Audio Tips Revisited

A few weeks back, I attempted to create a tip episode about Cheap Audio Sweetening. Several people informed me that some of my audio information was completely wrong. Embarrassed, I asked some of these people (David Smith and Lou) to create a follow-up video and point me in the right direction. I don't ever want to give out wrong information, and would be mortified if someone took my advice and it messed up their production. Frugal should mean less expensive, not bad.

Recap Q&A: Do We Need Our Own Forum?

Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker

DIY $5 matte box
http://tinyurl.com/7w2g2lq

Assassins and getting great shots
http://tinyurl.com/734pv9r

Time lapse how-to (intervalometer)
http://tinyurl.com/7sre7wn

10 lessons for portrait photographers: the art of story
http://tinyurl.com/884yoys

Bill Nunes' $1 DSLR focus puller
http://tinyurl.com/79rp6ww

Using a red dot sight on long lenses
http://tinyurl.com/75hofeo

DIY apple box
http://tinyurl.com/7wtyq65

DIY shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/7u7fau7

Camera L-bracket for $9
http://tinyurl.com/7cgbm8u

Tascam DR-05 portable digital recorder, $81
http://tinyurl.com/7od376g

Kitesurf camera mount
http://tinyurl.com/7qtxq7b

DIY sunshade - walletshade!
http://tinyurl.com/7ptjazu

The Frugal Crane 2.0

After a long wait, here is the update to my previous crane design. This isn't a complete overhaul, but merely an improving of certain parts to make for a better functioning camera rig. The good news is that the replacement parts cost about the same as the original ones and many parts are re-used. The bad news is that some cutting and drilling of metal is required.

Steel Tie Angle / Joist

Garage Door Pulley

Vinyl-covered clothesline

RCA 7" Portable Television

Bill Nunes' $1 DSLR Focus Puller

I forgot the channel that I was on earlier today but he had mentioned using a jar lid strap found on ebay to wrap around the lens focus gear. Thought it was a pretty good ideal. Anyway, I was standing in line at The Dollar Tree store and noticed these that would work in the same way.

Headbands - $1.00 for two!

- Heat up in water to make plastic pliable.
- Quickly dry with paper towels.
- Wrap around lens focus gear before it cools off.
- Wrap with hockey tape, etc if desired.
- If molded tightly enough then no tape is really required. Will stay on by itself.

Thank you for all that you have posted. We appreciate it out here.

Scott Sez: And I appreciate your tip, Bill! I think It's really great when we discover something cool and share it with the rest of the world. It's a large part of the microbudget spirit.

Recap Q&A: Favorite DIY Build?

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Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker

Dual Suction Cup Lifter
http://tinyurl.com/7kocp8z

XLR-PRO
http://signvideo.com/xlr-pro_xlr_adapter-audio-mixer.htm

KV Connection's iPhone mic adapters
http://tinyurl.com/7kjqxcu

Hosa XLR to 3.5mm microphone adapter
http://tinyurl.com/86kf6tu

Noob Shock Mount Adapter
http://www.dslrfilmnoob.com/noob-store/

Four goofy flowcharts to guide you through the filmmaking process
http://tinyurl.com/6nadt4t

Lakshmisha B.R.'s DIY PVC Steadicam
http://tinyurl.com/7b3l9kl

John Moore's Sync External Audio
http://tinyurl.com/84rlxmx

Jerson Kadchao's DIY FigRig
http://tinyurl.com/7edlx2p

Wayne Poe's baby sock light diffuser
http://tinyurl.com/865rfky

A fancier frugal floater
http://tinyurl.com/6lvl9ag

Weapon safety is nothing new
http://tinyurl.com/7cb37se

David Stembridge's DIY shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/6su8g4m

Bill Mecca's DIY shoulder rig prototype
http://tinyurl.com/7uv3lly

Terry Cheusde's crane rig
http://tinyurl.com/7uv3lly

DIY catering, Part I
http://tinyurl.com/8x6ymev

Olle Aranas' DIY shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/7hf5lhx

Lucas Pfaff's DIY shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/7zmkz8l

Jano Kaltenbach's DIY gun props
http://tinyurl.com/84ujfhl

The $1 Budget: Adapt, Test and Bubble!
http://tinyurl.com/7sak359

Terry Cheusde's PVC plug mount
http://tinyurl.com/87p3223

Terry Cheusde's tabletop dolly
http://tinyurl.com/6tueugl

Phillipe Goffin's table dolly to track dolly
http://tinyurl.com/7gg63jf
http://tinyurl.com/7nkzt7a

