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Recording Audio

The Importance of Audio

It's pretty easy to understand why audio is an important part of film. Thats why having good audio is an essential piece of crafting a professional product. One of the easiest ways to tell if something is amateur is to listen to the audio. Lots of the time there will be lots of background noise or hissing. This can be caused by a few different things. There is also a big misconception that this can be fixed later on. More often than not that is not the case. If you get bad audio on location your hopes of fixing it are slim. However, I'm going to discuss the different ways of recording audio as well as solutions to improve quality.

Microphones

There are many different forms of microphones out there but I will discuss the most commonly used microphones. The first microphone on the list is the shotgun microphone (seen in the photo below).
These tend to be long, fragile, and expensive. This falls under the condenser microphone category. The quality and range of sound it picks up is greater than that of a dynamic microphone. The negative side to this factor is these microphones will pick up sounds you don't want to hear. This could be an air-conditioning unit or cars driving by. These microphones also require a power source, most often in the form of a battery. Dynamic mics aren't always bad though, for recording loud sounds they are fantastic, since dynamic microphones have a lower sensitivity towards sound to begin with. There is a more budget friendly option for those who still want to use a shotgun condenser mic. These are the RODE videomics, which are a specific line up of microphones by RODE which are meant to mount directly on a camera. These microphones are cheaper, and very easy to work with. Although you will need a 9-volt battery, for run and gun shooting these mics work great (picture below).
Another option of microphone is the lavalier mic. This microphone also falls into the condenser microphone category. For recording someone talking the lavalier is such a great choice. It clips onto the subject within a foot of their mouth. The microphone's ability to get close without blocking the subject from view allows for great control of audio levels. The downside is it can be hard to disguise if you don't want it to be seen (picture below).


Recording Level

Most of the time the reason the audio sounds bad isn't because of the microphone. When adjusting the microphone's gain you want the audio levels to peak between -12 and -6. Although that is just a general rule of thumb, if your recording something quite you might want to boost the gain more. The most noticable things about made audio are clipping and noise. If you record too quietly when you boost the audio in post there will be lots of added noise. If you record too loudly the information in the audio will be lost and there is not solution to fix this. Turning the audio down in post would only result in lowering the intensity of the sound without making it any more understandable.

Final Words

If you are still struggling to get good audio pre-amps such as the ZOOM-H4 allow for greater control of the audio levels. When location scouting it is always good to write down the soundscape of the environment. That way you know if there will be any trouble with added noise. Typically problematic locations include: cars driving by, wildlife noises, running water, trains, air vents, wind, rain, and people. With these tips in mind your audio should be more easy to understand.

Mon- shot in CVTV

Tues- shot in CVTV

Weds - shot in CVTV

Thurs - shot in CVTV

Fri - tested composite

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