1st Indie shoot today as Sound Recordist/Boom Op - couple things learned

SouthBySoWhat

SouthBySoWhat

Well-known member
Howdy,

Just started a 3 day run as recordist/boomer for a small indie shoot (today was outdoor) and I thought I'd pass on a few simple but important things I picked up. By the way I was using a Rode NTG2 (I would have rather used my AT4073a, but it was their mic and in case I can't be there for any pickup stuff later I thought it wise to use what they would have access to). I just received my PSC DV Pro Mix 3 yesterday so this was its maiden voyage. I really like it and for the money it's a nice piece of gear (cringes at thought of Oleg's wrath). The camera was a DVX100A which was fortunate as I have the 100B and was already very familiar with it.

3 lessons learned:

Be completely wired up and ready to go before it seems necessary.

I was helping grip a few MOS shots before the actors arrived and should have been getting my cam snake fully run, etc. and as it turned out I needed to lengthen it another 15-20 feet, so I held things up a tad getting that straightened out.


No amount of cable brought is too much cable.


Know the actors lines better than they do (if possible).

Having to boom and mix is challenging enough and it would have been helpful to have more than just a passing familiarity with the actor's lines, especially since one was a kid who was a good deal less present vocally than the adult.
Also I have a question. As the ambient noise was pretty erratic the director just wanted the single boom and as the two actors were a bit uneven ability-wise I wanted sort of a safety net so I decided to run L-R from the mixer into Ch1-2 on the DVX, calibrating CH1 to the mixer tone and had Ch2 notched down 2 white bars for padding. Is this how you guys would have used the two cam channels since we were just using the one mic or would you suggest another routing method? Tomorrow is indoors so I'll be using Oktavas.


Thanks!

Sean
 
congratulations on your first sound gig!

one of the first tips i give to people about sound when they are running it directly into their camera is the two channel thing...

if you only have one mic it is always a good idea to set one higher and one lower.

i believe that most professional photographers do this with exposures. i think i have heard it called bracketing?

matthew
 
Thx Matthew!

I've been doing voiceover and music recording for a while now but recording actors on location is a relatively new beastie for me.
 
Great to hear that the 1st day was such a success.

As to what Matt said, run one channel hotter than the other. I'm not sure if you had a recorder on site. It'll be great to record onto the recorder and into the DVX100.

I remember my first gig, which was last month, that we needed two wireless lavs. Unfortunately, the director didn't bother to rent any except for an Audio Technica AT4073a, a Gitzo 8' pole, and a Fostex PD-4 recorder. There wasn't enough cables to run anywhere. Also, there wasn't any wind-protecting kit to use during outside shoots. one of those days, which was also the most important day of all, there were gust of winds probably traveling 20-25mph and the audio was crap. Totally unacceptable. It's also important to know all the lines in the film. Glad things went very well.
 
With SD mixers the dual channel technique is not needed because its impossible to clip a channel anyway. But with the promix, not a bad idea at all. Good call.
 
Thx Alan. This is a low-no budg shoot so I was using my own MicroTrack as an emergency backup for audio. We're pretty much just recording to camera otherwise.
 
tim, yeah, even though the Promix has limiters I'm not wild about relying on them, or hearing them for that matter. :)
 
timapter said:
With SD mixers the dual channel technique is not needed because its impossible to clip a channel anyway. But with the promix, not a bad idea at all. Good call.
Click to expand...


While it is almost impossible to clip the SD mixers it's not at all impossible to clip the DVX. And setting the DVX so that the SD limiters will keep it from clipping (at least with the MixPre) means setting tone at two bars on the DVX, and that is pretty low. So I think the split levels are still a good idea because you have one set for a good signal on quieter stuff and the other in clip proof mode.
 
huh?

not quite following there noiz. running a -20dB tone to the DVX with limiting on the SD at +14 and program peaks at +8 and up into the limiter produce a maximum signal that is below 0 dBFS. Of course, lowering the limiting threshold results in lower output and thus lower dBFS values on the camera.

The DVX also has the ALC (automatic limiting control) which can give you double protection but hard limiting the signal at approx -6dB or thereabouts - im not sure of the exact value.

So it is possible if lined up correctly to create a system with excellent protections against unexpected peaks.

I dont deny the usefulness of a split channel method, but with SD mixers and a good sound person the technique becomes far less essential.
 
Without quoting your whole post, your bolded statements are all excellent points South. At some point someone (not it!) needs to go thru here and just distill down all the helpful advice for people trying to improve their audio. Those 3 points definately need to be included.

A good boom op will study the script, watch rehearshal, etc. The best ones will do all this and also have an intuitive understanding of dialog beats and can anticipate the next line with magician like perfection.

If you study people in a conversation, you will notice the subtle adjustments they make just before they speak Things like: stance moves forward, hands start to talk, eyes shift, and/or quick intake of air.

Boom op has one eye on the speaker, one eye on the listener, one eye watching for potential frame adjustments or boom warnings, and one eye double checking for shadow. The mic??? He just knows where that is like the nose on his face.

But really it's a simple job; just give the PA who drew shortest straw the pole. :)

(as for split channel method, it is helpful in some situations but don't get addicted to it as that second channel can be put to better use most of the time)

Cheers
 
Thanks wabbit, i think i've learnt something new, Sean keep posting actually, i need to know more about the 2 channel.

steve
 
Thanks for the input Wabbit! Point taken on getting too used to padding the second channel down. Over the next couple days of the shoot I was able to use a lav on one and the boom on the other to allow the cutter to pick the most appropriate source.





wabbit said:
Without quoting your whole post, your bolded statements are all excellent points South. At some point someone (not it!) needs to go thru here and just distill down all the helpful advice for people trying to improve their audio. Those 3 points definately need to be included.
Click to expand...
 
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