30 years in business, Thank you!

30 years in the recording biz , Binary Recording Studio

Dolby Atmos and the Hobbit film

Post audio for the Hobbit

How to be creative?

The age old question, How to be creative?  This video explores the concept. 

Storyboard Master Class for Film by J. Todd Anderson

Alfred Hitchcock’s films were known to be extensively storyboarded. He once commented that his films were often anticlimactic for him after they were edited, because he’d already experienced them in the storyboard. However, storyboarding helped Hitchcock plan out his films shot by shot, solidifying his vision.

Canon 5D Raw Video with Magic Lantern

Magic Lantern unlocks 14 bit raw images from the Canon 5D.  Pretty impressive and looking forward to getting up to 24fps footage from these folks.  Luke Neuman put together this video showing the difference between H.264 and the DNG Raw image.

Wireless HD Video, Camera to Monitor

At Binary Studio we are big fans of Marshall Video Monitors, they are well built, look great and can take a beating. I know from experience, my camera setup flew off the slider and hit the cement pavement.   The lens on the camera was broken but the monitor is still rockin.
Marshall is coming out with a wireless system. Example: you might want to hand the monitor to the producer or director while shooting without being attached with cable etc....  Range about 100 ft.

Check it out!

Audio Compression, "How To" Leveling the signal

Here is a simple "how to" use a audio compressor.  

Audio compression is a method of reducing the dynamic range of a signal or leveling the overall signal

• An audio source to be compressed (eg. microphone, musical instrument, output of sound desk, etc)..

1. Connect the source to the compressor's input, and the compressor's output to the destination device.
2. Adjust the compressor's input and output gains to appropriate levels.
3. Set the threshold level to the point at which you wish compression to take effect. Signals below this level will not be affected. Signal levels above the threshold will be reduced according to the compression ratio.
4. Set the compression ratio. Ratios of 5:1 or less will produce fairly smooth compression; ratios of 10:1 or more will produce more severe cutting off.
5. Set the attack time. This is the delay between detection of a signal above the threshold, and the commencement of compression (ie. the time it takes to "attack" the signal).
6. Set the decay time. This is the time taken to release the signal from compression.
7. Adjust any other settings on the compressor. If you don't know what they are, try to put them on automatic, or disable them.

LINK: MORE INFO ON COMPRESSORS 

ACX, Audiobook Creation Exchange

At Binary we have been in production for our clients creating  i-Books, Kindle books, and many audio book formats.  ACX is a Amazon platform that aside from offering audio book distribution,  they have created a network for authors, narrators, agents, publishers and audio studio's to connect.  

LINK : https://www.acx.com/help/how-it-works/200484210

Adobe Creative Suite 40% discount offer, Limited Time!

At Binary we use Final Cut and Adobe Premiere as our editing production suites.  Depending on the needs of the client we have both formats.  We enjoy using Adobe because the work flow and features are the way we like to work.  About a month ago Adobe has moved to the Cloud for any purchases or updates with no hard copies available. I am not that happy about this because I like having hard copies of the software I purchase and now have to go to the cloud for any updates.
So if your a adobe user and want to save a little money, this is the time to get on board with the Adobe Creative Cloud.  They are offering 40% off the first year of use. You need to sign up before April 19th.

Here is the link:   https://creativecloud-specialoffer.adobe.com/special-offer/?loc=en_US&cc=us

                                                     

The Mistake's Filmmakers make in Marketing their Films

I tell people that the marketing of your film starts the same time you are making your film or before.  I have seen many great projects fail because of the lack of marketing.
Here is a video clip from Sheri Candler talking about marketing mistakes of the indie film maker.

Home Recording, Control Room Acoustics

At Binary Recording Studio we do alot of mastering for home studio projects. Laptop recording systems that are in a home, bedroom or kitchen environment sometimes have issues that create audio mixes that make the mastering difficult.
Most often the problem is the listening space or control room that the mixes are made.
The acoustics of the room will influence your mix and how it is represented (sound) outside of your studio control room.
Studio's can spend alot of money to get a control room to represent the sound correctly, but here are some very basic things to think about for your next recording. 

LINK
http://www.moultonlabs.com/more/making_your_home_control_room_the_best/

Field Guide for Indiegogo's Crowdfunding.

I have run a few successful Kickstarter campaigns for raising money for film projects and recently wrote a blog on the difference between Kickstarter and indiegogo.  I also have seen some great projects that fail due to not really understanding the format for success in reaching the goal. So when I saw this I wanted to share it!

indiegogo has just released a field guide that I looked at, and believe it is a great tool to help you get the most out of your campaign.  These basic tools mentioned in the guide can work with any crowdfunding project.

Here is the link for the download of the guide. http://landing.indiegogo.com/iggfieldguide/

The Art of the Steadicam

How a camera moves can help tell the story you are presenting in your film. I found this website that I would like to share, it's called www.steadishots.org 

It lets you check out the steadishot clip from some of your favorite films with the name of the operator , equipment used and sometimes commentary on how they pulled off the shot.

Camera Dolly System for DSLR, $300 dollars?

When you need more then a slider to get your shot this looks like a good alternative.

Have indie films Recovered, top dollars from distributors?

