What Makes a Good Recording?

This past Tuesday we began recording vocals inside the DAS. Now, let's talk about what makes a good vocal recording. In some cases this can all be personal opinion, but there are also things we should be looking out for when we're making these recordings. There are things to keep in mind if you're in the seat of either the Engineer or the Talent.

As an engineer it is very important to pay attention to the the sound quality you're getting. You want to pay attention to things such as whether or not the vocals are being recorded too quiet or too loud and if their voice is being recorded to "dark" or "high". With vocals that are too loud or quiet, we can simply adjust the volume on our output or gain. However "dark" and "high" vocals can be from a combination of things. One of these is the type of voice a person has. There may be instances where you will record someone who has a very deep voice (Barry White) or a higher voice (Alicia Keys). Now I used a man and a woman as an example because men more frequently have deeper voices than women. So now that we have established 2 different types of voices, let's consider the different types of studio microphones. Studio microphones, often referred to as Condenser Microphones, come in various styles. However, appearance isn't the only thing different about these mics. What's inside also counts. There are microphones designed for these different kinds of voices. They are designed for these types of voices because of the way they record certain frequencies. They might help add clarity to a voice that has a lot of bass or help make a softer voice sound more "full". Then there's also "transparent" microphones which try to make as little adjustments to the frequency as possible to give you a real "exact" recording. Today we'll experiment with 2 different microphones.

Now there's also your preamplifier. This preamp that we're using is what gives power to our condenser microphone. Some preamps do more than just give power to the mic. They might also give us control over compression or E.Q. to help us adjust frequencies should we need to. We'll take a look at these things in the DAS today.


Now what should you consider on the talent side? It is referred to as Mic Technique. Mic Technique can be considered knowing the right amount of distance to be from the microphone, the right voice intonation to use, speaking clearly, etc. All of the things that give a believable performance. This is important for all who record. Voice actors, performing artists, narrators, etc.






Check out the tips displayed in this video

Intro to DAS

Today we will be learning how to use the Digital Audio Suite, also known as DAS.  We will go through the steps on how to turn on all the equipment and start a recording session.  

Our goal this week is to give all of you a chance to experience what it is like to record someone in the DAS and also what it is like to be recorded. You will need a sample of your own creative writing or an essay to be recorded.  If you have other ideas of something to record let us know so we can make it happen.

Once you are in the DAS, here is how to get started:

Now that the equipment is on you will need to create new Pro Tools session for recording.  Someone will need to be in the vocal booth to make sure the headphones and microphone are set up correctly for recording.

Do D.A.T.

Everybody meet Do D.A.T (Dat for short). Dat has been around in the Bay Area hip-hop scene for many years in a group called The Attik. As a group, The Attik has performed with artists such as KRS-1, E-40, Native Guns, and Zion I. As a solo artist, Dat released an album titled Oakland in Blue. Oakland in Blue is a jazz/hip-hop blend in which every song contains a sample from Duke Ellington. You can find his music at www.revernation.com/dodat.

Now why the promo? Well, Dat will be joining us in our program today to facilitate a writing workshop. Everybody be prepared to work on some writing because these works will become the start of us using the D.A.S. for recording!

Bouncing Video in Pro Tools

To bounce video in Pro Tools you want to do the following things:

1. Make sure that your video is complete. The sounds are in their proper place and your mix is how you want it to sound.

2. Go FILE > Bounce To > Quicktime Movie

3. Set your audio to be Stereo, 44.1, 16-bit. Click Bounce

4. Now choose a destination folder and click bounce. You should now see your movie play in real time for the entire length of it. It will then be ready begin the converting process and turn present you with a Quicktime file in your folder of choice.

Don't Forget Mixing!

Good work so far on your movie trailers! There are definitely great projects in the works! Just a reminder for you all: Don't Forget Mixing! Once you have your sounds in the right places, your dialogue recorded and your music produced, it's time to work on the different audio volumes, panning and FX. If you recorded any live audio and want to make adjustments to the pitch, here's how!




1. Use the Grabber Tool to select the specific audio file.

2. Go to the AudioSuite menu at the top of the screen in Pro Tools.

3. Select Pitch -> Time Shift.

4. Under the Time Shift feature, notice pitch on the bottom right. Adjust the pitch knob to the left for a deeper voice and to the right for a brighter voice.

