Milwaukee gospel artist Harris

Local Milwaukee, WI gospel artist Harris headlined the July 10th event of the monthly multi-artist concert series titled 2nd Sundays at the Lake presented by SERVE 60. With the Coast Guard Pavilion serving as the host facility, CenterStage was on hand to capture this talented artist’s performance singing to several yet-to-be-released tracks forthcoming on his full length debut LP. Below are two songs from Harris’s set performed that Sunday afternoon.








(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Our Tascam DR-680

At CenterStage, we love products that make it easier for us to do our jobs properly. The Tascam DR-680 eight track digital multitracker is one such product – a device that we have waited 15 years to become available. Stereo and four channel portable digital audio recorders have been commonplace for many years, but the DR-680 is a portable multitracking powerhouse providing eight individual tracks for concurrent recording. We consider it nothing less than a game changer in remote recording convenience.

Since we always record outboard audio, separate from our cameras, we use this audio recorder on every job where we don’t need more than eight independent audio tracks at the production site. The audio requirements of most documentaries, commercial shoots, and small-scale fine arts performances are met handily by the use of the DR-680.

We use this outboard recorder and other outboard audio recording equipment because of the superior quality and flexibility these devices provide compared to in-camera audio recorders. Not only does the DR-680 provide more concurrent recorded audio channels during filming, the quality of the recorded audio on the DR-680 is much higher than in-camera recorded audio. We find that the DR-680′s eight tracks is of sufficient recorded track quantity to meet many stereo and 5.1 soundtrack raw requirements of the aforementioned productions.

If you have watched some of the newer television shows like The Office, Modern Family, or Detroit 1-8-7, you may have noticed the “look” of these programs is very different from the “look” of the vast majority of Hollywood films and even the majority of network television primetime dramas.  There is liberal use of zoom rockers, non-stabilized shots, and whip pans.  Generally, when directors of photography employ these filming techniques, they are trying to impart a sense of reality, or hyper-reality, instead of a sense of surrealism that Hollywood has absolutely perfected.

We believe the result is a complete train wreck – another word we are using with increased frequency – when the above listed elements are used irresponsibly, particularly when they are combined and abused throughout the program.  As human beings, we do not view the world around us in this manner.  When someone shows up at our doorstep with zoom rockers on his or her eyes, then we’ll eat the hard drive on which this post is written.

If the goal is to impart a sense of realism that is demonstrably different than the surrealistic nature of a Hollywood feature film, then there is a correct way to do that.  In our opinion, the television smash hit 24 pulled it off beautifully.  Yes, there was the occasional whip pan present in certain episodes.  However, all shots were sufficiently stabilized as to not inflict a condition of seasickness.  And we don’t recall the use of a zoom shot ever.  Of course, having world famous director of photography Rodney Charters at the helm certainly did not hurt either.

When CenterStage Productions commits to produce your project, we discuss the intended “look” of your project during the pre-production process to make sure we understand what you expect from us.  We believe we are flexible enough to film your project using techniques appropriate for either the realistic or surrealistic ends of the spectrum, including all points inbetween.  But we also understand the concept of  ‘all things in moderation.’   Because train wrecks are certainly not easy to look at.

Our PreSonus DigiMax 48k

When we find gear that just works, we tend to stick with it for the long haul here at CenterStage. One key piece of equipment in our remote recording rig that fits this description beautifully is the PreSonus DigiMax mic preamp. We have four of them in our road rack case that give us 32 channels of Class A preamplification at our disposal. We’ve had these mic pre’s for over ten years and they have never let us down ever! Of course, these units were hand assembled in Louisiana by the folks at PreSonus. We’re fairly certain that has been a key factor in these boxes’ durability. Unfortunately, they were discontinued many years ago, so we are very happy to have the four pre’s we currently own.

One of the nifty features of these models is eight channels of onboard limiting. Traditionally, most engineers avoid using limiters during tracking because they tend to squash the wave form, similar to a clipped signal, instead of merely attenuating the wave’s amplitude. However, the limiters in these units also include RMS detection, very similar to the mechanism used in most compressors. In our experience with these fine mic pre’s, we have found the trick to getting mild compression without incurring the adverse effects from peak limiting is to just barely tickle the limiters during live tracking.

