dedicated to those who do sound for image
Mike Peter Reed's Discussions
Neumann RSM 191 - bypassing the MTX and cabling direct to 702T
3 Replies
Started this discussion. Last reply by Scott Smith Sep 16.
Google AdSense
Replied Dec. 31, 2008
Filmmaker Slog
Making A Bad Film Is Hard Work
So I walked away with nothing but a parking ticket from Portsmouth's dvmission 48 hour film challenge. Whilst it was mostly obvious why the winners were winners, there's still little opinion, feedback, or criticism going on (as far as I can tell). Why is everyone so afraid to say what they really mean? Sure, 48 hours is a great excuse to make a shitty movie and have some great fun doing it. But the compressed production time is also reflected in judging time, so if your movie doesn't stand out from the rest whilst still meeting the brief then you are toast. Pax Copia was toast.
In these types of events your movie really does need to make an impression. As a moviemaker I need more than not winning an award. I need some constructive criticism. As someone having a laugh making a short film in 48 hours I don't give a toss about the awards or constructive criticism. As an artist I find the backslapping patronising at best, and part of a global Bezel Corp funded conspiracy at worst.
I understand that there's just not enough time to appraise and critique 22 two minute movies in 2 hours. It's like sorting actor's headshots and CVs when casting. On first impression either bin it or put it on that really, really short shortlist. It needs to be short to be manageable. If you don't make that first impression, that door is closed and marketing psychology shows that it will remain closed.
So, this is my attempt to critique Pax Copia's production of "Golden 8" and learn from my terrible terrible mistakes. This can only make me stronger.
Where to start?
Let's start with the finished movie as submitted to the competition:
Now, obviously, you are seeing the movie out of context. Imagine having seen this is a sea of other 2 minute movies with the genre 'Weird Western' and entitled "Golden 8" or "Golden Eight" and listening out for the line of dialogue "Well, nobody's perfect". I think there's a reason that some other 48 hour movie making challenges hand out unique (but still randomly selected) criteria to each team. But I'm not here to talk about how the dvmission could have been organised, I'm here to learn how to make my next movie a better movie.
Within team Pax Copia itself, having seen all the movies screened relative to our own, we agreed on a few basic things:
1. We didn't go for the big laughs. It was pretty impressive how many laughs some of the other movies managed to squeeze into 2 minutes. Laughter is an emotion. Emotion is a winner. (They say in the feature film world that if your flick can evoke at least two emotions, then you are onto a winner).
2. Our idea was lazy. We should all know that our first idea is rarely our best. We only had one idea, we ran with it. We were lazy in the ideas factory.
3. Unsaid, but implied - we were classified as Pro Tech (using equipment that costs over £200) yet we had a distinctly Lo Tech result and were out-classed by many in the Lo Tech category. The winner of Pro Tech looked distinctly like it had originated on a higher definition camera, and from what I could tell they used zero production sound, opting instead for voice-over and spot sound effects. Shrewd move. Production values affect first impressions, like it or not.
4. Everyone enjoyed the shoot. Everyone learned something. Fun!
5. The boom was in shot. I never said directing and recording production sound was gonna be easy.
6. The frequency response and amplitude of the audio as presented in the venue was pretty mediocre. Much of my sound design was completely unheard, oh boo hoo.
7. I probably shouldn't have bothered to grade and sharpen the soft looking standard definition images from the Canon XL1. Probably just made it worse.
8. I really hate tape with a passion. I'm learning to hate the Canon XL1 equally (you'd think I would've learned after Ad Astra and Crooked Features ...)
Let's run it through my SUCCEED filter:
Simple (in concept, leads to a memorable log line)
YES.
Unexpected (because you don't want people falling asleep)
NO.
Concrete (some sort of grip on reality included to avoid being totally abstract and inaccessible)
NO.
Credible (within the fabric of the movie - you'll believe a man can fly, etc)
YES.
Emotional (they say if you can get laughter and tears you have a winner)
NO.
Extraordinary (more than ordinary: remarkable!)
NO.
Dynamite (will this movie explode in the audience's lap and have them talking afterwards)
NO.
We really were lazy weren't we?
I've also prepared versions of the movie as it went through the editing process, so you can appreciate what it took to get it this far.
