Vaudeville Sound Group: Premium Video Podcasting, Delivered Efficiently
With offices in the USA, Canada and the UK, Vaudeville Sound Group has built an enviable reputation for designing, mixing and mastering high-end audio post for television, film, animation and branded content over the past 20 years. Vaudeville delivers to streamers and broadcasters including Netflix, Amazon, Disney, BBC and Channel 4.
With further support available from picture post specialists The Finish Line, Vaudeville is extending that audio production excellence into the fast-growing video podcast market with the launch of a new studio from their Shoreditch facility in London, featuring three Sony ILME-FR7 cameras.
Broadcast quality
The studio has been designed to offer a fully managed production environment for video podcast recording and streaming. Vaudeville’s core proposition is to make broadcast-quality production values available to television producers, brands and content creators looking for a robust, seamless experience, while maintaining a competitive price based on production and workflow efficiencies.
The studio is equipped with three Sony ILME-FR7 full-frame PTZ robotic cameras, professional lighting and Shure SM7B microphones with a gallery-based control setup. That combination enables customers to walk into a ready-to-shoot environment and start recording quickly, while still achieving a premium picture and audio finish.
Vaudeville Sound Group’s Founder and Chief Executive Daniel Jones comments, “we found that a lot of podcast studios say, ‘here’s a room, go for it. Help yourself’. But everything is an add on. We’re offering a full-service straight off the bat. We’re the same price, if not a bit cheaper, than all those add-ons total up to.”
As a business built on sound excellence, Vaudeville wanted to ensure that the picture quality matched the standards clients already associate with the brand. Luke Hatfield, Head of Sound at Vaudeville Sound Group says, “we wanted to make sure that we brought our audio standards and our philosophy of sound into the video world.”
That requirement shaped the choice of the Sony FR7.
Consulting DoP Craig Harman helped design and specify the visual setup and create camera and lighting presets for the studio with a brief to capture cinematic images with a shallow depth of field and texture that would sit comfortably with content shot for broadcast. Harman had no hesitation in recommending the FR7 having worked with it across multiple broadcast shows alongside other cameras within the Sony Cinema Line including the Sony FX9, FX6 and FX3 to achieve a consistent look.
Harman says, “there was no other option but to go down the Sony FR7 route.”
The FR7’s remotely managed robotic functionality allowed Vaudeville to maximise the number of available angles with three cameras without filling the room with operators, while being able to reframe shots, adjust composition and vary coverage across the studio from the gallery. Harman says, “the three FR7s allow us to reframe, to get different angles, to really maximise use of the space.”
The space we have isn't huge. We can use that space really efficiently. Being able to PTZ control those cameras is absolutely a game changer for us in being able to refocus and autofocus all from the gallery.
Luke Hatfield
Ease of use
The team required a system that could be learned quickly and managed confidently by a single operator simultaneously managing sound and workflow. Sony’s RM-IP500 PTZ remote controller offered a simple interface to configure and switch between cameras with joystick control.
Harman says, “the FR7, when paired with the RM- IP500 controller, is just plug-and-play. It is brilliant. You turn it on, plug it in, select auto configure, and your three cameras are set, ready to go.” Harman continues, “with the lighting as preset, there’s no further intervention needed.”
That operational simplicity directly supports Jones’ commercial model. By simplifying control, automating camera movement and focus and with a library of presets Vaudeville can maintain output quality with reduced crew overheads.
When we were choosing the cameras for our video podcast studio, the simplicity of the FR7s and being able to use settings that were already set just made life so easy for us to get the quality we needed.
Luke Hatfield
Consistent cinematic look
The FR7 sits within Sony’s wider Cinema Line camera ecosystem with the same core imaging technology. Footage can intercut with location shooting and archive with material captured on cameras including the FX3, FX6, FX9 and Burano. This consistent broadcast-quality look offers more efficient picture post pipelines
Zeb Chadfield, Founder and CVO at the Finish Line says, “one of the big features of the FR7s is that they are using the same colour science that’s in place in all their cinema cameras. It’s incredible to be able to capture something great straight out of the box.”
A better investment
By working with the FR7, video podcast studios can achieve better outcomes at lower costs by utlising operational efficiencies. By combining broadcast-quality sound and pictures with automated, single-operator, multi-camera capture and a more flexible and efficient post workflow, the right upfront investment delivers faster turnaround and better-looking pictures with a reduced need for dedicated camera operators.
Jones concludes, “the main thing about selecting the Sony FR7 was not just the quality, but its robustness, that we’re just ready to go. A podcast content creator would not expect to be hanging around for three hours while someone adjusts the lighting and the cameras. They want to go in and press record, but with television studio level production options.” Jones concludes, “we’re bringing the same production standards we apply to Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Channel 4 and BBC shows to video podcasting with a premium, compliant and above all efficient technology foundation and infrastructure.”