A list of some of the acquisitions at Sundance.  Some pretty big names for indie film production companies? ( Sony, Fox, HBO, Magnolia Pictures) 

Narrative

1. The Way, Way Back: $9.75 Million, Fox Searchlight
2. Don Jon’s Addiction: $4 Million, Relativity Media ($25 million P&A)
3. Austenland: $4 Million, Sony
4. Lovelace: $3 Million, RADiUS – TWC
5. Kill Your Darlings: $2 Million, Sony Pictures Classics
6. Fruitvale: $2.5 million, The Weinstein Company
7. S-VHS: > $1 Million, Magnolia Pictures
8. Ain’t Them Bodies Saints: $1 Million, IFC Films
9. We Are What We Are: > $1 Million, eOne Distribution — US and Memento Films — International
10. Concussion: > $1 Million, RADiUS-TWC
11. The Spectacular Now: > $1 Million, A24
12. Before Midnight: Undisclosed, Sony Pictures Classics — North American and UK
13. jOBS: Undisclosed, Open Road
14. The Look of Love: Undisclosed, IFC Films
15. Newlyweeds: Undisclosed, Phase 4 Films — North America
16. Prince Avalanche: Undisclosed, Magnolia Pictures
17. The Rambler: Undisclosed, Anchor Bay Films — North America, the U.K. and Australia
18. Toy’s House: Undisclosed, CBS Films — North America
19. Two Mothers: Undisclosed, Exclusive Releasing

Documentary

1. Blackfish: > $1 million, CNN Films and Magnolia Pictures
2. Pussy Riot — A Punk Prayer: > $1 million, HBO Documentary Films
3. The Summit: > $1 million, AMC Networks’ Sundance Selects
4. Twenty Feet From Stardom: > $1 million, RADiUS-TWC
5. Dirty Wars: Undisclosed, AMC Networks’ Sundance Selects
6. History of the Eagles: Undisclosed, Showtime
7. Inequality for All: Undisclosed, RADiUS-TWC
8. The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear: Undisclosed, Icarus Films — North American rights

Multi Track Field Recorder, 6 channels and stereo track

We often record multi tracks in the field for film or live music performance. One of my favorite recorders right now is the Tascam DR680. Great price at about $690 dollars.

What I like about this tool is that I can mix levels right on the unit without having a mixer on the job. I also am impressed with the signal to noise ratio, with mic pre’s set right you can get a real clean recording. 

I use a 32 gig flash card and never have had to change it out durning a recording.  It will record 6 tracks,a stereo track,  and up to 24k / 96 kHz.  Six of the inputs have phantom power.  The phantom power is in pairs which can be a bummer sometimes.  You can run it on batteries or AC.  It will eat up batteries if your running full on with phantom power on every channel.

There are plenty of spec’s you can look up, but what you really want is to talk to someone who has used it. To really see how the unit performs,  you need to put it to the test on different recording jobs and bring the tracks back into the studio control room to really listen critically.  

I have, and will give this the Binary Studio seal of approval, we have used it on many situations and will be using it in the future.  For the price I think its pretty cool.

Binary Recording Studio a Audio / Video Production Company in Bellingham Wa.

More then a scriptwriting tool, Celtx

In the studio we have been using Celtx.  The thing I really like about this program is being able to sync the storyboard and script on multiple devices sharing the edits and allowing others to edit if they choose.  This has really improved our work flow.

I found that I was stuck working in a way I have been doing for years. It took me a while to take this method on, now I really can't see any other way of working with as much interactive communication with all involved. Give it a try, it might work for you!

Check them out:  https://www.celtx.com/index.html

Should I use temp music in my film for the composer?

Temp music, (which is some temporary music that represent your musical idea's used to communicate to composer) can be a wonderful tool in creating a roadmap that will allow you to communicate your musical vision with your composer.  This roadmap can easily convey the emotion and direction of a scene as well as the overall feel of your film. 

Where filmmakers often get into trouble is that they develop a case of loving their temp track.  Sometimes its hard to let go of a piece of music you’ve lived with for a long time.  As you create your temp score, be mindful of the fact that at some point you will need to let go of it.

Some composer's do not like having the temp track as a sample. They would rather get description, adjective's to explain what you hear in each section of the film ( fast moving to slow dark movement etc ....)

Trust your composer and let them do what they do best, you hired them for their creativity. Allow room for something new and fresh to be created. This is how the scores are born that we ultimately enjoy. Allow your score to become as unique and let the composer bring in some new idea’s.

This a group that offer music for independent films. http://www.konsonant.com/

Binary Recording Studio is a Audio / Video Production Company in Bellingham Wa.

ShotOnWhat is IMDb' on steroids for film makers

Being a film maker, I often see some film that blows me away on the production side.  How did they get that look etc......  Here is a site that will give you what format, camera model, lens type, finishing format, lens manufacturer, etc. was used to create a certain film? While IMDb has a lot of other coverage like cast and crew lists, you may find yourself wanting a more detailed and dedicated technical breakdown — enter ‘ShotOnWhat?‘

Binary Recording Studio a Video / Audio Production Company in Bellingham Wa.

The storyboard might be more important then the script.

The storyboard pitch.

Over the last year of two I have noticed that many of my clients really don’t read the synopsis or script for their project I propose.  They will tell you that they did, then often they are surprised with the content as the progress moves along.

I have found that one of the reasons that this happens is that they really don’t not know how to read a script with visualization of the scene.

This is no fault of the client, often it is a learning process that even for myself takes experiences.

This is where the storyboard becomes as important as the script in pitching the project to you client.  Using a storyboard as your main tool to pitch your concept to the client creates better communication  and helps the organization in production.  This in the long run saves money for everyone.

I would suggest that the storyboard pitch you present to the client not be to detail.  This is the idea stage, then develop your storyboard for production.

Best of luck!

Binary Recording Studio is a Video / Audio Production Company in Bellingham Wa.