how to make on-camera mic sound better

C

c.g._eads

Veteran
just shot a test scene that i will use to show to people what the real scene will look like. As it was, I shot with the on-camera mic. The audio's not integral to the story, but I would still like it (a tiny bit of dialogue) to sound as good as possible. Anything i can do in post to clean it up?

Unfortunately I only have premiere pro 1.5.

Thanks.
 
Well as long as your test shoot was to show people what the real shoot will "look like" and not sound like, then just turn the sound down and put some music in there. If you really must have the dialogue in there, then you could try some EQ, compression and noise removal. I'm not familiar with PP, so I dont know what tools it has available.
 
you've really got to get the sound right in the first place.
there are many way's round poorly shot material, in post, but with sound there is very
little you can do to rescue it.
oz is right, if the sound is not important to the viewing, then loose it.
but in future, don't rely on camera mic

ian
 
Well, if you want really good sound with an on camera mic, just make sure you get the mic really really close and aim it down in between the cest and the mouth. That's probably the best sound you can get with an on camera mic.
 
Man, sometimes this forum is very predictable. I should've known this was going to turn into a lecture on the importance of good sound. I was like, "should I go into a long diatribe about why the on-camera mic isn't going to hurt this test shoot so they won't rail on me for not getting proper sound?" Then I thought, "nah, the word "test" is sufficient enough and these guys are smart enough to know that a test is just that, a test." And I wanted to keep it short so people wouldn't tune out before paragraph 2. Well, now I'm going to have to waste a whole bunch of time explaining this so people don't yell at me for not using a real mic.

I know the importance of sound. When I do the real thing, you guys can trust in me that I will have the best of the best microphone and mixing equipment I can get my hands on. But this was an image TEST with some sound thrown in just by necessity. The people viewing this will not be investors, just friends and others who might work on the film. They will know it is an image TEST and not a sound test. I will explain it to them. Don't worry. It's not even a big deal, just a small TEST scene to get the lighting right.

Since there is a little sound, and just to make the effect a little more believable, there's someone talking for a second. Does it sound bad? Yes. Did I know it would sound bad beforehand? Yes. Did it matter? No, this was not a sound test. It was an image TEST. Did I think I could get some help on this forum so that it would sound *a little bit* better? Yes. Why didn't I get the sound right? Cause I don't have a mic. Was this test so important that I should have paid money and rented a mic? No. It's an image TEST. And all in all, it's a really small deal. Which is why.... sigh... I didn't get a real microphone.

I just wanted to make the sound that I had a little bit better and I figured that people on this forum would know some tricks to acheive this.

Thank you all.
 
c.g._eads said:
I just wanted to make the sound that I had a little bit better and I figured that people on this forum would know some tricks to acheive this.

Thank you all.
Click to expand...

See my first post. EQ, compression and noise removal. Play with those 3 in PP if they are available.
 
CG, don't take it personal. People from all walks of life and experience levels ask questions here.
Some times it's just how you ask a question, or preface your remarks that can send some folks flying off the handle, to others offering sage advice. We are all here to learn, share, and problem solve. Good luck
 
If there's that little of an amount of sound that you want to "save", just re-record it. Do like EJShin said, get the mic within a foot of the speaker and have him/her re-speak the line. It'll sound fine.

No you can't fix it in post. Especially if it has echo -- you can't take echo out in post.
 
I think Oz answered your question quite well. You might do better to ask in the PP forum to find out what it can and can't do. I am pretty certain you can, at the least, get a high and low pass roll off and put a bump around 1k with PP. But without good monitors you could make things worse rather then better.

c.g._eads said:
Man, sometimes this forum is very predictable.
Click to expand...

Something for you to consider:

A. Same question over and over again will get the same response.

B. You are not the only one to read and use the thread that you start. So stating that you can't get good audio from bad might be important to others that come across your thread.

Ming said:
/makes popcorn

:violent5:
Click to expand...

Move along, nothing to see here...

:evil:
 
For future referrence to anyone reading this thread who MUST (for whatever reason) utilize ONLY the oncam mic.

At the time you're shooting either shoot all dialog VERY CLOSE... or shoot two takes... one extra for sound only and then get the on-cam mic close... like you would with a regular mic.

Built-in (this is built-in, not mearly "on-cam" right?)... built-in mics are omni... so you have to get the mic even closer then normal in order to get an increased "voice to background" ratio...

If you ONLY have the audio that you obtained from using the built-in mic and you want your dialog to sound "closer" then there is nothing you can do... if you litterally can't hear the dialog (common result) then you can pump up the volume in PP by right clicking the audio track and then applying a volume adjustment. You can further help define the dialog by pulling up the parametric EQ and then do your best to remove the resonance of the space by finding it's frequency while you preview the sound.

Far and away the most common problem with the on-cam/in-cam mic is that the sound is never loud enough and the room acoustics (echo and other room defining sounds) are too close in volume to the voice... and when you raise the voice you raise everything else that you don't want to hear.
 
this may be the dumbest solution but in case it hasn't crossed your mind - how about doing a voice over since it's just a small dialouge line? then adjusting the volume to blend in with the video footage. jus a thought. peace.
 
FilmBoy77 said:
this may be the dumbest solution but in case it hasn't crossed your mind - how about doing a voice over since it's just a small dialouge line? then adjusting the volume to blend in with the video footage. jus a thought. peace.
Click to expand...

James that would be considered ADR not V.O. as it is to replace on camera dialogue.
V.O. would be what the movie trailer guy does!
 
Adr

Adr

in a CONTROLLED environment, at 3am so no one is up, get your actor to respeak his lines into the mic.

Going in with a parametric EQ and isolating the hum of the motor works if your sound editor is up to it. Compression will make it sound fuller, and then normalize.

Record at the highest sampling rate you have. If mono gives you a higher

We have been spoiled by recording engineers and foley artists, going back 4 or 5 decades.

Good luck.
 
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