AUDIO 101
Contents
1. Video week 20 24uy205 AUSTRALIA AUDIO 101 Getting audio right while filming The philosophy of recording audio in film and video can be summed up in one sentence you can t make a silk purse out of a sow s ear To further explain get good sound when you are recording because it is difficult to fix later To quote from the Final Cut Pro user manual Any audio recorded poorly at this phase will be difficult to fix later in the process There is no match for properly recorded sound no matter how good your audio clean up tools are But what does this mean What is good audio For the purposes of your projects good audio is audio that sits well above the noise floor or that has a good signal to noise ratio All that this means is that there is always a certain level of noise in every recording even the electronic devices one uses to record make noise but the noise floor also contains anything you don t want to record BACKGROUND NOISE As this graphic shows if your signal isn t strong enough it will get lost in the noise To achieve good audio results you need to make decisions based on what exactly you are going to record This requirement will guide your equipment selection and the best way to go about getting the audio Most cameras today have great built in features DSLR cameras that can shoot video domestic level handy cams with shotgun mics even2. a digital VU meter With digital equipment a good level is living around 6 to 3 dB and peaking no further than 2 Video week 20 24 uy20i5s AUSTRALIA Remember make sure your microphone is on and the camera is set to use it If your microphone isn t turned on you won t capture any sound The same thing will happen if you don t tell your camera to use the external microphone normally located in the cameras settings however newer cameras detect the microphone automatically and don t need to be told about it Check everything twice and make test recordings Before recording try taking a 5 second video clip and playing it back with headphones This will give you a good idea of how the camera is picking up sound that way you can decide if you need to change locations mics etc When everything is said and done the most important thing to remember when filming in general and with audio in particular is never take anything for granted Always consider audio up there with location shot framing and lighting There are some great Vimeo resources available which are definitely worth watching https vimeo com blog post capturing good sound https vimeo com blog category video school Research your gear don t buy what you don t need and always listen to the recordings before you wrap Happy shooting
3. normal handheld cameras should have audio settings The most important thing is to find out what type of sound you need to capture this will then help you decide what equipment you may need There is however one consideration that trumps all How close can you get your microphone to your subject While it is not always possible within your shooting constraints getting the mic as close to the subject as possible is crucial to getting good audio Video week 2 42 S AUSTRALIA _ sS a gt M SSS SSSR SSS a itO ee wom S333 ar N Wireless Lapel mics Shotgun mic Hand held mics wired and wireless Are you shooting indoors or outdoors Do you need to capture a conversation between two people a group or one person speaking to camera Let s look at how these examples can guide our shoot e Indoor shooting means less background noise hopefully or at least you may be able to control the noise This means that you are much more likely to get a good result using the mics built into the camera or phone However to limit the echo y sound keep your camera within 3 metres of the subject Remember for audio the closer to the mic you are the better Direct audio is good audio e Outdoors direct to camera one person Here the noise floor is going to be higher wind traffic people or just nature you have no idea how loud crickets and frogs are until you try to record over the top of them will form a distracting backgr
4. ound noise To limit this fall back on the axiom from above direct audio Use a lapel plugged directly into the camera or a radio lapel to get close to the subject on the collar or concealed in their hair or use a hand held mic e Filming a group or dialogue outdoors or indoors usually means using a shotgun mic with a boom This also means having an extra crew member to swing the boom Video week 27s ee AUSTRALIA Hand held Microphone Good for interview or on the scene type shoots Gives great audio because it is close to the audio source and filters out external noise No good when distant from source Dynamic type mic if anyone is interested Lapel microphone Not as close to the source so the result will not be as good as a hand held but can be hidden under a collar or in the hair Note in these cases the lapel mic must be paired with a belt pack and a receiver A barrette can be used to easily conceal a small microphone among someone s hair Shotgun microphone When you can t use a hand held or a lapel the shotgun is your friend These are known as condenser type mics and require an external power source such as batteries Video week 20 24 1uy2015 AUSTRALIA Microphone placement and correct mic technique All microphones work in a very similar way to your eardrum that is by way of air moving a diaphragm This means that sharp or large movement results in a pop
5. ping sound When we speak this type of air movement happens on letters like p t k b d g These are called Plosive consonants and mics should be placed to avoid these sounds This only becomes an issue when you are able to place a mic close to the subjects mouth such as when using a handheld mic The head of the microphone should be about a hands width from the mouth and slightly off axis so that the puffs of air created when uttering P and B carry over the top of the mic rather than into it Lapel mics should be placed about mid sternum unless they need to be hidden in hair Bass roll off should be applied to any condenser mic being used for close vocal mic recording There are also mic shields pop filters which are commonly used when recording audio separately USB mics head set mics There are some extremely good USB condenser mics on the market now for a very small outlay you can achieve very high quality audio recordings If you are recording directly to your PC or mac it makes a lot of sense to use one of these rather than you built in mic If you are using a head set mic to record your voice keep the mic away from the breath path to minimise popping What is a good level A good level as noted above is audio that has a good signal to noise ratio before distortion That last bit is important Most modern cameras have some form of metering on their displays This is a typical example of
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