Recording questions.

O

olindacat

Well-known member
Wondering if anyone can chime in.... Trying to run two mics through a Mixpre-D to an iMac and a D7000. The iMac is connected via the USB 2 cable, and the D7000 is getting the XLR out (I tired the ST Unbal mic out and it was too strong for the d7000). Everything seems to work, except that I am so studpid I can't figure out how to separate the two mono mics running through the USB in Audacity. They record on a stereo tract as one all-merged. How does one separate the two? (I am trying to discern which of the two mics I like better, or have less clipping on, etc., so one is like a back-up.)

Ironically, the merged clip isn't that horrible, although to the trained ear, I'm sure it would make most of you pros puke green horrors.

Here is today's first real attempt to shoot (and record) my dad, with both mono tracks merging because I am lacking in enough brain power to solve the riddle:

http://youtu.be/svkPjHw_L-g

I boomed a MK-012 and used a ME2 Lav. What's really fantastically hilarious is I have no idea how to discern one capsule from the other, so I just tested them until I found one that seemed to sound okay. The next one will have the pros here laughing in technicolor: I could not figure out how to get the ME2 Lav into the Mixpre-D w/o running everything through the G3 100 Transmitter and Receiver, even though my dad was two feet away!!! How sad is that?

The room is very reflective. I set-up four autopoles and got piping from home depot and hung stage curtains from ceiling to floor. I put moving blankets on the floor too, under the talent as well. The Lav was under his shirt and the MK-012 was about 8" from his face. (I was really trying to lose the reverb.)

The lighting was weird, as I was using a Coollights 600 as a key, and a Lowel w/a 600 watt bulb and a blue gel was fill and for backlighting and hair (bounced off mirror). It was pretty make-shift but my first real 'studio' shoot.

Given my IQ is lower than my usual golf score, it is something just to get any of this to work at all, even if I am doing it all wrong. Well, any input is much-appreciated.
 
Setup two mono channels in Audacity. Go to preferences and make sure "record in stereo" is not checked. And then click inputs (sorry, it's been awhile since I have used Audacity), this is either on each track or in the preferences under In/Out. You want (and sorry if I don't know what the MixPre-D shows up as in Audacity) MIXPRED-L on one and MIXPRED-R on the other. It might say L and R or 1 and 2. Make sure you are selecting these under INPUTS. Sorry, again it's been a bit since I have used Audacity. Basically you want to make sure that you aren't recording into a stereo track but rather taking each output and recording them onto separate mono tracks.

Might I also suggest, when you want to make the jump to something a bit more powerful, Reaper. http://www.reaper.fm/ It's free to try full-featured and a discounted license is $60. Runs really light and is fantastic to use.
 
olindacat said:
...

I boomed a MK-012 and used a ME2 Lav. What's really fantastically hilarious is I have no idea how to discern one capsule from the other, so I just tested them until I found one that seemed to sound okay. The next one will have the pros here laughing in technicolor: I could not figure out how to get the ME2 Lav into the Mixpre-D w/o running everything through the G3 100 Transmitter and Receiver, even though my dad was two feet away!!! How sad is that?....
Click to expand...

If your ME-2 is wired to use with the G3 wireless transmitter, you need an XLR adapter/power supply module to plug it into a standard mixer's mic input. Sennheiser makes this one http://en-de.sennheiser.com/mza-900-p available here http://www.trewaudio.com/store/Sennheiser-XLR-Adapter-for-ME2-and-ME4-Lavalier-Microphones.html. Note this is needed to provide the power the mic requires to operate, dropping the 48 volt phantom power from the mixer down to the 5 or so volt power the mic requires - a plain miniplug to XLR adapter would not work properly.

Clip you posted isn`t too bad - would suggest framing with a little more air to the left in the future - it bothered me that he was looking out of frame instead of into it, it felt like any moment he was going to get up and dash off out of frame left..
 
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Thanks, Steve.

Thanks, Steve.

