Midnite Cafe - February 2012 (Live Music Performances)

[Daniel Rutter]

Hey guys!

Just want to make a thread to share the clips I shot for the performers of "Midnite Cafe".
The Midnite Cafe is a group of volunteers who run a venue where musicians, and a cafe meet. You can sit down, hang out with friends while listening to great live local music and enjoy great coffee.

I was there to film for only one band, a paid gig. But I ended up shooting one or two clips for other performers as a form of "taster"... hopefully to pick up more work from these performers.

I'll post the clips as I upload them, but feel free to give me criticism on them all.

Technical details:

Cameras used were 2 HV30's and a Panny GH1.
Audio was recorded through the mixing desk into a Zoom H1.

Editing was done in Sony Vegas Pro 11, audio tweaked in Adobe Audition CS5.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

First clip is for a band I'm actually working for, handling promotion and their presence on the internet. I'll be posting most of their stuff here.



If you like the music, please click through to Youtube and check the links in the description.

[KingDucky]

Wow, I really like some of coloring! Good angles as well, the switch between the front shot and the kind of closeup side shot is pleasing. And the sound is really swell! Good job!!

That guy has some fantastic music too, anywhere I can download his stuff and/or buy it?

[Daniel Rutter]

Thanks KD, welcome back to the forums by the way

That guy has some fantastic music too, anywhere I can download his stuff and/or buy it?

Yep, it's on Itunes... but under the bands former name "Bard & Co/Bard And Co". Got more stuff on Reverbnation as well.

http://www.facebook.com/BigRedWritingAU

[HueyNRolf]

Very good. Well done, Daniel. You seem to have cracked getting good sound with the H1. The only thing I can find, is that it sounds a bit too dry. A very slight hint of reverb might help. Keep 'em coming.

[KingDucky]

Thanks KD, welcome back to the forums by the way

Thanks Daniel! And thanks for the link, definitely going to get some of his music.

[cgbier]

The sound came from the house deck? As Huey said, either a tiny bit of reverb or mix in a very tiny bit from the on cam mic.

Good job, otherwise

[Daniel Rutter]

You seem to have cracked getting good sound with the H1. The only thing I can find, is that it sounds a bit too dry. A very slight hint of reverb might help. Keep 'em coming.

Huey, the H1 is just a means to record the audio. The truth is, the audio was flat until I ran it through a mastering filter in Audition. There is a bit of reverb there, just not a lot. I'll mix some on cam audio in there, and see how it sounds.

Thanks everyone! I'll be posting more as I get them done, as well as post photos I took.

[Shaunp007]

Looks pretty good Dan, Good job!

[Daniel Rutter]

Here's another clip of Big Red Writing, performing another track. I'll have all of these posted within the next 5-6 hours. Then I start editing/posting a clip from each of the other artists.



I took CG and Hueys advice, and mixed a bit of cam audio in there. Not a great deal, but enough to give it that "live" feel.

I should mention, some of these videos will sound like there's a woman singing harmony in the background. This is because the performers wife was sitting in the front row (you'll see her in later clips) randomly doing harmonies. Talented singer... I only wish I knew she was going to sing, I'd have miced her up!

Thanks CG and Huey for the suggestion, I wouldn't have thought of it.

[Daniel Rutter]

Here's the next video.



I started including my company logo in the videos as of the last clip. Next one will be posted probably within 45 minutes.

[HueyNRolf]

Mixing in some cam audio takes the dryness away, but now I can hear crowd chattering, very distracting. Try adding a pinch of reverb to the dry mix off the desk?

[Daniel Rutter]

ixing in some cam audio takes the dryness away, but now I can hear crowd chattering, very distracting. Try adding a pinch of reverb to the dry mix off the desk?

Thanks Huey, did that for some of the other videos I've done (not of Big Red Writing though). I think the crowd chattering adds a little dynamic, but thats just me. I've rendered and uploaded all their tracks now, so I can't really replace them with remixed versions.

I've got another video to post in about 20 minutes, then another one after that... then thats all of them


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here we go, here is that other video I promised.



Following Huey's advice, hopefully this time I got it right! This video wasn't a paid video, this was a freebie as the artist is a friend, and I'm hoping I can encourage him to hire me for future performances. This is why there is only two camera angles (one HV, one GH1).

One more to go, then we can let the thread die

[Daniel Rutter]

And here's the last one.



For some reason the audio tweak didn't come across on this one. Ahh well, too bad :-/

For those that are interested, here is the complete playlist from the video I took on that night. Too bad I couldn't capture the smell of coffee in the air... that's one of the great things about this venue

[HueyNRolf]

I'll post the clips as I upload them, but feel free to give me criticism on them all.

First of all. I think you did a very good job. I'll be shocked if the performers aren't delighted with you.

In the spirit of getting it as a good as you can, I have a few comments.

Sound:

Though nice and clean, it's a little dry. Of course, this is preferable for acquisition since you can always widen afterwards, but you can't do the opposite. I agree that some crowd input can add value. But it needs to work with the music, the cam audio here is chatter which cuts across the performance.

Pictures:

Nice angles and cuts, I'd like to see a wider shot, but maybe that's just my taste. Here I'd say that some crowd input would be nice. As is, it looks like they're performing in an empty room.

Anyways, the good far outweighs the things that could've been better. Well done, Daniel.

[Daniel Rutter]

Thanks very much Huey, your input has helped me greatly. In my own opinion, this is some of my best "live performance" work. It's handy to really get to know the people involved, and talking them into letting you have creative freedom. I know the guy who runs the sound desk, he always manages to get a great sound for me to work with.

Thanks again! To everyone