Dealing with interview sound mixes in FCP

Not a pressing question, but I'm wondering how best to work with these Sound mixes in FCP. I do a lot of documentary work, meaning a lot of interviews. Since I'm doing run and gun stuff (in DV, so I have 2 sound channels), I've gotten into the habit of having one sound channel be the mic on the subject, and the other channel be the on camera mic as a backup/cover my rear mic, just in case I miss something.

So when I put it into FCP, I have one channel of great audio and one of bad audio. How do you deal with this? I've done a few different things, and wondering which one is best. I've duplicated the good audio track so I have a stereo pair of the good track, deleting the old one. And since it's mono, can I just have one centered audio track?

More than any one question, how would you deal with this?

> I've duplicated the good audio track so I have a stereo pair of the good track

No real reason to do that. You'll just get a volume boost. Just leave it mono unless you need that much increase in levels.

If you usually don't need one channel, you can disengage one of the Source/Destination buttons (the big shiny ones to the left of the timeline's audio tracks) so that whenever you edit a clip into the timeline, only one channel goes in by default.

> And since it's mono, can I just have one centered audio track?

Sure, why not? If it's interviews, you always want it dead center anyway.


www.derekmok.com

Hi James:

If you are the guy shooting these, let me recommend that you add another mic to your shoots. If you are only using a boom mic, adding a lavaliere can really save your bacon. Too much BG noise? You have your lavaliere to save you. OTOH, if you are only using a lavaliere, add a boom, it will usually sound better than the lavaliere.

Interviews should always use two mics wherever possible.

As you have heard, your camera mic is useless in this situation.

Dan

Dan's point is good except for one thing: I'm pretty sure what James was talking about is not sit-down interviews, but streeter stuff, eg. a political rally, bikers at a bar -- classic documentary where the interviews are spontaneous, not planned. "Run-and-gun", as he wrote. Lavaliers really aren't an option in this case unless you'd staged the event yourself. Leaving one channel on the camera mike is a valid option here as long as you control the input levels well.


www.derekmok.com

To throw my two cents in:

You didn't mention if your camera mic is the built in, or not. I use a shotgun mic on my camera, and for stand up interviews (working by myself, no sound person), getting within three feet of the subject, you will get pretty decent audio.

Cameron Young

Thanks... audio has been a bit more of a mystery tome, with how FCP deals with it. I've had some weird stuff happen.

<<<So when I put it into FCP, I have one channel of great audio and one of bad audio. How do you deal with this?>>>

What do you want to do? You have great audio from the subject and you can put your own audio back in later in a sound room based on your camera ratty audio. What exactly are you trying to fix?

You can wear a lav and be the second track. You are totally going to have to smooch it all together into a mono track in post anyway. See: Mok.

And certainly a shotgun is a good option, too. Two different ways to grab the subject audio.

Koz

Hi all:

I do run and gun all of the time with two mics. Just make your lavaliere wireless. Clip it on, just below the frameline. Worked great for on-set interviews in-between takes on Prison Break last week ;-)

I also agree with the on-camera mic thing. Good mic tip: The new Audio-Technica AT-895r, it is designed as an on-camera mic and sounds amazingly good and you can pick it up for under $200.00. As long as you are within 2-3 feet, acceptable sound although not as good as boomed right over their heads.

Dan

> I do run and gun all of the time with two mics. Just make your lavaliere wireless. Clip it on, just
> below the frameline. Worked great for on-set interviews in-between takes on Prison Break last
> week

Sure thing. But there are still occasions when you don't want to do that. For example, I was at Broadway and Canal St. on September 11, 2001 and saw the hordes of people running up Broadway away from the site. The last thing you want to do to a running, scared person is to ask him/her to clip on a lavalier mike. You'd want to do the shot as fast as you can, in the least disruptive way possible, sound quality be damned.

Different methods work for different situations.


www.derekmok.com

You were shooting interviews? If I would have been there, I would have been running too ;-)

I worked on a terrorism related project last year with Fox and Fox News shipped me all of their raw camera masters from 9/11 (huge stack Beta SP masters). Some really terrifying circumstances there. Every 9/11, they should just run these masters, no editing or commercials, it would be the best memorial to all of the people of New York. People should not forget what happened there.

Dan

> You were shooting interviews?

No, I was scouting locations with my producer and DP. My thesis film had been scheduled for Sept. 22 as the first day. Amazingly enough, we were able to stick to schedule, though I had to rewrite the script because New York business buildings were very wary of film crews this close to the event. And driving to and from Brooklyn was quite the ordeal.


www.derekmok.com

Hey Dan it's good to see you back in LA. I hope you make a meeting or 3 and maybe talk about audio once again, that would be really cool. Had it been like 5 years since you last did a demo?

------------------------
Dean

"When I see you floating down the gutter I'll give you a bottle of wine."
Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica.

Hi Dean:

Yep, it's been a while. I need to make it to some meetings. I have a huge mic review article that I have been toiling on and then there is that work and paying the bills stuff that gets in the way of fun! ;-)

I'll see you around sometime.

Dan

That shotgun mic comparison is STILL in the top ten after all these years Dan. Has had thousands of reads. Incredible.

[www.lafcpug.org]

Michael Horton
-------------------