DVX User - working with audio person - for first time

B

boweevil98

Active member
hello

i am a panasonic dvx user working with an audio person for the first time.

What will they be do differently then when i do audio myself? Will they watch the levels on my camera monitor?

We will be recording audio to the camera.


thx.
 
congratulations - now you can shoot better( be focused on the picture ) :-)
why should they look your meters , they have ears to here the return
 
First of all, make sure you buy him/her a cup of coffee and a bagel. It is always important to keep your recordist well fed and watered. Unfed and unwatered makes your mixer an unhappy camper. ;-)

Your sound person will probably only briefly look at your monitor levels to match what he/she is sending from the mixer (they are using a mixer, right?) Depending on their setup, they may have a breakaway cable that plugs into the two XLR inputs on the camera and the headphone jack (though with the DVX, monitoring from the headphone jack is a painful experience due to the delay). With the breakaway cable, you only have to disconnect one connector (it's usually a couple of feet from the camera) and the mixer can gather in the rest. He/she will also need to get into the camera to make sure everything is set correctly. Let them do this. Remember, you are no longer responsible for sound, they are, so it's their butt if something is not set correctly. So, when they say to you they need to check the settings, step politely away from the camera and let them do their thing. ;-)

Also, DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING after they have set the camera. If you have a question about a setting, ask them about it, but do not change anything.

And, finally, here is what I tell every director and DP that I work with: If sound asks for another take, pretend the DP just said the last take was out of focus. You would never question shooting another take if the DP said that, so please do not question sound if they ask for another take (presuming they said something like: We need another take because the car honking next to the set stepped on 30% of the dialog in that last take).

Hope this helps.

Phil

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
First of all, make sure you buy him/her a cup of coffee and a bagel. It is always important to keep your recordist well fed and watered. Unfed and unwatered makes your mixer an unhappy camper. ;-)

Your sound person will probably only briefly look at your monitor levels to match what he/she is sending from the mixer (they are using a mixer, right?) Depending on their setup, they may have a breakaway cable that plugs into the two XLR inputs on the camera and the headphone jack (though with the DVX, monitoring from the headphone jack is a painful experience due to the delay). With the breakaway cable, you only have to disconnect one connector (it's usually a couple of feet from the camera) and the mixer can gather in the rest. He/she will also need to get into the camera to make sure everything is set correctly. Let them do this. Remember, you are no longer responsible for sound, they are, so it's their butt if something is not set correctly. So, when they say to you they need to check the settings, step politely away from the camera and let them do their thing. ;-)

Also, DO NOT CHANGE ANYTHING after they have set the camera. If you have a question about a setting, ask them about it, but do not change anything.

And, finally, here is what I tell every director and DP that I work with: If sound asks for another take, pretend the DP just said the last take was out of focus. You would never question shooting another take if the DP said that, so please do not question sound if they ask for another take (presuming they said something like: We need another take because the car honking next to the set stepped on 30% of the dialog in that last take).

Hope this helps.

Phil

Phil
Click to expand...

Question: do they use the second output for safety purposes into the second channel of the dvx but a few db lower?
 
smithy said:
Question: do they use the second output for safety purposes into the second channel of the dvx but a few db lower?
Click to expand...



Most of the time that depends on what is being recorded, and the gear used. My friend is an audio God, and that is mainly in Mics, Mic placement & setup (band setups), and mastering on a PC. Also, mixing boards and the like.

The thing you are referring is mostly used (I think) when running mics with a Mic signal in, to avoid any hot spots in the audio. I have never yet run into that issue when running a line in signal from a miximg board out, either from the main board, or from my mini used with his mics. Once we mix down on my board, he watches and monitors the levels coming in there, keeps the signal where is needs to be and my line out is always fine. But that is a full mixdown from a Mackie CFX12, and NOT a field type setup.

The second output is fine, but it isnt an option when running stereo inputs (like out form a mixing board).

Most sound guys should know that already, but as the DOP and Camera operator, since you know the specs of your DVX, you should make sure he knows it too.
 
Yes, that is a common tactic when recording directly into the camera, with a single mic.

What I will usually do (since I'm almost always running wireless and a boom) is mix the boom left and the wireless right and record stereo (of sorts). Hopefully soon I won't have to do this, and will be able to record everything on its own track (I'm now drooling over the Cantar recorder.)

Anyway, hope this helps.

Phil
 
that is usless on dvx to prevent input overload , can help only not to ruin the digital stage - digital distortion ( brick walling)
 
Which is why I always go double-system with the DVX...but it doesn't sound like this is an option for the original poster.

Oleg, how would you mix it? (I'm honestly curious...I bow to your breadth of experience). I wouldn't want to mix wireless and boom into the same channel, since then any interference, drop out, etc. blows the whole take.

Phil
 
i usially dont mix wierless whith boom , keep it separate -
mix the wierless one side and the boom to other track , if i have 2 do it ,so it i pray first :-)
for normal situations when the subject is in 50 feet range i never had any rf heats - but inever worked with g-2 also :-)

if the boom is aditional mic and dont give to much - i run the wierless separates 2 both channels
depend on the situation - no rules
on drama , the things are less complex since you have text and open /close the mics whith the text
 
Rapier_100a said:
The second output is fine, but it isnt an option when running stereo inputs (like out form a mixing board).
Click to expand...

Let me get this right..are you saying that if I have a mono signal from a boom mike into my mixer in line 1 and that since my output from the mixer is a dual signal with a left and right channel...that it would not be an identical mono output? therefore it is useless to have one channel to be higher in db output than the other for safety into the left and right channel of the DVX? If that is case isn't just better to record all sound into a DAT or NAGRA and sync it all up into post using movie production techniques? Especially for just dialog recording.
 
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if you are going from the mixer output with adjustable panning -the idea is good to prevent overloads in camera input stage( one out 6 db lower then the other). but if you go identical from the mixer to the camera it is worthless to prevent analog distortion .

to run double system is money issue - if you have better recorder and time to sync thee stuff yes - if you dont , better to know the camera limitations .
especially for dialog recording good mixer in front will give you in 90% good enough quality for editing ( i did few featurs for cinema release which where recorded on 790,570 or 900)
for tv even the dvx could be very good recorder if you know how to push the signal to the limit .
for urban documentary where the noise level is very high there is no real benefits to work with better external recorders to get better s/n ratio
its only the matter if you will do better job not to be hooked to the camera .
of course its might be better to work this way if you recording wireless link to get much better audio quality ( iam almost dont do it with good wireless systems for doco , mainly to music recording which doesnt sounds good enough on wireless transmission)
 
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