Technical Advacnces in DIY Location Sound

[trueindie]

Originally Posted by wheatgrinder

your projecting the future linearly, that is a common mistake. Technology is exponential in its rate of change. We are on the knee of the exponential curve. Not only will compute POWER increase exponentially, but so will compute speed.

Wheats, I think you're missing his point. He's not saying that computing power is going to be a problem. He's saying that our understanding of how the human ear analyzes sound is so poor that even with all the computing power in the universe, we will be unable to tell the computer WHAT it is that we want it to calculate. Hence computing power alone will not lead to a solution to the problem we face as independent filmmakers, i.e. our unwillingness to budget for audio people

[AudioPostExpert]

From what I can tell, the previous post is little more than spam!

Contrary to the post, the mic does not record surround sound but binaural sound and therefore only provides the 3D effect when you listen on headphones. Not much use at a film festival or watching through a TV or a stereo system at home! You would get better results with a real surround mic and even probably with a standard stereo mic or two mono mics (positioned for stereo recording).

Also, this post does not address the OP, it is designed for capturing SFX and ambiances. It will not isolate individual actors dialogue from each other or from any background noise/s. In fact, quite the opposite, you will get more noise mixed in with your actors' dialogue!

G

[Mitra]

Originally Posted by AudioPostExpert

From what I can tell, the previous post is little more than spam!

Contrary to the post, the mic does not record surround sound but binaural sound and therefore only provides the 3D effect when you listen on headphones. Not much use at a film festival or watching through a TV or a stereo system at home! You would get better results with a real surround mic and even probably with a standard stereo mic or two mono mics (positioned for stereo recording).

Also, this post does not address the OP, it is designed for capturing SFX and ambiances. It will not isolate individual actors dialogue from each other or from any background noise/s. In fact, quite the opposite, you will get more noise mixed in with your actors' dialogue!

G

Thank you for your excellent point. Let me now add some missing pieces of information, 3D Mic captures a psychoacoustics image and not a dummy dead type binaural mic. Being said that, once you capture a psychoacoustics of a sound, it is possible to separate the 5.1 channels by analyzing the phase and level of the signals accurately. There are several such high quality third party plugins in market which can do that, so we have not tried to reinventing the wheel. The workflow to produce a true Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track from 3D Mic recording is the very simple:

1. Record on-location surround with 3D Mic in your camera or using an external recorder.
2. Sync and edit the sound in your DAW and video editor like a regular stereo audio file. You can apply all most every audio filter, however never alter the stereo image by mixing and panning the L-R tracks.
3. Render the final audio track in 48K 16 bit resolution.
4. Use a third party plugin such as Waves UM226 to split the recording into 6 tracks (5 channels and one subwoofer channel)
5. Review and fine tune the surround image in your Video editor or DAW
6. Encode the six tracks into Dolby 5.1 AC3 encoded track by using an encoding software/plugin from Minnetonka or Main Concept
7. Author your DVD or Bluray with the AC3 track

Other unique advantage is your 3D Mic web streaming videos at Vimeo and YouTube will offer stunning surround sound to any mobile viewers using headphone, which is the default way people enjoy videos and listen music on the move. We all wear 3D glasses to watch 3D movies, so wearing a headphone to enjoy 3D audio in Cellphone, tablet or computer is not any issue anymore.
When you play a 3D Mic recording through regular stereo speaker, it produces better spatial image than a regular stereo mic. If you use a decent 5.1 computer speaker or even a Bose Companion 3 stereo speakers, you will get excellent surround effect from web streamed videos.

Lastly the sonic fidelity of 3D Mic is way superior than most mics as we use state of art sound processing technology. If you are familiar with electronics, you might have noticed that 3D Mic is powered by 18volt (9+9) and this is just not a coincidence. It is impossible to get top of the line fidelity from any preamp chip running from one or two pencil batteries as there are no such chip yet manufactured by any chip manufacturer in the world. Honestly, the audio from 3D Mic is one of the very best fidelity you possibly get in today’s market. Once you use it, you will realize the difference immediately.

(promotional video removed)

[Mitra]

Totally automated isolation of individual voice from a single mic recording is next to impossible by available DSP technology. The very best we can do is to make the voice standout from the rest of the dialog, but that also takes DSP and manual processing. The ideal option is to use wireless lavs on each talent and record them as mono tracks, which I understand is not a solution for the thread author.