After reading the above, most people would ask the following: “If you’re recording with 24-bit word lengths, why take the risk of clipping when there’s more than sufficient bit depth to ‘gain up’ during post? Why not just peak with plenty of headroom to spare?”

While we acknowledge this is common practice in the industry, we believe saturating the AD (analog-to-digital) converters with maximum signal renders the most accurate conversion, yielding increased spatial presence and depth. And the end result is we walk away from a live show with the components that enable us to mixdown a very high quality live recording.

If you haven’t already heard a sample of our live audio, be sure to check out a sample high quality MP3 located near the bottom of this page that we believe recreates beautifully the spatial characteristics of the airport hangar in which this show was originally tracked.

Of course the real trick to pulling this off is to be very familiar with the source material you’re tracking and to have the band fully on board with this style of recording by consciously controlling their onstage dynamics while performing. So it takes a joint effort. But when everyone is on the same page, the results are extraordinary.

Anyone who shot 35mm film prior to about 1987 (the year Canon debuted the auto-everything EOS camera) was forced to learn the relationship between aperture, shutter speed, film speed (i.e., ASA rating), and overall exposure. It didn’t take long to realize the amount of bokeh (the blurry, out of focus area) present in the picture was directly related to the aperture, or f stop, of the lens used while taking the picture. All things held equal, big numbers like f11, f16, etc., correlating to a very narrow lens aperture, generally meant very deep depth of field. And little numbers like f2.8, f2, f1.8, etc., correlating to a very wide lens aperture, generally meant very shallow depth of field and you had better have worked that focus ring to perfection if you wanted a sharp photograph.

Since the degree of bokeh achieved was (and still is) directly correlated to the lens aperture, the focal length of the lens, the distance between the subject matter and the camera, and the distance between the subject matter and the background, it became an aesthetic tool whereby photographers were able to control where the viewer’s point of focus fell on the photograph assuming proper exposure could be realized by modifying the other variables in the equation.

Fast forward 30 years where the video world now enjoys a fairly mature, reasonably priced, product mix from various manufacturers such as Sony, Canon, JVC, and Panasonic featuring “prosumer” camcorders that are able to deliver simply amazing moving picture footage that is HD broadcast ready. But there is a very big catch, or actually, in this case, a very small catch. The imaging sensors used by these cameras are tiny compared to the size of 35mm film we used decades ago to take those lovely shallow depth of field photographs. Today’s full frame digital cameras use sensors that are the same size as 35mm film, so there’s your point of continuity between the old technology and the new.

This Wiki page shows a startling comparison graphic between common sensor sizes used in digital photography. And while this graphic shows digital photography sensor sizes, the surface area of the 1/3 and 1/2″ CMOS and CCD imagers found in most prosumer video cameras can be approximated by the 1/2.5 and 1/1.8 sensor graphics respectively. The difference in surface area between those sensors and a frame of 35mm film (or today’s 35mm full frame sensor) is simply astounding!

Perhaps the world’s finest broadcast ready “prosumer” camcorder, the Sony EX 1R, uses three 1/2″ CMOS imagers to deliver outstanding visual imagery. However, a full frame DSLR’s sensor is over 28X larger than the 1/2″ imagers used by the EX 1R. What’s the result of this? Well, the most significant effect in our opinion can be found in the EX 1R’s lens specifications found under the EX 1R’s “Specifications” tab: f = 5.8 mm to 81.2 mm where “f” in this case represents the focal length of the EX 1R’s zoom lens. If you have any experience shooting 35mm, you realize those numbers are absolutely tiny! Where a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera represents roughly our human field of view and an 85mm lens has historically been the ideal portrait lens, the focal length range used by this amazing camcorder is miniscule.

And herein lies the problem with “video” cameras. Their tiny sensors, relative to full frame 35mm film (or digital imagers), are so small that in order to present images within an acceptable field of vision range, they must use incredibly narrow focal length lenses. If you’ve shot with full frame 35mm cameras for any length of time, you likely realize that as the focal length of the lens drops, the depth of field increases (all other things held equal). So with this understanding, it’s easy to see how these camcorders have a depth of field problem – the problem being there is no way, out of the box, to fully control the depth of field of the moving pictures.

