Help Forum for sound

[neil harris]

Hi all!

 

Anyone knows a good help forum for sound

 

I already look in www.cinematography.com

 

cheers

 

Neil

 

Montreal, Canada

[Robert Hughes]

There are a few sound people on board here.

 

Do you have something specific in mind?

[neil harris]

Hi Robert

 

I used this forum a lot to pick my camcorder now I need to learn about sound and sound equipment

 

I will shoot a film with HVX200 + Redrock + Nikon lenses

 

I beleive that the HVX recording sound format is PCM which i don't think is the best

 

what are the possibilities to record very good sound

 

cheers

 

Neil

 

Montreal, Canada

[Robert Hughes]

Hi Robert

 

I used this forum a lot to pick my camcorder now I need to learn about sound and sound equipment

 

I will shoot a film with HVX200 + Redrock + Nikon lenses

 

I beleive that the HVX recording sound format is PCM which i don't think is the best

 

what are the possibilities to record very good sound

 

cheers

 

Neil

 

Montreal, Canada

You just spent $5000 on an HVX200 camera. Now I recommend you spend $5 on a book.

 

[abusive rant ON]

There's lots of books out there in many different formats; big, tall, short, fat, some with pictures (even in color) and many with words in them also. Some books have big words like "cinematography" in their titles that would answer many questions you may have. Why don't you look for some of these?

[abusive rant OFF]

 

In particular, you may want to look for a book that will tell you how to use the equipment you already have before you spend another $5000 on sound gear that may be redundant.

 

You, as with many others beginning to learn about filmmaking and videography, are making the mistake that you can plunk down a credit card and buy a point-and-shoot solution that will look as good as the work of craftsmen that dedicate decades of their lives to learn and master a technically demanding craft. Don't be fooled. The HVX200 is a fine camera but until you get serious about learning about what makes a movie tick your investment remains a pricey vanity item, a home movie camcorder.

 

Cinematography.com has a list of books that are invaluable in learning about the field, and include chapters about audio for video.

 

By the way, PCM is Pulse Code Modulation, the way digital audio works. It's the lingua franca (sp?) of digital audio. All CD's and any other uncompressed audio media you've heard is PCM. There are many different variations on PCM (12 bit, 16 bit, 24 bit, 44.1KHz, 48KHz, 88,96, 192KHz, etc) and they have their pluses and minuses for audio quality versus data used. Your camera's manual will tell you what PCM formats the camera supports.

[neil harris]

Hi BoB!

 

What's with the attitude, yes I don't know much about technical that's why i ask u guys

 

I simply ask about my possiblities for sound equipment.

 

the camera gear was more arround 10000$ lenses, adapter, P2 batteries etc

 

if you don't feel like helping then why reply

 

My gear so far, tell me if it's crap

 

- HVX200+P2

- Redrock adapter

- 5 nikon lenses

- DV Pro 55 Kit (lowell)

- Intel 830 gHz 4 gig of ram 2X250gig harddrive

- 2 dell ultra sharp 24"

- Avid and Final cut , I have Mac OS on My PC dual boot

 

now i am looking into SOUND and cam jib and also a monitor

 

I dont feel like learning how to becoming a sound guy, I supply the equipment and the cash and put up a

 

team togheter they will shoot the movies not me.

 

Cheers

 

Neil

 

Montreal, Canada

Edited August 3, 2006 by neil harris

[Robert Hughes]

I supply the equipment and the cash and put up a team together they will shoot the movies not me.

Ah. Pardon my snootiness. You are a producer/investor as opposed to a beginning cinematographer/indie filmmaker. The distinction is important. We see a lot of students here who would rather have other people answer their questions than look up the answers for themselves.

 

No, your equipment is very definitely not crap. You have made a significant investment in video production gear that can produce very good footage. Location handheld video packages typically mount a stereo shotgun microphone on the camera for closeup audio; you can expand on a sound package for video by looking at a separate boom-mounted shotgun microphone, wired or wireless clip-on lavalier mics, and a production audio mixer. Normally the audio is recorded onto the same tape as the video signal, so you would feed the output(s) of the on-camera mic or the outboard mic mixer into the audio inputs of the camera. Sound setups can get more sophisticated, particularly for multi-camera productions, but the above listed gear will provide for most of your needs at the recording end.

 

But before you spend a lot more money, go with your video guy to a local video equipment rental house and hire them to give you a demonstration of a studio package. They can show you the standard gear used in your area and how all the pieces add up to create a production. You can learn enough in an afternoon to keep you busy for the next 6 months.

Edited August 3, 2006 by Robert Hughes

[neil harris]

Hi Robert

 

Great now we are going somewhere!

 

Is PCM on the HVX a good recording format? or the best way to record sound (mabye external recorder independent from the camcroder)?

 

the reason I ask is that have a home theater and my DVD player has PCM and the vendor told me to set it to DTS.

 

to me sound is really important almost more important than the picture.

 

I watch the L.O.T.R on my system in Dolby digital EX which is good and DTS ES, the dialogue are so much clearer in DTS ES

 

I understand that reaching that kind of sound must be out of my league.

 

the easy thing to do is just buy a good lavalier or sennheiser and hook it up the the camera.

 

but if I can clearly improve sound using an external recorder independent from the camcroder it would be money well spent

 

THE QUESTION is for best results audio recording using HVX200 or external recorder independent from the camcroder

 

Cheers

 

neil

 

Montreal, Canada