Here's my audio situation: I want to gather (hopefully) useable audio from two people walking down a sidewalk in what will likely be a somewhat noisy downtown situation. Camera will be tracking along with the pair. Looking to avoid having to ADR this as much as possible. I'm considering a couple of wireless LAVs for this scene rather than trying to boom it with my shotgun. What method would produce the best results?
Best mics/setup for busy downtown scene
- Thread starter jthabel
- Start date
Noiz2
Sound Ninja
Wireless is probably your best bet. For a fun clip of BTS of a similar shot get a copy of "Pipe Dreams", a really nice film BTW, and look at the extra content. The only clip there (in my copy anyway) is a walk and talk sort of like yours. They show the multiple takes and what the sound on set was like. Very enlightening. But they did ADR on the final.
Having cut a few scenes like this I would say that the odds are VERY high that unless the director is OK with a rough doc / verite style with ragged cuts you are going to have to ADR. The reason is that with traffic the cuts will all jump. The only way to "fix" it in post is to get a bunch of car bys and cut them in to match the missing bits. So as a car come in and they cut to a reverse and the car is suddenly gone, you need to add the car away so it's smooth. IF thee are not a lot of cars this can work but those cars start adding up. If they cut a lot you can end up with a lot more traffic than was originally there. It will sound smooth, but a bit like they are walking next to a freeway.
In a lot of way it's more important to have only a few car bys than to have a bunch of quieter bys since every one will need to get completed for the cuts to not jump.
Having cut a few scenes like this I would say that the odds are VERY high that unless the director is OK with a rough doc / verite style with ragged cuts you are going to have to ADR. The reason is that with traffic the cuts will all jump. The only way to "fix" it in post is to get a bunch of car bys and cut them in to match the missing bits. So as a car come in and they cut to a reverse and the car is suddenly gone, you need to add the car away so it's smooth. IF thee are not a lot of cars this can work but those cars start adding up. If they cut a lot you can end up with a lot more traffic than was originally there. It will sound smooth, but a bit like they are walking next to a freeway.
In a lot of way it's more important to have only a few car bys than to have a bunch of quieter bys since every one will need to get completed for the cuts to not jump.
David W. Richardson
Chapelgrove Films
Is this for a narrative film? A documentary?
GaryNattrass
Veteran
I would go wireless too and if you can try to record them on split separate tracks so you can then edit out any background noise on each un-used track during post.
Another alternative is to have some localised recorders but you will then not be able to monitor what is being recorded or if you can go to it wireless and sep recorders as back-up. Now if only Tascam allowed you to buy such a device in the USA? ;0)
Another alternative is to have some localised recorders but you will then not be able to monitor what is being recorded or if you can go to it wireless and sep recorders as back-up. Now if only Tascam allowed you to buy such a device in the USA? ;0)
I recently had the same scenario with a short in a busy part of town near bars with live music. We were shooting across the street and it was pretty loud but I managed to get useable sound with just a boom running an NTG2 with the windscreen and deadcat both on that took care of most of the outside noise.
GaryNattrass
Veteran
With best respects that is a load of what we call twaddle as a windscreen and deadcat will have no effect on rejecting outside or background noise from bars and loud music!
If it is that good please post a clip as the NTG2 is a pretty average mic too and I would be fascinated to hear what the results were as a shotgun needs to be within two feet of a sound source to record any reasonable dialogue and shooting from across the street you were either on the long end of a huge lens or the boom operator and mic etc were in shot!
GaryNattrass
Veteran
I appreciate that and it may have been done to get the shallow DOF but the mic would still need to be within two feet of the people talking, also if multiple takes were done on a drama they would be impossible to cut together as the background noise/music would change with every cut!
Steve House
Veteran
You seem to be under the impression that the camera and sound were on one side of the street with the subject on the other side in front of the bars. I read crew's post as shooting an interview setup, both camera and subject on the same side of the street, while music was audible coming from bars on the other side. I can't imagine anyone trying to shoot an interview with the subject on the opposite side of an active street from the camera.