Larry Sanbourne

Does anyone else have experience with slightly larger but still portable lights that might be effective here? I'm pretty sold on RGBWW, to avoid casts at temps in the middle of the Planckian curve, and I'm willing to up my weightspace budget, but not quite as far as needed to go for, say, the 12000+lux Nanlite PavoSlim with attached softbox. Have been salivating over that and desperate to get it but it's huge! Another question, to owners of e.g. Amaran F21*, how tightly can you roll these up for transport, and are they delicate or can you use them basically as bubble wrap for audio gear?

P.S. Falcon Eyes PockeLite F7 is RGBWW at 300g...smaller, though. It's unclear to me how much value I get from a slightly bigger light, vs the tradeoff from more weight.

Thanks, Nicolas. The Aputure MC Pro that I mentioned earlier is actually RGBWW, which would be helpful for me in case of occasionally creating subtle accent fills (e.g. uplighting old architecture or adding visual interest in an otherwise boring room). It is bigger and brighter than the old MC, and it has an enticing set of modifiers (bubble diffuser, flat diffuser, and 30º grid. However, it's 540g... I will see if I can reorganize my suitcase so I can have room for an extra kg, but it's already damned tight in there...

Understood, thanks! Simple, lightweight, cheap sounds great. For my learning, what’s wrong with RGB as main source? And do you have recs for small or mini panels and lightest-weight stands? Lastly, are there books you’d recommend, so I don’t bother you experts more? 🙂 Thank you!!

Hi Jon, Really happy if the info helps. I'm similar to you - a musician but with audio skills, and getting better each time with video! For a single pair, I can't stress enough how much of a difference the venue makes. I didn't completely believe that, and with 2 Schoeps MK5s + MixPre, I have made sort of mediocre-sounding recordings in a medium-sized room, and super professional-sounding recordings in a room with a great acoustic (big, to avoid standing waves, and with beautiful reverb). I couldn't quickly find frequency response charts for Rode NT5 and I don't have experience with it, but small-diaphragm condenser is certainly fine. For classical you just want the flattest frequency response possible. Piano goes lower than your typical cardioid frequency response, and the low frequencies also help with an accurate room impression. So I would indeed suggest trying another omni capsule and recording spaced omnis and see how it turns out. The violin projects the sweetest sound approximately perpendicular to the *player* (perpendicular to the instrument sounds scratchy). If it suits your video goals, you could have the violinist stand in the crook of the piano, place the spaced omnis like 1m from the violin and maybe 1.5-2m from the piano, and do some tests until the piano and the violin both sound centered and the balance is to your liking. If the violinist's stereo image sounds like it's moving too much side to side or front and back, try making the omni spacing narrower or increasing distance to the mics. If you want a simpler setup, you can of course do the typical concert setup - violinist facing parallel to the pianist and standing next to them, with spaced omnis in front of both. If you get too much piano, you can move the piano back from this. Bottom line, just visualize the relative distances from each instrument to the mics, and arrange the players based on your desired balance. Btw how do you handle sync? When I do video, it's with 2-4 cameras (2 Sony ZV-E 10 IIs in log and sometimes 2 DJI Pocket cameras for wide shots of venues). I tried getting the Sonys to output time of day timecode but I'm then recording into Reaper (DAW) and I end up doing it manually. Let me know if this helps or you have other questions or want to attach test recordings. The mixing is an art as well, and parametric EQ + high quality reverb can help compensate for small rooms - but it's hard.

Sorry for unclear constraints. Your helpful reply and information made me think "OK, the small light will be usable but not that versatile, so perhaps I should get that for my on-the-go use case, and when I'm doing gigs closer to home, I could get a separate light setup that would be the lightest-weight setup that would give me the flexibility to have somewhat softer shadows." (Also, I'm a total beginner and have never even touched one of these lights, and FalconEyes's site didn't list the weights...was surprised to know that 2 of these would put me at 10kg already!) For the very mobile use case, are you able to recommend small/tiny panels? Is Aputure MC Pro too small? With the included diffuser, they might be handy for mounting on/in the organ loft. I guess I would still need stands like Matthew’s Reverse Stand... By the way, I have the same struggle with audio: a more reasonable 8-channel Sound Devices MixPre just didn't have the quality that made me happy, so I bought two RME boxes and ended up flying around Europe with this stupid 33kg suitcase.... Am trying to find a lighter-weight setup (maybe focused more on smaller chamber music - this setup was enough to record 4-5 people in chamber music setting, and even full orchestra, which is not my common use case). It's so easy to rent good audio gear in Europe that I guess I could easily get by with just 6 channels and renting the rest...but the broadcaster-quality audio interfaces I've seen don't have more than 4 mic inputs on the audio interface itself, which means you have to buy the separate box just to have all the inputs needed...gah!

