Re-Recording Vows

[AndrewMSV]

For those of you who have had to invite the B&G back into your studio for re-recording the vows, can you tell me a little about what to look for?

Where did you do it? Your studio or their house? Why?
Did you just use a lav mic straight into the cam? did you use a boom? MiniDisc, iRiver, iPod or what?
how many takes do you think it took? what are some good tricks to getting them relaxed? do you record straight to your timeline via laptop? did you show them any other parts of the wedding video?

Give me the dirt!
Unfortunately, I will have to ask my B&G to come back in for a re-record because the wireless didn't work.
(Get this: the transmitter was on, battery was fine, mic was perfect. The transceiver antanaes were perfect, the XLR's were tight, the batteries were fresh, all LED lights showed good reception and good power. The camera was perfect as well; all audio switches were set properly, all channels were properly set. Even the frequencies were double checked and kosher.
After the entire ceremony went by and I couldn't figure out why I was getting zero signal, I finally figured out that the toggle switch on the transceiver for LINE or MIC was about a millimeter too far down, stuck in 'limbo' and therefore didn't pick up any signal at all. In other words, it was switched to LINE but not switched all the way. how lame is that?)

[chriswatson]

I had to do that one time when the wireless dropped to the floor missing most of the groom's vows. I decided to do it on site telling the groom as little as possible with what happened. Also, how are you going to implement the vows? Will you attempt to loop it back in where you can't tell that the signal went out or will it be a highlights type of thing. If it's the latter then make sure to insert some room tone to sell it.

Chris Watson
Watson Videography

[AndrewMSV]

maybe i can actually go back to the church and record straight to the timeline from there. That would get the best replicated results, I believe.

BTW, they do need to see the video while they're speaking the vows again, don't they? how do you handle this?

[Mathew]

This is why I stick an iRiver on the groom as back-up to the wireless. I've had just too many issues with them. However didn't you double check everything before the ceremony?

Where were your other mics located? Can you hear any of the vows at all?

As far as re-recording you can loop the sequence in your NLE or burn it to a DVD and loop it. Then have the bride and groom sit down and repeatedly repeat their vows, recording all of it. Then piece it together the best it fits.

[shayes]

I got bit in the ass by NOT having the iriver on the groom, as my post needing help. I had radar interference from the boat we were on. I am going to cover up sync issues with photos she is going to provide. I hated making that call today, but there was just nothing I could do. what sucks is that theylive out of town

[JC/DV]

After the entire ceremony went by and I couldn't figure out why I was getting zero signal, I finally figured out that the toggle switch on the transceiver for LINE or MIC was about a millimeter too far down, stuck in 'limbo' and therefore didn't pick up any signal at all. In other words, it was switched to LINE but not switched all the way. how lame is that?)
Funny you mention this! It happened to a wedding I just finished editing. I used the Tx at a prior wedding and had it set to "Instrument" as I used it to feed signal from a band's mixer to my stationary cam... forgot all about it. this was the preacher's mic and I only tested the groom's for this wedding. (Time didn't allow.) As soon as preacher started talking, I was pissed because I couldn't hear a word except for the peaks of his words. Luckilly, another cam was placed near the PA speakers (he had another mic from the bride's unlce's PA system (don't get me on that one, but it bailed my butt out of nothing) So I just used that sound fro mthe camera and dubbed over.

Good luck in recapturing those vows!

[Mathew]

Another tip is to place a small piece of tape over the switch. I do this since the transmiters have switches that are easily accessible to grooms who sometimes like to play with things.

[Mathew]

Oh yeah make sure if they come over to your studio to buy dinner for them as well.

[DGates]

That sucks Andrew. Telling you what you should've done doesn't help you now. Did you not also mic the officiant?

Having them redo their vows for the video is going to be an ordeal.

But it shows that for all those who say wireless is better because you can monitor the sound, it doesn't do you a bit of good, short of storming up to the groom in the middle of the ceremony and flipping a switch on his transmitter.

[ringkingstudio]

Andrew, I have done it for other projects. But not a wedding. We do it in our sound booth. It has a window where they can watch the part we are trying to fix. But obviously there is a difference between an actor faking an emotion and a bride choking back tears. I think you might have a tough time with this. It can take us half a day sometimes (depending on the actors experience and how much we are fixing) to get it just right, and you are going to try to match real emotions. Good luck, and let me know how it turns out.

[AndrewMSV]

I'm actually really calm about this whole thing. The bride is as close to an actress as you can get in an amateur and she'll have no problems with it.
And as far as my calling them to tell them that things didn't go as planned, I don't anticipate any negativity from them. They're super-cool and will probably see this as yet another step taken by Morning Star Videography that goes above and beyond the call of duty. This was one of those weddings where you could do no wrong.

You know how that goes. Sometimes they just plain love you.

The only thing I'm concerned with is just getting it right when we sit down the next time. So thanks for all your ideas.

Cheers!

[chrisfar]

I had this happen once when the groom went to the bathroom and turned off the mic he was shy, I guess he did not want me to hear him in the can.
Here is how I did it, and it was perfect.

I had the actual audio of the officant on CD and I had them wear headphones.
This was key to getting the timing perfect.
They heard the priest give his instruction then read their segemnt as if they were at the altar.
They were wearing my lav recording right to my camera.
They both did it in one take.
I digitized the footage peeled off the audio
and it synced up perfectly. You could not tell.
Good Luck
Chris

[DGates]

This was one of those weddings where you could do no wrong. You know how that goes. Sometimes they just plain love you.


Apparently, the audio problem wasn't yout fault. But this should teach you to have 2 sources of audio just for these type of situations. I always mic the officiant. If he doesn't want to wear a mic, I'll stick 2 iRivers on the groom.

Having the couple redo the vows later is just slightly ridiculous.

[Edit1Media]

Andrew,

I'm sorry to hear that happened. Unforunately we had something similar happen at a cathedral where we weren't allowed to also mic the priest so we didn't have our usual backup audio. Anyway, we did similar to the other post. We went to the couple's house (for their convenience) and had them wear headphones while watching the video on my laptop. The audio was recorded directly onto the laptop and the couple did great! We also took that opportunity to get some other voice over for the video and they really appreciated that. In the end, everything was easy to sync up and the results were great. We've had referrals from this couple since then too...they were really grateful for us being upfront and helping to solve the issue. But hopefully we'll never have to do that again! :)