Audio (and now it seems some Video Technology)... and some DIY too :)

Update

2012-01-03T11:53:00.003Z

It's been a while since my last post, but just wanted to add a quick update to the Blog. Firstly, I have recently purchased a DSLR base plate with standard rods from a supplier in Hong Kong via eBay. Usually these things retail for around £150 minimum, but I paid about £58 so very pleased about that. The beauty of these things is that they allow for better positioning of my DFocus follow focus and also, at a later date, it is easy to adapt it into a full shoulder rig too.

Here is a quick picture of it:

As can be seen from the picture, as I have a battery grip on the 550D, the rods become too low to allow the gears on the FF to match up with the lens gear. Therefore, I sourced an additional pair of 6" rods and a riser from eBay to effectively "lift" the FF up closer to the lens. One can obtain something called the "DRISER" from Jag35.com to do the same thing, but this actually works out more expensive than buying two rods and an adaptor!

I also fitted the DSLR base plate with a Manfrotto quick release plate so that it can be quickly detached from the tripod.

Also looking at purchasing either a Canon 28mm f1.8 USM lens or Sigma 30mm f1.4 lens but can't decide which one. The Canon is probably slightly better than the Sigma, but the Sigma is a little bit "faster" with its 1.4 aperture.

Very recently also bought a new microphone too. I didn't want a shotgun as I can borrow these quite easily, but did want a cheap hypercardioid mic for indoor work. The choices are either the AKG CK93 capsule on the SE300 body (about £300), or the AT 4053b (about £450 ish), the Oktava MK-012 or going much more expensive, something from Schoeps. I didn't want to spend a great deal, and was lucky enough to find some end of the line Studio Electronics SE2A true condenser mics with three capsules (OMNI, CARDIOID and HYPER-CARDIOID) for only £75. The mic is lightweight and seems to perform well.

Timelapse video

2011-09-28T09:27:00.004+01:00

Been playing again with creating timelapse video sequences and now I understand the process much better.

Firstly, unless you really need the extra resolution (i.e. perhaps you plan to zoom in on a section of video for example), then the camera can be set to its lowest JPEG image setting. In the case of my 550D this happened to be 2592 x 1728 which is obviously much higher than is needed for standard 1080P HD video.

Secondly, as most DSLR cameras take their pictures with an aspect ratio of 3:2, we need to ensure that when exporting the image sequence to 1920 x 1080, that the aspect ratio is preserved, otherwise horizontal stretching will occur.

Any way, the way I carried out my timelapse was to record a series of images every 5 seconds (using Magic Lantern's built in intervalometer) and to simply then take these into Quicktime Player 7 using its "OPEN IMAGE SEQUENCE" option.

Upon doing this, a window will appear asking what frame rate to use - I simply chose the standard PAL of 25fps.

The sequence can then be exported and I chose to use Apple ProRes LT (in case I wanted to take the finished video in a FCP project) with a resolution of 1920 x 1080. IMPORTANT: you need to make sure that PRESERVE ASPECT RATIO using CROP is selected to ensure that the resultant video file is not stretched.

Job done!

Canon 5D MKIII or 6D?

2011-09-26T12:20:00.002+01:00

Been thinking lately about whether to jump to full frame and get the 5D MKII. Currently (Sept '11), you can snap (excuse the pun) a 5D MKII and 24 to 105 f/4 IS L lens for around £2100. This fairly large discount must be due to the imminent arrive of the 5D MKIII or its equivalent.

I watched a few comparison videos last night looking at the features of the 5D MKII and the 7D and from these, what I have learnt is that I'd like a full frame version of the 7D and not really the 5D MKII which has a few outdated features.

I therefore came across a few rumours of a "6D", which will be a lower priced full frame DSLR with perhaps the features of the existing 7D :)

Hopefully this will happen soon......

DSLR Cinema

2011-05-17T14:08:00.002+01:00

I've recently been told about a new book called DSLR Cinema by Kurt Lancaster. Looks good and have ordered a copy....

Field of view tool

2011-01-10T14:01:00.000Z

This is an excellent tool for showing the difference between different sensor sizes and how it affects the field of view. Wish there was one to show DoF too.

http://www.abelcine.com/fov/

Glidetrack Shooter SD

2010-12-22T11:51:00.004Z

Just purchased a Glidetrack Shooter SD from Alistair @ www.glidetrack.com. I cannot recommend this product highly enough - it is simply an awesome piece of kit, especially when linked with the Manfrotto 577QR quick release place and Manfrotto 701HDV head.

Here are few videos I have shot with it recently:

http://www.vimeo.com/17981477

http://www.vimeo.com/17979791

http://www.vimeo.com/17953967

1/30s Shutter?

2010-11-14T22:27:00.004Z

Due to the 180 degree shutter used in film cameras, the optimum shutter speed on a digital SLR should usually be around 1/2n where n = frame rate. For PAL 25fps therefore, the shutter should be 1/50s. If you shoot with a higher shutter than this, you can get very "staccato" looking images, especially during fast motion shots. However, what about shooting at the camera's minimum of 1/30s? The image might become too soft and there might be too much motion blur, however it's something I am going to try soon. The benefit of this is that for low light shooting, you can get away with a lower ISO or smaller aperture.....

Posted a demonstration video showing different shutter speeds at my Vimeo pages: www.vimeo.com/digitalvideoslr

DSLR CAMFRAME

2010-11-06T15:41:00.003Z

Just bought a DSLR Camframe from B-Hague in Nottingham as shown here (without the camera which was taking the picture!). It provides side and top handles together with two additional hot shoe mounts (which I have used to mount my 126 LED light to one side, and HDMI field monitor / Zoom H4N to the other side).

Canon XLH1s vs. Canon 550D

2010-11-03T21:28:00.004Z

Decided that in a few weeks time I am going to make a demonstration video comparing the differences / similarities of the Canon 550D SLR and the Canon XLH1s camcorder. I want to compare the DoF available with the same aperture on both. The Canon XLH1s, like many camcorders is around a x7 crop factor so I would have thought that with say an f1.8 aperture, the DoF is still going to be extremely deep. The plan is to film a tape measure from an angle so that the DoF can be measured and compared. The camcorder lens is a 5.5mm to 108mm "L" lens (equivalent to approx. 38mm to 778mm in 35mm format) and has a maximum f number of 1.6. Should be an interesting comparison.

Light tests

2010-10-20T15:07:00.002+01:00

Have just taken delivery of 126 LED light. Will post a comparison video of it very soon when I get chance to make one!

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals

2010-10-16T08:17:00.002+01:00

Just been watching a behind the scenes video of Jamie Oliver's new Channel 4 series and noticed that they were using a DSLR for some of the shots. Looked like the 70 to 200l f2.8 lens was being used in one of the shots. They also appear to be using RED ONE cameras too.

http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/jamie-oliver/jamie-s-30-minute-meals/index.html

LIGHT

2010-10-14T12:57:00.002+01:00

Been looking at the Litepanels range of portable LED lights to sit on top of the camera. Their Micro Pro looks excellent but it retails for around £300!

I therefore visited eBay and after a bit of hunting around and review checking on YouTube, I have opted for the "CN-126" 126 LED light panel, which apart from being made from plastic, looks more or less the same as the Litepanels one. The best thing is that it retails for £37.50 and will take rechargeable camcorder batteries.

It also comes with a diffuser filter too and is totally dimmable.

Great Sound Design Website

2010-10-08T09:47:00.005+01:00

I always like to show my students sound design / sound for picture "making of" documentaries as I think that they inspire students to start wanting to play with sound and go out and about acquiring sounds which they can later work with.

A student told me about this website yesterday and it simply is fantastic with lots and lots and lots of documentaries regarding sound design for films:

www.soundworkscollection.com

Tokina 11 to 16 f2.8

2010-10-06T09:22:00.002+01:00

I think my next lens purchase will be the super wide Tokina 11 to 16 f2.8 lens. It doesn't seem to get a bad review anywhere and it's specially made for cropped sensors. On the 550D, the focal length will be around 18 to 26 which is still nice and wide.

Why a Crop Factor of x1.6 on APS-C sensors?

2010-10-02T13:03:00.017+01:00

Just been reading around: (I think this is correct!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop_factor [accessed 02/10/2010]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charge-coupled_device [accessed 02/10/2010]

http://www.december.com/john/photography/cropfactor.html [accessed 02/10/2010]

to try and ascertain a good formula for calculating the crop factor between a full frame sensor and an APS-C sensor (used by 550D / 7D etc.).

The dimensions of a FULL FRAME sensor is 36mm x 24mm with a aspect of 3:2. Dimensions of an APS-C sensor is 22.7mm x 15.1mm, again with a 3:2 aspect.

Square root of (36^2 + 24^2) DIVIDED BY the square root of (22.3^2 + 14.9^2) = 1.6 approx.

This explains why the DoF on camcorders with such a small image sensor (6mm diagonal, 4.8mm x 3.6mm in the case of a 1/3" CCD), are so deep.

