Equipment/software needed for recording film?

[LaForestPoetry18]

I have a couple questions & any help will be greatly apprechted, So, I thank all who respone in adavance.

Over this past weekend I was asked to be the sound engineer/exec. producer for an upcoming film, originally I was hired/asked to just produce the music sound track, but now they want me to take care of all the audio. This is where the questions start;

1.) What software do I need, in order to reord the audio as the filming is taking place?
(DV Toolkit 2?) (Avid Studio Toolkit?)

2.) Do I need the Mojo hardware?

3.) Would it be better to use an iMac or Mac BookPro, in order to be mobile on-site?

Some of the equipment that I already have;

Apple G5, 2.0GHZ, 2.5 GB OF RAM
Spectral CUBE-1100 PC, 3.0GHz, 4GB of Ram
DIGI 002 & Mbox(org.)
Pro Tools 7.3
RODE NTG-1 Shotgun mic (purchasing end of May)

The film is schedual to start shooting eithier the 3rd or th week of August, so I want to get start with the new equipment and be ready to go. I've done soundtracks before, but I did'nt have to sync anything, just provide the tracks. Thanks again in advacne for your help & wisdom.

V/R

La Forest Gray
Exec. Producer/Lead Engineer/Song Writter
La Le' Productions, Inc.
EPC, TX... World-wide
http://www.broadjam.com/laleproductionsinc

[Craig F]

what are they shooting? film, HD, other video
what is the workflow? do you need 48048?
were is the sound going to be sunk to picture?

stage or location?

Senn 416 is the benchmark for shotgun mics. there are better for more money but on a budget I think the AT 4073a is much better than the Rode in terms of sound quality (recently did a shoot out between them)

no on the Mojo on set, in post maybe

you would probably be better off renting a field recording package from someone like Trew Audio out of Nashville
http://www.trewaudio.com/
sounds like you'll need a boom pole, you might want to use wireless lavs

do you have a good boom op? they are 80% of good production sound

[LaForestPoetry18]

what are they shooting? film, HD, other video Answer: HD
what is the workflow? do you need 48048? Answer: Yes, they want me to connect dirc. to the
Camera.

were is the sound going to be sunk to picture? Answer: Pro Tools 7.3 & Avid Xpress Pro HD

stage or location? Answer: Location

do you have a good boom op? they are 80% of good production sound. Answer: No, I have to get that also.

no on the Mojo on set, in post maybe.
Question? So I'll be good with just having eithier the MBox or DIGI 002 on location?



Thanks for your help/reply & I'll check out the website.

[BRH]

You are much better off with a Field production recorder and mixer. Laptops are not reliable enough for 'on set'
Shooting HD. Double system or direct to cam? or split to both?

[trakbytes]

Over this past weekend I was asked to be the sound engineer/exec. producer for an upcoming film, originally I was hired/asked to just produce the music sound track, but now they want me to take care of all the audio

Sound engineer and Executive Producer? Do yourself a favor, (since as executive producer you are the one writing the checks) and hire yourself an experienced location sound person. It's pretty clear from your questions that you have little experience in location sound. Mistakes made on location will cost you more in the long run than hiring someone to do it right in the first place. For example, HD video is not going to need 48048 sample rate audio. And, you won't want to connect directly to the camera. You might need a boom man, or you might just go with wireless lav's, depending on the complexity of the shoot (the boom may sound better, but only with an experienced operator). And who's going to handle utility sound, you know, communications, walkie talkies, etc?

Neither an M-Box nor an 002 will be good on location for film. You have no sync nor timecode reference with an M-box, and you won't have enough portability with an 002 on location. If you try this project on your own, at least consult a location sound specialist and rent an appropriate equipment package. Location Sound has some packages. They can be found here .

Bob

[mnoxious]

I agree with the post above. Hire someone who does production sound for film! Don't record to pro tools!

