A question to Bob, but everyone's opinion welcome

megabit wrote on 11/14/2014, 9:38 AM

I'm editing pro bono a simple coverage of a music/poetry event. The venue was not prepared at all - neither in terms of lighting, nor sound recording (in fact the only mic was the stereo Edirol on the camera). Looking at the pic, you can imagine the piano is the loudest, with the cello OK and - since levels had to be kept down to avoid piano clipping - the actress' voice extremely faint...

Now, of course ducking is my friend, but my question is different: apart from making the voice louder when she speaks, should I pan it to the stage center (sounding more professionally, but looking strange on the video? Opinions welcome.... Oh, and how to do it best and easiest technically - never did this sort of things. I'd need a Pan FX keyable - is it possible in VP13, and how? If not, what workaround with routing to another bus only active when she speaks?

TIA

Piotr

Comments

rraud wrote on 11/14/2014, 10:06 AM

You could pan it slightly to the left to maintain camera L-R perspective and still have the center 'presence' so to speak. Pan can be automated via a track pan envelope... 'R' = keyboard shortcut. (assuming VP13 is the same as previous versions)

megabit wrote on 11/14/2014, 12:20 PM

Yeah, I am aware of the Pan and Volume envelopes, their automation etc - the intention of my question however has been more of aesthetics.... Should she be HEARD from the center (as a proper voice over should) even though she is SEEN at the left?

Piotr

rs170a wrote on 11/14/2014, 12:24 PM

Piotr, someone in the audience would be hearing her on the left but for the purpose of your video I feel that centre would be just fine and not a distraction.
If she was talking into a mic for a house PA, she would be in the centre, not hard left so go with that thinking.

Mike

farss wrote on 11/14/2014, 3:39 PM

If the lady is talking then for that section I'd go to mono i.e. copy the track and select left or right channel, whichever has the cleanest sound of her voice and maybe try to Eq out some of the room. Then using a track volume envelope just bring up that track when she's talking and the stereo track down. I might even add a tiny amount of compression to the mono track although here I'd think there'll be too much room to get away with that.

One thing to keep in mind, this is an ambient recording, much of the sound field is in the phase relationship between the two channels. I only use the track pan control to dial out any difference between the L and R gain in the mic and my recorder and then leave it alone.

Bob.

riredale wrote on 11/14/2014, 3:43 PM

Not entirely sure of the situation. Does she speak while instruments are playing? Are you doing a CD also?

When I do a CD of the Mozart Requiem, there are soloists during various parts. They are off to the side, and I leave them off to the side.

If you do pan, try to do it gently so that no one can hear any weird effects from panning back and forth.

My suggestion would be to make a 30-second clip of each approach, and get some feedback from a couple of people. Based on my reading of the situation, I'd be inclined to leave her on the side and do some subtle volume rubber-banding.

Serena Steuart wrote on 11/14/2014, 5:31 PM

I presume the actress is reading poetry with musical accompaniment. The camera is decidedly on the wrong side of the stage, but that's all history. If it is possible to process an audio track de-emphasising the instruments I might lay that down in sync (noting Bob's comment that the camera recording has the correct phasing between L&R and this must be retained) and mix between original and processed tracks to suit. I'd be inclined to leave alone the balance between L&R, but only you can judge what works best.

PeterDuke wrote on 11/14/2014, 10:37 PM

What does it sound like, as you are watching the video? Is it natural or unpleasant in some way? Try both headphones and speakers. If the balance seems wrong, tweak the left-right pan until it sounds OK.

The lady is further from the mics, so her voice will sound more reverberant than the piano, but that is consistent with the view. Izotope Rx 3 pro has a de-reverb function if you feel that it should be adjusted, but that would work best for voice only sections. Even with a solo voice, de-reverberating is unlikely to improve the clarity.

If it were my project, I would probably do nothing, except perhaps reduce low frequency ambient noise if that is noticeable.

megabit wrote on 11/15/2014, 4:40 AM

Thanks all for their suggestions. When the lady is reading poetry pieces, the instruments are quiet which certainly makes it easier for me.

With "a little help of my Friend Bob" I'm also cleaning up some clipping in the piano sound, as seeing the camera placement (the only possible one, BTW) is definitely wrong, I tried to increase the lady's voice recording level and as careful as I was, I've slightly overdone in a few places :(

Ha, it's funny how a person who has been doing live music recordings for years has now some basic audio problems. But of course at the classical music events, the sound part has always been taken care of by professionals.

Piotr