The crop factor of this 1/3" CCD sensor would be around x 7. Now, the ratio between each successive f stop is ROOT 2 or 1.414. Comparing a FULL FRAME f stop to an APS-C 1.6 crop shows that the difference in effective f number is around 1.13 fstops (i.e. 1.414 x 1.6). By this what I mean is that f4 on a FULL FRAME camera equates to f2.5 on a 1.6 crop. Now f2.8 would be ONE FSTOP wider, (i.e. 4 / 1.414) so f2.5 is slightly wide than this. Therefore, returning back to the previous example of a 1/3" CCD sensor with a crop factor of x7, how many effective f stops wider would the lens need to be to give the same DoF? Well, 7 / 1.414 = 4.95. Therefore, approx. 5 fstops wider! A 50mm lens with an f8 aperture on a FULL FRAME camera would therefore require 7mm lens with an f1.4 aperture to give approx. same DoF. If we took the same 50mm lens with an aperture of f2.8, we would need an aperture of f0.5???

The 1/3" example above doesn't have the same aspect ratio however, so the calculations will probably differ slightly :)

[Addition]: What about the difference between a x1.6 cropped sensor and 1/3" CCD? Well, as mentioned above, the dimensions of an APS-C sensor is 22.3mm x 14.9mm (diagonal of 26.7mm) and the dimensions of a 1/3" sensor is 4.8mm x 3.6mm with a diagonal of 6mm. Therefore, the crop factor between the APS-C and 1/3" is 26.8 / 6 = 4.55.

It would therefore seem that the effective change in f stops between these two sensors is 4.55 / 1.414 = 3.22 f stops. What this means is that f/8 on an APS-C camera would be the equivalent of a little over f2.8 on the 1/3". Also, to obtain the same field of view on the 1/3" camera, one would need to use a lens 4.55 times smaller (50mm lens, 35mm equivalent = 80mm on APS-C camera and 364mm on 1/3" sensor). So, to give same field of view, I would need to set the lens on the 1/3" camera to 80 / 4.55 = 18mm approx.

A test is going to be carried out to establish whether this is the case, by comparing both the field of view and Depth of Field between a 1/3" video camera and a Canon 550d (APS-C sensor). Watch this space!..... will place a demonstration video on Vimeo.

Here is an interesting article which shows some example shots taken with two different sensor sizes and it sort of agrees with what is being said here:

http://www.janrik.net/DOFpostings/PM1/Depth_of_Field_Versus_Sensor_Size.html [ accessed 14/11/2010].

The crop factor between the two cameras is x3.07. To obtain the same DoF on both sensors, one needed to be set to f/4 and the other f/13. This is very interesting as this represents a little over 3 f stops difference (i.e. f/5.6, f/8, f/11 and a bit more to f/13). The focal length must also have been set to 3.07 times shorter too, although it doesn't stage this in the article. My theory that that the change in f number is equal to the crop factor / divided by 1.414 doesn't therefore ring true here, so it will be interesting to see what my test demonstrates.

[EDIT - 10/01/2010] - JUST FOUND THIS AWESOME FIELD OF VIEW CALCULATOR / DEMONSTRATION TOOL:

http://www.abelcine.com/fov/

DAM - Digital Asset Management

2010-09-27T13:37:00.006+01:00

There's not really a right or wrong answer to "looking after" all of the assets which make up a project, but the need for a decent asset management strategy, especially when using double system sound is very important. Students often run into problems when moving from one edit suite / studio to another, and often leave some of their files behind. I have therefore created a basic flow chart which discusses a solution (not THE solution) to help make asset management easier.

This video http://www.vimeo.com/14840608 which I thought was excellent, runs through some really useful methods; my flow chart is attached here too, with a couple of extra stages added if necessary, such as setting up the scratch disc and exporting to ProTools for further sound editing .... (please click on the picture to open it and so that you can read it properly).

The flow chart (and video) makes use of Final Cut's MERGE CLIP feature when using double system sound and this has been discussed and demonstrated on this Blog previously. Equally, PLURALEYES could be used for the automatic sync'ing of clips if a clapperboard of some kind of sync point was not used......

First Electronic Viewfinder for DSLR

2010-09-27T13:30:00.001+01:00

Redrock micro have jsut announced the world's first HDMI electronic viewfinder for HDSLR cameras:

http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2010/09/26/redrock-micro-launches-the-microevf-for-hddslr/

Monopod

2010-09-26T17:56:00.003+01:00

Went out with the camera this morning to a local nature reserve to have a further play with my new 70 to 200L f4 lens. However, this time I also took a monopod and what can I say, these things are great and help take the weight incredibly well. When normally holding the camera with the lens at its maximum focal length, it's so tiresome to hold it steady; not with the monopod!

Great!

Audio drifit issues

2010-09-24T08:26:00.001+01:00

Found a very interesting article here discussing a "glitch" in Final Cut Pro which sometimes can cause separate audio to start drifting from the picture:

http://brucesharpe.blogspot.com/2009/06/dslr-dual-system-audio-999-solution.html

I intend to make a demonstration video discussing this shortly.....

ZOOM H4N Output Level Settings

2010-09-23T12:33:00.002+01:00

Carried out a little test the other day to compare the output levels of the Zoom H4N when input to the Canon 550D. The audio output is on its own too "hot" for the 550D to handle and as the 550D has no gain controls for its audio input, a PAD cable needs to be employed. Luckily Pink Noise Systems manufacture a custom mini jack to mini jack cable with built in -25dB attenuator to prevent the input on the 550D from overdriving. I wondered however what effect changing the audio output level on the Zoom H4N would have.

With the audio output on 50 (i.e. half way), there was quite a lot of noise present, but compared to a setting of 75 and 100, it sounded far more transparent without any nasty AGC (automatic gain control) kicking on the Camera. I am not interested in keeping the audio any way as I would use separate sound recorded by the Zoom any way, it's just that I wondered how the quality of the audio recorded by the camera would be affected.

Results here: http://www.vimeo.com/15159957

Zoom H4N Limiter Settings?

2010-09-21T12:33:00.002+01:00

Just been playing around with the three different LIMITER settings on the ZOOM H4N. The manual doesn't give any information as to what level the limiter actually kicks in at, so I decided to quickly test the three. It appears that on "LIMIT 1" it kicks in at around -9dBFS, "LIMIT 2" at around -6dBFS and "LIMIT 3" at around -3dBFS. I think to try and keep recordings as transparent as possible, I will therefore use LIMIT 3 from now on. Recording at 24 bits, it is not necessary to get as close to 0dBFS as possible, so as long as sufficient headroom is left, the limiter at this level should very rarely kick in; only when the signal is getting very close to 0dBFS....

Sensor Size vs. Depth of Field

2010-09-20T13:27:00.006+01:00

Just had a thought - yes, the sensor size does affect the camera's field of view, but does it also have an impact on its depth of field?

Let's take a 35mm camera (such as the Canon 5D MKII) which has a full frame sensor. If we stick on an 80mm lens set with an aperture of f/4, then the diameter of the iris at this setting would be 80mm / 4 = 20mm. However, with a cropped sensor of 1.6, the same effective field of view would be obtained from a 50mm lens (i.e. 80mm / 1.6 = 50mm). Therefore, with this, the diameter of the iris, again at f/4 would only be 12.5mm, i.e. smaller than for the uncropped sensor. So, to obtain the same aperture diameter of 20mm, the f number would need to be 50mm / 20mm = f/2.5 which is more than one f stop larger.

Looking at it another way, if the aperture of 80mm lens on the 35mm camera was set to 12.5mm (i.e. the calculated diameter of the 50mm lens on the cropped sensor), its f number would only need to be 80 / 12.5 = 6.4.

Or putting it another way, the equivalent f number rises or falls by a factor equal to the SQUARE of crop factor:

f/4 on 1.6 cropped sensor = f/2.5 on full frame

f4 on full frame sensor = f6.4 on 1.6 cropped sensor.

This is very interesting as it means that to get the same depth of field that say a 50mm f1.4 lens would give on a full frame sensor, one would need a 31mm lens with an aperture of approx. f0.55 (1.4 / 1.6^2)!

It can therefore be seen that using a full frame camera yields not only a change in the field of view, but also a decrease in the depth of field.

The Road to Coronation Street

2010-09-18T18:15:00.001+01:00

Found an interesting article discussing the recent BBC4 Drama "The Road To Cornoration Street" in that it was mostly shot on the Canon 5D MKII Digital SLR:

http://www.4khub.co.za/node/82

Final Cut Issues

2010-09-17T12:11:00.003+01:00

Spent an age today trying to compile a demonstration video whereby some footage was 1080p ProRes from the Camera and others were MP4 screen grabs from Quicktime Player X. Firstly, I was unable to get the screen grab footage to load into Final Cut Pro, so I tried transcoding it to ProRes and HDV but neither of these would still load into FCP? Any way, eventually, after using EXPORT TO DV within MPEGStreamClip, I managed to get some footage to load. However, I didn't realise until after several exports of the finished edit, that my sequence preset had been set to PAL DV 720 x 576 due to the format of some of the clips being brought in. This was fine, or so I thought, because I could simply amend the sequence preset from within the settings window. After having changed the sequence preset back to ProRes(LT) 1080p 25fps, the strangest thing happened to all of my footage in that its dimensions drastically reduced, even for the native 1080p footage from the camera? To cut a long story short, the only way to get round this was to re-add each of the pieces of footage back onto the sequence? Very strange??

Vimeo

2010-09-09T09:48:00.003+01:00

Have just registered with Vimeo so will be posting higher quality videos there too from now on....

Home page:

www.vimeo.com/digitalvideoslr

Channel:

www.vimeo.com/channels/audiovideotraining

Lilliput HDMI field monitor

2010-09-09T09:37:00.003+01:00

Another new toy for rig (well toys as I have also upgraded my Tripod Head to a Manfrotto 501HDV) is the Lilliput 668 HDMI field monitor.

