School Project Video About Audio Engineering

[MJKlein]

I did a short video clip about what I do in my studio, for my daughter's 2nd grade class. I cut the clips together in Resolve, but I did 100% of the audio in Reaper and mixed on the X32. I rendered the final video in Reaper and converted it with Handbrake.

At the end when I introduce the music clip under the voiceover, I did the ducking on the X32 with keyed compression off of the voiceover track. No manual gain riding at all.

[craigf]

Sounded good, although the ducking at the end wasn't as smooth as it could have been.

I think the 2nd graders will like the fader movements + metering.

Some suggestions for next time (given it's for 2nd gaders.)
Solo some of the tracks in the DAW, eg "This is what the drums in this song sound like by themselves" *solo drums for a couple of seconds, "This is what the guitar in this song sounds like by itself" *solo guitar for a couple of seconds, "When I put them them together, this is what they sound like" *solo master bus
It would have been good to have some audio going while you were adjusting faders, eg "I move this fader up to make the drums louder" *moves fader up, audience hears drums get louder, "I move this one up to make the guitar louder" *moves fader up, audience hears guitar get louder.
2nd graders might have got a kick out of some other features, eg "I can also do some crazy things to the sounds with these other controls on the console\DAW" *dials in a VOG eq on your own mic, or use FX to make yourself sound like a chipmunk etc.

[MJKlein]

The video conforms to the restraints put upon the parents who were given the task of creating the videos, including the length. The purpose of the video is to introduce the profession and not to demonstrate anything in particular. Some of the other parents include a pharmacist, electrical engineer and plastic surgeon.

I had to show them how the console controls the audio signal level, visually, for a reason: they speak English as a second language. They need to hear the voiceover in the clear for the most part. That explains the narrated slide at the beginning. At least it was for their English class so I didn't have to do a Chinese voiceover track, lol.

btw, I wasn't going for "smooth" on the ducking. I was going for that tight, over the top FM radio sound with which I am all too familiar. Thanks for your comments.