However, if you need a high fidelity rendition of the environment with accurate sound image in a single operator in run and gun setup, there is no better option than 3D Mic.Sports Illustrated famed Bill Frakes used to film Olympic 2012 with 3D Mic, British indie filmmaker Tim Clague, Philip Bloom, world fame kayaker Steve Fisher and even Red Camera uses 3D Mic because it allows the indie filmmakers to capture that breathtaking surround in a simple run and gun setup. You can even upload the raw video stream from field with full 3D surround in YouTube, Vimeo without any processing, and then of course you can author it into full blown 5.1 Dolby Digital for screening in cinema hall or home theater.

[AudioPostExpert]

Originally Posted by Mitra

The ideal option is to use wireless lavs on each talent and record them as mono tracks, which I understand is not a solution for the thread author.

Wireless lavs certainly do not represent an ideal option because they do not capture any perspective, they usually represent a backup or last resort option, as any experienced PSM will tell you. At least you are trying to actually answer the OP, unlike your post previous to this, which I have reported as SPAM!

Originally Posted by Mitra

However, if you need a high fidelity rendition of the environment with accurate sound image in a single operator in run and gun setup, there is no better option than 3D Mic.

More spam! Opinionated and vested interest spam at that! 5.1 sound can be generated from any stereo mic recording, just not very well compared to alternative methods. If I wanted to record surround sound on location I would be looking at real surround DPA or Schoeps solutions rather than trying to fudge it out of stereo. Again though the only person talking about surround sound in this thread is you, it has nothing to do with the OP!

Please STOP with all the spam!!!

G

[Mitra]

Originally Posted by AudioPostExpert

Wireless lavs certainly do not represent an ideal option because they do not capture any perspective, they usually represent a backup or last resort option, as any experienced PSM will tell you.

Dear AudioPost Expert, booming sound for talent is not used to record perspective, in fact sound engineer tries to isolate the voice as much from the perspective else why even use a boom? The proper technique is to record dialog and ambient sound separately and mix in post. In film, we almost always record ambient sound from totally different location and then mix it. Now for indie filmmakers this was not possible due to budget and resource constraints. I have shared the latest American invention in that area, so that every indie filmmaker can now record on-location ambient and surround like big production houses.

Originally Posted by AudioPostExpert

Opinionated and vested interest spam at that!

You have not tried and compared it with any other stereo recording, so this is just your opinion right?

Originally Posted by AudioPostExpert

Again though the only person talking about surround sound in this thread is you, it has nothing to do with the OP!

I was just answering your previous opinion quoted below:

Originally Posted by AudioPostExpert

Contrary to the post, the mic does not record surround sound but binaural sound and therefore only provides the 3D effect when you listen on headphones. Not much use at a film festival or watching through a TV or a stereo system at home! You would get better results with a real surround mic and even probably with a standard stereo mic or two mono mics (positioned for stereo recording).

[AudioPostExpert]

Originally Posted by Mitra

... booming sound for talent is not used to record perspective

Yes it is!!! A lav is usually placed a few inches from the sound source (the actors mouth) and will therefore pickup the perspective of just a few inches away, the frequency response, mouth and breathing noises, etc. (not to mention clothing rustle). The required perspective of the sound usually needs to correlate with the perspective of the camera (distance and angle) which means in audio post a great deal of work needs to be done to "fake" the correct perspective on dialogue recorded by a lav. An experienced professional boom operator will record this perspective and alleviate the need for any "faking" in audio post, which results in both reduced time and cost and a better quality final product!

So, contrary to your statement, a lav is NOT the ideal solution!

Originally Posted by Mitra

in fact sound engineer tries to isolate the voice as much from the perspective else why even use a boom?

To reduce off axis extraneous sound as much as possible, while still capturing perspective! Let me ask the question the other way around: If recording dialogue with a lav represents the "ideal solution" why would higher budget productions ever use a boom mic or employ a professional boom operator? In audio post, unless there is a technical problem with the boom recording (EG., too much noise) or unless there is a specific artistic reason (EG., an ECU dialogue effect is required), the boom recording will always be chosen over a lav recording.

Originally Posted by Mitra

In film, we almost always record ambient sound from totally different location and then mix it. Now for indie filmmakers this was not possible due to budget and resource constraints.

This is completely untrue! Have you actually ever been involved in film making? The workflow, even for no/low budget filmmakers is to record the dialogue (with perspective!) with a shotgun mic and then to record at least 30secs of room tone in exactly the same location with the same mic! Additional ambiance SFX may well be sourced or recorded from different locations.

Originally Posted by Mitra

You have not tried and compared it with any other stereo recording, so this is just your opinion right?

True, I've never heard your mics. But, simple logic dictates that a professional quality dedicated surround mic arrangement is going to outperform a stereo mic which employs imperfect psychoacoustics to fake surround sound. Therefore your statement that "there is no better option than 3D mic" is no more than vested interest marketing spam!

G