How do I reduce outside sound?

D

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
Hi all.

I've got a shoot coming up this weekend. It's in a small house in a small neighborhood. During the summer, when it was 100+ degrees outside, the neighborhood has been pretty quiet. But now that highs are around 80, suddenly everyone wants to come out and run their riding mowers, their string trimmers, their chainsaws, and ride up and down the street on their 4-wheelers. Needless to say, this presents a problem.

I don't have access to sound blankets. The only filmmaking supply rental house in town just closed its doors because the owner died.

I assume most of the outdoor sound will leak into the rooms through the windows -- which will be shut, of course, but sound is bound to travel easier through a thin pane of glass than through a brick, wood and sheetrock wall, right?

Sooo....any suggestions on an inexpensive way I can cut down as much of that sound as possible using readily available materials? (Like from Wal-Mart, Target, K-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.)

Thanks for your help!
 
There really is no way to eliminate those sounds, which is why the pros insist on having quiet sets.

It also depends on the type of mic you will be using. But you can hope for a quiet day, or film later in the evening if you can when people wont be out so much. Apart from that, since most of the sound coming in through the walls will be low end sound since high end sound doesnt travel as far of penetrate as deep, you may be able to clean up the noise level by rolling off some of the low end with you NLE's eq.

Oh, and just make sure all major appliances in the place you are shooting are turned off or unplugged.
 
Thanks Matt. Yeah, we already plan to have the refrig, A/C, and ceiling fans turned off. Windows closed. (It's gonna get HOT!)

Unfortunately, we have a full shooting day, so we can't wait until evening for things to quiet down.

So is there nothing practical that will make even the slightest difference? Heavy blankets over the windows? Foam rubber? Anything?
 
mic close for less background sound. close doors if you can, hang blankets to deaden or soften sounds, have the actors speak louder without being obvious, use proper mics preferrably hyper or shotgun mics, in a situation like this, trying using lavs then eqing in post (less background noise)
 
Thanks killfilm. This is a challenging shoot. Every shot is a master shot -- no medium shots, no closeups. So we pretty much have to mic for the whole room. That makes shotguns inconvenient, especially since we can't put them on booms. The field of view of the camera is so wide, our boom operator would have to be standing up against a wall and trying to keep the mic out of frame would be a huge challenge -- and some scenes run 16 pages. That's done in a single continuous take, with no cuts. Our best bet is mics with a somewhat narrow pickup pattern, but nothing nearly as surgical as a hyper or even supercardioid.

So reducing the outside noise as much as possible is going to be paramount for us. Thanks for the advice!
 
killfilm just gave you some of the best advice, but matt's response is also correct.

Unless you can pay off any noise makers in the neighborhood then you'll be stuck with what you can get between takes... but having an uncut 16 page scene and expecting to get that w/o a problem is a pretty big challenge.

Sound blankets do a little, but not that much... against a mower, trimmer, or ATV a sound blanket will NOT save a take.

Lots of people shoot according to necessity over convenience. Your best bet would be to shoot overnight when the neighborhood is asleep. I've been on several gigs where the day starts at 6pm and runs to 6am.
 
chapelgrove, you may be in the one unique situation where only a lavaliere can save you. If you're shooting in a noisy environment with a wide shot and the mic more than 8" away, you're basically dead. Unless you can wrap the room in acoustic sound isolation blankets (that cost about $300 for a 4' x 8') then it's not gonna work. Like killfilm said, the best way to overcome that background noise is to get the mic as close as you possibly can.

Your best bet is to move to a different location. Anything less is going to compromise the shoot.
If you can't do that, shoot when the sounds aren't happening (i.e., overnight).
If you can't do that, use lavalieres and pray.
 
Well, if you're truly stuck at that location and shooting during the day, then you need to inform the director/producer/UPM to expect lots of ADR. This is why it is important to always bring sound on location scouts.

That being said, go to U-haul and rent moving blankets. They're essentially the same as sound blankets and will help a bit. Close all the doors to the room you're shooting in, sound blanket the windows and doors, and do the best you can. Remember, too, that if you sound blanket the windows, you will need more lights.

Good luck!

Phil
 
ptalsky said:
Remember, too, that if you sound blanket the windows, you will need more lights.

Good luck!

Phil
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Which is why I suggest shooting overnight if you can. If you are in this business long enough you'll see that people do what they have to do even if it's stuff they don't want to do.

Obviously I'm directing this at the OP Phil... not you. The reason I kind of faded out of the audio forum is people constantly ask questions that they don't want to hear the answer to... and even if you give somebody a choice of 4 possibilities... if any of them cause inconvenience then people will keep asking until somebody gives the easiest answer... even if it's not the best.

Bottom line with unwanted noise is eliminate it, accept it, attenuate it (with proper mic/placement/sound blankets), move to a location without it, or shoot at a time of day when the noise isn't there.

Outside of that there is no magic... unwanted sound in a location can only be handled in one of those ways.

If you won't eliminate it, won't accept it, can't move the location, and can't shoot when the sound isn't there... the best you can hope for is the weak band-aid that you'll get through super-close mic placement and generous application of blankets... and the sounds you described... will STILL be there... just quieter.
 
for scenes like that just go with lavs and fight withe the placement of the mic. It will be more fun :)
 
Barry_Green said:
If you can't do that, use lavalieres and pray.
Click to expand...

Ha! Good one Barry. I have had to do that more times than you could believe.


My cheap lavs are surprisingly senesative. Just did a shoot where even with the guy in three pairs of socks and on carpet in a completely quiet house and nothing on, we could still hear his feet when he walked.

We decided we are going to back in and add background hums/ambiance and whatnot in post. To much slap and other things the lavs picked up, and hopefully in addition to some of the unwanted sounds, it will be a little more natural and hopefully will add a little continuity.
 
what about an establishing shot? showing kids in neighborhood playing outside house justifies hearing it inside. same with traffic, rain, etc
 
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