Too loud

[Andrew Smith]

Might be more resonance than a clipping. I've applied the de-clipping in Izotope RX4 which made no difference that I could hear. Nor did I see any in the waveform.

I have also applied the de-reverb filter which cleaned it up a bit.

Tweaked file is attached. See what you think.

Andrew

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Andrew Smith

Might be more resonance than a clipping. I've applied the de-clipping in Izotope RX4 which made no difference that I could hear. Nor did I see any in the waveform.

I have also applied the de-reverb filter which cleaned it up a bit.

Tweaked file is attached. See what you think.

Andrew

Thx Andrew that reverb filter did a nice job. I'm not sure if FCP has that ability.

As for the crackling sound it's not terrible I just wanted to understand the cause so I can avoid it happening again. While I might not understand the particulars I can safely say that neither the camera mic input nor the H4N are up to the task for this type of work and will use plug my mic into the Sound Devices mixer and send the camera a line feed.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

...many (schools) HAVE to record (a dance recital) because they use it for grades - which need evidence. However - how do they justify breaking a legal agreement to the kids? What does it say to the kids about the importance of copyright?...

Not having a go at you, but much of my work involves professional theatre video and audio recording - most for archive or legal purposes and the hoops I have to jump through take a lot of work, compliance wise - it just gets me when educational people just think they can ignore the rules!

Do you have educational fair use in the UK?

Around here (the U.S.) there are some specific (narrow) areas of copyright exclusion for classroom use, having to do with criticism and learning. I suppose an argument might be made that playback and recording for grading, for classroom use only, could qualify as educational fair use.

Of course there are casual copyright abusers who think educational fair use can stretch to cover all kinds of school-related uses - it can't, it's a narrow exclusion.

At least in the UK, my understanding is, there's a way to license popular music for non-broadcast video/film. It's such a pain (and no benefit to musicians!) that we don't have that kind of license broadly available in the U.S. Every such use is individually negotiated here, which effectively means that there's no remotely affordable way to license pop music that comes out of the conventional record industry on any but the largest projects.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet! Anybody who consults with the internet "experts" for copyright advice may well be very poorly advised. Not to mention that we have forum members from numerous countries with varying copyright laws and practices.

[Andrew Smith]

Originally Posted by Pete Cofrancesco

Thx Andrew that reverb filter did a nice job. I'm not sure if FCP has that ability.

As for the crackling sound it's not terrible I just wanted to understand the cause so I can avoid it happening again. While I might not understand the particulars I can safely say that neither the camera mic input nor the H4N are up to the task for this type of work and will use plug my mic into the Sound Devices mixer and send the camera a line feed.

Hi Pete,

The de-reverb is a high end audio thing, and only comes with Izotope TX4 Advanced. (FCP won't be able to deal with it.)

If this was the issue that you were hearing (and is thus removed in my above file), then I would feel safe to say that it's probably not any piece of gear that you have been using. It's the acoustic environment of the room you are recording in, and your microphones and recording units are doing their job correctly ... picking up exactly what is there.

Andrew

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I was looking at the audio wave form from the camera and could also see that there was clipping. Seems like the crackling sound is from the limiter.

[Paul R Johnson]

Maybe the mods could split out the copyright stuff because it's derailing the OPs topic, which is my fault sorry, but to Seth,

We do have some copyright spending for education, but weinberger and the other copyright holders specifically prohibit recording, and to make it worse there are now schools versions of the popular shows, but they contain the clause?

We have the limited manufacture licenses which are pretty simple, but they don't cover things like musicials or plays, again a specific limitation. dramatico-music is the term to search.

If I get one of these jobs come in, I always mention the copyright issue in the email to and fro, and the schools always say not to worry, their educational license covers them. I smile, take their word and do the job. I think under UK law I'm still at fault as I'm the one who did it, but I risk it with the email backup.

Not sure if they do it in the US, but at one venue, I witnessed a man arriving with a violin case, and telling the MD he was from the rights holder, and had brought his own music. This show, think French and barricades, has a clause that requires the production to use music in full, with no cuts or arrangements. Luckily they had done it right. I asked the guy what would happen if they had changed keys or cut some of the songs. - he said he would have collected the music at the end of the show, and taken it away!

