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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
SoundSlide: The first attempt
Christopher Pike, Photographer
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Brandon | MB | CANADA | Posted: 8:42 PM on 08.22.06 |
->> Last week I came across this pretty interesting situation, and took the opportunity as my first chance to try a sound slide project. I called the project: "My she tree has a he wizard on it", (cause I thought it was a hilarious quote!, check it out if your interested.
Lots of feed back needed!
http://www.brandonsun.com/pike
-pike- |
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David Butler II, Photographer
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Somers | CT | USA | Posted: 10:23 PM on 08.22.06 |
->> Hi Christopher,
First let me say, “I am not an expert”. So all my comments are from the gut…
I liked the images… some said more than others but, in all, they are great and work well with the story. One problem that really jumped out at me was the audio capture. The audio was way to hot and distorted, it also sounded like you used an internal type microphone (internal to the recording device) which sounded too far away from the subject, then later in the show the audio quality changed, not really for the better, just different. I guess what I’m saying is, when the audio capture is not that great it is very noticeable and distracts from the story. Also what I noticed is you started the story out with the Artist… so I was in tune to hear about this person and what he does… then all of a sudden the subject kind of became the home owner and what she thought of the artist… I personally would have continued with the artist and then at the end brought in the home owner as a closing element. Another thing I notice is your show is full of dialogue; my gut feeling is, too much dialogue… almost like you need some breathing room in there somewhere… like if you started out with just some ambient sound of the saw for a few seconds then came in with the artist…. and some breaks in the middle using ambient sounds like the other two guys in the background must have said some stuff. You could use some up close sound of the torch along with some wide angle close-ups of the torching… just to break it up. It would have been great to hear the artist talk about why he used the torch, how did he learn to do this kind of work, how long does he plan on doing this kind of work, does he teach others how to do it, etc. One last thing… again, my gut is saying, when doing these type of stories we need to, first, keep it focused, and break up the story into segments, like who the subject is and basic back ground, then detail as to what is actually happening in the present, then maybe close it out with what might happen in the future, or in this case the home owner who now has this great piece of art work to cherish. Have each segment of the story separated with some pause in the talking, using ambient sounds… I’ve done a few of these multi media stories…. They are not that easy… the easy part is me sitting here as a back seat driver giving you my thoughts… Doing these stories you really need to pre-visualize the final product to a certain extent.
Anyways… hope that all make sense and is helpful.
Be good,
dbii |
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Rodrigo Pena, Photographer
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Palm Desert | CA | USA | Posted: 8:20 PM on 08.24.06 |
| ->> Hey Chris, David shared some good thoughts on how to improve. I learned a few things from his comments. I liked hearing the chainsaw in the background, that was nice. I agree with David about the rough audio, but for your first time, good work. The audio stopped a wee bit short of your slide show. I might snip a little bit of dead audio at the end of your sound file, unless that is the effect you were trying to convey. I did like the audio of the tree owner better at the end as opposed to her earlier interview. It didn't have the weird echo sound. I liked your photos and liked the changes that the sculpture was undergoing. It would have been neat to have a strong closer, but I liked the way you turned the last photo into B&W and listed the credits. |
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Andrew Nenque, Photographer
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Larry Clark, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Falls Church | VA | USA | Posted: 6:22 AM on 08.25.06 |
->> This audio stuff can be a real challenge. And a lot of it centers on people’s expectations. The problem is that really good audio requires a whole production process in itself...Like you don’t already have enough to do on an assignment. The difference might be that for a paper’s website -- something used to “plus up” the daily or feature stories -- the audio is less critical. But what about a portfolio? (And if it’s really great audio in the portfolio -- the result of a lot of work -- does that raise expectations?)
That said, using a micro-cassette or simple digital voice recorder with a built-in mic is sort of like shooting your assignment with a P&S camera, without using the viewfinder. Good audio can really enhance the viewer’s experience, but that means a decent recorder, a good microphone, and headphones/earphones at the recording site. Then some decent audio software to get the cuts under control and properly spliced together.
I’m just starting on some multi-media projects so I’ve been doing a lot of web surfing and catalog reading to settle on equipment and software. The link below summarizes what I’ve come up with. There a links to a couple of audio samples and an early project. I’ll probably add a couple more samples in the next few days.
http://www.ljclark.com/audio/audio-01.htm
If you’re just trying to get a notch above the built-in-mic voice recorder, I’m thinking that a simple recorder with a separate monaural microphone (short shotgun, unidirectional, or tight cardiod) would be a usable in the field. Make sure the mic has a good wind sock (you might need to buy one to go over the stock wind screen) and that it doesn’t pick up a lot of mechanical/handling noise. Keep the cable fairly short (maybe 4 feet or just a little longer) so you’re not fussing with it all the time. (Shortening the cord probably means chopping it and soldering on a new connector. If you do that, replace the XLR plug on the microphone end, since they are easier to work with. Or build your own starting with a commercial cable with molded-on plugs, chopping it, and then adding a new connector on the chopped end.) |
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