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Boom operator | Microphone quality | Digital sound distortion

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6. Ensure the boom operator is competent

Make sure the boom operator does not move his/her hands along the boom pole during takes, as the sound will be conducted by the pole to the mic and will produce unacceptable noise, notwithstanding the shock mount which you should be using. The shock mount is a contraption that holds the microphone in a web of elastic bands - this is to insulate it as much as possible from vibrations traveling along the boom pole as the boom operator moves. Professional microphones are incredibly sensitive! Taking rings off is also a good idea.

7. Don't settle for the onboard microphone

Whatever you do, remember that the surest way to make your production sound hopelessly amateurish is to record sound with an onboard mic (a microphone mounted on the camera). It will be an easier shoot but your audience will hate the poor sound.

Being attached to the camera, the mic will almost always be far away from the actors, resulting in noisy, echo-ridden dialogue, which will relegate your project to the amateur category. Get that microphone as close to the subjects' mouths as possible!

You could of course use an onboard mic for the entire shoot and replace this poor location sound (the “scratch track”) with clean dialogue re-recorded in a studio, but this is difficult to pull off, time-consuming and expensive. Even the biggest movies use location sound as much as possible, only resorting to ADR (automatic dialogue replacement) when it's absolutely necessary. There simply isn't anything quite as good as well-recorded location sound.

8. Avoid distortion at all costs when recording digital sound

If you are recording digital audio, regardless of whether it's a DAT recorder or digital video, it is important to set the levels lower than you would with an analogue device (such as the Nagra). This is because with digital audio, over-modulating the sound recording level produces intolerably ugly distortion. In digital sound, the transition from "intense signal" to "distorted signal" is sudden and unacceptable - just as with the exposure levels of video itself (see digital cinematography tips).

To set digital audio recording levels correctly, before rolling ask the actor to give a sample of the loudest line in the shot, then give yourself a good 6dB of headroom above that. This is good practice with digital audio recording.

Conclusion

It is worth giving high priority to the quality of the sound you record for your projects. Remember that an audience can forgive imperfect camerawork if the subject is compelling; what they will never accept is poor sound.

<<< Location ambient sound, seamless soundtrack

Boom operator | Microphone quality | Digital sound distortion

6. Ensure the boom operator is competent

7. Don't settle for the onboard microphone

8. Avoid distortion at all costs when recording digital sound

Conclusion