Company video

[Bertotti]

So our training guys can do some great vids and some not so great vids. If the main group at the main location does it it is ok but the field guys did one. Nothing but the low thrum of the fan or something else was picked up and never cleaned up no retake isolating the sounds and or eliminating them. It isn’t that hard to get a passable spoken recording with out the too obvious background interference. I asked one do you have a USB mic, yes and a nice set up at home but for work it was some garbage. Seriously what does a snowball cost now? Garage band on the iPads I know we have floating around or a cell phone would have done a better job of what they did. Yet the whole time it was this is headquarters this is in the field loel that was a plausible excuse for their lack of attention and or knowledge.

we have several or more people who play professionally one retired who mixes and performs and does it exceedingly well. A quick email or phone call and one of them would have had them sorted out in no time!

 

[cielski]

My department being the main theater and video source on campus, so we had no excuses. I've worked at a PBS and an NPR stations.

Your crew ought to have monitored the recording, at least at the beginning to make sure all was right. They need to be called out on it

When I served jury duty years ago, I had to "fix" a part of the courtroom's PA. They had a PZM style plate mike sitting flat directly under a ceiling speaker. It was constantly feeding back and was seriously annoying. During a break I mentioned to our bailiff that I was a sound guy at Purdue and could fix the issue. He got me a nickel's of duct tape and I fixed the problem. You'd've thought the folks that installed the gear would've known better.

 

[Bertotti]

Exactly! I did say something. Heck for spoken word a cell phone would be fine as long as the fans were shut off

 

[cielski]

Exactly! I did say something. Heck for spoken word a cell phone would be fine as long as the fans were shut off

To be honest, most cell phone recording sound like crap. Concert recordings are the worst.

 

[Bertotti]

To be honest, most cell phone recording sound like crap. Concert recordings are the worst.

That’s all relative to what I was hearing! The constant low freq him from a fan or similar was oVera helming and I have more than successfully made a recording that was clear for spoken words. With a usb mic even better.

 

[TSims1]

Yeah, inexcusable. Sorry. If you’re gonna do the job….do the job right. Otherwise you are wasting people’s money and time. I run a media department and am an executive producer. If ANYTHING is ever wrong, it’s my fault. No excuses. Things have to be done correctly and professionally absolutely 100% of the time. Stressful? Maybe. But that’s how greatness is achieved.

 

[Bertotti]

Yeah, inexcusable. Sorry. If you’re gonna do the job….do the job right. Otherwise you are wasting people’s money and time. I run a media department and am an executive producer. If ANYTHING is ever wrong, it’s my fault. No excuses. Things have to be done correctly and professionally absolutely 100% of the time. Stressful? Maybe. But that’s how greatness is achieved.

Agreed but in their defense it was, I hope, just and example of what they hope to accomplish. Some e e a were there but a much cleaner production wouldn’t have been difficult and would have presented better. I can’t help but wonder if they didn’t intentionally make it crappy to reinforce the need for some more resources to get a pro job. Sadly I am diametrically opposed to that kind of what I callnpikitical manipulation. What I mean is intentionally trying to get some one to think or react a certain way through the use of misdirection misconception incomplete truth or outright lies. I have the chance a few times to move to management after an interview process but the one time I pursued it I withdrew myself after the interview. Kind of made a few upper managers mad as apparently I was a main pick but the politics just turned me off so much I seriously considered leaving the company. I digress a bette reproduction for this event wouldn’t have been difficult nor expensive with what they already had access to. Shame on them.

 

[cielski]

Yeah, inexcusable. Sorry. If you’re gonna do the job….do the job right. Otherwise you are wasting people’s money and time. I run a media department and am an executive producer. If ANYTHING is ever wrong, it’s my fault. No excuses. Things have to be done correctly and professionally absolutely 100% of the time. Stressful? Maybe. But that’s how greatness is achieved.

I was taught to "Do it right the first time." That way you won't have to go back and fix it later. Many times, it is impossible to go back and redo things. Working in theater and doing a lot of live, one-off gigs meant it was a make or break situation. Your reputation depends on it.

 

[Henry]

To be honest, most cell phone recording sound like crap. Concert recordings are the worst.

Compared to what, a professional recording? In 2006 I bought a very nice and expensive Sony HD digital camcorder. Batteries and storage cards were so expensive then. My cellphone now records much better quality in a smaller format and for much less money . . . and the battery lasts a lot longer.

Imo the issue with quality is like listening to music - its usually the operator, not the instrument.

 

[cielski]

Compared to what, a professional recording? In 2006 I bought a very nice and expensive Sony HD digital camcorder. Batteries and storage cards were so expensive then. My cellphone now records much better quality in a smaller format and for much less money . . . and the battery lasts a lot longer.

Imo the issue with quality is like listening to music - its usually the operator, not the instrument.

I've tried to listen to concert videos recorded on cellphones from the back of the room. Horribly shaky video and abysmal sound quality. Can't tolerate it. Operator error is a major factor.

 

[Ando]

That's really too bad.

As music/sound director at a media production company, we had loads of dismal on-site field experiences early on that led to small investments (this was the early 2010s) in proper gear for field work to accompany an already highly-competent video production staff, who began to ask me more often than not how I'd prepare for a certain project beyond what their gear would be capturing in all sorts of roomy and outdoor places, since I'd rarely be with them at the time, yet responsible for recreating so much sound design when it was all over.

They soon realized that dragging in the original actors/interviewees was going to be more trouble than doing it right the first time, but more often than not we fortunately didn't have to always deal with people talking on the camera for the spots we were doing, and so I could 100% fake environmental ambience and proximity of sounds as-seen. All in all, the staff as a whole began to realize that pre-production began to included awareness of "essential sound" for projects, and we've been mostly alright since then.

 

[Ando]

On a slightly related addition to the above (apologies for the thread distraction), the best things can happen when a client throws up their hands and says "YOU do all the sound later on in the studio" (when applicable), knowing things can go bananas with the music as well...and my silly commercial voiceover work. There's rarely anything so liberating, as long as the client knows what they want, enough to tell you in pre-production meetings and reference audio is approved in advance.

Samsung Camera "AutoShare: Bear Attack" (2011), alluding to Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was stuck doing the bear gagging, snoring, and hiccups...but the bear growls were purchased separately




Samsung Camera "AutoShare: Superhero" (2013), generic funk + tense movie cluster chords + 1990s ska seemed proper, friends from all over the UK (Luton, London, and Durham) kindly donated their voice for the closing news reel.