Audio Recording on Crossing the Line

[Clayton Harper]

How was audio captured and synced on Peter Jackon's short?

[Jabez Olssen]

Onboard audio recording was not enabled, so it worked like a normal 35mm film shoot. We used a clapper board, recorded bwav files separately and sunc them in FCP.

cheers

-Jabez

[Rob Lohman]

Thanks for answering that question Jabez!

[Tim Young]

Onboard audio recording was not enabled, so it worked like a normal 35mm film shoot. We used a clapper board, recorded bwav files separately and sunc them in FCP.

cheers

-Jabez

can someone explain how this process works? my impression is that broadcast wave files can be automatically synced in NLEs like FCP, because they include timecode metadata. is that right? so i'm assuming that you need to have timecode sync on the camera and audio recording device. so how do you do that? do you use time-of-day timecode? is a clapper board necessary since (at least by how i understand it) you don't have to manually sync everything? how do you sync them in FCP? right now i just record audio directly into my dvx, but i'm wanting to try a separate system and i'm curious about how broadcast waves work since i've tried manual sync and it's a pain. sorry about the barrage of questions, but i really want to know how this works. thanks!

[martinnoweck]

Hi Tim,

a manual clapperboard might look old-fashioned in the 21st century, but can save you a lot of trouble - so even if you sync picture and sound with Timecode, try to slate every shot and if something went wrong, you can still manually sync everything in the editing room.

Martin

[Anders Holck]

Yes, Final Cut pro can sync bwf files with video files using the tc tracks of multiple clips.
You still want to use a slate to identyfy the takes, as you might have to manully select the clips you want to group, and for the added concentration on set, which the clapper routine creates.

If everythig has gone well, you can select multiple clips in your bin and FCP wlll automatically group clips that have corresponding timecode. It's a pretty neat feature as there is a graphical preview of all grouped clips before you execute the groups.

In my experience, even with repeated jam sync during the day, you'll find that there is always a few shots where the tc has managed to slip a few frames. A slate makes it easy to double check.

Also I wouldn't imagine that TC in/out is enabled on this camera if even the shutter can't be adjusted.

[Terry Delahunt]

Onboard audio recording was not enabled, so it worked like a normal 35mm film shoot. We used a clapper board, recorded bwav files separately and sunc them in FCP.

cheers

-Jabez

What did you use to record them? Aaton Cantar?

[redhead]

Can someone please suggest a place to buy a clapperboard online (in the US)?

[Adrian T.]

Can someone please suggest a place to buy a clapperboard online (in the US)?

http://www.filmtools.com/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
...

[redhead]

http://www.filmtools.com/
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/
...
Thanks!

[octophonic]

We used 3 Sound Devices 7 Series recorders for the main production sound and FX on the day. An HHB Portadrive was left running for most of the shoot with extreme wide LCR and other angles for some general Battlefield ambiences and plane bys. I did a sync pass on all these units before exporting the BWAVs to Picture Editorial. They did a manual sync up as mentioned above and then we got OMFs back from FCP for the final edit and mix.

This would not be our workflow with a RED camera shoot in the future. We think with a common timecode resolve for cameras and sound we can do away with the clapperboard sync and use timecode and metadata to relate back to the original sound when needed. The RAW data will have embedded audio for the editor so the only time we need to make that link back to the BWAVs will be in Sound Post.

[Jay A. Kelley]

Onboard audio recording was not enabled, so it worked like a normal 35mm film shoot. We used a clapper board, recorded bwav files separately and sunc them in FCP.

cheers

-Jabez

Jabez,
Have you had any experience with the Aaton Cantor-X? What did you think if yes?
Jay

[Rick Darge]

Thanks guys for the feedback!

Now tell Peter to get on here as well and share some wisdom!

I know you're reading Peter : )

[Jabez Olssen]

Jabez,
Have you had any experience with the Aaton Cantor-X? What did you think if yes?
Jay

I'm not actually a Sound-Guy, so I don't know what that is.
Octophonic is the guy to ask. Maybe he has an opinion?

cheers

-Jabez

[Terry Delahunt]

We used 3 Sound Devices 7 Series recorders for the main production sound and FX on the day. An HHB Portadrive was left running for most of the shoot with extreme wide LCR and other angles for some general Battlefield ambiences and plane bys.

Thank you for the feedback octophonic!
For those interested, here is a link to the Sound Devices 7 Series (http://www.sounddevices.com/products/7.htm) and the HHB Potadrive. (http://www.hhb.co.uk/hhb/uk/hhbproducts/portadrive/index.asp)

[Stephen Gentle]

Can someone please suggest a place to buy a clapperboard online (in the US)?

How about in Australia?