So, historically, “video” folks have resorted to attaching 35mm lens adapters to the front of these camcorders which permits the attachment of real 35mm lenses that are used to image the subject onto a spinning or vibrating piece of ground glass that the camcorder’s lens records. Of course, these devices are cumbersome to use and there is always a light “penalty” when shooting through an additional piece of glass. But, the adapters gave DOF control back to the filmmakers.

Fast forward to August 2008 when Nikon shocked the world by introducing the D90 - the world’s first DSLR with a 720/24P movie mode. Not to be outdone, Canon, in May 2009, dropped the EOS 5D Mk2 into the hands of several directors of photography who began using them professionally. And since then, we have been off to the races with this DSLR “video” phenomenon. Finally, we have a product that films motion pictures in 1920×1080/24P (more on 24P in a later post), permits us to use high quality manual focus 35mm lenses, and has given reasonable DOF control back to the camera operator. Besides making provisions for control over the images’ DOF, the huge sensors in these DSLRs also have the ability to gather a incredible amounts of available light which makes them an instant favorite for filming in low light conditions.

The 102.9 HOG House Band Finale highlight video shows what these cameras can do under difficult lighting conditions, conditions which were absolutely atrocious in the upper level of BBC G-Daddy’s – but typical of any indoor live music event. Most “prosumer” camcorders in that environment would have produced either drastically underexposed images or images full of grain commonly found in high gain filming situations. But if you take a look at the footage, you won’t see any low light artifacts. What we do see are subjects that are isolated from an unflattering background (via shallow DOF) and basically grain free images that we captured by filming wide open at ISO 800 using a wonderful 50mm/f1.4 30-year old Pentax SMC M lens.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t hurdles to overcome when filming with these DSLRs, because there definitely are. And these will be discussed in a future post. But for now, I’ll conclude by saying these DSLRs, when used under specific circumstances, deliver moving images that have previously been simply unobtainable anywhere even remotely close to the price point of these cameras.

Golden & Regular Bison Bull Pistols

We had an interesting day today at CenterStage Productions. It’s not everyday that your company gets hired to film the debut of a new, American made handgun – fabricated right here in Southeast Wisconsin. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the round is a .45-70! Woah! Having handled our fair share of high quality firearms, we were curious about how this six-gun would compare to more traditional handgun calibers. So off we headed, with gear in tow, to local sportsman’s club Fin ‘N’ Feather in Palmyra, Wis. on a lovely November day to film this beast and possibly squeeze off a few rounds.

The objective of the day was fourfold – to demonstrate the overall functionality and handling of the Bison Bull, to compare the recoil of the Bison Bull .45-70 to a traditional .44 magnum, in this case a Ruger Redhawk, to document an average grouping from a factory Bison Bull at 25 yards, and to showcase some impact results from the .45-70 round.

Gregg Stuart, president of the Fin ‘N’ Feather, was on site to lend his expertise as well as the club’s resources to the staff from Super Six Classic. This was Gregg’s first time handling the Bison Bull which enabled him to provide some key insight relative to his Ruger .44 magnum and previous experiences with .45-70 caliber handguns from other manufacturers.

Below is our edit, highlighting the action from that November morning, that Super Six Classic presented at the 2011 SHOT show in Las Vegas. Feel free to take a gander at the specs of the Bison Bull on Super Six Classic’s website. After firing off a few rounds at the range that day, we believe the .45-70 round in the Bison Bull is a breeze to shoot, consistent with the action portrayed in this promotional clip.




(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

102.9 The HOG House Band Finale

Milwaukee’s leading rock radio station, 102.9 The HOG, sponsored its annual House Band contest where local bands compete against each other and attempt to become the broadcaster’s House Band for the year. This year’s finale was held upstairs at BBC G-Daddy’s (Milwaukee, Wis) on Friday night, October 22nd.

The four band set consisted of local acts The Black Saints, Rectifier, Disaster March, and Conniption. CenterStage Productions was on site to film the action as four original music bands went head-to-head well into Saturday morning. “Northern rock” band Rectifier was chosen by the crowd to be the most deserving band to represent the radio station in 2011 as The HOG House Band.