There are many very expensive HDMI capable field monitors out there, but this caught my eye because it was so much cheaper than all of the others. It came supplied with everything required including mini HDMI to HDMI cable, ball levelling hot shoe adaptor, sun screen and battery. I highly recommend this little screen and is great for reviewing footage on and for focussing. Its resolution isn't true HD (800 x 480 pixels) but it more than does the job for me.

See it here:

http://www.carcomputer.co.uk/shop/monitors/hdmi-monitors/lilliput-668gl-70np-h-y-7-hdmi-field-monitor-non-touch-screen

Canon 70 to 200 f4

2010-09-09T09:08:00.003+01:00

Just bought a new lens - the Canon 70 to 200 L F4. Absolutely delighted with it and yesterday I carried out a test to establish how the lens performed under different aperture and shutter speed settings. The lens isn't amazingly fast being f4 only, but it is a constant f4 throughout the zoom range and its image is razor sharp.

The test settings used were a constant focal length of 200mm and wide open at f4. As I was shooting in daylight the only way to avoid over exposure was to increase the shutter speed to 1/400s. This is not ideal and I have ordered some cheap ND filters to help bring the useable shutter speed down to 1/50s (for 25p) but these haven't arrived yet. Any way, I then lowered the aperture down to f5.6, f8, f11, f13 and f16, changing the shutter speed to compensate. Interestingly, the "proper" shutter speed of 1/50s could only be obtained with an aperture of f13.

Video here....

Slow Motion

2010-09-07T11:47:00.002+01:00

Shot some 720p video using the NTSC format the other day (so that 60fps) can be used. Clip captured and transcoded to ProRes(LT) 1280 x 720 @ 60fps and then slowed down to 42% (i.e. 25 / 60) of its original speed in Final Cut. The "frame blending" option was also unticked.

Example here....

Slow shutter speed, in high light with Shallow DoF - how?!

2010-09-06T10:45:00.002+01:00

Recently I went to film a Lancaster Bomber on a Taxi run and I wanted a short DoF, setting my lens to f2.8 or sometimes f4. It was daylight, so light levels were high and due to the wide aperture setting of the lens, the only way to obtain the correct exposure was to increase the shutter speed. Everything looked fine apart from the fact that the propeller blades of the plane appeared to be almost stationary; the high shutter speed of (probably) 1/1000s saw to that!

The problem with shooting at a high shutter speed is that the it sort of takes away the "film" look of the footage, where the shutter speed is always set to TWICE that of the current frame rate being used (as each frame is only exposed to light for half of the time). Therefore, at 25p, a shutter of 1/50s should be utilised. Similarly, when shooting at say 50p, a shutter of 1/100s should be used. So therefore, if you want to use a wide aperture setting for shallow DoF, gain the correct exposure and only use the optimum shutter speed, how you can achieve this; there are no more variables to play with!

The answer (after some research!): some kind of Vari-ND filter attached to the lens which enables the user to control the amount of light actually entering the lens to begin with. Philip Bloom, and others, recommend the Singh-Ray filters (http://www.singh-ray.com/varind.html), but these are very expensive. Therefore, I have found a DIY alternative whereby two polarising filters can be bought and one reversed: http://www.petapixel.com/2010/08/27/how-to-build-a-cheap-and-simple-variable-neutral-density-filter/

Not sure how well it works, but worth a try :)

Rode NTG1 vs. Rode NT1 microphone test

2010-09-03T14:39:00.003+01:00

Knocked up a quick demonstration video to compare the tonal difference (if any!) between the Rode NTG1 shotgun mic and the Rode NT1 studio mic. Obviously there are differences in the pick up response between the two mics and I wouldn't want to use the NT1 outdoors, but inside and on axis, they both sound good. There is slightly less "room noise" on the NTG1 but this is down to its hypercardioid pickup. Didn't mention in the video, but both mics were approx. 18" from mouth.

The video itself was shot with the 550d camera and Tamron 28 to 75mm f2.8 lens to give nice shallow DoF. Audio was handled by Zoom H4N and sync'd up with picture using Pluraleyes software (although a hand clap and Final Cut's MERGE SEQUENCE function would have worked just as well).

Exported from Final Cut with a 2.35:1 "widescreen" filter applied. Black bars removed by exporting to MPEG4 (3000kbps) using a resolution of 1920 x 816 (i.e. 2.35:1) and aspect ratio maintained by "crop" option.

RIGS

2010-09-03T10:07:00.002+01:00

Really getting into DSLR video now and all its toys. I have been looking into supports and rigs for a while now and whilst the likes of Zacuto are extremely good, they attract a premium. Their "Striker" retails for about £800 alone which is too rich for my blood.

I have therefore been looking at the "Half Inch Rails" website which details more of a DIY approach but who sell really well engineered and light kits. For a complete solution, together with rail mount for an HDMI field monitor etc., and a simple follow focus which can be accessed via your thumb (so no need to move hand away from grip), you're probably looking at about £600, which whilst expensive does allow the option of quickly moving the whole rig onto a tripod. For this, the Manfrotto 577/501 plate combination is recommended. I am looking at the possibility of a 501HDV video head for my tripod, together with a 577/501 plate for the rig so that they can easily be interchanged.

I am also looking at another new lens for my camera and for me, I think it's got to be the Canon 70 to 200 f4 L lens. I cannot find a bad review about this lens any where and, with the cropped sensor of my 550d, would give a zoom range of about 112mm to 320mm and a constant aperature of f4. Ideally, the f2.8 version would be better, but this costs much more and weighs a lot more too! The IS (image stabalised) version is also recommended but again, I'd rather not spend £1000 at least on a lens! Therefore, I think the non-IS f4 lens will be great for me.

The whole rig, when finished, should comprise the Half Inch Rails rig, together with Zoom H4N for audio, some kind of HDMI field monitor and tripod. I already have the LCDVF viewfinder as well.

Just need that lottery win :)

Canon EOS Utility for Training Purposes

2010-08-31T11:06:00.004+01:00

Ok, it's been a long time since my last entry, however I plan start blogging again.

I have recently been playing around with the Canon EOS Utility software which came with my EOS550D and it is fantastic for demonstrating lens parameters in realtime, so for lectures and training videos it works a treat. You can use the utility to control all parameters of the lens and camera such as f stop, shutter speed and ISO, together with a realtime preview which in realtime shows what effects changing these have on the image. A cracking tool for demonstrating basic lens theory.

Pluraleyes

2010-04-21T13:51:00.003+01:00

What's nice about the Pluraleyes software is that it allows for the audio device to keep rolling when the camera is stopped and started. What I mean by this is that due to the 12 minute approx. recording time of DSLR cameras, these obviously need to be stopped and started. Usually, the audio device would also be stopped and started at around the same point and then the scene would be re-marked again using a Clapperboard etc. The nice thing about Pluraleyes is that the audio file be continuous and it just fits in the video where necessary. Therefore, you can start the audio running, start and stop the camera as much as you like and then throw all of the short video clips at the software, along with the continuous audio file and Pluraleyes aligns all of the clips to the appropriate place along the audio file into a new FCP sequence. Video tutorial to follow soon....

LCDVF

2010-04-21T13:39:00.002+01:00

It is my intention soon to get back into blogging and will be posting my findings / tests / videos of the Canon 550d DSLR camera together with other features such as recording double system sound via a Zoom H4N and Final Cut / Pluraleyes etc.

In the meantime, I have just purchased a viewfinder which adheres to the back of the camera via 4 pretty strong magnets and also offers a 2X magnification. I have to say that this device is simply fantastic and provides not only an incredible unobstructed view of the LCD which is essential for focussing (especially outside in sunlight), but also an extra point of contact for increased camera stability.

Here is a picture....

More to come....

Pluraleyes

2010-04-11T18:35:00.005+01:00

Very recently discovered some extremely effective software for automatically aligning audio to video when using a double system setup. "Pluraleyes" is a plugin for Final Cut Pro which basically lets you throw any video files at it, together with the accompanying audio files and it will align them automatically and then place each of the newly aligned clips into separate sequences. There is no need for any kind of visual / audio cue (clapperboard for example) and it seems to work extremely well in the basic tests I have done with it.

I will be posting a tutorial video on using this piece of software very soon....

UPDATE: Here are a couple of tutorial videos...

Canon EOS550D

2010-04-02T16:44:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since my last Blog, but I just thought I quickly mention my new toy - the Canon EOS550d DSLR camera. This camera is simply awesome and allows for full HD video at 24fps and 25fps (plus others too). Audio capabilities are not so good, so I have also got hold of a Zoom H4N audio recorder to do double system sound.

Update

2009-08-25T21:03:00.002+01:00

A new photo showing the more or less complete layout.

Decking almost there....

2009-08-10T22:03:00.003+01:00

Good day today, most of decking now complete and all lights now twinkling away :)

Decking

2009-08-08T21:42:00.002+01:00

Good progress made today - bottom deck more or less sorted with lights in too :)

A few more photos

2009-08-02T21:10:00.004+01:00

Almost there now... floor laid, all electrics, sky and data finished and tested. Will now press on and get the rest of the garden decking completed....

Almost there....

2009-07-12T22:18:00.002+01:00

Plaster is now almost dry so painting can begin soon :)

Spent the weekend off and on sorting out the side fascias and front soffit, complete with LED downlighters. I am really pleased with how these lights look.

