Please help--need assistance with audio clean up!

DarkroomCinema

DarkroomCinema

Member
We recently bought the Tascam portable digital audio recorder for location audio, but unfortunately we don't know how to use it properly. We used a Sennheiser ME66 with phantom power through XLRs.

Here is a link to our audio samples (via Youtube): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3m5sqq-9q0


Any help or assistance would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks.
 
That isn't a recorder problem. You had LOTS of sound going on in the BG and your not going to get rid of it. You have music playing in the BG, licensing issues and you probably not going to be able to get rid of it. The mic sounds like it was not close enough to the actor and was not being boomed very well (one actor seems to be off mic.

So I'm not sure what your looking for in "clean up" but cruzing the stickies might help future shoots. Mics need to be CLOSE. They need to be pointed at the person that is speaking. You can't magically make things you didn't want to record, but did, go away.
 
Well, you can try doing some noise reduction with whatever software you've got, but the real fix is doing it right on set in the first place.

From your clips, it's pretty plain that you've got the mic on a fixed stand, and generally too far from the talent. Get someone swinging the boom and monitor what you're recording at all times.

I'd suggest picking up the Sound for Film and Television DVD.

On edit; ditto everything Noiz said.
 
Ditto what's been said. That audio is pretty much unsaveable.

The stickies and the Sound for Film DVD are both great resources.
 
At this point, your best bet would either be to reshoot it all, or to replace all the sound using ADR against the existing footage. A forum search can help provide more information. Good luck!
 
I hate to simply repeat what's been said... but in audio cleanup 1 the mic is too far from both speakers... and it sounds like the girl is more off axis... also... ALL the sound in the BG shouldn't have been happening while recording. When booming a scene with others in the BG... they only pretend to be talking... that's why they yell "quiet on the set" when shooting.

In audio cleanup 2 the mic is on the girl... and now the guy is off axis... and still... the mic isn't close enough to either speaker.

Also... the location has an assortment of issues... as stated... AND echo.

Buy hey, don't feel too bad... I did sound on a thing for McDonald's corporate... and they wanted to shoot within 10' of a BUSY McDonald's counter... while the restaurant was open, etc. There was a family with CRYING BABIES in the BG... and I kept saying how this was going to sound bad under these conditions... I was using the best, Sanken CS3 and COS11 lav... at one point I even put the headphones on one of the people working for the production company to make sure they were cool with it... and yet... a few weeks later... I got the upset phone call about the audio.

*sigh*

It doesn't just happen to low budget indi-guys...

Try to learn from your mistake... and be sure to work with people who listen to your concerns... and if you work without somebody who is constantly monitoring audio... and who is VOCAL about stuff like this... then get ready for a miserable life of sound problems in all your productions.
 
If it makes you feel any better Matt
I Did a job a few days ago.
The entire crew goes all the way to D.C.
We get there and on day 1 we are supposed to do 4 interviews in an office building.
Well someone screwed up and we had no permission to shoot inside.

We ended up shooting "intimate" emotional interviews in their parking lot not more than
200FT from a cement truck factory. That would have been bad enough but
we were about 150ft from a major highway!
Oh and about 10 helicopters overhead at different points including Marine 1.

Classic.
 
If you are happy with how the visuals came out, and can get the actors to come back in, ADR is probably your best bet. If possible, use a hypercardioid mic indoors about 12-18" away from the actor's mouths pointing down at them, and re-take the audio against the existing video. Major film productions do ADR all the time when there are sound problems. You will also need to do foley and fill in all the other sound effects as needed.

It's more work in the end, but if you work diligently you can recreate the entire soundtrack after picture is locked. If you do it right, no one will be the wiser when they watch the finished product.
 
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