Boom Mike

G

Gary Craig

Member
When I see the behind-the-scene shots of feature films, I se them using a short stubby-like book mike. What is it? or even a better question is, if money is no object, what's the best boom mike available?


Gary
 
Well, alot of professionals use k-tec boom poles. If money is no object, then they often times use a carbon fiber k-tec boom pole, to save on weight allowing them to hold the boom for longer periods of time. These boom poles are also internally wired, which helps eliminate sound interference when your fumbling with the boom pole (which a good sound recordist would never do while recording...). I'm not an audio expert, but I imagine if money was no object on a shotgun mic, most people would use a Neumann KMR82I, or a Schoeps shotgun mic (not sure of the model). Also, you will find often times that a blimp, or wind cover will be attached, which looks like a big furry sock over the mic. This reduces, or eliminates mic noise caused by air currents. Another fine shotgun would be a sanken cs-1. Then you add a mixer, recorder, and decent set of headphones, not to mention a harness to hold it all in and voila, you have your location audio setup....
 
You are probably seeing the Schoeps MK41, which is one of the best mics out along with the Sanken CS-3 which is, in my opinion, the best microphone to use outside.
 
what about sennhaiser, I'm sure i butchered that name, but i heard that they make excellent shotgun Mic's
 
I have the Rycote setup fitted with an audiotechina 44?something. I had absolutly no probelms with and it and its pretty rugged.
 
I have the Sennheiser 416T which is sort of the industry standard in older movies and television and still in use today. Audio Technica makes the 4071a, which is a good mic and going down the line the 897 is good but the 4071a is a step up. If you want to roll with the big boys you can get the Schoeps, Neumann, Sanken and the Sennheiser 416P or T-power.
 
If you want to get the "Hollywood" sound, use any mic you want and overdub in post using a large condenser mic (I use an AT4060). You'll need great actors though.
 
Double the work, room tone will have to be added, ADR must sync correctly, actors must be available to do it. They may charge you for extra time. ADR should only be used when necessary. You want to capture the acoustics and cadence of the performance live and only use the studio when necessary. I think Asian cinema do ADR on almost 100% of their shots. Its okay to do it but sometimes ADR sounds like its being done in a hallow tank. Capturing the acoustics of the room or outside is crucial to the beliveability of the scene. But it can be done with some work.

P.S. if you have to do it, make sure that you use the same microphone. Microphones have different characteristics and may become evident, especially on the big screen if you cut in and out using two different microphones. Cheers!
 
I'll second that. Get the best audio you can on location and you save you and your post people mountains of work.

It's true that big hollywood productions do ADR. But even they only do it when they have to. (of course their definition of "have to" is different than the indie filmmaker) Nobody does it because it's fun, or a better choice than location sound.
 
Gary, what you probably saw was a MK41 with a colette cable attaching the mic capsule to the preamp (mounted on the side of boompole). It allows the boom operator to get in tight spaces and avoid boom shadow.

tc%2Bkc.jpg
 
Ernest_Acosta said:
Double the work, room tone will have to be added...
Click to expand...

So what? It's not difficult, and the result is fantastic. Laziness is no excuse for skimping on quality (when you can afford it, that is!)

And actually, doing ADR is surprisingly easy (and quick, once you get a hang of the workflow), and the end product takes a tremendous leap in quality.

It takes me about two hours to ADR 20 minutes of video (in Vegas, which has great audio tools).

You can also do cool things like replacing the voice of a weak actor with a stronger voice which can help cover the bad acting. Actors HATE ADR, BTW. But a good actor really shines when doing ADR -- it's a pleasure to see.

Try it -- even a short test. You'll be very pleasantly surprised at how the video (even interlaced) will "snap" into being very film-like.

BTW: Almost all Hollywood films are ADR'd. Every. Single. One. (almost.) You don't notice it because it's done very, very well by amazingly talented people. That's why big-budget movies sound so good -- it has nothing to do with the microphone they use. I used to get in arguments all the time about this, but a simple application of hearing, reading (of credits), and logic settles it.