Firstly, I took the most intelligible audio from the close-ups to use as my basis for the dialogue track:
… Continue
"The Fix" #2wkfilm Update: Winner, 2095
Scott Adams insists that there is no such thing as free will, and I'm beginning to agree. There's no doubt that to win the John Titor Award that my movie needs/had more care and attention in post production than the schedule [has] allowed. In 2095 "The Fix" is selected for, and wins, the John Titor Temporal Achievement Award (see above) which basically means the judges saw more than the rough-cut I've been able to throw together this last week (inbetween I-frame rendering and the worst bout of 'flu I've had in years). So, in order to prepare for the second genesis and singularity and the unstoppable rise of the Bezel Corporation I am gracefully disqualifying myself from the #2wkfilm challenge this time around: in order that I may produce the movie that is the talk of 2095. I'm told that "The Fix" is viewed in 2095 much as "Броненосец Потёмкин" has been viewed the last thirty years. Time really does tell. If you know how to ask.
This Winter, A Mind Is A Beautiful Thing To Taste #2wkfilm #fb
-63.jpg)
"The Fix". It's in the can after a hectic five day Monday to Friday shooting schedule. Final Cut Pro 7 is currently batch transcoding from the native Sanyo Xacti HD2000 AVC/H.264 720p to Apple Pro Res LT 1280x720. Started the job around 2pm this afternoon, it's 20% complete as I write. This means my rushes may not be in an edit friendly I-frame format until Tuesday. So, tomorrow evening I intend to do a paper edit assuming this 'flu doesn't get the better of me.
Let's SWOT the current status whilst I have a few minutes:
Strengths.
The visuals. There are some real treats in this, from the eye extraction to the time tunnelling fridge doors. I was amazed what a couple of blokes could achieve in a garage with two torches, a few glowsticks and a smoke machine. The production design and overall look is all down to Evil C and his virtual team. The bad camera work is down to me.
Weaknesses.
The production audio. I mean, look at that photo above. Recognise that mic sitting on top of the Xacti? No? Well let me tell you that, new, that mic in the Rycote Smoothie is worth £4,500. The Neumann RSM-191. And. It's. Sitting. On. Top. Of. The. Camera. Will I never learn? Well, it's not a matter of learning, it's a matter of crew availability and willingness to stoop to no-budget features. Not only was the mic not optimally positioned (although it has produced intelligible dialogue on a stereo sound stage) it's going into shitty camera pre-amps via a ridiculously tiny minijack and there was a tonne of handling noise I couldn't do squat about. If I ever get funded you can be sure that I'll at the very least get a boom-op employed. Until then - shit production audio. (Of course I am my worst critic when it comes to sound, what's shit to me could be fine for a lot of normal people).
Opportunities.
This flick has a higher than usual potential marketability compared to my usual fodder. This is mainly due to an agreement with Rennie Pilgrem helping out with the music, and he also makes an appearance in the movie. The two leads, Victoria Broom and Julian Nicholson are also becoming more widely known and bankable. Victoria is working opposite Steven Berkoff on Dead Cert and Julian is in the opening scene of Jack Said (amongst others) which Danny Dyer leads. Small acorns and all that.
Threats.
Until it's cut together I don't really know if I've got a piece of art or a piece of shit. I'm confident I'll be able to make a movie that I want to watch, but to date that hasn't always translated into mass appeal. The biggest threat is that people fall for Hollywood's insistence that audiences don't want to watch "small, personal" movies. Fuck that. I can't compete with Transformers 2 but, frankly, why would I want to. No, I'm not threatened by Hollywood. But their poisonous rhetoric is a threat to the sheeple which translates into docile consumers of entertainment too lazy to seek out anything that might expand their mind and shake their world view.
I was also really pleased that once more everyone told me how much they enjoyed working and/or that they learned something. It's that three element rule again:
1. Get paid (not a hope on my #2wkfilm)
2. Learn something
3. Have fun
One out of three isn't bad. Two out of three is pretty good going. Three out of three is pretty much unheard of.
"The Fix" should be cut together by 23:59 on October 25th.
Bezel Corp, 2095 #2wkfilm
Prepare your tinfoil hat. Bezel Corp broadcasting soon, in association with Network News Network. Your active parametric Q reality stabiliser never tasted so good.