Cladding

2009-07-09T22:15:00.002+01:00

Western red cedar cladding now fitted and I'm really pleased with the results. Plasterer is coming tomorrow so it won't be long now for completion.

Rockwool and Plasterboard

2009-07-05T21:51:00.005+01:00

Things are coming on well now. Walls have all been filled with RS60 high density Rockwool and some of them have now been plasterboarded too. Should hopefully have all plasterboarding finished in the next couple of days as my plasterer is booked for the weekend. Western Red Cedar cladding from Canada (courtesy of Benchmark Timber, www. benchmarktimber.co.uk) is also due this week, so I am hoping the exterior will be complete soon as well.

The photos were took with my phone so apologies for the poor quality. As can also be seen in the photos, the first fix wiring is in place for the 4-way consumer unit (which is fed from a 6mm SWA cable from the house consumer unit, via a 40A MCB and RCD), alarm system and lighting. I have decided to make two lighting "wells" out of MDF which will be painted white, the same as the walls and then positioned immediately beneath the roof eaves. These boxes will house some low voltage LED lighting strips (http://www.tlc-direct.co.uk/Products/FL4205WH.html). These lighting strips are modular in design and can be simply connected together in series to provide the amount of desired light; I am hoping that these will provide a nice subtle amount of lighting, shining up the ceiling. The decking surrounding the lodge will also house some LED spot lights as will the front soffit overhanging the front doors. Both set of these lights will be fed from a sensor complete with a timer so that when nightime approaches, the lights will automatically come on and then run for upto 8 hours. Wiring has also been provided for a slimline panel heater to keep me warm in the winter - I have used Nobo slimline heaters before and I really like their design, so I will be going for one of these again (http://www.elementshop.co.uk/product.php?pid=703&cat=).

For the sockets, as I did previously with the garage conversion, Starline dado trunking will be used. Using this system not only means that I don't have to worry about cutting plasterboard around endless backboxes, it also means that the amount of sockets can be decided upon later (and also additional sockets in the future can also be easily added).

Another successful day...

2009-06-19T15:51:00.002+01:00

Floor fully insulated today with Celotex GA3090 (90mm thick) then overboarded with 18mm t&g floorboards. Perimeter edges then all filled with mastic.

Roof complete

2009-06-18T21:25:00.002+01:00

Roof completed today :)

Shingles

2009-06-16T16:54:00.002+01:00

Annoyingly, the felt shingles didn't arrive when they were suposed to, so I only got half the roof done this afternoon. Only took a couple of hours to get this far, which I am pleased about.

Progress update

2009-06-15T23:25:00.002+01:00

Productive day today, even though weather was shocking. Managed to get all panels on, breather membrane and battens. French doors fitted as well. Looking good.

Watertight

2009-06-08T21:45:00.003+01:00

Managed inbetween the recent bad weather to get the 18mm roofing ply on, together with the roofing underlay. The building is now watertight and ready for the felt shingles which will look far more attractive!

Roof rafters now on

2009-06-06T10:54:00.002+01:00

Roof rafters, apart from front and rear ladders now on....

Lodge gets going

2009-05-31T19:41:00.002+01:00

Had a very productive couple of days and as can be seen, the frame for the whole lodge is now up, as is the ridge board and one rafter.

The work begins

2009-05-25T20:32:00.006+01:00

OK, so have spent the last few weeks off and on (as have had a lot of assessment lately) building the deck joists which will form the foundation for the lodge, together with the decking surrounding it.

Here is a time lapse video of the past couple of days work....

Blogs in Blackboard

2009-05-09T22:36:00.002+01:00

Started to think about next year's teaching and am definitely going to go down the Blog route for one of the assessments in both of my main Modules. I was going to get the students to create a Blog using BLOGGER, however I have now discovered that Blackboard (the University's Virtual Learning Environment) has a Blog tool built in which can easily be configured for each Module. Doing this means that all students enrolled on the Module will automatically be able to add entries to the Module's Blog. They can only see their own entries (together with my comments) but I can choose from a drop down box which student's Blog to view - brilliant! This means that it isn't necessary to navigate to an indivudal student's Blogger address, instead all Blogs will be viewable directly from within the Module Shell within Blackboard.

Images, movies, audio etc. can easily be uploaded too and the Blog can be exported as a standard HTML package for archiving purposes too.

There is also the option to automatically link the Blog to an assessment within the on-line gradebook too. I like it!

Another roof option - much cheaper :)

2009-05-07T20:44:00.002+01:00

OK, forget the previous post on lightweight roof tiles. I have not found a much cheaper solution with similar longevity. Felt shingles laid directly onto a felt underlay on standard OSB roof boards:

http://www.katepaluk.co.uk/gbu0-prodshow/SuperKLGrey.html

For the whole roof, including edge trims and ridge tiles, the total comes in at only £238 inc. VAT.

Lightweight Roof Tile

2009-04-20T10:53:00.002+01:00

OK, following on from previous post on my new "lodge" - I have discovered a ligthweight roof tile which I now plan to place on the roof:

http://www.britmet.co.uk/

The tiles are much lighter than traditional roof tiles and have a 40 year guarantee. They can also be laid on a 12 degree pitch or greater (luckily mine is 13) so they seem to be more than suitable for what I want. The company also sells matching barge board trims and ridge covers so the end result should be excellent. Price is around £550 all in for my roof which I don't think is bad considering its longevity.

The Lodge Studio......

2009-04-15T14:28:00.003+01:00

OK, so I have now moved house and have spent the last four months completely redecorating, laying new floors, fitting a new bathroom and en-suite, updating the kitchen and ripping out the fireplace(!). Not bad going considering I've been at work full time as well and the house is over 1500 square feet. In my previous post I discussed converting the integral garage into a new playroom / studio, but we have now decided that perhaps a garage to put old paint tins in and the cars, would actually be useful. Therefore, I have designed a new "lodge" which I am about to start building in the garden. I have been calling it a shed, but this doesn't really do it justice as it will be fully insulated and plastered just like a house :)

Unlike the shed I built two years ago, this one is going to be built from pre-fabricated panels which I will build firstly in the garage and then (hopefully) bolt them together on the foundations.

Plans are attached for anyone interested and I a plan to document its construction. I am currently researching different insulating products and also a lightweight roof tile as I'd rather not use felt! Some of this work might be useful for an MSc I am about to start this September in Energy and Sustainable Building Design.

Should be good..... now, where did I put my cement mixer?

Too high video bit rate.... again

2009-03-24T12:56:00.003Z

Been researching this issue and basically, DVD SP4 assumes that it is the video rate which is too high even if the error is being caused by something else. Essentially, the combined bit rate of one video track, all audio layers and all subtitle layers must not exceed 8Mbps (if using 5 angle streams or less). Therefore, with the two uncompressed WAVE file layers encoded using 1536kbps each (standard 48kHz, 16 bit) or effectively 1.5Mbps and with the AC3 layer encoded using 448kbps, or approx. 0.5Mbps, this gives a combined rate of 3.5Mbps, only leaving 4.5Mbps maximum for the video stream. Having the audio all encoded to AC3 solves this issue, which is what Apple recommend and this also then makes the files adhere to the standard DVD spec.

Have ordered the Apple Training Book on DVD SP4 which looks a good read.

"Too high video bit rate"

2009-03-19T13:38:00.002Z

A group of students ran into an issue yesterday when burning their final multi-audio layer DVD for their Audio Post Production coursework. The brief is for the students to create a 3 minute soundtrack for some original or found footage but there must be three audio layers: stereo mix, stereo mix with commentary and 5.1 ac3 mix. For some reason the DVD project in DVD SP4 would not build and the error message "too high video bit rate" kept on appearing. Firstly I tried lowering the maximum bit rate within the encoder section of the preferences window; no joy. Next I tried compressing their video file into an m2v file in "COMPRESSOR" so that no transcoding was required within DVD SP4; still no joy. Next I tried converting their audio files into AIFF 48kHz 16 bit files (even though they were already in this format); still no joy.

Finally I tried building the disc with just the main stereo audio layer - hooray, success! However, this was no good since they need to have three audio layers to accompany the video stream? I next tried just the main stereo stream with the 5.1 ac3 stream - hooray, even more success! What about just adding the main stereo and stereo with commentary layers I hear you ask? No joy! Therefor, for some reason DVD SP4 would not build the DVD when it had two uncompressed audio layers even though I have done this and demo'd this many times successfully?

Any how, the only option was for me to convert the uncompressed stereo with commentary file into 2.0 ac3 (using the Dolby Digital Professional 2.0 preset within COMPRESSOR) and then to re-import this into DVD SP4. Now, with the uncompressed stereo mix on layer 1, ac3 stereo with commentary on layer 2 and 5.1 ac3 mix on layer 3, everything worked fine. This is slightly frustrating however since I wanted the students to submit uncompressed versions of their two stereo mixes. Very strange?

Summer Schools

2009-03-19T13:37:00.003Z

Already have got four different summer school type activites lined up to take place over the next couple of months or so. Should be good as the ADR sessions always go down well - think I will do something new this year, perhaps a scene from something like Monsters Inc; should go down well with the kids.

Blu-Ray again

2009-01-20T15:08:00.003Z

It appears that you can't even buy a Mac Pro with built-in Blu-Ray player (let alone BURNER) - what are Apple playing at? How can companies provide clients with one-off Blu-Ray discs from DVD SP 4 - presumeably they can't!

