Audio Levels when someone screams......Help!

HueyFilms

HueyFilms

Active member
I'm shooting a scene where someone screams at the top of there lungs, I'm just wondering how you go about this with audio levels from a boom...

I'm using an ME-66 into my HVX, the thing I don't understand is I level the audio out so that when they talk normally their dialog is level, but when they scream it will clip- if I were to adjust it for the scream, their regular voices will no longer be audible....

How do you solve this problem?
 
Consider recording the scream separately, then putting it in during post.

You could also use 2 mics during the shoot -- one specifically for the scream, with the level balanced for that; the other leveled for the regular dialogue. Record on separate tracks, then make your adjustments in post.
 
The me66 is a terrible mic to record a scream with... because the mic is hot it will be very hard to control the volume. If you are limited by just the HVX and no other link in the recording chain... then set each channel to two different levels... one with the scream controlled and one with the normal speech... ignore the fact that they aren't even close to matching. In post you will duplicate the stereo track into another new audio track... then on the first one duplicate left and on the second duplicate right... then pull the controlled scream over to the normal dialog track.

You may also want to raise the me66 an extra foot beyond the normal boom position during the scream... chances are the mic is getting overloaded.

If you had options for pre-attenuation then you'd use them now... but I don't gather you have that available. If you want to know what I mean by that then do a search for an XLR barrel adapter with -10db to -15db cut... otherwise just try what I said above.
 
I was meaning to say that you can split the same mic to two channels. It's not necessary to mic the event separately. I'm not suggesting recording a separate scream OR using two mics. I'm telling the guy how to do it on the fly with what he has.

Also, Oleg suggested a good boom op and I was telling everyone one of the things that a good boom op will actually do... so I didn't think my post was that repetitive. I'm sorry if you took it that way because I have people do that to me all the time and some days it really pisses me off.

My apologies.
 
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MattinSTL said:
I was meaning to say that you can split the same mic to two channels. It's not necessary to mic the event separately. I'm not suggesting recording a separate scream OR using two mics. I'm telling the guy how to do it on the fly with what he has.

Also, Oleg suggested a good boom op and I was telling everyone one of the things that a good boom op will actually do... so I didn't think my post was that repetitive. I'm sorry if you took it that way because I have people do that to me all the time and some days it really pisses me off.

My apologies.
Click to expand...

Wait. Did I miss something?? Matt, I hope you're not talking to me here. I was being completely sincere -- it WAS a brilliant idea. Exactly the way he should do it. Did it sound like I was being sarcastic or something? Because I didn't mean it that way at all.
 
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