[Don Palomaki]

Lets see:
There are the composers rights
The lyricists rights
The various performers right
The publishers rights
synchronization rights
etc.

Artists want their work performed, enjoyed, and the recognition that goes with it. - that is until corrupted by fame and money.

The middlemen just want their money.

Thus a few average artists make a lot of money, a lot of great artists starve, and the suits at Sony, Disney, etc. pocket their bonuses.

[Seth Bloombaum]

Now that we are sharing some specifics, my takeaway is that copyright law and practice in the UK vs. the US is even more different than I thought. Thanks for the addtional info Paul. Some of it leaves me scratching my head, because you're using apparently common UK terminology that we just don't have here: Weinburger, manufacture (to perform/record for distribution?), dramatico... and I really don't understand what the representative of the rights-holder did with the sheet music, or why.

No matter I suppose. It's hard enough to keep clear on this side of the pond without becoming entangled in someone else's laws and practices. Interesting that they're apparently so different. Frequently on this forum contributors seem to assume that copyright is the same all over...

Don, I agree with you; much of law and practice in the US benefits the business people, when in principle it should be benefitting the creators of works. I think that's more true in the traditional music industry than anywhere else. The house has way too much advantage. And, the house is content to leave no avenue for licensing to small fry, like meetings & events, wedding, corp/industrial video, indie film.

[Richard Crowley]

Yes, to be sure there appears to be a significant variation in copyright law and practice between countries, despite the Geneva Universal Copyright Convention (1952). For example, in the UK, there is an additional copyright for the engraver/engraving, the graphical representation of the score, separate from the original music and lyrics, arrangement, and even the "editorial". And in some countries (like Canada, and maybe Australia, AFAIK), it is much easier to acquire "sync" license, more like the "mechanical" license in the USA which is both "compulsory" (must be automatically granted), and "statutory" (minimum rate set by law). Of course, there are always exceptions. For example the "compulsory" phase only kicks in AFTER the original recording is released.

To be fair to the music publishers, the composers lyricists and arrangers didn't get very far without the publishers who would print, distribute, and (most importantly) promote their compositions. But it is easy to forget that here in the Internet Era where technology has made self-publishing and self-promotion so much easier. And many of the publishers were started by (and continue to be operated by) the composers themselves. Most music is "owned" by the publishers because it is more convenient for the artists to just make an outright sale vs. waiting for royalties to dribble in over the years.

The various rights management agencies (ASCAP, BMI, SESAC, PRS, PPL, et.al.) were established to manage the monitoring of publishing, "performance", and distribution, collection of royalties, and distribution of royalties to the rights-holders. And certainly there are ongoing disputes and complaints about the fairness of the royalty calculations and payments,etc.

The last time I dealt with amateur performance of "big-name" Broadway shows, there were very severe restrictions on recording/photography to the extent that even casual snapshots of your kids in costume were prohibited. But maybe they have become more realistic in recent times. Or maybe it is just different in the UK vs in the US

[Jim Andrada]

I wonder how they purge the show from the security cameras???????

[Daniel James]

Originally Posted by Paul R Johnson

We do have some copyright spending for education, but weinberger and the other copyright holders specifically prohibit recording, and to make it worse there are now schools versions of the popular shows, but they contain the clause?

It very much depends on the show, Weinberger/Boosey do allow recording of some shows, we have a couple lined up for July, and have just done a couple, they have one price for a single copy, and then an additional for up to 100 copies. The one we just did had the (very famous) writer of the piece in the audience;- we always check and won't film if they cannot get the rights.

D

[Brian Berg]

Originally Posted by Richard Crowley

But maybe they have become more realistic in recent times.

I agree. It comes down to cost vs return. If the legal cost is more than a potential recovery would bring in, they'll let it slide. With cell phones with decent quality cameras and video cams nowadays, it's impossible to police it realistically. It's time for the industry to change. If it doesn't, it'll fall the way of the dinosaur.