5. Make sure that you preview the audio so you know it sounds like what you're looking for. After that, click Process.

Editing Tips

Today we will be continuing on the Trailer Post Production project that we started on Tuesday.  On Tuesday you picked a Trailer to work with and began the process of adding sound effects to match the actions in the trailer.  The goal is to make it sound real.  The audio should be a perfect match with the video.  

Remember there are three parts to this project.

1. Add Sound FX

2. ADR- Replace the dialog (mics are available)

3. Add a music score using Reason as an instrument in Pro Tools

In order for you to properly edit the audio for your trailer you will need to use some of the handy tools in Pro Tools.  Lets Review....

The Smart Tool

This is the combination of the Trimmer Tool, Selector Tool and the Grabber tool.  

When Editing with the Smart tool there are several things that you can do.  Watch how the mouse transforms depending on what part of the audio region you place the mouse.

If you put the mouse in the middle of the region.... you should be able to you the selector tool which selects a portion of the region.

If you put the mouse at the bottom of the region you will be able to use the Grabber Tool witch selects the whole region and allows you to move it from one place to another.

If you put the mouse at the end of the region you will be able to use the Trimmer tool.  This will let you trim the ends of the region.

There are also two other functions that you can use with the smart tool. They are Fade in/out and Cross Fade.

If you want the fade out at the end of your region place the mouse at the upper right or left corner begin to make your fade.

If you would like to cross fade, which is a way smoothly blend your regions together, put your mouse at the bottom right or left corner.

These tools should be very useful for you.  Make sure that your audio is believable!

Also remember you can zoom in and out in order to be precise with the timing of your sound so they are in sync with the actions in the Trailer.

Post Production Part 1

This week we're going to take a look into the world of audio post production.


What is post production?

Post-production is part of the filmmaking process. It occurs in the making of motion pictures,television programs, radio programs, advertising, videos, audio recordings, photography and digital art. It is term for all stages of production occurring after the actual end of shooting and/or recording the completed work.

Post-production is, in fact, many different processes grouped under one name. These typically include:

• Editing the picture / television program
• Writing, (re)recording, and editing the soundtrack.
• Adding visual special effects - mainly computer-generated imagery (CGI) and digital copy from which release prints will be made (although this may be made obsolete by digital-cinematechnologies).
• Sound Design, Sound Effects, ADR, Foley and Music, culminating in a process known as sound re-recording or mixing.
• Transfer of film to Video or Data with a telecine and Color grading.
• 
  

Typically, the post-production phase of creating a film takes longer than the actual shooting of the film, and can take several months to complete. (Wikipedia)

Here are a couple of videos that give an example of the job(s) someone would do during post production.





This week we're going to begin working on our own post production work. In the Audio A folder you will find a Videos folder with 6 files in it. Choose one of the video clips that you would like to work with. Once you have the video clip that you like, we're going to import it to Pro Tools and begin making our own versions of the trailers. Let's take a look at the step-by-step process that we'll be using.


1. Go into Audio A Folder. Watch trailers. Pick which one you would like to work with.


2. Create a folder on your desktop labeled "yourname_trailer"


3. Open Pro Tools. Create a new session titled "yourname_trailer" and save it inside the folder you just created.


4. Once Pro Tools is open, let's import the video clip. Go to File > Import > Import Video File. Find your video file and import it. You should now have a video track on Pro Tools with an audio track under it.


5. Watch the video and analyze it. What sounds are being used? How is the timing on the sound fx?


6. Mute the audio.


7. In the Audio A folder you'll see a folder labeled Hollywood Edge. In this folder are sound fx and different audio clips that can be used for post production. Drag it to your desktop.


8. What sound FX will you be needing? Go to the Import Audio section of Pro Tools and check out the different sounds in the folders. Import the sound FX that you'll need for the video clip.


9. Next, let's work on using the grabber (hand) tool to place the sound fx where they need to be. Does it need to start at the beginning of the trailer? Play at the end? Play throughout the entire trailer? Place the sounds where you feel they need to be.