Shiz I'm Diggin: Probots. And AudioFile Engineering's Wave Editor
Okay, first a little back story. I really dig Sound Guy's SFX Pro (especially the filter that makes all human speech sound like a probot from The Empire Strikes Back). However to my absolute horror I discovered that the current version does not show up in Apple's Soundtrack Pro FCS3 version. How was I going to do probots now? I needed a wave editor, and I needed one now. The choices seemed to be:
1. Garage Band - it ships with every new Mac. But it's kind of kludgey has a silly faux wooden interface and is really geared to, well, garage bands (and podcasting).
2. Freeverse Sound Studio - this one almost had me with its slick interface and quick loadingness. Definitely a contender.
3. Amadeus Pro - didn't do it for me, although I know it's very popular. I don't go with the flow, I go with what I know, and what I know is that this one wasn't for me - it's not expensive though.
4. Audacity - for free, how could it be beat? Well, I've been burned by Audacity quite a few times, it's great in a pinch but not stable enough for me.
5. ProTools - any version, overkill with its dongle. I just want to edit the odd wave file and apply probot fx. Pricey.
6. Bias Peak - too much laurel sitting and not within my price range either.
7. Wave Editor - back in an earlier incarnation I criticised it for being too complex, but a promising equivilent to Sound Forge on OS X. Well I checked it out in demo mode. Liked it this time around. Then found it's available for the ridiculous price of $80 - with the current exchange rate being something like $1.50 to £1.00 I snapped it up for the equivalent price of a tank of diesel (less, actually). Impulse buy! Perfect!
And make no mistake, Wave Editor is a powerful tool. It may just end up replacing Soundtrack Pro as my choice of wave editor and processor because frankly, Soundtrack Pro is still a pain in the ass and now I can't even do probots with it.
Don't Panic
I know I haven't posted in a while. There's reasons for that, everything from family admin to server admin to screenwriting by the seat of my pants for #2wkfilm. The two week film is now tentatively titled (perhaps subtitled) "The Consumption of Marius Čapek". Since the initial production meeting we've actually made very little progress on pre-production (you know, organising things like actors, locations and logistics) because, well, we just didn't have a shootable script for one reason or another:
1. "Foolslaughter". A great idea for a slasher with a psychological twist. Unwriteable in the timeframe due to everyone having pesky day jobs. I wrote about 20 pages of a first draft and it got compared to Kill Bill.
2. "48 Inches" versus "Friendship On A Knife Edge". When it was apparent Foolslaughter was going nowhere fast enough to shoot by the end of October, I dug into the script crypt and pulled out these two contenders. Neither are written by me but they are both achievable within certain parameters. Unfortunately one couldn't make it for October for casting reasons and the other couldn't make it for October for location reasons. Throw in the fact that no one is producing full time and it's not a surprise that these two remain in Preproduction Hell.
3. A totally off the cuff idea to create an animation to counter my idea of filming my compost heap for an hour. Great, but we still don't have a script for it and didn't have time to write something that I "might" like.
4. So, the first week of September getting a bit panicky. Start bouncing ideas around again. Serendipity walks in and an old art school friend of mine shows up - of all places - on Twitter. We get together, he's into production design, photography, strobist inspired lighting and whacky Asian inspired storylines and has keys to Ealing studios. Someone gives me a catalyst of "what if this guy is trying to get his severed finger across town" and a treatment is born. Initially I would have described the treatment as Blade Running in contemporary England but now I'd say it's more ... well, just more. We have 27 scenes which we're adding to all the time, we have a beginning and an ending, slowly the pieces are falling into place. Not sure at this time if we will base the production locally around Denmead and Portsmouth or go more towards my art school friend's double-garage and Ealing backlot. The lead is confirmed, he's captive from Spain and has flights booked, so worst case scenario it's a sixty minute monologue ;-)
All in all I'm a lot more positive we've raised the ambition within achievable limits and will have something visually, aurally and editorially interesting. You'll find out at the end of October, won't you.
I do babble a lot more on Twitter because it's easy and, frankly, I'm a lazy blogger.
