Syncing film to music without timecode

Back on the case with the video for Kirsty’s debut single ‘Feels Good’. I’ve been experimenting with how to sync the film to sound and have come up with a method that works quite well without the benefit of a camera that has time code. It’s a bit time consuming and it involves chopping the song up into seperate parts. eg: in this case the track arrangement is

*a- Intro , *b -verse 1, *c - verse bridge, *d - Chorus 1, *e - Solo, *f -verse 2, *g - verse2 bridge, *h - chorus 2, *i - end solo

When filming, I had preceded each of the audio parts of the arrangement with a one bar (four beat) click. Working on the intro I shot four angles simulating a four camera shoot using the built in mic of the camera to capture the audio. Because I shot it in the music studio I was able to use Logic to play each part of the song back, alternatively on location I could have used a CD Ghetto blaster (or Ipod with speakers) with each track on the CD being a part of the arrangement as outlined above.

Once I had recorded my four angles for the intro I was keen to see how it worked in Final Cut so I captured the takes as seperate clips and edited then down using the last of the 4 clicks as a cue. I created a film sequence on Final cut named Intro to correspond to the audio clip. I then imported the same chunk of music, again editing it to the last of the 4 clicks. Using a great function on Final Cut called multiclip I was able to view all four clips at the same time, doing some fine editing to make sure they all synced up. Then while reviewing the clips I clicked on each clip that I wanted to see in the master editing window until I had a complete take of the Intro I was happy with.

To cut a long story short I then repeated this process for each seperate segment of the song/film arrangement and at the end I bounced each part into a master programme with the full version of the song,  I then stitched the edited (bounced) film parts together for a seamless end result. The only thing to watch out for here is to make sure your film clips slightly exceeds the length of the audio part. This way you have the necessary cross fades into each subsequent part of the arrengement. If it’s too tight the edits will be too short and you will have to go back a few steps to sort it out.

Keeping each segment of the film as a seperate sequence makes it easy to go back and re-edit any part that needs adjusting though, just re-bounce the file and place it back in your master programme.

J2 kids

The recording stage for Peaceful World featuring the kids from Dean Park primary in Edinburgh is approaching completion. So far we’ve had the best 12 singers in the studio in groups of four. The kids perfomed really well having been expertly coached by teacher and writer of the song Randy Pritchard.

On Saturday I went on location to Ratho Village Hall with 2 mics, a Yamaha mixer and a DAT machine to record a group of around 25 kids just to record the chorus of the song. Today the final 2 kids, who didn’t make it to the last studio session, will be at the studio to record their parts and then it will be time to mix and master the track.

Brit Award Nomination-Spirit Of The Glen

The album Spirit Of The Glen is in the final running for the NS&I Album of The Year at the 2008 Classical Brit Awards. To vote for the album please visit this link

http://www.classicalbrits.co.uk/voting/

Anna Jarosz

Had a great session with pianist and vocalist yesterday. She was composing music for a film based on the life of Scots poet Robert Ferguson. Anna invited a violinist named Marion and between them they came up with some great pieces of music which we completed in 5 hours recording. I first met Anna through songwriter James Forrest who used her on one of his songs entitled ‘Beauty’. I subsequently introduced her to Ric Tod who also used her singing on one of his songs too.

Ludicrous Liquorice - Iains Weblog

This week sees the release of the debut single by Ludicrous Liquorice on the World Citizen label. The track entitled ‘Walling At The Party’ was co-written with lyricist and vocalist Ric Thomson. I recorded the music and produced the single which is a straight ahead club/pop song based on a melody and bass line written by Ric. Ric and I have been doing a series of songs over the past year or so this way, usually using different vocalists until I put Ric’s voice through a vocoder for a song we recorded together called Liquid Love, which is scheduled to be the follow up to ‘Wallin’ if the track does down well. Liquid Love also features Offbeat artist Kirsty on vocals along with Ric and is far and away my favourite of all the songs I’ve done with Ric so far. Initially ‘Walling At The Party’ is now available on Itunes and is being heavily plugged to 450 UK radio stations over the next 6 weeks. The other tracks done with Ric remain in various stages of completion and are eventually planned to be placed with other artists.

Kevin MacLean - For U - Producing from a demo

The debut single - For U - by Kevin Maclean is nearing completion after four weeks work on the project for Plaque Records.

The song is turning out great having done 2 versions of the production. One based on the demo arrangement, which the label requested, and one of my own arrangement and production of the song.

Quite often the artist/label gives me a brief for the production which I follow but if I think I have a better idea for the production I always follow that idea too and in time the artist/label can choose which version they want to go with. Working this way means there no need to get into heavy arguments about whose idea is best during the creative stage of the recording. I get to produce my own uncompromised vision of the track and also supply a production as close as possible to a brief if one is given.

Sometimes both versions allow for different promotional possibilities for the record.

Ludicrous Liqorice

Just finished an  extended club remix of wallin@theparty, the debut club/pop single for Ludicrous Liqorice. The track is scheduled for release in April. Another song I produced and co-wrote with songwriter Ric Tod is called Liquid Love and is soon to be featured on the offbeat site.

Mega March at Offbeat

This coming month is set to be very exciting in the studio. Already confirmed bookings include ;- Randy Pritchard and the J2 Kids - Allie Fox - James Forrest - Ric Tod - Aegon Scottish Equitable (podcast to be confirmed) - Kevin MacLean - Anna Jarosz - Mike Kearnan, Brian Rice + Clive Moorhead (to be confirmed) , also Hip Hop acts Bruce Kilpatrick and Aggravated Assault. More work will continue on Kirsty’s new video for her song “Feels Good”.

Dean Park Primary Balerno

Having been approached by songwriter Randy Pritchard who hails from California, I visited the Dean Park Primary School in Balerno, West Lothian recently to hear the school choir sing some of Randy’s songs. There were over 70 kids in the choir and they enthusiastically performed four songs along with backing tracks created on a laptop by Randy. One song in particular entitled ‘Peaceful World’ really jumped out and after some discussion it was agreed that I would produce the track in March for release before Xmas 2008. The main problem with a project like this is getting a good performance in the studio from the kids who will obviously not be experienced in recording. Discussions will follow soon and auditions will tale place later this month to find the strongest singers in the choir. This will be followed by some recording practise prior to the studio sessions in March.

February recordings

Coming up in February will be the continuing recording of Allie Fox’s new album. Guests on the album who will be recording this month will be Ron Shaw-celloist and Fraser Spiers-harmonica player. Also due in the studio is Brian Rice and Clive Moorhead who will be completing the production of their single - The Edge Of Love following the vocal recording in New York of vocalist Rachel Pany. Producer Paul McKinna will be working with MC Profisee as well as finishing some tracks with some other tracks for Hip Hop artist Bruce. A podcast for Aegon Scottish Equitable is also taking place as well as the completion of songs by Ric Todd featuring various vocalists, still to be announced. So once again it promises to be another exciting month again at the studio.