Basic Question, I assume

Ki-Ki

Ki-Ki

Veteran
I'm quite new to filmmaking. I'm shooting a short film in September. Here are the scenes i'm shooting:

Graveyard
Fairly stormy weather, alot of heavy rain.

Roadside
A sort of Trunk road, on a quiet night. Few cars, little rain. Little sound. Wind.

Roadside B
Alot of traffic, emergency crews. Lots of people talking, slight rain still. Wind.

Skyscraper Interior A
Alot of monitors, buzzing and so on.

Skyscraper Interior B
Gun bursts, glass smashing, radios, screams, fighting.

Skyscraper Exterior
Helicotper, buzzing, alot of wind.
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I'm just wondering how to get rid of all the scrambled audio, hisses, alot of wind when you shoot naturally. I've been told the way to go is to get a boom mic. But I don't totally understand how the sound kit works out.

In some scenes if we put up a wind shield it would block part of the sun on the set. So I'm wondering for a first time filmmaker if anyone can provide some advice.

Cheers
 
Ki-Ki said:
In some scenes if we put up a wind shield it would block part of the sun on the set. So I'm wondering for a first time filmmaker if anyone can provide some advice.
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I think we may be thinking about different types of "wind shields." A windshield is a zepplin-shaped mesh screen that surrounds a micorphone and protects it from light to moderate wind. Boom shadows are a constant concern, but they don't exactly blot out the sun.

The best way to get rid of unwanted noise is not to record it in the first place.

Wind: There are many products on the market designed to eliminate the sound of wind buffetting the mic (eg. Rycote Windjammer). They're discussed at length in the forum stickies. A high-pass filter around 90 or 120 Hz (found on most production mixers) will also help a great deal.

Rain: Water is bad for electronics, and mics are no exception. Other than direct exposure to water, humidity can also cause problems with mics. Sennheiser's MKH-series of mics (eg. MKH416 short-shotgun, MKH816 long-shotgun) are very resistant to humidity issues, and even then it will be wise to have at least one backup boom mic in your kit. Dry your gear thoroughly before storing it. For booming during rainfall, I find that a Rycote windshield with a windjammer or high-wind cover will provide adequate protection for brief periods, and wrapping hogshair around the windjammer will virtually eliminate the sound of watter dropplets popping against the windshield. A hogshair cover can be made from an inexpensive cut-to-fit hogshair furnace filter. For extra protection from the rain, I've made a mic cover from umbrella fabric, although I find I loose some of the top end of the sound. A word of caution, though: an MKH816 in a rycote with a waterlogged windjammer and a hogshair cover is pretty darn heavy, so bring a pretty rhobust boompole.

Buzzing monitors: turn `em off if they don't have to be in the frame. While your at it, unplug the fridge, kill the AC, Turn off all computers and cell phones, and move that noisey NP-1 charger to another room. If the monitors have to be in the shot, use nice and quiet monitors such as LCD's. As always, record at least a minute of room tone.

Background talking: if you have dialogue in the scene, have your BG performers mouth their conversations rather than actually talk (unless they have actual lines). Its easy enough to cut in some walla or bring in a loop group during post-production, but removing background voices from the production tracks is effectively impossible. If you really feel the need to get some background conversation during production, record it as a wild track (ie. sound only). If there are unavoidable background conversations (eg. civilians), keep an ear on continuity and roll some wild BG conversation after you get your room tone.

Background traffic: pay close attention to continuity, and record some extra wild traffic for the sound editor. Of course, if you can block off the road then do so, otherwise try to find a location with very light traffic.

Gunfire: be VERY careful around firearms. Among other things, you could permanently damage your hearing. Don't get too hung up on recording the gunshots, just get some guide audio and cut them in as sound effects.

Glass: prop glass sounds pretty weenie. This'll be an effect.

Fighting: punches, etc. will be added as effects or foley. Concentrate on the vocals.

Hellicopters: rotor and engine noise will likely drown out any dialogue, so concentrate on using lav's to get useable guide dialogue. The engine and rotor will likely be an effect, although if you can record good production effects you may be able to save some money there in post production.
 
Thanks, thats great advice. Helped alot there,

Though, you know with sound recording. How does it all work? I understand you record the sound from the set as the scenes being acted via the mic etc. Though how does it work out. Someone has a headjack on listening to the sound, but i often seen on bts they have an audio box with all these buttons and contraptions on. Do you take the audio from the mic afterwards and simply lay it down whilst editing over the video feed? Just wondering how it works out..
 
Ki-Ki said:
Though, you know with sound recording. How does it all work?
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Title of the post:

"Basic Question, I assume"


Please forgive me but this is super funny. :)


You should read the yellow stickie posts. When somebody is just starting out with sound... they are all basic questions, but there are about a hundred basic questions that everyone asks after the first basic answer.

Forget the rain scene, the traffic scene, and the helicopter scene... all those sounds will need to be recorder (or simulated) seperate from the dialog... or vice versa. There's no recording good dialog if you have any "deal breakers" around... deal breakers are overpowering noise that you can't control through physical means or by mic choice. You've got some deal breakers there that will require a more complicated approach.

Some of your sound will be recorded on location, but some will have to be handled in other locations. Depends on how good you want the final product to sound... and how professional.
 
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Ki-Ki said:
Thanks, thats great advice. Helped alot there,

Though, you know with sound recording. How does it all work? I understand you record the sound from the set as the scenes being acted via the mic etc. Though how does it work out. Someone has a headjack on listening to the sound, but i often seen on bts they have an audio box with all these buttons and contraptions on. Do you take the audio from the mic afterwards and simply lay it down whilst editing over the video feed? Just wondering how it works out..
Click to expand...

I can't tell if this is a joke. If not I think you need to do some very basic reading and come back with some more specific questions.
 
Scott,

Sadly, I don't think this is a joke.

Ki-Ki, my recommendation is find someone to do the sound for you - you can learn from them and start to better understand what it takes. (Oh, and you must buy Jay Rose's books on sound for video - they are a must-read for those just starting out).

Phil
 
Thirding Jay Rose's book for you. Beyond that you really need to find someone to help you out with audio. Filmmaking is a collaborative art/business. You can't master all the skills much less perform them all on set.

That is not a pass to not know anything about how sound is recorded, you still should read Jay's book, but letting you know that you need to start bringing people in to help you out with these different skill sets.

Good luck
 
Phil,
Unfortunately you may be right. It's the "box with buttons and gizmos" that got me.
SK
 
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