Found: Bruce Campbell, "Lead Don't Follow"
Firstly a message to the litigators: I claim no ownership over the above image nor the presented recording. I don't even know if the two are related, but I do know it's a picture of Bruce Campbell and a recording of him speaking (some time in 2002 judging by the list of film titles he reels off). If you are the copyright holder on either (of if you are Bruce Campbell) and want them removed, just say the word - and another gem of knowledge and insight will be lost to the masses.Anyway, if you can take 47 minutes to listen to this recording I think you'll either learn something or have what you do know corroborated. Either way, it's all good, right?
Bruce Campbell, "Lead Don't Follow" by miker71
And if you do happen to have more information about either the recording or the pic - leave attribution in the comments, cheers!
Investigating M/S Stereo Recording For Production Soundtrack #2wkfilm
Our last short "Blood on the Moon" was shot with MS production track (BP4029) and with no time or money for ADR what was out in the field remains in the movie (so there's definitely some bugbears left in). I do wonder why MS is not more popular than it is - to my ear it certainly sounds a whole lot better than a flat mono track and is a whole lot less work than panning and reverb in post. Perhaps I just dig it as the audio equivalent of Cinema Vérité a bit too much, but whatever the reason I'm now the owner of a used Neumann RSM 191 and I intend to use it! Being an amateur obviously means I don't have to deal with the hang-ups, politics and prejudices of the pro and union crowd (just mention recording 96kHz to those guys, dare you!) - and instead can go about investigating using MS stereo on the production tracks of my own totally independent productions. Of course, those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
In the book "Sound for film and television", Tomlinson Holman (he of THX) has this to say:
"M-S stereo recording was tried on principal photography of a picture a few years ago and wound up not being used. The sound recordist reported that the sound dailies sounded great but the editing problems of stereo sound tracks [..] caused the production sound track not to be usable in stereo - the mono sum served well."Well that was then and this is now. Oh wait, what's this whitepaper from 1988?
Lecture by Stephan Peus, AES 1988, "The MS Recording Technique for the Stereophonic TV and Movie Sound", English, 17 pagesSo admittedly it's published by Neumann (hmmmm ...) but let's face it, Sennheiser released the 418-S and outright bought the Neumann company in 1991 for a reason. In other words, the guys at Neumann knew what they were talking about, even if none of them had set foot on a film set before. And as much respect as I have for THX, I'm a bigger fan of 2.1 than I'll ever be of 5.1, 7.1 or 10.1 - especially in a home cinema setting which, let's face it, is where a lot of movies end up being watched without the annoyances and costs incurred doing a mission to your local multiplex (which I still enjoy, BTW).
Anyway, since no one on the planet has been able to demonstrate to me that recording MS production tracks for 24-bit amateur independent movies is a bad idea that I couldn't personally cope with in post, here I am poised to make a feature length movie with a Neumann RSM 191 and a cheap HD solid state camcorder. I'll find out for myself exactly what the pitfalls are. Well, assuming I ever get out of development hell (which is all about herding cats rather than securing funding - I'm an independent moviemaker, see? And, don't forget to listen too.)
Let's rock.
Why I Augment TomTom iPhone App With Blu-Tack
So since I've been using my (relatively ancient) TomTom Go 300 the last few years, it's really helped me make call times on time and generally find places with ease. I still keep a paper road atlas around, just in case, but there's no doubt I'm now totally spoilt by GPS SatNav. To the point of never plannning routes. Ever. Just give me a post-code or an address and I'm away.
Recently TomTom released their iPhone app and I jumped on straight away. I've already used the app "naked" with the iPhone without waiting for TomTom's official car kit and it's been ace, probably even better than the dedicated Go and certainly a lot easier to use (it's even had my better half give herself one more reason to go iPhone for her next mobile phone contract - it's a little known fact that as of this writing iPhone apps can be authorised to run on 5 different machines, just like the iTunes music). Having reviewed the video for the official TomTom iPhone car kit, there's no way I'll be getting one. Firstly, I never ever take or make a call whilst driving - the people I know are used to leaving messages (quiet on set and all that) so it's not like I'm at risk of "losing" anything except my life.
With an addon FM transmitter with dock-connector passthru and a blob of Blu-Tack (which I may well replace with something more permanent some day - however a blob of Blu-Tack does not arouse suspicion and advertise to would-be thieves that you may have a resalable SatNav tucked away in your glovebox or under the passenger seat) it's perfectly possible to kick-off some music, tune into it, start TomTom, literally stick it all on the dashboard and hear directions come over the FM too. All whilst the iPhone is charging. Sweet.