Terry Cheusde's duster deadcat
http://tinyurl.com/8233q35

10 tips on producing and financing from SXSW
http://tinyurl.com/89s6h4a

Michael Gutierrez' slider dolly
http://tinyurl.com/7jzzzp9

David Curtis' DIY rig to tripod
http://tinyurl.com/7s7rx2b

Spread your Avatar with Gravatar
http://tinyurl.com/8x46xkc

John Chandler's cheap light stands
http://tinyurl.com/7z3omy7

ReckCreative DIY Stabilizer
http://tinyurl.com/7jje9jr

James Corpus' DIY DOF rig
http://tinyurl.com/6pmhxok

Bill Mecca's PVC mic stand
http://tinyurl.com/7uhp4dz

Z Yar Khan's DIY camera slider
http://tinyurl.com/7fxjmb8

Free online movie scheduling software
http://www.moviescheduling.com/

$5 portable teleprompter
http://tinyurl.com/7ykozpj

10 tips on shooting low-budget movies from SXSW
http://tinyurl.com/7g3lc8f

Justin Leyba's audio set up
http://tinyurl.com/7tho9bh

Firat Konuslu's PVC stabilizer
http://tinyurl.com/78gqtaz

Phillippe Goffin's tripod dolly
http://tinyurl.com/7b3l9kl

Cam Pagan's slider dolly
http://tinyurl.com/7t89ezt

Justin Leyba's no-budget shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/7j2oant

Spread your Avatar with Gravatar

Today Knoptop shares a cool tip from the annals of Quick FX in his sub-show Things You Didn't Know You Didn't Know. This time, it's a super easy way to set a custom avatar that will appear next to any comment you make just about anywhere. That way, everyone all over the world will know it's you every time you decide to grace the web with your knowledge.

What's not to like about that?

The $1 Budget: Adapt, Test and Bubble!

Three more items found for a crisp dollar may help you along your filmmaking journey. This month I look at some 3-prong to 2-prong outlet adapters, a battery tester and a magnetic level. Not what you were looking for? Leave me a comment about your $1 find and if I use it on the show I'll give you credit and send whatever traffic I can muster to your YouTube channel or website.

Cross Check Level

7 Function Multimeter

A Fancier Frugal Floater

Dave Langkamp sent me an email last week about how he had liked The Frugal Floater and had built his own. Not only that, but he had stepped up the production value on his version to include a balance arm made of CNC cut plywood all wrapped in a fiberglass resin sheet! It looks pretty great, and I recommend you check out his site to get the dirty details of this very nice recreation. Dave has yet to shoot any test footage, but his model sure hits high on the aesthetic meter.

I really like it when you guys take my ideas and add your own spin. It's what this blog is all about. Someone presents an idea and the rest of the world runs with it. It's very exciting to be a part of a community that creates and shares, creates and shares. It's a cycle I really enjoy being a part of.

If you've modified, tweaked, improved, painted or bested any of my previous designs, please send me pictures and a writeup. I would love to publish your results and send some much deserved traffic your way.

Recap Q&A: $1 Budget Ideas?

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Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker

Canon VIXIA HFR200 Camcorder $279
http://tinyurl.com/7mvu3un

Vivitar Steady Pod
http://tinyurl.com/7ybp38r

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder
http://tinyurl.com/779cpd9

Behringer UCA 202 Audio Interface
http://tinyurl.com/7z5fouf

Audio-Technica ATR-3350 lav mic
http://tinyurl.com/7h4ubkp

Home Depot 1/2" slip plug
http://tinyurl.com/88lro6k

Familyfirst Joe's PVC stabilizer rig
http://tinyurl.com/6v5bqfk

Terry Cheusde's PVC stabilizer rig
http://tinyurl.com/6ssfvbr

Tascam DR-40 Digital Recorder w/XLR inputs
http://tinyurl.com/6w4apjz

Hector Velazquez' DIY camera crane
http://tinyurl.com/8x7gr6z
http://tinyurl.com/7yvphv2

Ed Burns not so micro-budget after all
http://tinyurl.com/7totju8

Terry Cheusde's Frugal Crane
http://tinyurl.com/7tzvbyh

DIY Filmmaker's contest #2
http://tinyurl.com/6u8lc6v

J Alan Meier's Universal Cell phone mount
http://tinyurl.com/7rx5svg

Johnathan Cisneros' PVC dual shoulder rig
http://tinyurl.com/6sj6bjp

David Curtis finds waterproof tripod base
http://tinyurl.com/6qdq722

David Stembridge's DIY Steadicam
http://tinyurl.com/6oskhd6

Silvio Paz Filho's DIY FigRig
http://tinyurl.com/7b3l9kl

Gentrit Bajrami's DIY FigRig
http://tinyurl.com/6szrge5

The Disposable Film Festival
http://tinyurl.com/84f8zsy

Anre Fuentes' PVC stabilizer rig
http://tinyurl.com/83qrxxz

Connor Bright's PVC stabilizer rig
http://tinyurl.com/7gtjggb

Knoptop Hand Pod & Flamethrower!

