Audio Focused Video

I

IanB

Active member
Yeah, I am out of focus on this video, but I mostly wanted to share the audio with the crowd. (is there a separate forum specifically for this? if so just let me know)
This was recorded live, and mixed on the soundboard, then sent over a wireless hop through a AT1800 series wireless plug-on receiver. To the SoundDevices 702 where I was adjusting the volume so I wouldn't clip.

In post I for the first time attempted some reverb processing, obviously the sound coming out of the mic and guitar is VERY dry and when played with the video it wasn't doing it for me. Adding the reverb (as people have indicated on this forum and others) helped remove some of that dry sterile sound, but I was wondering if I have added to much, or not enough? What do you guys think?

The purpose was to add a sense of 'space' to the performance, as it is part of our church service every Sunday and the space is an old bank, about 100 ft by 80 ft in size. As reverb is really a creative choice, just wondering what others might have done?

Original Audio (without any tweaking at all) can be found here (look for the 'original' title of the Call to Communion Track):
http://archive.org/details/TheGathering-WorshipMusicAndServiceOn3-25-2012_565

 
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Seems fine on a laptop, reverb wise, but it's out of sync. It's a frame or so out.

Reverb is very playback sensitive. What sounds great in headphones will sound too much on a small system and way over the top in a theatre. This sounds fine on a really small system and probably fine on a home sized system. Any maybe OK in a theatre. I didn't really "hear" it so probably it will be OK in a theatre. Also music you can get away with more than on dialog.
 
Sinc sucks for me, everything I do is out of sync for some reason. I literally just match up the sound bites in Vegas and render. I need to figure out why the sync is always off 1 frame.

Other than that, thanks for the feedback, glad the laptop (most ALL people watching this will be using a computer or potentially a mobile device) worked good for you and (in your opinion) I haven't over done it.
 
There's very little low-end in this sound frequency response wise. I keep wanting to turn the bass up. But that may work to your advantage for people playing it back on small speakers, where bass that the speakers can't reproduce just adds distortion to the sound. I thought the application of reverb was very subtle and barely noticeable (which is a good thing). If you can keep the guitar and voice tracks separate until they're mixed in post, you can add more reverb and other effects to the instrument tracks, while you should keep the vocals cleaner for the sake of intelligibility. I heard a few plosive pops ("P" pops) when the singer got a little too close to the microphone. Even a foam windscreen would help with that, but one of those round mesh anti-pop filters a couple of inches in front of the mic is the best solution. It both diffuses the rush of air from the singer's mouth and physically keeps their lips farther from the mic element.

In general, though, this sounded good for the purpose. Ditto the above posters who noticed the sync problems, but that's not a sound issue per se.

- Greg
 
Greg Smith said:
... but one of those round mesh anti-pop filters a couple of inches in front of the mic is the best solution. It both diffuses the rush of air from the singer's mouth and physically keeps their lips farther from the mic element.
Click to expand...

Great tools for recording, but not exactly practical for live performance.

Experienced vocalists know how to work a mic (and voice) on stage to avoid plosives. It takes some practice, but it's not terribly difficult to learn.
 
IanB said:
Sinc sucks for me, everything I do is out of sync for some reason. I literally just match up the sound bites in Vegas and render. I need to figure out why the sync is always off 1 frame.
Click to expand...

If your sync is always off by 1 frame, and always in the same direction, your solution is always to compensate by shifting your audio one frame in the other direction.

I don't know if this is an issue on the GH1 (GH13), but with Canon DSLRs the audio is always a couple frames ahead of the video. When I go to match sound files from my recorder with footage from my T2i, I use the video of the slate and not the audio. If I match waveforms, the production sound will be out of sync. If I go to the frame where the sticks come together, I'm golden. If you're in a situation where you cannot slate, try to find some other aural+visual cue mark that gives you a definite reference point.
 
Alex H. said:
If your sync is always off by 1 frame, and always in the same direction, your solution is always to compensate by shifting your audio one frame in the other direction.

I don't know if this is an issue on the GH1 (GH13), but with Canon DSLRs the audio is always a couple frames ahead of the video. When I go to match sound files from my recorder with footage from my T2i, I use the video of the slate and not the audio. If I match waveforms, the production sound will be out of sync. If I go to the frame where the sticks come together, I'm golden. If you're in a situation where you cannot slate, try to find some other aural+visual cue mark that gives you a definite reference point.
Click to expand...

Wow, I am glad I am not the only once seeing this 'issue' as I know the SD is spot on, but apparently the GH13 is a little behind (as you can see!) I am only matching wave forms, but in the future I will only match with a visual and check the beginning and end (I am also not the greatest at noticing sync that close, I personally almost need a trial and error approach for me personally to recognize that sync is off).
 
I will check on my bass settings as well, I think I am rolling off at 160 hz (seemed fine while doing dialogue in my opinion) and I can change that. For editing/changing purposes, I haven't added or removed anything in the 'bass'. So I will check my recorder settings on the SD702.

As with the pops, I can only agree.

As with splitting the tracks (that would be awesome, but alas only one wireless hop / signal available, and I don't have a stereo wireless setup).

One note, is that it appears the reverb is set in a 'good' place (original purpose of this post), so I am glad I held back as much as I did. You can clearly tell from the two tracks though, that Reverb was added, so that is a good thing.
 
Over all effective: good song, good performance, but what Alex said. The performer needs to know how to work a mic. Or . . . possibly iso the voice mic, raise its level and add a liimiter to it. The biggest thing I see is focus camera, clean up sync and learn to work mic effectively. Reverb sounds fine.
 
EQ is fine even on my lap top speakers. Plenty of bass. Nice use of reverb. Not overdone. Good job.

Regards,

Ty Ford
 
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