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Treating a News Mag shoot as 4 channel multitrack


Rob Lewis

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Has anyone ever treated a 2 camera Betacam shoot as a multitrack situation?  Scenario: Good morning America Interview, small room, tons of lighting, no room for booms.  2 guest side by side on one cam, 2 hosts side by side on other cam.  Each person miked with a lav.  2 audio tracks availiable on each camera.  Time code transcription required.  Cameras locked with TC.

In this situation,  it is typical to mix each couple to one channel on the camera having redundant audio on both cameras, making it as easy as possible for post to edit.  MY thought was to use direct outs on my 442 where each person would get thier own track on each camera, while still using the faders for a transcription mix.  In my opinion, I feel this would serve the final product better by having each mic isolated vs. hard mixing in the field (which I did anyway).  It is more work for editing but it seems to me they have better tools in the post room to "MIX'" a bettter sounding overall product than I do in the field.   Some may call me lazy, but i just feel it would serve the final product with better sound rather than a potential phasey mess.  It was an unscripted, undirected discussion.

Just want to get opinions of those who do this on a regular basis.  Any pros, cons ?  What do you think ?

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I've done this a couple of times...not happily, but I've done it and made it work.

The discreet channels are always a bonus, especially when working with subjects that aren't used to wearing lavs.  It's nice not having one absent minded chest hit (adjusting a tie or something) step on someone else's lines...and there's the phase issue that you brought up.  Those are two potential problems that I'll never miss.

The biggest problem I've had with it is that you're stuck monitoring at the mixer instead of at the recorders (cameras)...unless you can improvise a way to get return feeds from both cameras.  In my case I had to setup returns from each camera individually and then toggle between the cameras (3 in my case) to make sure no problems popped up further down the chain. 

Obviously, this will never be the ideal situation, but in a pinch it'll get the job done.  I'd rather handle the master tracks on something like a 744T and send the mix to the camera(s) for transcription, but I'm assuming production isn't giving you that option.

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      Where was the other sound person or people? Did the network cut them and leave you as the lead and only A1? If so, they left you in a pickle. The four seperate channel system sounds the best to me so edit has non-mixed sound to use with a full mix for transcript.

      If you had a second A1, I would let each camera crew operate as a team and only worry about what the camera is focused on. That is assuming one camera was on hosts and the other is on the subjects.

      If more cameras, it's becoming a zoo and then one sound board would feed all the cameras and they would get a mix of everything and then edit just matches the pictures they want with the sound that is on all of the tracks.

      Otherwise, just do the best you can and go on to the next job.

     Scott.......

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Guest Jeff Colon

Used to be part of the NABET contract that there would be a soundo for each camera... Disney and Labor...now that's a story I'd like to see on GMA...

i've done loads of these and historically shows like GMA are on a quick turnaround and like it down and dirty...  worst case scenario is six or seven people on wireless via satellite back to the studio live... gotta be fast with the fingers if you have a scratcher or other unexpected noisemakers. it can be hairy.

There was a thread here or on ramps recently regarding the mono mix... good reading.

if it were a feature piece with enough lead time, I might ask if they would like iso's for re-recording...usually they are happy with a decent mono or split two track.  seems counter intuitive to not use the avaliable tracks... still a common theme.

jeff c

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There are some companies that spec their audio that way all the time.  It's a pain to deal with and makes things very confusing, but it's what they want for whatever reason.  I've done shows in which a handful of mics were routed to 6 VTRs all in different splits and mix minuses.  Why? Because they could I guess.  Anymore I try to persuade them that it will be simpler for everyone if we record a straight 2 track dailies mix to all cameras/VTRs and I give them a BWF poly of all the splits.  But I don't do ENG work, and this wouldn't work for everyone.

Philip Perkins

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We did have another sound person, but I typically prefer to handle all the audio myself because I know that a task got done.  The other mixer serves the shoot better by helping with the lighting and so on.  When I'm the b crew sound mixer I ask the A1 if he needs help, then I immediately move on with lighting.

  Since we never get any specific request for how post would prefer the audio to be done we assume the standard is a 2 channel mix.  I recommended to the producer that one sound man mixes talent to one camera, while the other mixes guest to the other camera.  By doing that, we have two seperate mixer, making the transcription about impossible.  The producer absolutley had to have the transcripts, therfore I chose the 2 channel mix with trascription and I just rode faders as best as I could.  Seeing we were entering our 19th hour on the clock as the A crew for the day I figured keeping it simple was the best decision !!!!

Rob

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