P.S. I noticed that a Dutch broadcaster brought two Falcon eyes RX-12SB+HC to illuminate a talking head for a broadcast on location. Is this reasonable solution for my needs?

Thanks for the replies. For gigs where I'm coming from home, I travel with a K&M bag that fits 6 mic stands, but I usually only have 3 in there. This might give me room for a light stand, small point source light, and softbox. What would be the smallest decent setup? I'm wondering if I could also get buy with just one light, or if that's just absurd with 2 people ~4m apart in a dark church with a small softbox…

Hello, What's the highest-end, lowest THD+N audio setup that pros are using on sets? I specialise in high-end classical music recordings using RME gear, and though I love the sound, setting up 2 1U devices, powering each separately, MADI cables to fiddle with, etc - it's all heavy and takes a lot of time. My clients typically care as much about the video, so I'm trying to optimise my audio setup. I've used MixPre and Zoom in the past but found the quality lacking for classical music. Thanks, Larry

Hi Jon, I'm reviving this old thread and curious if the duo was happy with the results? I am an audio engineer doing only classical music recording, with a specialism in chamber music. I know your session is done and I'm offering my view in case it helps for the future. The standard way to record this (taught to me by German Tonmeister sorts) is a spaced pair of omnis for a main pair, which can be boomed over the shot and serve as "glue" and room sound in mixing; a pair of mics for the cello (e.g. parallel cardioids, which depending on room acoustics can be fairly far and perpendicular to the face of the instrument, for your video needs), and for the piano, an ORTF pair in the crook. You can certainly also get by with a single pair, but it will sound best if you have spaced omnis (e.g. 80cm) and ORTF so that you have good bass response and clearer stereo imaging. As others have said, the room is by far the most important factor (besides the players). Esp for piano, the room needs to be very big, and it needs to have a beautiful acoustic, since classical music typically does not sound good close miked - classical instruments play the room, and classical recordings sound most natural when recorded with a balance of direct and room sound. With good instruments, good players naturally balancing with each other, and a good room, you can indeed get by with a single pair. Hope this helps for future recordings! Please feel free to post about particular chamber setups and I'm happy to suggest mic plans for the future. Sorry I didn't see your post earlier. All the best, Larry

Bonjour Nicolas, Thanks for your kind, quick, helpful reply! I tried a friend's 10-euro small panel and even with waxed paper diffuser (high budget!), the shadows were too harsh. It worked for dramatically uplighting a door but that was about it. Would a foldable LED mat like Intellytech LiteCloth LC-160 work? How small a light could I bring and still improve my results? I also spent the whole morning watching YouTube examples of interviews lit with just one light, and I wonder if this could be an option or would just be too challenging? I already have 5 heavy K&M/Manfrotto mic stands that I don't travel far with - I keep them at home and drive them around if needed. If there's no good portable lighting solution, perhaps I have to bring lighting only if I have transit lined up. After all, I already need to find 2 portable tripods that don't suck...it's a ton to manage on trains. What do you think? Larry

Forgot to add: the vibe I’m usually going for is “showing the casual personal relationship among top musicians as they play amazingly well”. Think amazing people dressed in jeans communing with Bach. Sometimes we have used candles in bg and don’t mind quite dark scenes if the music makes sense. But we also eg need to be able to fix a scene with 4 bright overhead task lamps creating beautiful shiny light on brass organ stops but making ugly shadows on the player’s face.

Hello, I frequently fly around Europe with a massively heavy suitcase of audio video gear for making high end audio recordings (16 channels of RME and Schoeps). My clients and I always want video and so I’ve been learning, and when the venues are well lit I sometimes get great results. FYI I’m also an opera singer so often I record myself. The venues are historic churches or artsy chamber music rooms, often organ lofts with overhead task lighting. I shoot the video with two Sony ZV-E10 II cameras and Tamron 24-70mm lenses, usually on f/2.8 or 4.5 for artistic bokeh. I want to focus on improving lighting, but there’s already no room in my suitcase. I already end up renting/borrowing mic stands on locations and it’s a lot to manage. Anyway, what’s the most portable lighting that would improve my situation? A pro video colleague suggested getting 2 little Aputure MC Pros just to learn, and at least to improve lighting in organ lofts. But I don’t know how I’d mount those for piano/vocal recordings…throw them on music stands with diffusers? Separately from the flying-around-Europe use case, I don’t mind getting two lights that are a bit bigger - some kind of soft boxes I guess? - but I’d still have to be able to carry that plus 3 mic stands on a train. Thanks for any ideas!!! Larry

Hi, I recently recorded a session that included an iPhone 13. I used the Black Magic camera app to have exposure peaking and manual exposure. But one of the videos stopped in the middle, one of the others recorded only one second, and another recorded only 4 minutes. What app is better? Thanks, Larry

Hello, I'm a classical musician and audio engineer looking for 2 sub-$2k camera zoomable setups that are compact, remotely controllable (monitoring, exposure, and triggering video), and decent for low light. The budget is a bit flexible but I don't have space in my bag for several large cameras. No video limit. I looked at the Black Magic cameras (nice but worried setup would be more of a faff? although recording to SSD might actually be nice), Panasonic S5, etc. I see that Canon has Multi-Camera Control but it only works with their cinema cameras. Any recommendations? Thanks, Larry P.S. I posted last year about this and your replies (plus recent experience) really helped focus the requirements. Sorry I'm still looking!