Hi Steve. Thanks for the info about the powering of the Lav. I didn't realize there was such a low power need, although I did read in the SD manual that the MixPre-D can output either 12 or 48V, I guess that is too much!

Yes, the framing of the shot. I know the rule of thirds having shot editorial stills for most of my life. Ironically, the space we had to work with was about 4' wide, and he was looking to his right (our left) because he was referring to my iMac to see the ad he was discussing in the one-minute clip. That was his only means on knowing what to talk about. Framing the shot, with the mirror's reflections of the key and fill lights, in addition to the boomed mic and my fat wallowing body all in the mix, .

What was probably the most ironic thing of all was that it took me so long to get the audio and lighting to work, even on the lamest levels, that my camera batteries ran out of juice and I was knocking over water and snapping at everyone. By the time the 'shooting' began, he was ready to run for the hill, I assure you ;-)

Me too! (BTW: I did run an ad for a 'pro' but no takers in NYC. Obviously, the industry is either rocking here (doubt), or I am such a rotten prospect for a client everyone is (no doubt) holding their noses ;-)

Steve House said:
If your ME-2 is wired to use with the G3 wireless transmitter, you need an XLR adapter/power supply module to plug it into a standard mixer's mic input. Sennheiser makes this one http://en-de.sennheiser.com/mza-900-p available here http://www.trewaudio.com/store/Sennheiser-XLR-Adapter-for-ME2-and-ME4-Lavalier-Microphones.html. Note this is needed to provide the power the mic requires to operate, dropping the 48 volt phantom power from the mixer down to the 5 or so volt power the mic requires - a plain miniplug to XLR adapter would not work properly.

Clip you posted isn`t too bad - would suggest framing with a little more air to the left in the future - it bothered me that he was looking out of frame instead of into it, it felt like any moment he was going to get up and dash off out of frame left..
Click to expand...
 
olindacat said:
...

Me too! (BTW: I did run an ad for a 'pro' but no takers in NYC. Obviously, the industry is either rocking here (doubt), or I am such a rotten prospect for a client everyone is (no doubt) holding their noses ;-)
Click to expand...
Remember a pro survives by monetizing his skills. If you weren't offering to pay industry scale, a pro has no incentive to work with you. - good feelings about an important project doesn't pay the rent or the kids college tuition.

Back in the days of steam, an certain engineer retired from the NYC. But retired though he was he couldn't stay away from the engine house, he just had to hang around and watch the old engines he loved in action. One day the station master rushed up to him in a panic - the engineer's usual Hudson was scheduled for the next train out and it was stalled on the turntable - no matter what the hogger did he just couldn't get the old girl to move. Did he have any ideas? the station master asked. "Bring me a 20 pound hammer" the engineer replied. When he received it, he proceeded to measure off down the main rod with his thumb and when he found the right spot, gave is a resounding whack with the hammer. Sure enough, the piston began to move and the engine lumbered off the table. "That's amazing!" said the station master, "you saved my ass so give me a bill and I'll see you get paid for your trouble." The engineer took out a pencil and wrote on an old envelope "One hammer whack, $100." "I can't turn this into accounting" said the station master, "they'll never approve it." At the the engineer took back the envelope, scratched out the old line and wrote instead "One hammer whack $1. Knowing where to whack, $99" and handed it back. Such it is with the media pro, be it sound or picture, set design or lighting, etc. The value of the pro lies in his knowing where to whack.
 
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I couldn't agree more (or less)

I couldn't agree more (or less)

It's funny, Steve, because I hear you and see this across our economy on so many levels. I'm 50. Been a print publsher (or in publishing) since 1982. In that time, I have gone from sales to marketing to public relations to editorial. I have been a writer, an editor, a photographer, a designer, a production manager, a circulation manager, and more. I have done each an every job for years, studying at an often humiliating apprenticeship level, and moving up from the bottom. I have never gotton anywhere easily.

