SOUND 101

Sound 101
Written by Jeff Carney
Sound is as important as picture in movies.
If you are shooting film and have a really noisy camera spend the money and get a really good blimp for it. It will make all the difference.
Unfortunately many filmmakers (independents) will give sound the short of the stick on a production and they really shouldn't. Having done sound on feature films, I can tell you that even on multi million dollar films they will tend to try to short change sound and they pay for it in post production (when they have to do all the ADR - sound looping - bringing actors back in...all mean $$$$) while it would have been easier/cheaper to have good sound on location in the first place = Less work in post.
Sennheiser does make the best mics (and most expensive) but Sony's professional line of mics are great as well.
If you shooting on video/digital then you are probably doing so for economic reasons and your best bet is hooking the mics up to the camera.
Be sure your camera has XLR audio inputs which are the professional audio inputs that give you the best sound. XLR inputs require XLR cables from those type of mics..Which are more expensive than say Azden mics, etc with the audio mini plugs.
Main problem with hooking sounds cables up to the camera are the cables which you have to watch if you are moving the camera around a lot. But it saves time later on when you would have to sync up the sound (you don't have to do that since you recorded directly into the camera). Let's face it if you are doing low/no budget movies then that is what you need - quick hookup to the camera.
Recording directly into the camera with good sound can be done. Just have a nice selection of mics and do it right on location. When you go to digitize your footage into your editing system (have a mixer hooked up at that time)..And you can mix the sound in as you digitize. A good compressor/limiter hooked up to the mixer is a good idea as well (like the DBX 166A) - this will keep all your levels even.
In addition to Sennheiser, Sony makes a nice line of shotgun mics (both long and short). I also highly recommend the Sony Lavs (laviliers). Small mics (lavs) that clip onto wardrobe. With some extra tape you can avoid clothes noise. If you can't afford the expensive wireless mics the go for some cabled lavs..You just have to hide the cables..Wireless are the best though as you
Sony's wireless mics (wrt28/wrr28 which are both the transmitter and receiver) are great so no cables but expect to pay around $1200-1500 for a set if you can find them as they are extremely popular. You would have to pry my sets out of my cold clamy dead hands before I would give them up. In my last movie I had an actress doing dialogue on the sidelines of a football game with 10,000 cheering fans and PA announcer. A boom/shotgun mic is out of the question as her dialogue would be drowned. But with a wireless lav on her wardrobe -it sounded great. Plus I could have her be as far as a football field and a half away and pick her up clearly if I wanted to (distance away from the camera really didn't matter).. Great for driving shots as well.
If you are shooting inside and have a capable boom person then a shotgun mic isn't a bad idea - especially if you have a group of actors talking. Make sure you shut off the air conditioner and/or get room tone. ALWAYS get room tone on every location (for use in post production)..
Shotgun mics outside are fine but just make sure you are not in a noisy location or it will pick up a lot of the sound you don't want. Best way to go - wireless mics on the actors with a boom picking up the ambience on the location (mixed under the dialogue).
Most important decisions in sound are microphone selection (what types of mics will you use) and locations where you are shooting. Both go hand in hand.
Wind noise - Many mics have low cut filters on them that you can switch on. Also make sure if you have a good mixer like a Mackie which has low cut filters built into the audio channels. That way you can take the wind noise out of shots as you digitize the footage into the computer. How do low cut filters work on a mixer - terribly difficult...Put your sound through the mixer,...Hear the wind. Push the button marked Low cut filter..And hardly any wind noise at all..Ancient chinese secret of sound - just push a button.
If you want to hook up four or five mics into your camera but only have two inputs for audio - then you will have to hook up a mixer on location. Have all the mics running into the mixer with the two mixer outs going into your camera. Now you have multiple channels of sound going into your mixer. You could always put all the actors dialogue on the left channel (from wireless mics) and then put the shotgun boom mic (ambience/room tone) onto the right channel. Or Just put the actors dialogue on both tracks.. Take room tone later and mix it in during post.
The main advantage to having sound recorded separately on location (Nagra/Dat) is that you can separate the tracks for more complex sound work. But you can even do this to a certain extent if you really wanted to go directly into your camera. Buy a couple Tascam DA-88s (each holds 8 tracks) and time code your footage. Spread your audio into the different da-88's tracks and then mix to your hearts content - all the while staying in smpte time code with your edited movie.
But excellent sound can be obtained by the independent filmmaker going directly into your dv/video camera with just a little extra care and attention.
My next movie (a horror story) shoots in June and I will spend more time on the sound in post production doing editing/sweetening/etc. than I spend on the entire shoot and actual edit of the movie.
When it comes to microphones and sound - you get what you pay for is very true and that translates to the screen.