The built-in mic in Canon DSLRs is very susceptible to wind noise. If you want to maximize the usability of that audio (for scratch/synch or otherwise), here’s a DIY tutorial on how to make a “deadcat” wind muffler for the mic. In a nutshell, it simply requires modifying Rycote Overcovers and applying with some double-sided adhesive. Here’s a before and after video that illustrates the difference a good deadcat windscreen makes. Watch below.

5D Mark II Wind Muff from Zack McTee on Vimeo.

(Via DSLRVideoShooter)

Adam Behr is the voice-over talent that did our NAB 2008 and NAB 2009 Australian-flavor vo, and he’s always been a pleasure to work with. He recently did an interview with Talk-Show.tv on the voiceover industry. There’s a lot of good info for amateurs and professionals alike. You can watch the 22min interview with Adam here. If you are looking for a vo guy who can nail a ton of interesting accents, I recommend Adam highly.

At Azden’s Cine Gear 2010 booth we checked out their full line of shotgun microphones in all shapes, sizes, and features. Watch below.

cinegear_2010_azden

DVEStore has posted a mic sound comparison for a bunch of shotgun, handheld and lav mics. It’s a useful comparison, but it’s also an informative lesson on what each type of microphone is capable of, and why you might use one type vs another. Watch below.

(Via Rob Galbraith)

UPDATE: Added B&H links to various microphones from this video, purchases there help support FreshDV at no additional cost to you:
* Sanken CS-3E Shotgun Mic
* RODE NTG-2 Shotgun Mic
* Audio-Technica AT875R Shotgun Mic
* Audio-Technica AT4053b Hypercardioid Mic
* Sanken COS-11D Lavalier Mic
* Da-Cappo DA12 Head/ear mounted Mic
* Rode Procaster Dynamic Mic
* Sennheiser E835 Dynamic Mic

Over at Shockwave-Sound, Terry Wilson has penned a nice article with tips and tricks for faking the best foley and sound effects for your film and video productions. He’s got some great advice for how to creatively tackle your project. Here’s a snippet:

The two key priorities which you should remember to help you do this are:

* Create a world which has distractions removed as much as effects put in.
* Create a world which is believable as opposed to “real”.

A director of photography uses light, framing and depth of field to get the audience to focus on the most important part of the picture. The basic principle of mixing sound is the same: The focus should be clear, crisp and sharp while the background is more indistinct, helping to create the required sense of space and time.

Head on over there and check it out.

FreshDV just picked up a new sponsor, Hawaii-based RedHead windscreens. You can see their banner in our sponsor sidebar to the right.

A lot of us are shooting sync sound with the Zoom H4n recorders, and RedHead offers a variety of “dead cat” type windscreens to protect your critical audio from gusty breezes. Not convinced you need a windscreen for your recorder? Then you should check out the following quick video demo. My jaw dropped when I saw and heard this.

Zoom H4n + Redhead + Canon Mark II + 85mm + Windy Maui’s North Shore from iamkalaniprince on Vimeo.

RedHead is a great example of what I love about our sponsors…they are companies that build tools that we can respect and promote without any reservation, tools for professionals that simply work day in and day out.

A friend of mine just turned me on to the Zoom R16, an 8-input, 16-track recorder and portable mixer. It’s fully loaded with XLR inputs, phantom power, can be USB bus-powered or run on AA batteries, records to standard SDHC cards, and features REAL BUTTONS and sliders.

Price for one of these bad boys? $399. $399! Holy crap. I will own one of these. It really looks like an unbeatable system at this price point. Here’s a review at audiomidi. And for the non-B&H users, here’s an Amazon link at $379.

Thanks to the pros at Zacuto, here’s a video tutorial on capturing sync sound (or “double system sound”) when shooting with DSLR cameras like the Canon 5D MKII. The Zacuto crew shows how to use the relatively inexpensive Zoom H4n digital recorder to capture high-fidelity audio on your DSLR productions. Watch below.

Advanced Sound for DSLR’s from Steve Weiss, Zacuto USA on Vimeo.

This would also be a good time to note Zacuto’s brand spankin’ new website, launched just a few days ago. Check it out at www.zacuto.com.

An enterprising individual has managed to make the first hack to the 5D MK2 firmware, making a change that affects the audio chip. It’s more of a proof-of-concept announcement at this point, but shows that it’s entirely possible to change functions. He also noted that it’s possible to read audio levels live, so theoretically possible to enable audio meters onscreen. So now we wait to see what this guy (and/or others) come up with, and if they’ll beat Canon to the punch for full manual control of the DSLR with video.

(Via 5tu)

 Beachtek & Blackmagic NAB 2009 Video [8:13m]: Download

At B&H’s booth, Beachtek showed their DXA-5D audio adapter unit for the Canon 5D MarkII, a box that offers two XLR inputs, level controls with VU meters, headphone monitoring, and a AGC-Disable switch that can defeat the 5D’s audio auto gain control. Check out the video for the details on how they accomplished this. We also dropped by Blackmagic Design’s booth for an update on their latest I/O cards and a look at their new professional scopes product for editors. Watch the attached video below, subscribe to our podcast feed, or watch all of our current NAB 2009 videos in one playlist here.

The Canon 5D MKII camera is currently in-stock at B&H and ships free. Pricing currently $2,699.95 USD. Purchases made via this link help support FreshDV.

We mentioned the ASL Rip Kit recently. The Rip Kit is a complete A/V connection replacement for the Red One camera, including a matching breakout box that can be located up to 50′ away from the camera using a single DVI-I cable connection. It appeared to be a robust solution to a common set of issues and concerns with the Red One. Over at Final Cut User, I ran across a video review of the kit that really shows it’s strengths and explains the full featureset. If you are a Red One owner or shooter, I highly recommend you watch the two video segments below.

NoiseAddicts has a fun post up that provides an informal test to determine your range of hearing.

Here is a list of tones that go from 8Hz all the way up to 22,000Hz. It’s fairly common for people who are over 25 years of age to not be able to hear above 15Hz, so this will help you find out where your high frequency hearing cuts off.

Mine cuts out after 15kHz. Check it out here.

Here’s a quick beginner-level video tutorial that highlights the biggest problem amateur videographers face; no it’s not the quality of the mic, it is proximity to the source. Watch below.

Microphones: The Proximity Effect from Videopia on Vimeo.

Andrew Kramer is a busy fellow over at VideoCopilot. Their latest tool for video editors is a sub-$100 collection of soundtrack and sound fx elements called Pro Scores.

“…Pro Scores includes over 50 full length musical tracks approximately 1-2 minutes with various styles. In addition to these tracks you also get access to hundreds of music design elements such as tension building fx and atmospherics. One example would be television dramas use intense backgrounds and ambiance to set the mood and Pro Scores offers a vast library of elements to choose from.”

“Pro Scores is NOT short loops but rather the primary Music Tracks are fully composed production music with the more complex tracks available with separated key tracks such as, Percussion, Orchestra and Choirs, etc. This allows users to customize and even extract tracks such as percussion and mix with other atmosphere elements but maintain the climactic builds like you hear at the end of movie trailers and promos.”

Pro Scores looks like a great addition to the toolkit, and very reasonably priced for those that buy production music on a regular basis. Stay tuned at Andrew’s site for a video demonstration.

HDFilmtools.com has posted a multi-part interview with Matthew Wood, Supervising Sound Editor of WALL-E and The Clone Wars. These filmmaker profiles that Larry Jordan is posting have been a favorite of mine for a while now. Check it out.