Hello, thanks for your reply and sorry I didn't see it. I'm actually still looking for this. I'm looking for a simple tripod, photo head. I'm 1.9m tall. No weights since I'm traveling with lots of other gear. I hadn't heard of the Bluetooth remote. This would actually be amazing but not required. Thank you!

Hi, I'm doing some work that requires extreme portability and need a tripod that fits in a backpack, is super lightweight, and will lift a lightweight camera (iPhone 15, or something similarly sized but better…) to about eye level. Non-professional colleagues have success with consumer-grade tripods like Pixel Maker T3, and I'm just wondering if there's something lighter, more stable, or otherwise better. Many thanks, -L

Thanks so much for your reply. Sounds like I need a spot meter. Here's an example some of the lighting we had recently. In the very far shot, some of the light on the organ loft is created via the color grade, since it wasn't differentiated enough, but this should give you some idea. It is hard to imagine where we would have placed additional lights since the loft was so small? Some of our sessions occurred at night, which of course will make the color grading super difficult on the edit. Would any portable lights have been able to help with this despite the massive amounts of daylight pouring? An example before grading:

Hi all, I've spent the past week researching options before getting back to you. First, clearly lighting has an enormous impact that I haven't fully appreciated. I've been reading and learning a lot. But lighting a small organ loft with even vaguely portable lights seems extremely challenging if not impossible (?). I have been learning about very portable things like https://www.fjwestcott.com/products/flex-cine-bi-color-mat-1-x-1, and less portable things like umbrellas and such, but it remains an immense challenge especially when I'm also trying to position mics properly. I've been learning about Panasonic BHG1, which is expensive but has Ethernet for power. This would be ideal except that sometimes we have to have cameras on different levels of venues (e.g. a mezzanine for a wide-angle shot)... I'm considering upgrading to iPhone 15 for my personal phone and at least getting used to log grading with that, trying to work on my lighting skills, etc. For recordings at the end of the month I may rent a Sony FX30 from borrowlenses (no BGH1 there alas) and see how that feels... Will report back. Meanwhile, if anyone has any advice at all on lighting, or even just how to learn about it, that would be amazing.

Hi Jon, Thanks for your straightforward and helpful advice!! I'm trying to work up the courage to buy 3 Sony FX30s (or 2 FX30s and 1 A7SIII). Do I need something with fans to handle 4K recording for 2 hours? Is there anything cheaper you would still recommend? I anecdotally like the Canon color science but don't know if they have something like FX30/A7SIII. There's also Panasonic BGH1, for multicam control, image, and power on 1 Ethernet line -- any experience with that? It would be tough for a mezzanine shot or whatever, but otherwise sounds amazing. Lastly, is there any portable way I can improve lighting in a sizeable but darkish church (umbrella softboxes, Westcott LED panels, etc), or would I need theatrical lights? Thanks again, Larry

Hi, I'm an audio engineer and musician needing a portable, easy-to-setup video setup for pro-quality classical recordings, sometimes while performing. 2–4 musicians, fixed positions, occasional unmanned single-camera livestream later. Aimed at YouTube and social media. Looking for recommendations for 3 cameras that are: 1. Portable for 2-month trips 2. Easy to setup - Since I'm also doing audio and might be performing too. 3. Remote start/stoppable without going to each camera 4. Low-light friendly for dim venues 5. Can do log footage 6. Records up to 2hrs 7. Bonus - DSLR-quality stills for social media (at least from one camera). 8. Wireless - we might put cameras up in mezzanines etc. and can't have enormous HDMI cable runs. FYI for sound I'll run Schoeps mics into RME Babyface Pro + 12Mic -> MacBook Pro. I have MixPre-6 II but its preamps aren't as good. I'd record timecode as audio into Babyface....or just clap if people think timecode would be too complex to setup while I'm also performing and positioning 3 cameras. Cameras I've considered: Blackmagic Micro Studio Camera $1295 — no autofocus, no app Sony FX30 + 18-50mm lens kit $2,350 — no ProRes Osmo Pocket 3 ($500) — Log footage, looks much better than previous generations; PTZ is great for putting in strange spots high up. I assume the footage is still consumery. Panasonic G85 HERO12 Black ($400) — prob still consumery Sony a6400 + 16-50mm $1000 iPhone 15 — maybe a6400 ends up looking better for similar price and offering remote control via Sony app? Thank you so much for your help! Larry