use? Can I get away with using the boom? My main goal is to use the boom to record mostly voice and little noises in the general area of the shot. For the rest of the stuff like a chair getting thrown against the wall and bones breaking I`ll use Foley. Those were just examples im not gonna have huge bar fight in my movie heh.
Or since im planning on using a rhodes it won't make a difference. I've seen tons of threads about boom mic's and stuff but if you wanna throw an idea of the best $400 boom.
What would be the best Foley style mic to use? Can I get away with using the boom? My main goal is to use the boom to record mostly voice and little noises in the general area of the shot. For the rest of the stuff like a chair getting thrown against the wall and bones breaking I`ll use Foley. Those were just examples im not gonna have huge bar fight in my movie heh.
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
I feel the need to clear up a few things. One your mixing up a bunch of different steps in the audio workflow. Recording is one thing and you have loads of options from small two track recorders to Deva's and software like BoomRecorder. You can also use a variety of software and an interface to record. THe person responsible for recording sound on set is called a mixer but that has pretty much nothing to do with a "film mix", that is done in post-production. Those folks are also "mixers" but you will see them credited as "rerecording mixer", because they are "rerecording" the original recordings. What they "mix" is created in post-production and includes everything from production tracks to music and FX, Foley etc. That "big cinema" sound comes from post-production and lots of tracks more than any software.
Software like BoomRecorder is great for recording but has no editing capabilities. Some "editors" are not multi track and so can be used for cleaning up a recording but you can't edit a film on them. THen you have multy track editing apps like ProTools and Nuendo. Both are good, both are cross platform. ProTools pretty much owns audio post in the US so if you want to end up working in the industry in sound post it's by far the best choice. Also you can get into it for less than Nuendo, though that's a bit misleading since Nuendo doesn't have "light" versions. Both can "mix" but to actually do a decent job mixing with them you need a control surface. It's not an absolute must but it makes a HUGE difference.
You can record Foley with damn near anything, depending on a lot of factors. It sounds like your doing WIFO (WIld FOley, Foley not performed in sync with picture) and your probably fine using whatever your recording dialog with. In a Foley stage you tend to see large diaphragm condensers, but you don't want those in the field. We use different mics for different things but mostly a large diaphragm condenser.
Software like BoomRecorder is great for recording but has no editing capabilities. Some "editors" are not multi track and so can be used for cleaning up a recording but you can't edit a film on them. THen you have multy track editing apps like ProTools and Nuendo. Both are good, both are cross platform. ProTools pretty much owns audio post in the US so if you want to end up working in the industry in sound post it's by far the best choice. Also you can get into it for less than Nuendo, though that's a bit misleading since Nuendo doesn't have "light" versions. Both can "mix" but to actually do a decent job mixing with them you need a control surface. It's not an absolute must but it makes a HUGE difference.
You can record Foley with damn near anything, depending on a lot of factors. It sounds like your doing WIFO (WIld FOley, Foley not performed in sync with picture) and your probably fine using whatever your recording dialog with. In a Foley stage you tend to see large diaphragm condensers, but you don't want those in the field. We use different mics for different things but mostly a large diaphragm condenser.