new member
 

Hi all I have been reading the posts for a bit. Off and on the last month and I am impressed with the expertise and how friendly and helpfull you all to one and other. My name is David LeBlanc and I am from Cape Breton Nova Scotia Canada. The great white north. Home of Alexander Graham Bell. I do not have much to offer anyone as far as advise on these matters go but If i could i would. I was stuck in a coal mine the last 20 years. And the mines closed 18 months ago. So i am trying to rebuld my life now. What money i had i spent on equipment to try and get a video event bussness going. The tools I have are an apple G4 867 MHz, 60gig hard drive, 640 SDRAM ,OSX 10.2.3,Waiting for final cut express, 1canon XL1S standard camera with crappy viewfinder. Manfrotto 136 fluid head,Manfrotto117Video tripod, Canon MA200 and 910 dual battery charger holder and canon VL-10Li video light Kata rain cover and Kata camera case. I am now shopping for a coupel of wireless lav microphone systems looking at Sennheiser 500. From what i can make of some of the posts. I could use the 2 recevers to get stero sound on 1 channel, ambeant sound from the cameras mic on an other channel and add music in post leaving one track open. Or use the 2 recevers on 2 different channels mono +onboard camera mic for a total of 3 tracks and have one track left to add music in post. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

Welcome David,

I'm glad you took the plunge and became and official member. Sorry about the mines closing, but hopefully some good and a new career for you, will come out of those events. You audio questions should be posted in the XL1 audio forum here. Your questions will be seen by more people and get a faster response. Keep us posted on your progress and good luck.

Jeff

It's just amazing, the diversity of stories we have in this community. Welcome aboard!

With this much richness and so many tales to tell, someone ought'a make a doc. on all of our varying tales, and it would actually be quite interesing I'm sure!

New Member
 

Hi guys thanks for the welcome It must be nice down in florida I am frezing my butt off up here 3 feet and of snow and the average temp last 3 weeks 20 deg. My dogs don't even want to go out.

We actually set a record low overnight, it was in the 20's in the Tampa/St. Pete area.

Jeff

temp
 

Sorry to hear that must be bad for the farmers. Jeff what do you think of final cut express

Email
 

Hi Jeff Can I send and recieve mail from the group on my own Email or do i have to post on site

Again, a question best suited for another forum, where i have a comparison posted at the top, by the way. I really like FCX and I think it is ideally suited for people just starting out, like yourself.

Jeff

New Member
 

Thanks Jeff just new at this it will take a bit to get the hang of it

Not a problem, I'm glad you're utilizing the vast amount of info on the forums.

Jeff

Trying to keep this short. You may want to search for all the posts on 4-track to learn more.

First make sure FCP express supports 4 track. If it does not, I am not sure what Apple products will allow you to pull it in. Otherwise your solution is to do your mixing in the camera. That means allow yourself so time experimenting with this.

If you decide to go 4-track (12 bit audio as opposed to 16 bit). Canon organizes the tracks into main and sub channels. So if you plan to use the onboard mic, this is fed to the main channels, and the wireless mics would feed the sub channels.

I think the Sennheiser is an excellent choice. Do familarize yourself with 500 system and make sure it is what you want. The 500 is a very nice system, but I am not sure what camera mounted receivers they have. Presently, I am using the EW112P which I think wonderful system.

When you render your product, you are going to want to render to a 16 bit (2-track) format. Those tracks are the ones that all miniDV machines can use.

Hope this helps,

Hello David

I want to give you my limited experience in the video business. First, I learned hear on this forum, only buy UHF wireless mics as the VHF is prone to interference. I have the Sennhieser evolution series and love it. I find that the canon VL-10 light isn't bright enough for anything, I was on a budget so I chose the NRG with variable power, works fine and has room for filters. The lead acid battery belt packs are the best bang for the buck as you will learn when you price new ones. In order to stay afloat, diversify, you have to do alot of different things to keep going, News, Weddings, Family Histories, legal depositions etc. Don't be afraid to charge what your worth, especially when it envolves editing, you could spend a week making things perfect. Just make sure you are good with your camera and be aware that the thumb button to begin recording is to sensitive and if not careful one has a tendency to start recording and then go right back to pause, make sure you look at the display to make sure your recording. Next is to research everything, don't trust what I say. The biggest mistake I made was to buy without thinking, as I too have a VL-10 flashlight. It is not bright enough for any distance and not variable so you blind people in close interviews. Good luck, purchase the right equipment once, and duck if someone yells "GUN" (but keep recording, you can always edit).
Donny