ADR Sessions

2009-01-20T15:05:00.002Z

Running Intro ADR sessions this week in class and again, the exercises appear to be going well; it's something which students really seem to get into. Running with ADR Studio again (alongside ProTools) and getting the students to both engineer and record some of the replacement lines for a provided piece of footage. Have just been looking into another piece of software by Gallery called "VirtualVCR" which, as far as I can see, will also provide the visual streamer at the cue point too.

Blu-Ray support in DVD SP 4?

2009-01-19T14:44:00.002Z

Just been thinking about a new module I am working on which is basically Audio Post Production for TV but aimed at audio type students who have never done any video before. I was just thinking that I should cover Blu-Ray / HD DVD Authoring but it appears that at present, DVD SP 4 on the Mac does not support Blu-Ray. I don't want to use Encore - does anyone know if Blu-Ray is supported by DVD SP 4?

EyeTV

2009-01-14T12:42:00.003Z

Currently researching products for recording TV programs and then streaming them around the house to various devices. I have come across a product for OSX called "EyeTV" and it looks awesome. Basically, the interface looks more or less identical to iTunes and has the ability to automatically place recordings made into a shared iTunes library for accessing around the house and even more cool, is the fact that it can make recordings available in Safari for devices such as the iTouch / iPhone to stream wirelessly!

There are different products available, (i.e. Freeview or Digital Satellite) and there is even one with dual tuners so one can record either two different programs simultaneously or record one and view another. I think the setup for me will be a Mac Mini and EyeTV dual tuner setup at the "nerve" centre (the software will even power up the computer when a recording is scheduled) together with either a network storage device, or large USB device plugged into something like Apple's Airport Extreme for sharing the storage (and also providing Wireless-n for iTouch devices etc.).

You can even log on to the device via the web to program it- nice! The system is very similar to Sky+ obviously, however the problem with Sky+ is that there is no way to stream its content anywhere around the home. You therefore need to watch the recordings in the room where they were made.

A few more training videos....

2008-11-24T09:12:00.004Z

Have produced getting on for twenty "training" type videos for my teaching over the past year or so and a couple can already be found on this blog. I thought I'd attach a couple more here: the first is on the idea of basic "workflow" which discusses aligning audio and video files within the NLE first before then exporting the whole sound mix to ProTools for further tweaking etc. The second discusses using the software "ADR Studio"....

More building works.....?

2008-10-14T13:53:00.002+01:00

Have got my eye on a new house which contains an integral garage. If I manage to purchase the house (offer been more or less accepted, just waiting for my house to sell, but almost there I think), the plan will be to convert the integral garage again. This time, as the property is almost new and also as it is integral, the project is going to need full building regs and planning approval, so I am already researching a suitable design which will easily exceed current regs. The plan this time will be to create more of an Office / Studio / Games room, so this time I think the Vocal Booth will be left off the design in favour of a ceiling mounted projector and Playstation 3 :) with all AV cabling installed etc....

As permitted development rights to convert the garage have been removed for the property (this seems to be more and more common nowadays with parking at a premium), an additional parking space across the small front garden might be required. This is a bit of a headache as it also means getting the kerbside dropped by the Council too, however, worth it in the end I reckon.

Looking forward to getting the old jigsaw out again.

Multiclip editing in Final Cut

2008-08-08T11:11:00.008+01:00

Recently been preparing an exercise / demonstration to illustrate the uses of merging clips and using multiclips within Final Cut Pro, synchronised using free run timecode.

A really good exercise will be to setup a two camera shoot, say to record an interview, with the audio being handled by a separate audio recorder with all three devices synchronised together using FREE RUN timecode.

Once the footage is captured, both clips can have the same higher quality audio attached by simply using the MERGE CLIPS (by timecode) command which is fine when dealing with single pieces of footage with separate audio. However, a neater method when using multiple cameras is to use the MAKE MULTICLIP (by timecode) command. This will create a multiclip containing the two camera angles and the higher quality audio file (the same method could also be used if one of the cameras was used to record the audio too). By using the MULTICLIP ACTIVE TRACKS command and setting this to VIDEO ONLY, it is possible to carry out a live edit, toggling between to the two camera angles, whilst still keeping the audio track constant. For an edit to be achieved in real time, one must remember to set the PLAYAHEAD SYNC to "OPEN" so that the VIEWER and CANVAS windows are ganged together.

As with all of my teachings, I have created a Quicktime tutorial file showing these methods, but the quality, once posted onto Blogger is not particularly great - however, it's here for reference if anyone is interested in viewing it....

Following on from what I said earlier about using the MERGE CLIP command, something to touch up here in relation to that is that of nesting sequences within sequences. Let's say that some footage has had its separately recorded audio file aligned to it using the MERGE CLIP (by timecode) function. What will have been created now is a clip containing BOTH the camera's on board audio and the separate audio; i.e. 4 audio tracks. To make it so that each time a section of this clip is used, audio tracks 1 and 2 don't have to be manually removed or muted, another neat trick to drag the clip onto a new sequence, remove the camera's audio and then edit this sequence into the main edit sequence, if that makes sense!

Text book again, again, again

2008-08-02T22:47:00.002+01:00

Heard back from Focal Press about the text book and it appears that my proposal / idea is a little too vague for them and needs to be more concrete. I therefore reckon I will perhaps re-work the idea so that is something more along the lines of "ProTools for AV Post Production", i.e. making it more of a hands on ProTools training guide, with some supporting theory. I need to get my a**s in gear and have another go.... being a bit lazy at the moment.

Vice Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Awards 2008

2008-07-17T11:22:00.005+01:00

At DeMontfort University, students can recommend members of Academic Staff for a Distinguished Teaching Award. Just received this email - as it says, I didn't make it into the final 10, however, I'm really chuffed that I was recommended by my students. It's even more important to me this year as 2007/08 was my first full year of teaching at DMU and with a brand new module too. Copy of email received:

Congratulations Justin!

You were nominated by your students for a Vice-Chancellor’s Distinguished Teaching Award in 2008. This was a record year when over 400 student nominations were received for more than 200 staff. I am sorry that on this occasion you didn’t make it to the final 10 who received an award from the Vice Chancellor in June. Nevertheless, we wanted to let you know that your students think highly of you and your contribution to the student experience is valued as the following quotation testifies:

In the past months he has made more effort to help out each student, email replies to queries the same day and email information to students that don't even have anything to do with the module [...]. He has taken time out to provide help and information not just with the course and module but with the university as a whole in an enthusiastic and helpful manner. He always seems to have a smile on his face and helps out with any problem you may have ASAP.

It’s great to know that the students value your teaching. Keep up the good work!

Don't want this to appear as I am blowing one's own trumpet so to speak, just nice to know that my teachings appear to be going down well :)

BBC Radio Drama

2008-07-14T17:04:00.004+01:00

A few weeks back I was involved in a BBC Radio Drama Training Day. The session was based around attempting to brainstorm ideas, write a script and then record two different dramas all within one day. Personally, it was great to be involved in the writing of something, as creating narrative is not something I have done a great deal of before. One of the "dramas" created was entitled "Short Fuse" (a title we had to use), so my electronics background helped a great deal with getting the odd physics type pun in here and there!

A rough mix, kindly edited by one of the students I was working with can be found here: http://www.audiotheque.co.uk/audio/download/97/

A very good day all in all.....

Summer School

2008-07-14T16:56:00.009+01:00

Last Thursday I ran a couple of 1 hour studio sessions to a group of Year 10 students from local schools. To make the session as interesting and as fun as possible, I got them to have a go at re-dubbing the dialogue for a 20 second clip of The Simpsons. ADR Studio was used, in conjunction with ProTools and both of the sessions went extremely well. I was observed for the first session by a colleague who had been doing similar things both in and out of schools for the past 15 years and he commented on how excellent the session was. Most of the children engaged in some way, either by providing a voice, or by engineering the recordings and by the end of the session, the completed clips were played back to group which they enjoyed immensely. I plan to run further sessions throughout the next Academic Year.

Text book (again), (again)

2008-05-15T15:30:00.002+01:00

Back in touch this week with Focal Press to chase them up about the original text book proposal. Now that marking and assessment is almost out of the way, thought I would crack back on with the project. They replied straight away telling me that the original proposal was forwarded to another commissioning editor who has since left. Therefore, they asked me to resubmit together with an example of my writing. Hopefully will hear back soon....

Summer School

2008-04-25T09:49:00.001+01:00

I have been asked to run a "summer school" session for some children over the summer. The activity will be getting them to ADR a small section of a cartoon, which should go down really well.

Recent Coursework and PPM meters

2008-04-25T09:24:00.006+01:00

Yesterday saw the main hand in for my module on Audio Post Production whereby I asked the students to create a complete sound track for either a 3 minute extract from a film, or for some of their own created footage. The assignment stated that every sound must be originally recorded and that any dialogue must be replaced using ADR techniques. The finished 3 minute piece then had to be submitted on DVD together with two other audio layers: a 5.1 mix and a stereo mix complete with supporting "directors commentary" added. Some of the students also investigated the use of "ducking" techniques whereby the commentary automatically dips down the level of the main soundtrack when present and then when not, the main soundtrack returns to unity.