But if you can't hire someone here are some suggestions.
1.) Use a portable field HD recorder that can handle timecode (if you don't want to use tape). I've recently used the Edirol R4 which records 4 channels, has 4 mic pre-amps, uses SMPTE timecode (even 23.976) and all the info is recorded into the metadata of the BWF that is created. You can also buss the four channels out to the camera if needs be (but it uses rca outs) and, if the camera has bnc connector for timecode (and not firewire like some of the crazy prosumer hd cameras) you can sync code to or from the camera (as long as they are not in record run).
2.) Boom mic, pole, windscreen etc (hire a good boom operator because mic-placement is everything!!)
3.) A couple of wireless transmitters/receivers with mics.
4.) Timecode slate (very necessary if the camera is not slaved to the time code of the machine.)
5.) A lot of cables and various other audio toys so you can be prepared for whatever the location throws at you.
6.) Good closed ear headphones. Sony MDR-7506 is a location standard.
7.) Batteries

These are only the bare necessities. Location sound mixing is quite an art and can get very complex. Hire someone who knows the ins, the outs, and the what-have-yous.

Good luck and be sure to read all the manuals.

[The Mighty Burner]

La Forest -

Got to tell ya...I don't fully agree with some of these posts. The HD camera system you are using has a lot to do with your approach. Many cameras these days have the ability to record up to 4 discreet channels of audio, sometimes either analog or digital. If the available audio tracks on the camera fufill your needs, then there is great advantage to recording program audio to the tape with the video...instant sound sync! Highly cost-effective and convienient. Double system in this case is still not a bad idea for back up (you can simply record a smart slate at the head/tail of each clip which displays the double system time code), but I would agree that a field recorder of some type is much more appropriate. You can get very sophisticated and/or complicated with double system sound and sync issues, but in my experience if you keep it simple it will make shooting easier and more productive.

BTW...broadcast audio for picture is most always 48khz

good luck,

Da Burner

[mnoxious]

Yeah, definitely record at 48kHz. Sorry, I corrected my mistake above, I meant that the Edirol supports 23.976 timecode. The one downfall of recording using the camera's preamps, and not using some sort of external mixer, is that it is difficult to ride the levels during filming. Not to say it can't, or shouldn't be done. For what it's worth I do think that if this film is a feature, it'll be worthwhile to get the best production audio you can, that helps a lot in post. What camera are you guys using?

[foxlemieux]

The setup I'm working out with my field audio guy for my next HD project involves using a wireless camera hop. You can have the mixer around the field audio guys neck. He can mix the lav levels and boom all at the same time. Certainly not the ideal situation, but I assume this is a very low budget film where people pull double or triple duty. The wireless camera hop is nice because the camera isn't tied to the sound guy and you still get the benefit of recording straight to tape with picture. To be honest I've never seen a reason for dual system when shooting video. Set the camera record levels to tone with plenty of headroom and do all the mixing in a seperate mixer. No need for redundancy because if the sound goes bad on the tape chances are the picture went bad as well.

Among all the advice from all these post I'm sure you can frankenstein together a working method for your situation.

[Craig F]

The setup I'm working out with my field audio guy for my next HD project involves using a wireless camera hop. You can have the mixer around the field audio guys neck. He can mix the lav levels and boom all at the same time. Certainly not the ideal situation, but I assume this is a very low budget film where people pull double or triple duty. The wireless camera hop is nice because the camera isn't tied to the sound guy and you still get the benefit of recording straight to tape with picture. To be honest I've never seen a reason for dual system when shooting video. Set the camera record levels to tone with plenty of headroom and do all the mixing in a seperate mixer. No need for redundancy because if the sound goes bad on the tape chances are the picture went bad as well.

Among all the advice from all these post I'm sure you can frankenstein together a working method for your situation.

reasons for double system:
most cameras have less than great audio sections (HDs are among the worst)
a lot of DPs get very uptight when sound goes to plug into there camera
DPs don't like to roll tape to record environment/back grounds
DPs wont roll to record the off color conversation the actors are having because the wireless lav is still on
2 copies are better than 1