Getting good Audio
Often overlooked or neglected is how important the audio part of the story is to the final product. It is extremely important to get dialog, and ambient sounds that are sharp and clear. Distorted audio is equivalent to an out of focus picture.
Over modulated audio in an interview cannot be fixed in post. Audio with all sorts of noise and crackling cannot be used. There is no prospect of doing ADR for a spontaneous interview with someone on the street. The lighting and cinematography might be brilliant but if we don’t have clear sound, and/or we can’t understand what someone is saying the footage is damaged.
Getting clean audio even when no one is speaking is important for use in editing. Shoot all “B” roll with good audio. Without the audio the shot looses a dimension that will be needed even if someone ultimately is speaking over the shot. Room tone and location ambience should also be recorded for possible use by the editor.
One important basic approach when recording, is to make sure that the signal (what you’re recording) to noise (everything else) ratio is such that the signal is strong and the noise week; a high signal to noise ratio.
Shotgun Microphone without windscreen
On a windy day or noisy room the shotgun microphone would be put into a wind screen cover to cut down any wind noise. A shotgun is a directional microphone and has a very narrow range of reception. It is a versatile addition to a documentary audio package.
A boom pole with shotgun microphone inside wind screen.
Excerpted from Create Documentary Films, Videos and Multimedia by JRMartin –
Available from Amazon.com – Create Documentary Films, Video…
