Question about capturing sound in the field.

For mics I have the NTG-3 and the AT4053b. When it comes to dialogue if I record it the way Rick was saying, the dialogue comes out too quiet and only half as loud as it should be. When I record dialogue with the gain turned up 85% or more, and with the fader turned up to about 60%, it then sounds good. For crickets it's different though and I would have to turn the gain way up anyway. But you say to start out with the fader at unity gain. I would have to turn the gain up all the way, everytime, if the fader is at unity gain, cause unity gain, is never loud enough anyway, and I would always have to turn the gain all the way up, just to make unity gain reasonable loud enough.
 
Do you have a mixer or are you feeding the mic directly into the recorder?

I still don't know what you mean when you say "the dialog comes out too quiet and only half as loud as it 'should' be." How loud should it be, in your opinion? How are you measuring it? "Too quiet" compared to what? "Quiet" and "loud" are subjective descriptions of perceived sound, not objective measurements. When someone says a playback is too quiet, my first impulse is that they need to turn up the volume on their playback speakers, not that there is something wrong with the original recording.
 
Last edited:
What "gain" and What "fader"?

If your on a FR2Le then you have a mic trim and that is it so where does a "fader" come in.

And since I have been on a number of threads with you and this "I heard", "a guy said" has come up before I can say with some certainty that "the guy" who has been telling you stuff doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground. Or you are misunderstanding what he is saying.

So as a rule going forward don't do anything just because "a guy" said something. If what they say makes sense try it, if it works then believe it.

There are very few absolutes in sound. You will be the last to get added to the budget the first taken out and your credit will 99% of the time be after the guy who drives the honey-wagon are a few I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Well a lot of times if I don't go over 75% I have turn the volume on my speakers all the way up just to hear normal dialogue. I would think that that is too quiet, unless all sound has to be turned up in post. It seems to me in the tests that I have done, to set the gain(trim), to 75-85%, then to set the fader to the highest it can go for quiet sounds. But that's just from my own ears, and not sure if that's the right way, but I guess if their is no absolute, than their is no right way.
 
ironpony said:
Well a lot of times if I don't go over 75% I have turn the volume on my speakers all the way up just to hear normal dialogue. I would think that that is too quiet, unless all sound has to be turned up in post. It seems to me in the tests that I have done, to set the gain(trim), to 75-85%, then to set the fader to the highest it can go for quiet sounds. But that's just from my own ears, and not sure if that's the right way, but I guess if their is no absolute, than their is no right way.
Click to expand...
Have you calibrated your speakers, setting your playback system gain to give standard sound pressure levels with standard level sounds? If not, the fact you have to turn your recording gain up in order to hear it on playback means nothing at all.
 
Okay thanks. When it comes to recording normal volume dialogue, setting the gain to 85% seems the way to go, with the fader at unity gain. However what if the actor all of a sudden screams? Would I have to say cut and then reset the gain all over again, cause bringing the gain down does add noise at that point? I could bring the fader down, but if it's suppose to be at unity gain, with the gain set to a scream level, then will it be correct to even adjust the fader?

And I am feeding the mic directly into the recorder.

I keep doing more tests and if I go under 75% with the gain, I still get some sort of hissing, if turned up loud in post, compared to doing it the way you said, to set the gain whenever it sounds right.
 
Last edited:
The "right" way is the one that works the best. I've been in sound since probably before you were born and I can't tell what you mean by "gain" and "fader". I don't see any trim controls on the FR2 Le so speaking about two level settings seems... weird.

No absolutes means that what works today is only information to help you figure out what will work tomorrow. What you do for "normal" dialog is not going to work for a whisper, or a scream.
 
Noiz2 said:
If your on a FR2Le then you have a mic trim and that is it so where does a "fader" come in.
Click to expand...

There are two stages of gain on the FR2-LE. There's an input gain adjustment for each input, and then there's a master level control (rotary, split/inset L and R controls).
 
I own an LE myself, and there's one thing I can't seem to find info on: Is the fader digital or analogue? I've always suspected that it's digital.
 
Thanks Alex. I loked at pictures and I didn't see the second controls. That clears up a few things.
 
Okay thanks. I tried adjusting the gain the way, you people say, on a scene shoot this week. But I was told by the director that later, the dialogue did not sound as good as the other scenes and that it sounds more distant. I asked my filmmaking collaborators what they thought sounded better, and they said the original way of me doing it (turning the gain up to 85%, all the time), sounds better. So now I am confused.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top