Expanding my GL2 experience...

Sorry to do this to the powers that be, but I have yet another audio question for the gurus, but first, a little background.

I've had the GL2 for home use for a while now (what can I say, when I do something, I tend to overdo it), but my friend and I are trying to move out of teaching and into some photo/video work. We've taken some classes already and are signed up for more this fall.

We have a couple non-paying weddings to work at this summer and I'm trying to work out what the best set-up is for the audio. I'm working with the Azden W-Pro VHF wireless set-up along with an Azden shot-gun mic. I also picked up an Azden 3-channel mixer. For back-up I have an Olympus digital recorder with lapel mic.

My main question deals with the Azden mics. Now I'm pretty sure the shot-gun will work fine for general sound (readers, ambience, etc). However, with the wireless mic on the groom, would that be on continuously say, during a service, or would I mix that in with the mixer at the appropriate time, like the vows?

Appreciate any help with this. I'm really looking forward to giving this a go.

Do you really want to be fiddling with mix levels at such a critical juncture in the proceedings?

Warning: the following is all hypothetical mind-dump with some free-association thrown in. None of it is from experience.

If you go all out, you probably want some sort of multitrack audio recorder, with one channel for each microphone, and do the mixing after the fact. Use the camera audio just to supply synchronization cues to align the individual tracks, then mute the camera audio track.

Of course, that is more than many of us can handle (though I'm getting a touch envious -- I don't have a wireless microphone <G> Lot's of radio gear, but I don't think relying on $50 GMRS radios for the purpose is desirable, and my amateur gear would require a call-sign annunciation every 10 minutes... and both of optimized for voice comms, not audio fidelity). I do have a real-time CD-R unit with dual XLR inputs (and a cheap battery-powered 3-in/2-out mixer, basically a left/center/right unit). If the ceremony were under an hour, the CD-R (non-portable when in use) and three wireless microphones (obviously discrete frequencies needed) would give a good shot at accurate vocals, and the shotgun (especially a stereo capable one) on the camera would give the synch/ambience audio. In post-processing, the shotgun signal could be reduced while the separate voice tracks are raised at critical points.

Doubt one could get away with dangling something like an H4 (or the yet to be release H2) from a boom directly over the near side of the altar

Thanks for the input Wulf.

I have some experience with both mics separately, just not acting together. I was asking because with the one mic on the groom, I was curious as to what to do with any "background chat" coming from the groom. I work at home with Adobe Premier at the moment, but as I said I don't have much experience with multiple inputs and how to work them with each other.

Do I just let both mics run, and will Premier let me play with those? Or will Premier just treat the audio as one track? I'm asking about Premier mainly because that's what I have now, but I'm going to be looking for something higher-end if my friend and I can get this venture going.

Thanks for the input Wulf.

I have some experience with both mics separately, just not acting together. I was asking because with the one mic on the groom, I was curious as to what to do with any "background chat" coming from the groom. I work at home with Adobe Premier at the moment, but as I said I don't have much experience with multiple inputs and how to work them with each other.

Do I just let both mics run, and will Premier let me play with those? Or will Premier just treat the audio as one track? I'm asking about Premier mainly because that's what I have now, but I'm going to be looking for something higher-end if my friend and I can get this venture going.

I'm not familiar with the Adobe product so can't speak for internals.

I'm also not certain of how you have the microphones wired. I suspect they are both mono microphones. One possibility (hypothetical, I've not tried) would be to use a 2-mono -> 1-stereo adapter, and record such that the shotgun is "left" and the wireless is "right", say. Then, if it has the capability, export the stereo audio track as a WAV file. Using some audio editor, split the stereo into two mono files. Import the mono files back to the NLE as separate audio tracks, adjust stereo panning so they are pretty much centered (or, if you can put in a pan envelope, pan them to reflect your own movements -- if you move from back center aisle [where the ambiance should likely be "center"] to altar right side, pan the ambiance to the left [to reflect the crowd that is on your left side now]) You should definitely be able to put in a volume envelope, which would let you adjust the volumes of the two channels as needed throughout the ceremony -- maybe drop the wireless to just a background whisper when nothing is taking place, raising it during the vows, etc.

You'll have to check your available software for those functions:
export audio
split channels
import mono audio tracks
pan/volume envelopes

And don't forget to check the track alignment after the export/import -- might get a few frames out of synch...

Again thanks for the input Wulf, I really do appreciate it.

Anyways, the mixer I have is a 3 mono input to 1 stereo output device. It should be able to handle both signals from the mics and combine them cleanly. To be honest I just picked the mixer up recently so I haven't had much time to work with it. And yes, both mics are mono and can plug into the mixer.

As for Premier, it does have audio WAV export capability, and then allows me to add 3 channels of audio to the video, plus soundtrack. Can you recommend a good audio editing software?

As for Premier, it does have audio WAV export capability, and then allows me to add 3 channels of audio to the video, plus soundtrack. Can you recommend a good audio editing software?

I can't claim to know "good"... What I have are Creative WaveStudio (which, I believe, came with my sound card), and the Sound Editor module of Roxio EMC 9 Deluxe Studio.

Making separate Mono tracks from a stereo track looks a bit tedious. EMC9 has options for "left only" etc. So working from copies of the stereo file and various sequence of actions (left only, followed by "mono mix" might distribute the left over both channels, repeat for right).

One thing I was looking at was holding the microphone tracks as distinct as long as possible. Using a 3-in/2-out mixer means you'll never be able to split the three later to make adjustments. As long as you have separate tracks for each microphone, you can (with effort) manipulate each track/microphone -- normalize audio levels, apply cleanup filters (if available), and then mix in the NLE...

I agree wholeheartedly with Wulfraed's idea of keeping audio tracks separate until you get to the editor. Unless you're a real audio pro, getting a good mix on the fiy is going to be problematic, especially with all the other things you have to worry about. And NOBODY WAITS FOR THE VIDEOGRAPHER. You can record a separate audio track in each of the two channels of a camcorder. If you're using a second camcorder (and for several reasons you should, even if it's a $250 used model from eBay) that's four tracks. And there is also the option of capturing a track or two on an audio recorder.

Azden is not regard as very good gear. It'll get you started, but I would say don't sitck with that brand as you built your kit. For the same money you can do better. For instance, an Audio Technica Pro88W wireless and a Rode VideoMic would be much better and would cost about $300.

A shotgun is not the best choice for indoor ambience, but you'll get by with it for now. It will sound horrible (thin and echoey) for a person such as reader speaking in most interiors at the distances you normally shoot video from.

I don't mean to be a wet blanket, but getting good audio to go with video that is shot from normal distances is neither cheap nor easy.

I use Sony Vegas for editing, and it is very strong on audio features. A good audio editor would be Adobe Audiition.

--
Fred