Shipping today is a new DVD project I directed and edited. It is a live concert by pianist Greg Howlett and a number of special guests. We shot the concert with three Sony EX-1 cameras and recorded directly to the SxS cards in each camera, transferring afterwards. Of course, we did have a feed from each camera to a switcher so that I could call the shots during the performance, but that was only used as a guide to be sure we had coverage. The program was completely recut in post. Additionally, we shot each song a second time (the following day) for closeups and creative angles--including low angle views and some dolly shots onstage. The second time through, we shot with just two cameras. Mistakes that were made musically during the concert were fixed selectively by "punching" in only where necessary, the same way you would do fixes in the studio.
Equipment used for the project included a Vintech 4-channel preamp (Neve knockoff) for the piano mics (Neumann TLM-103s) and vocal/instrument mics (Neumann KM-184 and Shure Beta 87--a poor choice in hindsight for the poor windscreen). Audience mics were AT-4033s and ran through PreSonus preamps. The audio was multitracked to Nuendo running on a PC and video was edited in Final Cut Studio on a MacPro.
The DVD's are available for purchase at www.greghowlett.com.
