What does this topic have to do with Vegas or NLE?
Because what comes off the sound board is what ends up in your fancy cam, whether by direct or ambient, or any combination of the two.
Just a bit of background: Last May ('05), I took a brand new director to see the venue in advance of our July ('05) production, at another company's show at the same facility, in order to acquaint him with the sets, tech, and production capabilities that could be expected. My parting comments to him were, "Well, that's an example of how not to design sound." I didn't even know the sound guy's name at the time, and wouldn't have recognized it if I had heard it.
I discovered, much to my dismay, that the same person who was at the board had been asked to "run sound" at another production this April and May ('06), a major show at another facility, where I was hired only to conduct the orchestra, not produce. However, I took comfort in the fact that a professional sound designer was contracted to set up the mikes and board, and the board op had been asked to follow his instructions.
Not only did the sound contractor and I agree on every major point of the design (I've been doing this for only thirty years in rooms up to 5X the size of that auditorium), the contractor delivered his "keep the gains low on the wireless" speech TWICE to the know-it-all amateur board op.
The result? Well, this "experienced" board op not only completely disregarded the advice from the paid engineer, but the minute his back was turned, killed the stage mics (three choir mics and two PCCs), cranked the mid and bass on the eight wireless to levels which had previously been determined would cause feedback, thus eliminating any possibility of headroom when the house was full (hello?), and then cranked the gains to the point of howling and distortion, thus making the principal's songs and speeches unintelligible. In order to "fix" the problems, he brought in his own low-end compressor, and applied a 6:1 compression (holy cow!), because the lead's "peaks were too high."
Just an example of what someone with a little bit of knowledge, experience, and absolutely no competence can do to ruin a production without any regard for conventional wisdom. I told him not to "reinvent the wheel." The result was howling, feedback, distortion, and zero intelligibiltiy from the principals mikes into the THIRD weekend of the show (If I had been producing as I have usually done, this idiot would have been fired at final dress).
The moral? Instead of trying to save a buck by not hiring a pro to run the board, you have RUINED the experience of an otherwise fine production for your audience, video producer, and their customers. Whether you take the audio feed from the board, hang mikes in the room, or both, the result is the same -- crap. If you think weddings are an expensive mistake because "the bride's father knows someone who has a mixer," try staging a $30,000 production with a sound board op who is a friend of an acquaintance of the producer and who will work for free.
End of rant. All responses graciouslly entertained.
Because what comes off the sound board is what ends up in your fancy cam, whether by direct or ambient, or any combination of the two.
Just a bit of background: Last May ('05), I took a brand new director to see the venue in advance of our July ('05) production, at another company's show at the same facility, in order to acquaint him with the sets, tech, and production capabilities that could be expected. My parting comments to him were, "Well, that's an example of how not to design sound." I didn't even know the sound guy's name at the time, and wouldn't have recognized it if I had heard it.
I discovered, much to my dismay, that the same person who was at the board had been asked to "run sound" at another production this April and May ('06), a major show at another facility, where I was hired only to conduct the orchestra, not produce. However, I took comfort in the fact that a professional sound designer was contracted to set up the mikes and board, and the board op had been asked to follow his instructions.
Not only did the sound contractor and I agree on every major point of the design (I've been doing this for only thirty years in rooms up to 5X the size of that auditorium), the contractor delivered his "keep the gains low on the wireless" speech TWICE to the know-it-all amateur board op.
The result? Well, this "experienced" board op not only completely disregarded the advice from the paid engineer, but the minute his back was turned, killed the stage mics (three choir mics and two PCCs), cranked the mid and bass on the eight wireless to levels which had previously been determined would cause feedback, thus eliminating any possibility of headroom when the house was full (hello?), and then cranked the gains to the point of howling and distortion, thus making the principal's songs and speeches unintelligible. In order to "fix" the problems, he brought in his own low-end compressor, and applied a 6:1 compression (holy cow!), because the lead's "peaks were too high."
Just an example of what someone with a little bit of knowledge, experience, and absolutely no competence can do to ruin a production without any regard for conventional wisdom. I told him not to "reinvent the wheel." The result was howling, feedback, distortion, and zero intelligibiltiy from the principals mikes into the THIRD weekend of the show (If I had been producing as I have usually done, this idiot would have been fired at final dress).
The moral? Instead of trying to save a buck by not hiring a pro to run the board, you have RUINED the experience of an otherwise fine production for your audience, video producer, and their customers. Whether you take the audio feed from the board, hang mikes in the room, or both, the result is the same -- crap. If you think weddings are an expensive mistake because "the bride's father knows someone who has a mixer," try staging a $30,000 production with a sound board op who is a friend of an acquaintance of the producer and who will work for free.
End of rant. All responses graciouslly entertained.