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Music, Sound, and Audio Technology
The Portable Studio: Building a Portable Audio Edit Station
By Bryant Falk
posted May 14, 2009, 09:35 |
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Bryant Falk has been a producer and engineer for over 12 years
working with such clients as The Ricki Lake Show, Coca-Cola, Sports
Illustrated, Valley National Bank, and MTV�s The Shop. His company
Abacus Audio handles many aspects of the audio production field
from creative and production to mixing and final output.
http://www.abacusaudio.com/
A portable audio edit station is a multitrack,
computer-based audio setup used to
record and process audio for production.
It allows a director the instant assurance
that his audio tracks will be usable for
production, and allows the mixing of
multiple tracks of microphones with sound
effects and music to create almost instant
audio playback. When combined correctly
with QuickTime, the director can see a
rough cut, with (much closer to) full sound,
minutes after a take rather than the next day.
Caution! Competent audio
engineer required for successful
use of the rig! Also allow for
additional power source.
Equipment you will need:
� A laptop computer: Mac or PC depending
on which you are more comfortable with.
� Monitors: I would pack some closed ear
headphones and some half decent self
powered speakers. I�ve found the Bose
Companion 2 speakers to be a good
compromise. JBL also is well known for
solid speakers. The trick here is to learn
how they sound and mix accordingly.
� Input device for audio: Options include
Mbox from Pro-Tools, Edirol USB input
system, or one of many other portable
audio hardware boxes.
� Software for computer: Options include
Pro-tools, Digital Performer, Logic, or an
application you are comfortable with.
� Power Strip and extension chords.
� USB Mouse for extensive editing. (It�s
much easier than using a trackpad).
� Extra cables, for example, XLR, RCA,
Quarter Inch, etc. (You never know what
you�re going to need when it comes to
cables!)
� External Hard drive running at 7200 rpm,
(All audio/video drives have this minimum
requirement).
So you�ve picked up all the gear. How
does it go together? The nice part is it
almost assembles itself! USB or firewire
from the input device attaches to the same
on the computer. The connectors won�t let
them fit any other way! The speakers can
plug into the line out of the interface box,
and the headphones usually have their own
jack on there as well.
The external hard drive should also be
plugged in and selected as the target for
your recorded audio. The hard drive will
need to be of the Firewire variety. USB
drives just don�t have a consistent enough
flow for audio or video. Sometimes youmay have to daisy chain your audio device through your hard drive
if your laptop only has one Firewire connection.
Notice I don�t have any audio plugging straight into the
computer? Only the computer cable from the interface goes in and
out of the very �noisy� laptop. Laptops and tower computers are
very noisy machines. The whirring hard drives and heat exhaust
fans can make for a lot of interference that can be picked up on
analog audio. This will then print along with your tracks to the hard
drive. The computer cable on the other hand is only transferring
digital zeros and ones back and forth.
One of the key things you or someone well-trained will have to
know is the software that�s being used. An immediate question is
should I use mono or stereo tracks? The quick and dirty answer
is all music is stereo, dialogue is mono and sound effects can be
both. I�m not even going to touch on surround sound here as it�s
far to involved for this article and your portable rig! Mono tracks
save space, allow more sounds to be mixed simultaneously and
tax the laptop far less than having all stereo tracks. And this is for
reference, not the final mix. Pre-mixed music tracks already have
involved stereo relationships built in so this should be maintained
unless the music is being piped through a small transistor radio at
the beach. Then by all means crunch the music down to mono!
You may also have to put on an equalizer to create that small radio
sound.
With all of the above properly put together you will have yourself
a portable rig for editing and playing back multiple audio tracks.
One great example of application is when shooting a club scene.
After recording dialogue, mix in the music track and see if your
actors are saying their dialogue as if they are really in a club. I find
since there is no music or loud noise, actors tend to pull in and talk
normal which, if you�ve ever been in a club, is next to impossible.
Another example is for a horror movie. Since so much of thesuspense and �horror� is based on sound effects/music, slide in
all the audio effects, and see if the proper thrill and chill is being
achieved! Remember the audio rig is a tool to make sure you�re
getting what you�re going for. If say you�re not sure whether a read
was believable in a scene, just mix into context and take a listen
without picture. If it holds up without picture it will probably do
fine when the video is rolling.
This of course is just a sampling of what can be done with a
portable audio rig. Mix in Pro-Tool�s ability to rough cut QuickTime
movies on the same timeline, and a director can have a lot of
questions answered right there on set! A portable rig can give you
some serious peace of mind. Not to mention another back up of
your audio tracks onto a hard drive!
This article may not be reprinted in print or internet publications without express permission of StudentFilmmakers.com.
Check out this article in the October 2006 print edition of StudentFilmmakers magazine, page 42.
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