Okay, so there's some futzing to set up, but it's comparable with the futzing with the dedicated unit so nothing lost except the need to carry around another box with you in your car. Brilliant.And for those people who say the TomTom app puts such a high load on the iPhone that it drains the battery even when connected to an external power source - not my experience in the slightest. In fact, my iPhone went from near-full-charged to fully charged whilst using TomTom app on a one-hour journey.
And for those people who complain about the iPhone screen being too small - not my experience in the slightest. In fact, the convenience of having a GPS SatNav that fits in your pocket and goes wherever you go far outweighs any advantages bulkier dedicated units might have with their larger screens and "please steal me" attractors.
And for those people who complain that the iPhone needs to be rebooted after installing the TomTom app - not my experience in the slightest. In fact, I haven't rebooted my iPhone since the 3.01 update, and certainly did not reboot after installing TomTom.
I will say that it's pretty obvious that the TomTom app pushes my iPhone 3G to the limit in terms of memory and stuff - it's obvious to me that the iPhone is swapping out to run the app and then swapping in once you quit TomTom. I would guess this wouldn't be such an issue on a 3GS which has more RAM (it's a virtual non-issue on the 3G, but it is perceivable).
So there you go - if you're in the market for a GPS SatNav and already have an iPhone 3G or 3GS then you can't go far wrong with TomTom's app.
All this "convergence" - it's enough to make me question the laws of marketing which dictate divergence of categories. Except, of course, the iPhone is a diverged category of the original telephone which just happens to offer similar advantages to last century's Personal Computing devices being it's based on a diverged category of portable computer. Functions programmed/augmented/controlled by software may be converging onto single categories of device - but the devices that run that software, are they converging? Take a look around you! And converging multi-functional software apps? Don't think so! (However I would dearly love to see Final Cut Pro and Sound Track Pro become a single application to rival Sony Vegas some day).
Indie Movie Success, Redefined To Succeed
My classical filter for understanding why I like/hate a film has previously been boiled down to the following:
Simple
Unexpected
Concrete
Credible
Emotional
Story
So why is it so many indie flicks can meet this criteria and yet you've never heard of them? Well it struck me today, and it goes back to that Tarantino/Rodriguez advice to young filmmakers thing: DYNAMITE. In other words, it's not enough to be different, it must be remarkable in some way.
So from here on I'll be using this filter:
Simple (in concept, leads to a memorable log line)
Unexpected (because you don't want people falling asleep)
Concrete (some sort of grip on reality included to avoid being totally abstract and inaccessible)
Credible (within the fabric of the movie - you'll believe a man can fly, etc)
Emotional (they say if you can get laughter and tears you have a winner)
Extraordinary (more than ordinary: remarkable!)
Dynamite (will this movie explode in the audience's lap and have them talking afterwards)
Corny, I know (but BODMAS remains with me to this day). I just know the dynamite is going to give me the most trouble.
Mike Peter Reed - words in your shell-like
Latest Activity
Mike:
As I recall, the output of the RSM-191 at the seven pin connector consists of unbalanced audio on two leads, a +48 volt power lead, a -48 volt power lead (needed for the side capsule powering if I remember correctly), a +10 volt power lead,...
I'm somewhat embarrassed to say that I discovered I was trailing the cabling over a mains connected PSU which was causing the hum.
Question still stands though - is it possible (or even sensible) to bypass the MTX and wire a XLR-5 cable to the 70...
Transformerless circuitry... not always the best sellingpoint... :)
This should be possible, right? (Though may lose additional shielding?) My BP4029 (for example) is 5-pin through-and-through and I've never experienced interference.
Let me give you some context:
I picked up the RSM 191 as an eBay "bargain" (alw...
Profile Information
- Hometown:
- Denmead, UK
- Website:
- http://www.denmedia.net/harp28
- Favorite Movies
- Science Fiction.
- Favorite Music:
- Mash-ups.
Comment Wall
- No comments yet!
About
Badge
SpeedTest
© 2009 Created by Jeffrey S. Wexler on Ning. Create a Ning Network!
