'Live' music video production

[Andrew Prince]

Hi everyone,

Thought I would run this one by you all to see what you thought....

I am going to be producing some music videos and I have been thinking about how best to do it. I have a studio (large room with black curtains all around and some lights in the ceiling). I have a Sony Z5E and a Sony PD170. The studio will have all the mics, stands and a digital mixing console that can output to a PC to record decent quality multitrack audio and the idea is to create a performance video of a band.

My workflow, having given it some thought would be:

- Set up the two cameras to give different views. The PD170 would be static.
- Shoot with the Z5E doing closeups of each band member.
- Record a guide audio track on both cameras using the attached mics.
- Import all the footage into Premiere Pro CS4.

In Premiere Pro CS4:

- Drop the PD170 static video onto track 1.
- Colour correct the track and set the black and white balances.
- Drop the Z5E footage onto track 2 (using down convert so it's a 16:9 SD project).
- Lock the PD170 audio and video tracks.
- Sync the Z5E audio tracks with the PD170 audio tracks (zooming into the audio, this is easy).
- Lock all the audio tracks and the PD170 video track.
- Go through the Z5E video track chopping out all the camera movements so I end up with lots of instances of shots of each band member (as the audio tracks are locked, I will be preserving them in my timeline).
- Colour correct all the Z5E shots.
- Drop the stereo mixdown from the multitrack into Premiere Pro CS4 and sync that to the video.
- Go through the audio tracks and mute any that we don't need (probably the camera based audio).

The end result is the Z5E shots cover the static PD170 shots making it look like I have switched between cameras on the fly and it's all in sync:

Video 2::::: ::: :::::: ::: ::::: ::: :: :: ::::: :::: ::::: ::::: :::::
Video 1::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Audio 1::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Audio 2::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Audio 3::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Audio 4::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Anyone any thoughts on this? Am I doing it efficiently? Am I going about it completely the wrong way?

Further to this, the client is fairly adamant that he wants it to be a true live recording. That means one take, multiple cameras. Obviously I would like to do multiple takes with one camera so they match up much better and I can shoot it all in HDV on the Z5E (the PD170 isn't even 16:9 native). To prove to the client that my way is best, I shot video of his band rehearsing and also some other angles on different songs. I am going to splice the other angles into a test music video and stick a title over the top of each shot saying, "I know this is the wrong shot and not in sync but imagine if it was!" Hopefully he will realise that it's easily possible to create a live performance with multiple takes and that it's much more interesting to watch!


Kind regards,

Andrew.
www.carillonvideo.co.uk

[Jerry_R]

Even down converted the Z5 and 170 footage will be a bit different but it sounds like that's what you want.

The audio tracks from the Z5 and 170 will be useful only as reference; you will not want them in the final mix.

I assume this is one of the POP stiles. I haven't done that in a studio. I have done a couple small bands and some jazz and folk groups; but I do live performance.
The live performance put less pressure on the musicians and gives a much better performance with more energy.


BTW I would try o get a visual sync as well as audio for both cameras as they will walk out of sync with each other in around 15 minutes. It will be easiest if you do short takes but I understand the desire for a long flowing take. Also if you do the usual chop stile of music video editing the out of sync will not matter.

What are you going to do for stage type lights and FX or are you just doing a demo for the band to get work?

[Andrew Prince]

Originally Posted by Jerry_R

Even down converted the Z5 and 170 footage will be a bit different but it sounds like that's what you want.

Hi Jerry. You're right. Having done some test shoots with the Z5E and 170 (in 16:9 mode) the picture quality is significantly different. I am going to push for single camera shoots on the Z5E as much as possible.

Single camera didn't work too well with the jazz band we shot - none of the musicians could remember that they played first time around, so when they played to the first audio recording, they didn't know what to do. I guess with jazz being largely improv, it doesn't lend itself well to single camera, multiple shoots. Glad it was only a test shoot! :-)

The audio tracks from the Z5 and 170 will be useful only as reference; you will not want them in the final mix.

Agreed. We eventually got a Tascam DAW in for the audio side of things. With the analogue and digital inputs in use, it gives us 8 track live recording ability which we think is enough to gain control over the audio for this budget.

BTW I would try to get a visual sync as well as audio for both cameras as they will walk out of sync with each other in around 15 minutes. It will be easiest if you do short takes but I understand the desire for a long flowing take.

Visual sync? Like a drummer tapping out a count on his sticks? That also shows up in the audio waveform - great for syncing in Premiere Pro CS4 with un-numbered markers.

What are you going to do for stage type lights and FX or are you just doing a demo for the band to get work?

The idea is to put a basic promo video together. It's not MTV and it's not a stadium gig. We want to market the service to young original bands. Much like they used to send demo tapes to record companies, I reckon they could also use video very effectively. So I am not going for a high end polished look. I am going for a mid end quality video that showcases the band, their look and sound.

In the way of lights, we use a few PAR cans and some LED PAR cans. Nothing special. Just enough to make it look like it wasn't shot under a florescent lamp. :-)

Anyway.... a link shows you best what I am going for:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKuDZFobW8U

What do you think?


Regards,

Andrew.
www.carillonvideo.co.uk

[Jerry_R]

Came out good. I find that real performance groups simply don't do well with multiple takes using music from the first or whatever the best take is and trying to mime. You record live and what you see is what you get. Yes if you have multiple cameras you can some times cut out bobbles and you can sweeten the audio but that's about it. Nice clean audio and you didn't make the common mistake of seeing "who can be the Loudest of us all and didn't drown things in FX and particularly reverb.

[Andrew Prince]

Hi Jerry,

I posted more music videos on my website:

www.carillonvideo.co.uk

I'm interested what you think of the Genesis / Phil Collins tribute band videos?


Regards,

Andrew.
www.carillonvideo.co.uk

[aulears]

I quite liked it - sounded ok, and as tributes go, quite authentic. I wouldn't book them, though. I realise that the originals apart from Collins weren't that 'visual' - but apart from the drummer who's working his socks off, the others look bored, and the guy being Tony Banks is almost asleep. They've missed the concept of stage clothes - baggy genes on middle aged blokes (I'm one too) never look good on stage. Banks, even though not being the most animated performer does at least wear something that doesn't look as if they've been working in it all day. The guitarist played a pretty obvious wrong note that I think I'd have sorted. The singer looks better. Lighting wise, the guitar and keys seem to be in a special that never changes - permanent blue being boring after a while. The movers could have done far more too.

So video wise, I liked it. In the Firth of Fifth the change to orange/gold works.

The phil collins songs badly need a bass player - weird there isn't one, not even as a track.

Quality wise - I think you did a pretty good job. Maybe a cheap extra camera up in the lights above the drummer, or on the keys for interest, freeing up the main cameras for shots that change?

[Jerry_R]

By and large I agree with the above. The sound was good and so was the video.

But:

baggy genes on middle aged

I am a bit over 60 and my genes aren't baggy but some o my jeans are