One of the other main areas I wanted my students to ensure, was that their levels did not breach broadcast "safe" levels, which in Europe is PPM6 maximum (which equates to approx. -10dBFS), with the digital reference tone being PPM4 (-18dBFS). This area is important and it is something I plan to cover more on next year. It's simply not the case of checking levels on a PPM meter - calibration is necessary as otherwise, like with all uncalibrated meters, the readings are useless. A student asked me the other day, why, even though they had normalised their levels to -10dBFS (so that nowhere was their peak outputs higher than what is effectively PPM6) that the meter was overloading. This is an interesting area, as again, it's not as simple as generating a 1kHz sine wave at a digital level of -18dBFS and then adjusting the software's master fader until the meter reads PPM4. This method would produce a monitoring situation which did effectively show correct levels within the studio that it was carried out in, however, take the soundtrack anywhere else and it won't be. It is important to realise that the ELECTRICAL output level entering the PPM meter must be such so that for a sine wave with a level of -18dBFS it shows PPM4. If the sine wave is generated and then, say, the master fader within the software is adjusted, then the tone is obviously no longer -18dBFS. All faders within the session must be set to unity (i.e. 0dB) and then the actual ELECTRICAL output must be adjusted. Some professional audio interfaces (the Digidesign 002 for example) are set so that -18dBFS = PPM4 (or 0dBu, 0.775Vrms) so this is not a problem, however when using other audio interfaces, especially cheaper models, or ones powered solely by USB, the outputs simply can't output sufficient level. To overcome this, a small mixing console can be used to amplify the electrical level of the audio interface so that, for -18dBFS, the PPM reads accurately.

Text book (again)

2008-04-24T13:25:00.002+01:00

After hearing nothing from Focal Press, have just received an email from John Wiley Publishers about writing a book with them. I will submit the proposal soon and then await to hear back....

Addition to post on synch'ing audio with video in FCP

2008-02-29T15:57:00.001Z

***Addition (Feb 29th 2008) - the last paragraph discussing lining up the separately recorded audio with the picture from the camera, via timecode is not the best method. A much neater method is to use the MAKE MULTICLIP option within FCP and when asked how to align to audio with the video, simply choose MATCH BY TIMECODE. Once this is carried out, FCP will create a multi-clip with the separate audio perfectly aligned to the picture, regardless of whether it was started before or after the camera (the audio attached to the video file from the camera can then easily be removed from the multiclip). This method is also really neat when aligning footage from a multi-camera shoot to audio recorded on a separate device. If a clapperboard was used to align the cameras and audio recorder, IN points could be marked on each of the video files (i.e. at the frame where the clapper closes) and then the matching IN point could be marked on the audio file. By SHIFT+clicking on the same audio file with each of the camera angles one at a time and then creating a MULTI-CLIP and selecting ALIGN BY IN POINT, each of the camera angles will now have identical audio attached to them.

Alternative ADR software - "VoiceQ"

2008-02-29T11:08:00.002Z

An alternative piece of ADR plugin software for ProTools is VoiceQ and a demo has recently been looked at, briefly. The software appears to be good, although integration with ProTools has not been tried as yet; only as standalone. What is nice about the software is that the actor's lines can be made to scroll across the video and also different colours and placements can be used for each actor.

"ADR Studio"

2008-02-04T21:40:00.000Z

Recently I have been testing and teaching "ADR Studio" by Gallery. ADR Studio (as used by the likes of Skywalker Sound for the recent Star Wars movies), is a piece of software which manages and virtually automates the spotting of both Foley and ADR sounds within ProTools (and others). The software communicates with ProTools via a virtual MIDI interface, controlling its features via HUI (Human User Interface developed by Emagic / Mackie) and MTC (MIDI TIME CODE). It's a bit fiddly to setup, but once configured it works extremely well.

As well as automatically generating the standard 3 blips spaced 667ms (or 16 film frames) before the cue point, it also has a powerful matrix which lets the user decide what happens to each track during the PREVIEW, RECORD and REVIEW stages. For example, during the PREVIEW stage, the actor might wish to hear the reference audio both before, during and after the cue point. However, during the actual RECORD and REVIEW stages, they might wish to only hear the reference audio during the pre and post roll sections and then hear only their "live" input during the actual record stage; this is easily configured within the ADR Studio matrix.

Spotting of sounds / dialogue is also extremely easy as the line/s are simply highlighted and then upon hitting the SPOT dialogue box, a window appears where things such as the actor / character's name and line to be replaced can easily be entered. Then, an ADR cue sheet can be generated and printed out ready to give to the actor / Foley artist etc. A simple double click on the required cue automatically sets ProTools up at the required position within the timeline ready for previewing / recording or reviewing the cue.

An excellent piece of software - I plan to get hold of a copy for my own studio as this is an area I'd definitely like to move into / explore.

Panels complete

2007-11-06T16:40:00.001Z

The existing panels have now had their infill replaced with a more dense 50mm Rockwool and also the two other ceiling ones have now been completed. The acoustic is much more dead now and stereo imaging has greatly been improved when monitoring via the Blue Sky monitors - it is quite amazing how much difference there is.

With some fabric left over and a couple of slabs of Rockwool, I might look into making a pad to go on the back of one of the doors between the studio space and utility room next door. Even with a double stud / double leaf fire door arrangement, noise from the tumble dryer is still audible. It's not a problem, but I might as well use up the left over materials!

One other thing to improve upon is the glass in the vocal booth. I plan to take out the sealed unit and replace it with two separate panes of 4mm and 6mm respectively.

Acoustic Panels - update

2007-11-04T16:47:00.000Z

Not quite as much progress as I would have liked, but 3 out of the 5 panels were completed this weekend. The panel standing upright is for the ceiling; the two final panels for the ceiling will be completed this week. As can be seen from the third photograph, Glass Wool was used instead of Rockwool simply because the supplier sent me the wrong material! I think I may change the infill to Rockwool as its performance should be better than standard Glass Wool batts. More pictures to follow...

Back on with the Text Book

2007-11-02T11:47:00.000Z

Have now decided to try and crack on with the Text Book. Focal Press were approached in May of this year and they seemed keen so I have now drawn up a proper proposal and emailed it to them today. Hopefully they will be interested in the idea which is essentially to create a text book which is half theory and half practical, backed up by a dozen or so exercises on a provided DVD. The book is going to be primarily aimed at Media / TV and Film students who often have very little experience in the way of audio production and post production. However, there will also be some more advanced topics which should appear to the more experienced too. My proposed topics include:

• Introduction to soundwaves, signals and metering systems.
• dB theory.
• Studio installation and wiring (to include examples of both audio and video editing setups).
• Location recording: field mixers, field recorders, line up, microphones, synchronisation, cabling and interfacing to both camera and field recorder.
• Specifications: what they mean and how they are measured.
• Digital Audio Theory, including HD.
• Overview of MIDI.
• Dynamics Processors.
• EQ.
• Effects.
• Case study: conversion of a single garage into 5.1 post production studio.
• General introduction and overview of ProTools (and possibly Logic Pro and Apple's Soundtrack too).
• Routing within ProTools.
• Sound for Picture exercise (workflow: capturing Video into Final Cut Pro / Premiere, using ProTools for line up of tracks, editing, encoding video ready for picture edit, exporting audio back out of the NLE after picture edit, back into ProTools for soundtrack mix).
• Listening exercise: demonstration of different microphones used at different distances and recorded to different devices (to DV camera, solid state recorder, via a Field Mixer etc.).
• ADR exercise within ProTools.
• 5.1 in ProTools – in TDM and LE systems.
• Basic mastering.
• DVD Authoring for Audio exercise: stereo, creating and encoding 5.1, adding director’s commentary, PCM and AC3 encoding, basic bit budgeting, DVD scripting.

More on this as and when I hear back.....

Acoustic Panels

2007-10-31T09:03:00.000Z

After the recent success of designing some acoustic absorption panels for Nottingham City Council, it has now been decided to design and build some for the studio.

Pictures will follow, but the plan is to construct some frames with sloping fronts from 12mm MDF with a 50mm infill of Rockwool. At the deepest points the panels for the wall behind the speakers will be 200mm deep, reducing to 75mm and the ones for the ceiling will be 150mm deep reducing to 75mm. As the panels will be quite deep, there will be a good cavity behind the Rockwool which will hopefully provide good bottom end absorption. Some Cara Acoustic Fabric in dark blue has been ordered to cover the panels with, so they should look quite aesthetically pleasing too.

Construction will begin at the weekend....

Timecode capture / line up in Final Cut Pro

2007-07-09T13:25:00.001+01:00

Have just investigated lining up/ capturing separately recorded audio and picture via timecode in FCP.

In the previous post, the idea of jam-synching was touched upon. Basically, the Field Recorder is jam synched (or forced) to adjust its internally generated timecode to that of the camera (or vice versa). Once this has been done, the physical connection between to the two can be removed for at least a couple of hours without drift. This method has the added benefit that the sound recordist is not restricted to being in close proximity to the camera, as no physical link is required (although it can be useful if the sound op wants to monitor sound coming off camera too, for backup purposes etc.). This method only works in FREE RUN (F RUN) mode which is where the timecode progresses regardless of whether the tape is moving or not and means that the two devices do not have to be started and stopped precisely at the same time.

Any way, a Fostex FR-2 was set to generate FREE RUN timecode and then its timecode output was connected to the Timecode input on a Canon XH-G1 camera. Immediately, the camera picked up the timecode and matched it. The cable was then disconnected and both devices carried on generating their own separate timecode, but precisely in time with each other. A small amount of footage was recorded to both camera and field recorder and it was discovered that it helps if the camera is started slightly before and stopped slightly after the field recorder (more on why this is shortly).

