Audio panning left to right

F

finchy

Well-known member
Hi there,

We rented an SQN4/416 combo for a charity shoot that we are doing and as we are not charging a daily rate to the charity (We are a new company, getting showreel footage mainly) we used a sound recordist that does have some experience mixing and booming, but not with that particular mixer/mic.

Basically our problem seems to be that when we play our interview back, the audio seems to pan from left to right slightly....in the edit it appears to be centered but it just really doesn't sound right to me. i dont intend to re shoot the interview because i dont feel it is THAT bad but i can notice it.

My question is, what could be causing this...? my assumption is it is something at the mixer's end... maybe a knocked switch...?
i am not very familiar with the ins and outs of mixers as i am a camera op but i do know basics...

We are shooting again in two days and i want to make sure we get clean audio.

Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance

Tom
 
finchy said:
Hi there,

We rented an SQN4/416 combo for a charity shoot that we are doing and as we are not charging a daily rate to the charity (We are a new company, getting showreel footage mainly) we used a sound recordist that does have some experience mixing and booming, but not with that particular mixer/mic.

Basically our problem seems to be that when we play our interview back, the audio seems to pan from left to right slightly....in the edit it appears to be centered but it just really doesn't sound right to me. i dont intend to re shoot the interview because i dont feel it is THAT bad but i can notice it.

My question is, what could be causing this...? my assumption is it is something at the mixer's end... maybe a knocked switch...?
i am not very familiar with the ins and outs of mixers as i am a camera op but i do know basics...

We are shooting again in two days and i want to make sure we get clean audio.

Any help would be great!

Thanks in advance

Tom
Click to expand...

It could be that the recordist panned the mic to both output channels in the mixer, recording the same signal to both the left and right channels in the camera. If there are very slight level fluctuations in the now dual-mono tracks in the camera, that could account for the observed phenomenon. In your editor, convert one of the stereo tracks to a mono track and discard the other one. In your mix, pan the mono track in the NLE to the centre of your stereo output.

Dual mono has its uses, recording one track at the normal recording level and the other at about 6db less. Now if an unexpected loud sound drives the normal track into distortion, you have the lower level insurance track to fall back on.
 
Thanks for your input steve! i'll have a go at converting the tracks...

any other input is also welcome!
 
What Steve said. But which vid camera are you using? Some cameras have independant limiters for each audio track, if one was on the other off, could cause your perceived panning problem.

Cheers.
 
finchy said:
Thanks for your input guys!
We are using and EX3 via an 'umbilical cord'
Click to expand...

I should have mentioned in my first message, unless you're planning to use the dual-mono technique of high and low level tracks I described , there's really no need to record a single mic to both left and right tracks in the camera anyway. Next time, tell your recordist to pan the mic fully left (or right) and be done with it.
 
Steve House said:
I should have mentioned in my first message, unless you're planning to use the dual-mono technique of high and low level tracks I described , there's really no need to record a single mic to both left and right tracks in the camera anyway. Next time, tell your recordist to pan the mic fully left (or right) and be done with it.
Click to expand...

Actually I find it it always good to record a mono source to both channels. Firstly, so you can have one channel at a lower level to avoid distorted volume spikes, Secondly, so you have a stronger signal to work with in post. Many times a speaker gets too quiet and the level is too low to even turn up all the way. Having both channels gives you that extra volume. Although you can always make a copy of the quiet part and paste it in the timeline a few times to get that level up. But recording both saves a step since when you capture you are going to have both channels come up in the timeline anyway.

Just capture in dual mono mode and both channels come up mono, panned center. As a default I capture in dual mono because there is rarely a time when stereo is advantageous. And if you need stereo you just pan the channels L-R. It even sounds better capturing dual mono when you used the camera's built-in stereo mic. Dialogue is best centered.
 
Chadfish said:
Actually I find it it always good to record a mono source to both channels. Firstly, so you can have one channel at a lower level to avoid distorted volume spikes, Secondly, so you have a stronger signal to work with in post. Many times a speaker gets too quiet and the level is too low to even turn up all the way. Having both channels gives you that extra volume. Although you can always make a copy of the quiet part and paste it in the timeline a few times to get that level up. But recording both saves a step since when you capture you are going to have both channels come up in the timeline anyway.

Just capture in dual mono mode and both channels come up mono, panned center. As a default I capture in dual mono because there is rarely a time when stereo is advantageous. And if you need stereo you just pan the channels L-R. It even sounds better capturing dual mono when you used the camera's built-in stereo mic. Dialogue is best centered.
Click to expand...

Sure, if you're recording one source such as a mic into both channels with one channel lower than the other as insurance against overload, by all means - it's a very good idea. But recording both channels at the same level does nothing for you. Panning those same level dual-mono channels fully left and right in post respectively does NOT produce stereo and can potentially produce a mess. Mixing them together by panning both centre doesn't buy you anything either. Record two channels at different levels but use the material from only one them at a time.
 
Cheers guys, i think also next time i may request the use of a lav as a safety (Which should always be done really)... would your panning decisions differ with an extra mic??


Thanks

Tom.
 
finchy said:
Cheers guys, i think also next time i may request the use of a lav as a safety (Which should always be done really)... would your panning decisions differ with an extra mic??


Thanks

Tom.
Click to expand...

While recording pan separate channels hard left and hard right. When editing they should be center unless you want a voice to be off to the side for some reason.
 
finchy said:
Cheers guys, i think also next time i may request the use of a lav as a safety (Which should always be done really)... would your panning decisions differ with an extra mic??


Thanks

Tom.
Click to expand...

Put the boom on one channel, hard left perhaps. Put the lav on the other, hard right if the boom is left. In post decide which one you're going to use and pan it centre but DO NOT mix them. Mute the unused mic completely. Trying to mix a lav on the talent with a boom picking up the same talent is inviting phasing issues since the boom picks up the same sound as the lav but with a few milliseconds delay.
 
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