Quick Question

M

MeAgain

Carbonite Member
Let's say a microphone was used to record some dialogue indoors. A tricky shot causes the mic (a supercardiod shotgun design- Sennheiser Mkh-416, I think) to be scooped a little farther away from the actress than it should (since she's talking softly).

Recorded through a decent mixer onto a 702 sound recorder. Bumped up by 15 db in final cut. Not really any hiss, voice is clear and audible, but obviously it could have been recorded better.

My question: would bumping up the levels on the mixer on set have made any difference as opposed to bumping up the gain on FCP?
 
Well there's basically 3 potential sources (to my knowledge).
1. The mic is too far away from the source and you're getting to roomy of a sound.
2. There was noise on location which didn't get turned off. (and if you're recording at too low of a level you're likely monitoring at too low of a level and didn't hear it)
3. You're running into the noise floor of the 702. (probably least likely if you recorded at 24 bit, and if your FCP session is in 24 bit as well)

Any of them could contribute to the issue, it's a little hard to know without a clip. (And for the record, recording with correct levels on set with certainly never hurt anything)
 
Yes. There would be a difference, but not something you would notice. Your 702 has a very low noise-floor and is made specifically for the purpose in recording fx, dialogue, and other sound sources that require high SNR capabilities.

When you bump up the levels on your mixer, you begin to introduce higher self-noise from the device. The appropriate way to record at optimum levels is to calibrate what you're hearing through the test tones to what your microphones are gained at with the fader at unity. In this case, there weren't any mixer involved and only gain pots. Your 702 is defaulted to ride at unity, so turn your trims until it's averaging at between 0dBu-4dBu for dialogue. Sounds like you were monitoring at a high level, thus making you to turn the gains lower than usual.

She's talking softly, yet you pulled your mic farther away? Shot and blocking didn't allow you to reach closer? Anyway you can record the wild lines?

Once you've added an additional +15dB of gain through FCP, you've also raised the noise floor by that same amount. Possiblities of reducing the BG noise is by moving the mics closer to the subjects or go through some light noise-reduction processing.
 
Well, honestly, there really is minimal noise when bumped up. You can hear the dialogue clearly and it has body, and there is really barely any hiss.

Unfortunately, the shot is wide and we can't get it any closer, and she's speaking softly in the scene.

My main concern is that there will be a loss of detail. I guess that's my main question: let's just say, hypothetically, that I couldn't get the microphone any closer no matter how hard I tried. Is there a big enough difference with level boosting on the mixer/702 as compared to FCP/Soundtrack Pro, or is Gain more or less Gain (relatively speaking) and the only way to not lose detail is to get the mic closer? (if this makes sense!)

Basically the two guys I had on sound had to deal with some pretty wide shots and soft voices, and they set all of the gain on the mixer and recorder to zero. I accept the fact that the micrphone is far away, and we got some wild lines, but I feel like they could have done more with the mixer levels to perhaps pick up the voices better, and I'm honestly freaking out over it because I'm the director and therefore it's my fault for not checking these things (even though they claimed they were all set and knew what they were doing). So I'm wondering if it's worth re-shooting everything we did with the only difference being they boost the levels on the mixer/recorder, and realistically if boosting the levels on there is much more dramatic than say, in FCP.
 
In the situation you just described, wouldn't make much a difference if boosted on the 702 nor through FCP because the dialogue is sitting right above your noise. Boosting your 702 gains would lead to almost the same result as you would on your FCP because your mic is staying in the same position.

Get the mic closer. That's the best and free way of getting more details in your recording. More dialogue and less BG noise. Only you can decide if it's worth re-scheduling a shoot.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top