Firstly, the wave file recorded by the FR-2 was imported, via USB, to FCP and because of its BWF (Broadcast Wave File) system, the timecode start and stop times immediately appeared in the "Media Start" and "Media End" columns within FCP. Secondly, the "Log and Capture" window within FCP was opened so that the matching footage from the camera could be grabbed. By Option/Dragging the timecode value in the Media Start column into the IN point within the Logging window (and by doing the same for the Media End column too) an exact capture could be carried out by using "Capture Clip". Once complete, the footage and wave file matched perfectly. By letting the camera start before and end after the field recorder, it is easy to get FCP to capture footage between the start and stop times of the wave file from the field recorder. If this wasn't carried out and the camera started after the field recorder, then FCP would not be able to find the required timecode on the tape.

***Addition (Feb 29th 2008) - the last paragraph discussing lining up the separately recorded audio with the picture from the camera, via timecode is not the best method. A much neater method is to use the MAKE MULTICLIP option within FCP and when asked how to align to audio with the video, simply choose MATCH BY TIMECODE. Once this is carried out, FCP will create a multi-clip with the separate audio perfectly aligned to the picture, regardless of whether it was started before or after the camera (the audio attached to the video file from the camera can then easily be removed from the multiclip). This method is also really neat when aligning footage from a multi-camera shoot to audio recorded on a separate device. If a clapperboard was used to aligned the cameras and audio recorder, IN points could be marked on each of the video files (i.e. at the frame where the clapper closes) and then the matching IN point could be marked on the audio file. By SHIFT+clicking on the same audio file with each of the camera angles one at a time and then creating a MULTI-CLIP and selecting ALIGN BY IN POINT, each of the camera angles will now have identical audio attached to them.

Levels and line up

2007-07-09T12:42:00.000+01:00

Had the chance this morning to investigate audio levels when recording to a different devices. A Canon XH-G1 camcorder has just been purchased together with a Fostex FR2 with optional timecode board and a Sound Devices 302 field mixer.

The Canon XH-G1 was chosen because, at present, it appears to be the cheapest camcorder available which will both generate and accept timecode synchronisation signals via a standard BNC connection. The idea is to get students to record their audio to both camera and field recorder and to maintain sync between the two via timecode. In some situations, when it is favoured to have the sound operator to be a long way from the camera, the useful feature of jam synching can be used. This feature allows the slave device to force its internally generated timecode to that of the master and then free run without the need for a permanent cable connection (although the cable should be reconnected every few hours to maintain stability). This system only works in FREE RUN mode, which is where the timecode continues progressing whether the tape is moving or not and thus means that the field recorder and camera do not have to be started and stopped exactly at the same time (a useful Flash demonstration of this principle can be found here: http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/HDV/XHG1/inputs_outputs.shtml (click on the SMPTE TIMECODE section within the large black box). Regardless of physical start and stop times of both the camera and field recorder, the footage required from both will have identical timecode meaning lining up the files in an NLE like Final Cut Pro becomes very easy (see later).

Calibration / Line Up
Some tests were carried out to establish exactly at what level both the camera and field recorder were recording at (as the digital peak level meters can be somewhat inaccurate). The first test was to connect the Sound Devices 302 field mixer directly to the Canon XH-G1 via two standard XLR cables. The 302's attenuation was set to 0, meaning that the 1kHz sine wave it generates is calibrated so that 0 on its bar graph display equates to a level of 0dBu and also provides 20dB headroom beyond this point. The recommendation is to set the input level on the recording device so that 0 on the 302 corresponds to -20dBFS (dB FULL SCALE) on the camera, meaning that +20dB on the 302 corresponds to 0dBFS on the camera, i.e. absolute maximum level.

With the camera's XLR inputs set to LINE and the input gains set to maximum, the 1kHz sine wave input from the 302 was recorded to tape (in DV mode, not HDV). The meter on the camera is very difficult to accurately read as no numbers are provided, however it showed a level of approx. 1 increment below the third division (I said it wasn't that useful). To discover exactly what level was recorded to tape, the footage was captured, via firewire to FCP and then exported to Apple's Soundtrack as its meters are slightly better (although the software itself is pretty useless, but that's another story...). The meters for both channels showed a level of -20.6dBFS which is an extremely useful and useable level. This therefore means that at 0 on the 302's bar graph display, the signal going down onto DV tape was -20.6dBFS, meaning that even if the 302 hit its +20dB segment (maximum) the camera would hit just under 0dBFS, i.e approx. -0.6dBFS.

A second test was carried out, this time using the both the Fostex FR-2 field recorder and camera to record the test signal from the 302. The signal chain was as follows: XLR line outputs on the 302 into the XLR inputs on the Fostex FR-2 (with input set to LINE). The Phono RCA line outputs from the FR-2 were connected into the XLR inputs on the camera and then finally, to monitor the signal level from the camera, its headphone output was input to the monitor return path on the 302. Providing this monitor line from the camera enables the signal to be monitored "post tape / disc". With the same camera settings as previously discussed, and with the input level on the FR-2 carefully adjusted so that it showed the required level of -20dBFS, both the camera and field recorder were set to record. Upon capturing the footage (and copying the wave file from the field recorder). the levels were as follows:

FR-2 LEFT: -18.3dBFS
FR-2 RIGHT: -19.3dBFS

Camera LEFT and RIGHT: approx. -28dBFS

It can therefore be seen that the line outputs on the FR-2 are attenuating the signal slightly and also, its digital meter isn't particularly accurate, giving a reading of -20dBFS for an actual recording level of -18.3dBFS and -19.3dBFS for the left and right channels respectively. It was also difficult to accurately adjust both the left and right input gains to give the same level (as can be seen from the results here). The outputs from the FR-2 are unbalanced, so this might explain the drop in signal level.

As the input gain on the camera was at its maximum setting, there was no way to increase the signal level any further without changing the input sensitivity to the MIC setting. To avoid overdriving the inputs to the camera in this state, the input gains were reduced to minimum and also the camera's ATT (attenutation) function was switched on. Without the ATT button switched in, and even with the input gain at a minimum, the input stage would distort due to overdriving. Gradually the input gains were turned up to give a higher level than what was possible in LINE mode and after a few attempts (which won't be discussed here) it was found that with the camera's meter showing a level of one increment under point number 3, a recording level of around -21dBFS could be achieved; thus allowing 1dB of headroom above the 302's maximum output level.

An alternative method to using the ATT function on the camera, would be to use the 302's built in attenuation mode, however the 302 has a somewhat awkward menu system, so it is probably easier to keep the 302's output level at its default of 0 = 0dBu.

Photosynth Demo

2007-06-13T15:31:00.000+01:00

This is nothing to do with audio, but I had to include it in this Blog as it is extremely impressive:

Quote: "Using photos of oft-snapped subjects (like Notre Dame) scraped from around the Web, Photosynth (based on Seadragon technology) creates breathtaking multidimensional spaces with zoom and navigation features that outstrip all expectation. Its architect, Blaise Aguera y Arcas, shows it off in this standing-ovation demo. Curious about that speck in corner? Dive into a freefall and watch as the speck becomes a gargoyle. With an unpleasant grimace. And an ant-sized chip in its lower left molar. "Perhaps the most amazing demo I've seen this year," wrote Ethan Zuckerman, after TED2007. Indeed, Photosynth might utterly transform the way we manipulate and experience digital images."

Reverbent Office - update 1

2007-06-06T20:08:00.001+01:00

One of the prototype absorption panels was tested in the office space today. However, at 3m tall by 2m wide, it was a little on the large side. On the plus side, a very noticeable reduction in reverb time was observed and so now, after some detailed calculations using the Sabine formula and assuming a nominal frequency of 1kHz, it has now been decided to make 12 1200 x 600 panels based on the same design as in the previous post. Assuming the maths is correct, the calculated RT60 time of 1.65s should be reduced to around 0.65s with the panels in place; Howard (2006), states that this is an ideal figure for speech.

Ref:

Howard, D (2006). Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, Oxford, Focal Press.

Noisy Office

2007-05-25T14:00:00.000+01:00

Visited an office at Nottingham City Council this week. The office in question is extremely reverberant due to the high ceiling, bare plastered walls and lack of any absorption. The two options were either to reduce the volume by installing some kind of suspended ceiling or to increase the room's absorption characteristics. The latter option was favoured as the room itself is very ornate with detailed coving surrounding the ceiling, so it would be a shame to get rid of this.

As a result, I came up with a prototype absorption panel (based on Paul White's design) to be built and tested. If a satisfactory result is obtained the final solution will be to fix half a dozen or so around the office walls with high resolution photographs of Nottingham screen printed on to the fabric covering.

Text book anyone?

2007-05-04T10:45:00.000+01:00

Have been in contact with Focal Press about me writing a text book on Audio Production / Technology / Post Production type bits. I want to create a "one stop" solution for people new to the world of audio, from background theory (but not too technical) to providing lots of hands on tutorials with accompanying CD/DVD. I have written lots of handouts / handbooks during the past few years and I now think it's time to try and get them out there.

There's lots of excellent books in the Focal Press range, but I want one which covers bits of everything and one which hopefully will enable students to see the importance of learning the theory as well as the practical.

Session

2007-05-04T10:40:00.000+01:00

Feeling very good at the moment to actually be using the studio. A new song which we have recently started is really starting to take shape and it's so good just to be able to send people to the vocal booth and to obtain extremely clean recordings without the usual PC fan noise in the background.....