While all of us may not need a flamethrower prop, it's always good to know how to build one, right? Dave is making one for a webseries he is working on, and in this episode of Quick FX, he show us his progress. Even better is his idea for a cheap and quick hand grip that screws into your camera's tripod mount. Though he doesn't mention it, the hand grip looks like one from an ice scraper and the tripod is a mini version. Both can be found at the dollar store.

Tip: Cheap Audio Sweetening

Since I seem to keep recommending inexpensive lav mics (most notably the Audio Technica ATR-3350), I thought I'd do a little piece on what we can do to make these mics sound better. Some of these things are obvious, while others you may not have thought of.

If you have any other ideas, please comment below.

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder

FiiO E5 Headphone Amplifier

The Frugal Deadcat Wins!

Deejay over at DSLR Film Noob gives another of his great reviews, this time a head-to-head comparison in the field! The challenge: which deadcat windscreen works better on his Rode mics, the "official" version from Rode or the challenger from Micover? It's pretty plain that the Micover windscreen is the winner here and the price is a lot lower ($25 compared to $40). While sometimes you have to accept lower quality when saving money, such is not always the case.

Recap Q&A: What about Transmedia?

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Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/thefrugalfilmmaker
Twitter Feed: http://www.twitter.com/frugalfilmmaker

Sony Movie Studio HD
http://tinyurl.com/6w57q7f

Belizarius font
http://www.1001freefonts.com/bfonts3.php

Zoom H1 Handy Recorder
http://tinyurl.com/7zuh2l3

Jean Corriveau's DIY FigRig
http://tinyurl.com/7b3l9kl

Robert Benson's frugal mic stand
http://tinyurl.com/77cmelf

Foto-Fox Lee Strobist Filters / gels set review
http://tinyurl.com/7g54ldx

Slow motion muzzle flash tutorial
http://tinyurl.com/7fya6ed

Know your rights about shooting
http://tinyurl.com/7yny9h8

The Making of "Hostages"
http://tinyurl.com/7y9x2ql

Rob Mitchell's camera dolly test footage
http://tinyurl.com/6qy3b8b

David Stembridge's DIY steadicam
http://tinyurl.com/7xhacd7

Build a DIY dolly that you can sit on
http://tinyurl.com/7o2o9ck

Faking car motion
http://tinyurl.com/793cy8q

Cheapest boom mic on the market
http://tinyurl.com/7dxtl4o

Sima Quickonnect, back under $9
http://tinyurl.com/87vxx2z

How to do motion tracking with free tools
http://tinyurl.com/6v8up4q

Gentrit Bajrami's DIY LCD viewfinder
http://tinyurl.com/6vwwyee

Lakshmisha B.R.'s DIY steadicam
http://tinyurl.com/7cbobwy

Collin Baker's DIY slider dolly
http://tinyurl.com/6rwzk6l

Rob Mitchell's PVC mega dolly
http://tinyurl.com/75pzfl7

Krisztian Nagy's ???
http://tinyurl.com/85tdppp

Wayne Poe Harbor Freight LED light test
http://tinyurl.com/7848jh3

Wayne Poe's PVC stabilizer with lights!
http://tinyurl.com/6ulnd32

Silvio Filho's DIY FigRig from bike rim
http://tinyurl.com/7s3c358

David Curtis' flag pole holder light support
http://tinyurl.com/72uzzad

Ethan Foss' PVC shockmount
http://tinyurl.com/7nzkydg

Amazon 16GB SD card for $15.29
http://tinyurl.com/7geuw3s

Bjorn Holm's mini stabilizer
http://tinyurl.com/7whm5lq

DIY FigRig camera mount stabilizer
http://tinyurl.com/6uoemx2

Rode Deadcat vs. Micover Windscreen
http://tinyurl.com/76tdxdu

Chris Hackett's DIY sound booth
http://tinyurl.com/7x86ep6