I got my start in film as a sound-engineer (meaning I was the sucker with the boompole and Nagra around my neck) and saw the entire process on a number of low-budget and larger-budget films. ADR makes a BIG difference, and anyone who works in sound (especially dialogue editing) knows how difficult it is cleaning up sound from a roaming mic. Sets are extremely noisy places, and it's impossible to remove the noise without affecting dialogue quality -- no matter how much the mic costs.

So if you have the budget don't skimp on ADR, or learn to do it yourself (it's really not difficult, time consuming, or expensive, given the tools that exist today.)

Docs and low-budget films of course need a good mic and someone who knows where to place it!
 
pmark23 said:
If you want to get the "Hollywood" sound, use any mic you want and overdub in post using a large condenser mic (I use an AT4060). You'll need great actors though.
Click to expand...

While just about every "Hollywood" movie use some amount of ADR on their pictures, with most movies, most of the dialog is location sound. Some pictures (especially action and sci-fi) do ADR much of the film since getting a clean audio track is often impossible when bombs are blowing up and the world is falling apart :). Titanic is one of the most infamous times a production just gave up on location sound and ADR almost the whole thing.

As far as ADR being simple...do run a test. ADR is EXTREMELY time consuming and difficult in anything other then a couple of word line reading. You are often left forcing a video cutaway where you don't want to in order to hide the sync issues.

Most people can hear an ADR line even if they don't know what ADR is. The tone and background of the voice shifts, lip sych suffers, and/or there is an odd cutaway from the speaker. While I have seen some ADR work that seems ok on a 26" monitor, once you get that up on the big screen that small sync issue you didn't notice turns your film into a Kung-fu flick.

Most actors do hate doing ADR. Plus most of them can never get as good a performance alone in a studio with no one to play off of and having to match the exact cadence of the original performance. Going all ADR will damage your reputation with professional actors. I have had many encounters with seasoned actors who express great concern about doing whatever it takes to avoid having to ADR lines. They usually have a story or two about a director, AD, or producer who completely dicked them over by not taking the proper care to get clean audio on location.

Different philosophies on ADR do exist outside the Hollywood/English speaking cinema, but in the US most productions attempt to avoid it if possible.
 
Right on the nose wabbit. I edit on Final Cut and have a recording engineer background. I do a lot of clean up in Pro Tools and getting good audio from the start is smart and can save you a lot of money and time. I've recorded in noisy areas and had a couple of grips hold dampening blankets on both sides of the talent (out of camera of course) just to capture the performance in its entirety. Murphy's law always appear when recording dialog. From trains, planes and automobiles can interrupt a great performance. Just 3 weeks ago we were shooting the last scene of a short at about midnight on a Sunday and a Con Edison electric truck came and parked about 100 feet away, started its generator and started pumping water out of a man-hole. I literally had to bribe the workers to give us a half hour to finish. Well lets call the bribe budweiser and left over craft foods.
 
pmark23 said:
So what? It's not difficult, and the result is fantastic. Laziness is no excuse for skimping on quality (when you can afford it, that is!)

And actually, doing ADR is surprisingly easy (and quick, once you get a hang of the workflow), and the end product takes a tremendous leap in quality.

(it's really not difficult, time consuming, or expensive, given the tools that exist today.)
!
Click to expand...

From Jay Rose's "Audio Post Production for Digital Video" Sidebar page 166

"ADR Avoidance: If looping is difficult in Hollywood, where there are experienced technicians with the right equipment, it's even harder when you have to do it ad hoc. The BEST STRATEGY IS TO DO AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE (emphasis added)"


I can't speak for anyone else here, but as someone who knows little about good sound reproduction, I defer to experts. I personally don't know of anyone more qualified that Jay Rose.
 
Had to do ADR on about 80% of our last film due to a green boom operator. Some people don't think to "follow" the actors to get the best sound. If the mic is pointed in the wrong direction it is not going to do the trick. Another tech is too get "wild lines" after each scene. Just get the mike as close to the actors mouth as possible and have then re-act out their lines while they are still hot. It is really hard to re-capture the moment in the booth months after you shoot a scene.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top