At this shoot, we faced some insurmountable onsite logistical hurdles that prevented us from filming this show in our typical manner – six to ten cameras with full multitracked outboard audio. Instead, we were limited to just two cameras and a stereo board feed of the house mix. Still, we believe the footage sufficiently demonstrates both the high quality of musicianship present at the event and our style of filming live music.

Here is a highlight edit representative of the material these bands were laying down upstairs at BBC…

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)

Our Tascam DM 3200 Digital Mixing Console

We are audio fanatics here at CenterStage Productions. This probably stems from the fact that our team has over 80 years of aggregated audio experience accumulated from the areas of pro audio, live sound, audio post production, and musicianship. As such, we place equal, if not greater, emphasis on the audio component of our productions. There’s an old saying in the film world that goes something like this: “Good audio can make up for bad visuals, but good visuals can’t make up for bad audio.” We believe amazing results are created when the quality of both elements is maximized. Consequently, we have invested heavily in road worthy pro audio equipment that will deliver the goods on site, be it on stage in 90 degree temps with typical summertime Midwest humidity or in the field on a freezing midwinter Wisconsin afternoon.

We have chosen rugged microphones from manufacturers such as Shure, Audio Technica, and AKG to perform the bulk of our front end audio work. The audio chain continues into one of multiple remote multitrack recording options at our disposal, the choice of which is typically determined during the pre-production process based upon the unique needs of each job.

After production wraps, we then take all of the multitracked audio back into our post-production studio and begin mixing it down into either a stereo or 5.1 surround soundtrack for inclusion with the film footage shot during the event, using our primary mixing surface – a Tascam DM 3200 digital console that serves as the heart of our post production studio.

And it’s this process taken in its entirety, as well as our combined experience, that separates CenterStage Productions from most video shops. We have the tools, the knowledge, and the resources to deliver first rate audio that will compliment, not derogate, the visuals of your production.

To hear an audio-only sample that represents the end result of the above listed process, simply click on the play button below. This high quality MP3 clip is from a live show we tracked inside the Stein Hangar at the Waukesha County Airport/Crites Field in Waukesha, Wis for an outstanding local Milwaukee ’70′s cover band named Stoneship Eden. All editing, mixing, and mastering of this clip were done in-house.

To read more about the technical details of our audio production and post production process, check out our blog entry here.

UPCI Wisconsin Home Missions Director Pastor Rick Kielley

CenterStage Productions is honored to have been chosen to produce the 2010 Christmas for Christ promotional film for the UPCI Wisconsin District’s Home Missions Department featuring Pastor Mark Showalter from Bread of Life Apostolic Church (Mukwonago, Wis) and Pastor Marshall Newble from Apostolic Worship Center (Milwaukee, Wis).

For this short film, we decided to go back to the basics – to bring the home missions church experience to the viewers of this short. Instead of just talking about what it meant to pastor a home missions church, we wanted to showcase the pastors and their congregations in their element. And that meant packing up our cameras, our multitrack audio recorders, a small selection of versatile studio mic’s from our mic locker and heading out to film everything on site at the churches and the surrounding neighborhoods.

On October 3rd, we filmed from 9:30AM to 5:30PM at various locations in Mukwonago, Wis. while being hosted by Pastor Mark Showalter and the fine people at Bread of Life. Interviews with members of the congregation and Pastor Showalter were conducted at the church while a baptism was filmed at a local beach along the Mukwonago River.

On October 10th, we again packed up our equipment and headed down to the inner city of Milwaukee to learn more about this church being held in an elementary school in the worst neighborhood in Southeastern Wisconsin and to try to bring another amazing home missions story to the viewers. Everyone at Apostolic Worship Center was so accommodating with certain technical requests required to capture the full dynamism present at this church. Although it was another very long day behind the camera (from 8:30AM to 6:30PM), we believe we captured some amazing footage that accurately portrays Apostolic Worship Center’s true mission.

After spending 100 hours in post production for this short, which included developing the story on the timeline during rough edit, multitrack audio mixdown, audio mastering, final grading and color correcting, and insertion of English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired, we have finally put this one “in the can” and recently distributed 100 DVD copies throughout the state to UPCI Wisconsin District churches.

Below is an excerpt from the film highlighting some of the action that took place at Apostolic Worship Center in Milwaukee.

(Video: Watch this video on the post page)