How to record the sound from a car in motion?

[morteym]

The car will be filmed from another car while in motion and also with camera car mounts. What's the best way to record the sound and avoid noise from wind etc? The sound from the exhaust and the engine/intake is an important element of the film.

I'm also looking into buying HV30 and external mic.

Thanks

 

[Alex H.]

If you're talking about the sounds of the actual car, your best bet is not to worry about recording the audio with the video.

Work on them separately. And you can plant mics all over the vehicle to get different sounds. Put a mic in the cabin to record the interior noise. Put one in the engine compartment (carefully, as there are places in there that can cause signal interference and other spots that can burn the cables) to get that ballsy rumble. Cover a mic well with windscreening, or a non-lubricated condom, and attach it to various exterior parts of the car (near wheels, near the exhaust). If you have a two-channel portable audio recorder, you can record any two sources at once. Four record channels, then four different spots on the car. Hard-wire the mics, don't even worry about wireless for this.

Once you've done all that (and dynamic mics are great for those recordings), you can mix and match them to taste.

Vehicle/engine sounds are rarely recorded as the camera rolls. Nine times out of ten, and especially if the sound of the car is center to the footage, all the above sounds have been Foleyed in.

 

[Noiz2]

Vehicle/engine sounds are rarely recorded as the camera rolls. Nine times out of ten, and especially if the sound of the car is center to the footage, all the above sounds have been Foleyed in.

Indeed super low budget films are pretty much the only place where people try to record dialog in a running car. What you want to do is get that car (if it sounds the way you want) and get it off somewhere quiet and record the hell out of it and make a library to use in post. And do total coverage if this car is central to the story. That means starts stops revs, car door opens and closes, gear shifting, peelouts (if that's in the film), driving int and ext. You need to find a quiet place with a bit of a hill so you can get the engine to work a bit. I would mic the exhaust and under the hood and I would also get a mic in a wheel well for that rubber meets the road sound. The recordings that you should do however are not Foley but FX, Foley is done on a stage live to picture.

 

[dano]

The car will be filmed from another car while in motion and also with camera car mounts. What's the best way to record the sound and avoid noise from wind etc? The sound from the exhaust and the engine/intake is an important element of the film.

I'm also looking into buying HV30 and external mic.

Thanks

Hello...I found this video interesting, along the lines of what you are talking about...

Fifth Gear: Behind the Scenes with a Sound Recordist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi47knRTbv0