I may run an ad asking a pro to do a job for what he or she considers poor pay, but that's my budget. Some industries are still doing well enough where the people in them needn't compromise. I remember my second job: I was doing payroll and tracking time for IATSE sound, lighting, and stage techs at a fairly large casino hotel in Atlantic City. It was 1980. The guys made fat money back then. About $40 an hour plus double time for OT, and they averaged another 40 hrs + a week at that. Many of these guys were making $100+k a year, in 1980. Some literally did little more than mop floors and pull rigging for six hours. I recall thinking how fortunate they were.

Nowadays, I'll bet they make even more.

Some will argue for the union, others against. I always wished I could make a union wage. You get paid for every minute you are on the job. You are protected. Hell, one pal of mine, a HS guidance counselor, makes $95K a year for his pension, then works during the summers to boost that! Then gets SS. Nice.

Yet, even though I've owned my own business since the late 90s, and have made good money some years, not so good others, I would have given my right arm to have been that NYC engineer you so wisely wrote about. Now, I will say, with audio it is a completely different ballgame. Just reading about what high pass means makes my head hurt.

So, I have a deep respect for everyone and their trade or profession. So, if you think I like having to do what I am doing, just to stay relevant and find a way to scrimp out a few $s from whatever it is I bill for, after trying to recruit, convince, and paying sub-standard wages to pros in any industry, trust me: I don't.

I could go on and on....

Steve House said:
Remember a pro survives by monetizing his skills. If you weren't offering to pay industry scale, a pro has no incentive to work with you. - good feelings about an important project doesn't pay the rent or the kids college tuition.

Back in the days of steam, an certain engineer retired from the NYC. But retired though he was he couldn't stay away from the engine house, he just had to hang around and watch the old engines he loved in action. One day the station master rushed up to him in a panic - the engineer's usual Hudson was scheduled for the next train out and it was stalled on the turntable - no matter what the hogger did he just couldn't get the old girl to move. Did he have any ideas? the station master asked. "Bring me a 20 pound hammer" the engineer replied. When he received it, he proceeded to measure off down the main rod with his thumb and when he found the right spot, gave is a resounding whack with the hammer. Sure enough, the piston began to move and the engine lumbered off the table. "That's amazing!" said the station master, "you saved my ass so give me a bill and I'll see you get paid for your trouble." The engineer took out a pencil and wrote on an old envelope "One hammer whack, $100." "I can't turn this into accounting" said the station master, "they'll never approve it." At the the engineer took back the envelope, scratched out the old line and wrote instead "One hammer whack $1. Knowing where to whack, $99" and handed it back. Such it is with the media pro, be it sound or picture, set design or lighting, etc. The value of the pro lies in his knowing where to whack.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks, Blit. I have had a golf show in Hawaii for several years and it has been a crazy learning exp. The small apt, family situation is a whole new ball o' wax. Thanks for the links. (I never gave audio the attention it really deserved. Now I am attempting to.) Of course, you should always hire a pro....

Blit said:
Hi

This information might help. http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/audacity/stereo-mono/

I liked your video.

Preparing so well for a shoot that the shoot itself doesn't overstress you is an important skill that I can see you now appreciate. Especially with family. Shoots go somewhat off in there own directions but more often than not, you do make your own luck.

Best Regards
Click to expand...
 
olindacat said:
Hi Steve. Thanks for the info about the powering of the Lav. I didn't realize there was such a low power need, although I did read in the SD manual that the MixPre-D can output either 12 or 48V, I guess that is too much!
Click to expand...

The "12 or 48V" would be phantom power (or possibly T-Power/AB-power for the 12V) - this is for a balanced mic.

The mic. requires "plug-in power" - this is for an unbalanced electret mic.

The MZA 900-P takes 48V phantom into the XLR and converts it to the unmabalced plug-in power to power the mic. Going the other way, ith takes the unbalanced signal from the mic. and outputs it fully balanced on the XLR.
 
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