Rode Releases New VideoMic Pro for DSLR’s

The Rode VideoMic is the workhorse of the video DSLR world. I have used the VideoMic on several shoots and feel that it’s a really good product for the price but I have found myself wishing it wasn’t quite so large. I’ve also seen the rubber bands shock mounts fail and fall apart. The Rode VideoMic Pro solves the size issue as well as adding some improvements along the way:

The RØDE VideoMic Pro raises the bar set by the original RØDE VideoMic, by combining broadcast quality audio with an ultra compact and lightweight ergonomic design. … Continue Reading

HDSLR Audio In the Field with Gene Martin From The Audio Department at PhotoCine Expo

The Audio Department’s Gene Martin will be leading a workshop at PhotoCine Expo entitled “HDSLR Audio in the Field” on September 25th. For those of you not familiar with Gene, he is one of Shane Hurlbut’s go to guys for sound and has guest blogged on Hurlbut Visuals. The Audio Department is the rental and sales company he runs with his brother. They will be exhibiting and selling the latest sound equipment at the Expo including Zoom H4N, headphones, microphones, mixers and other interesting sound gadgets that help raise the bar for HDSLR filmmaking. Get your full day tickets now before they sell out so that you don’t miss this informative seminar from Gene along with the other great speakers and instructors.

HDSLR Audio in the Field: … Continue Reading

Zoom H2 at NAB 2010

Zoom H2 at NAB 2010 from Michael Britt on Vimeo.

The Zoom H2 at NAB 2010. The smaller sibling to the H4 can record two or four channel in two different directions. It would have been great for my iPhone video blogging rig.

… Continue Reading

Alternative to the H4N Zoom for VDSLR

Diane Paragas is a photographer filmmaker and blogger based out of Brooklyn NY. In her blog post titled “Tascam Dr-100 and 5d2“, she offers up an alternative to the Zoom H4N when shooting sound with VDSLR cameras.

After testing both the Tascam DR-100 and the Zoom h4n (the go to model for 5d mark II), I decided to go for the Tascam

She lists several reasons including some antidotal experiences from using both devices, but the part that really got my attention was this: … Continue Reading

Canon 7D Suzuki Spot by Seth Epstein – Pt 1

Seth Epstein from The Group Digital Agency has a great Suzuki spot up on Vimeo. But wait, thats not all, I contacted Seth and asked if he would elaborate on the shoot process. He got back to me with a bunch of behind the scenes information including client presentation treatments (3 different concepts), story boards and a breakdown of the whole shoot process. It was so much good information that I am breaking this article into 3 pieces and serializing them over the next few weeks. Lets start off by watching the Suzuki Directors Cut and then getting into what happened during the shoot. Future installments will cover the pre-production client process and then Post issues.

HD Directors Cut_Suzuki from Seth Epstein on Vimeo.

From Seth:
The Suzuki project was interesting because I played the roles of agency and production company. I was approached out of Japan to develop a spot for the European market based on some previous work. … Continue Reading

Sound Advice from a Pro Audio Engineer

Shane Hurlbut ASC has a great article on his Hurlbut Visuals blog written by Gene Martin a professional sound mixer that he works with. His take is to avoid recording sound into the camera altogether.

Zoom recorder image from Hurlbut Visuals blog

Double system is the only true solution for the Canon 5D. Treat it like film. Just like the Red One camera, both can record sound, but any sound recorded on the camera should only be used for reference in post. It will add a little more time in post, but the result is well worth the time. The most important step in doing double system is a slate. Whether it be a actual slate, the clap sticks from a slate or even the clap of your hands you just need to ensure the clap is heard by both the onboard camera mic and whatever mic you may be using for your external audio recorder. In post if you look at the audio waveforms of the camera and your external audio recorder you’ll see a spike in the audio when you clapped your slate/hands. Once the two audio clips are lined up via the spike in audio you’re now synced.