On a separate note, just about to put an order in for Final Cut Studio 2. Having never really used Final Cut / DVD Studio etc., properly before, it is going to be nice to have a play with them. The new COLOUR package looks awesome for giving signature colour grading to projects (I especially like the look of Top Gear at the moment). It also contains Soundtrack Pro - not sure what that's like?

BBC Radio Drama

2007-03-07T13:42:00.000Z

Forgot about this one - a month or so ago I went to a guest Lecture by Connor Lennon, who is a radio Producer for the BBC. He is wanting people to produce short, 3 minute, radio dramas with a view to making radio drama more popular. What with podcasts and audio on the move in general becoming ever more popular, Connor believes that radio drama could be the next big thing.

Not something that I have done before, I think I will have a go at producing something in the studio.

Connor's blog is here: http://audiodrama.blogspot.com

2007-03-02T20:32:00.000Z

Here are a few more images showing the Vocal Booth......

Another session a success

2007-03-02T14:37:00.000Z

Wednesday 28th Feb saw a second a session take place without any hiccups. Mark, my guitarist just fitted inside the booth with his acoustic guitar in tow (forgot to take any pictures though).

A new feature was discovered in ProTools too whilst editing / comping Mark's guitar takes. Beat Detective (CONTROL + 8 on numeric keypad), is used for things such as analysing tracks and splitting them up into multiple regions around each significant transient (each drum beat for example). However, it also contains a feature which will "fill in the gaps" around each edit and auotmatically create fades and crossfades to ensure a seamless cut. Mark's timing was a little off during the intro of the new song, so using the "separate region" command (keyfocus + B), the chords were separated and then aligned back to the grid. Then, using the feature outlined above in Beat Detective, the gaps created due to this editing were seamlessly joined back together; I will post some screenshots soon.

Another feature used during some vocal takes with Ollie, was the "matching start times takes list". As well as being able to use this to comp a single vocal track within itself, I discovered that the different takes can easily be layered upon each other by using multiple tracks. This therefore allows complex multi-tracking of harmonies etc., to be very quickly layered by using a combination of this and the loop record feature.

Bass traps etc.

2007-02-26T11:19:00.000Z

It can be seen in the previous post that minimal treatment has been applied at this stage. Three wedge tiles were left over from the booth, so these have been positioned behind the three front monitors. However, it is hoped, when funds allow(!) to apply a few more to the rear wall and ceiling and also to incorporate a bass trap in each corner. The bass traps will either be off the shelf from the same place as the tiles were purchased from, or they may be made following Paul White's design in SOS - (based around a 125mm deep wooden frame, wedge tile on top and rockwool insulation behind) - chec out http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul06/articles/studiosos_0706.htm for further information.

Photographs

2007-02-25T23:20:00.000Z

Today, my brother very kindly came round to take some photographs using his very expensive digital SLR :-). I hope to use some of these in my new website. Shown here are a few of the ¨proof¨ pictures.

I especially like the one in the Booth - shot with the camera sat on the floor.

First session a success

2007-02-25T23:17:00.000Z

Friday 23rd February saw the first session in the new studio. The session consisted of writing a new song together with laying down some basic rhythm guitar (routed live through Amplitube LE in ProTools) and some guide vocals. I played around the following day adding some string parts and basic percussion. This was a basic session, but it was really nice to actually USE the space at last!

Is the garage cursed?!

2007-02-20T10:21:00.000Z

OK, everything is now working (am still waiting for the new monitors though). I have to say, the Mackie Control is the best piece of kit I have ever seen - it controls ProTools as well as the Control 24 and its implementation with Sony Vegas is amazing. The jog and shuttle control for controlling video playback is superb and you can switch the faders to control either audio or video mixing, meaning realtime crossfades between shots can be recorded in, in realtime using the desk. This piece of kit is just stunning.

Getting to this stage of actually being able to use the kit has been absolute hell and I hope I don't encounter similar problems again. Last Friday evening, all was working as expected and then suddenly the "Delayed Write Error" message kept coming up for the new 250GB SATAII drive I fitted for AV work. This was worrying as my entire work for audio and video was on this new drive. Upon rebooting, Scandisk did its thing, but to no avail and the message, along with a clattering sound, kept occuring. Upon inspecting the drive in Explorer, the entire file system had gone, along with all of the work. After calming down, I remembered that the original drive which I copied all the work from was still in tact, so thankfully (and very luckily) the work is still in tact.

Another problem(!) was that the old P4 motherboard which was taken out of the main PC died too. Upon refitting it into my second machine's case, nothing would happen, completely dead. The board worked when it was taken out, but not anymore. This is a pity as the second machine, as well as housing backups, has Steinberg's THE GRAND 2 on it (incredible Grand Piano virtual instrument) which is triggered via ProTools on the main machine. Unfortunately, its old PIII processor isn't quite up to running it, so installing this P4 board and chip would have hopefully sorted it out; alas, this is not to be.

Sound on Sound article

2007-02-09T11:53:00.000Z

The other day I thought that I had discovered a way to beat the latency issues with LE systems and to use all available physical outputs whilst still in low latency monitoring mode. Sound on Sound magazine were approached and they were keen to read my findings with a view to publishing the article. However, since then I have realised that what I was trying was not really working as I thought it was :(

Further ProTools Problems - finally resolved

2007-02-09T10:39:00.000Z

Upon finally getting ProTools to install and run, more problems were noticed with the Digi002 RACK audio interface. For some reason, unbeknown to me at the time, every 30s, the 1394 Firewire light would flick on and off and ProTools would stop playing or recording (as it was obviously temporarily losing its communication). After changing Firewire cards with no luck, it was decided to replace the motherboard, CPU and RAM (a bit drastic but the PC was in need of an upgrade any way). After replacing the various bits and reinstalling Windows XP from scratch, the same problem appeared yet again!

After more head scratching, both wired and wirless network adapters were disabled and even without re-starting ProTools, the problem disappeared instantly. More research will be carried out on this, but it is probably down to the network adapters hogging the same IRQ as the Firewire interface? With the network disabled, ProTools runs brilliantly on this new machine (Dual Core 1.8GHz) - as well as any TDM system I have encountered. Even with the playback buffer set to 128 samples, the machine refuses to fall over, meaning that headphone mixes can be set up in what is perceived to be realtime via software sends. The problem with any LE system is the latency encountered which means setting up things such as cue mixes, plugins on live inputs etc., is tricky unless the playback buffer can be reduced sufficiently (as already discussed, the 128 samples option works well). The Digi002 does have a "low latency monitoring" option but this diasbles all sends and mutes all physical outputs apart from 1 and 2 meaning that creating a separate headphone mix is basically impossible. This article in Sound on Sound discusses this further by the way: http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun06/articles/ptworkshop_0606.htm.

Finally, the studio is becoming useable - just waiting for the monitors and contol surface.

Update with pictures

2007-02-03T13:58:00.000Z

Here are some pictures following some work today. Just awaiting the Blue Sky 5.1 monitors and the Mackie Control surface which will take centre stage. All cabling is now in - it just needs a bit of a tidying up. Corner foam bass traps may be installed together with a few more foam tiles behind the monitor position.

Update

2007-01-29T14:12:00.000Z

Nearly nearly there now - will post some pictures when I get a camera that works properly.

All cabling is now in, with the exception of the instruments / MIDI. Two PCs are in together with all the racking and patch bays, plus all soldering is now complete too.

Spent most of the weekend trying to install ProTools onto a clean install of XP SP2. What a nightmare - it just wouldn't boot up properly. The fault turned out to be that ProTools was unhappy being installed into a partition other than the C: drive. Once all the default paths were used it appeared to open without any problems. It is a pity that the error message displayed discussed an "Assertion Error in ...... code line 242"??? :)

Just all of the other software and plugins to go back on now, together with the speakers and control surface etc.

The booth was tested yesterday by simply recording a voice over and I was very pleased with how dry and quiet the recording was and there was obviously no annoying PC fan noise in the background. A neighbour was revving his motor bike in the ajoining garage and this couldn't be heard at all. One thing that lets the isolation down is the window so clear mastic has been placed around both sides of the perimeter which does appear to have improved things slightly. However, another single pane of glass may be installed vertically on the control room side which should help things out a little too. Also, the void between the inner and outer doorways are going to be lined with foam rubber to help give a little absorption between the void.

Update

2007-01-22T11:15:00.000Z

A quick update - pictures to follow:

The racking is now in place as is some of the wiring to and from the devices / booth and kit. All soldering now complete too.

Most of the weekend was spent fixing the foam acoustic tiles to the entire inside lining of the vocal booth; most of the spray adhesive went up my nose, but at least that job is now complete too.

This weekend, it is hoped that all of the kit will be in place - a Mackie Control has been ordered today to work with Logic / ProTools and Vegas video, together with a Blue Sky 5.1 Media Desk surround monitoring system. The Mackie Control is going to be used in conjunction with a Digi002 Rack ProTools LE system.

Acoustic Foam Tiling

2007-01-15T10:27:00.000Z

A fantastic place was discovered last night selling packs of acoustic foam wedges which can be used to line the inside of the vocal booth with. Originally it was intended to purchase a pack from Custom Audio Designs, however, their packs cost £295+VAT which would not quite be enough. An alternative place, who sell through ebay stock identical designs - 425 x 425 x 45mm deep wedges for just £32 for a pack of 30. This equates to an approx. coverage of 58 square feet, so two packs have been ordered. The URL is: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Comfortex-Foam