What is the point of mixing on set?

The only mixing I do on set for single camera shooting is to sub mix to several tracks, I never add reverb or do perspective other than to suit the camera shot.

If I am doing a multi camera event or a full production then I will mix on set or in an outside broadcast van but if a production is going to be post produced then I may sub mix or do split channel recording to cover any changes that may need to be done afterwards.
 
As others have mentioned, nowadays most use multitrack recorders where each mic can have it's own separate track, but there is still often a need to do a mix to one or two tracks that can be used for dailies, speed up the post workflow (good mixers can have their mix being used many times instead of ISO tracks even for film), or when there is no sound editing in post, deliver a final result directly. You should always have a talk with the production and post to see what they want - some may only want a mix, some only ISO, and some both.

So what do you actually mix? You fade between mics or mix several simultaneously, to give a good representation of the dialogue and perspective of the scene. Consider a character that comes into a scene muttering, talks to someone, and then walks away a bit to do a task. In the first part the boom may be to far away, so you need to use a lav for the muttering, then the boom is good when the character talks to the other, and then the boom is too far away again for the last part and clothing rustle makes the lav bad, so you rig up a plant for that. During the take you mix so that the lav is used for the first part (maybe with a little boom to to give some air), then fade the lav down and the boom up for the talking part (but maybe keeping a little bit of lav so the character of the voice isn't changed too much), and then the plant or a mix of plant and boom for the last bit.

Here's two videos of a french mixer in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHqRl-taq4&feature=player_embedded
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynUCXU2ods
 
youre still thinking of mixing in the wrong sense. i would think the term exists because on some gigs you are literally mixing two or more audio sources (usually talent mics, that is) down to one channel or two and adjusting the volume levels of each on the fly/live/as youre recording, even though i think the position is stilled called a mixer even if theres only one mic/channel being used! unless youre talking about a low cut filter on the mixer itself (mixer as in the physical piece of hardware), there should be no EQing/compressing etc. on set during the recording, (except in maybe a few very special cases?). you're thinking of the term as its used in post production or music production. same word, two very different meanings.
 
Jema said:
As others have mentioned, nowadays most use multitrack recorders where each mic can have it's own separate track, but there is still often a need to do a mix to one or two tracks that can be used for dailies, speed up the post workflow (good mixers can have their mix being used many times instead of ISO tracks even for film), or when there is no sound editing in post, deliver a final result directly. You should always have a talk with the production and post to see what they want - some may only want a mix, some only ISO, and some both.

So what do you actually mix? You fade between mics or mix several simultaneously, to give a good representation of the dialogue and perspective of the scene. Consider a character that comes into a scene muttering, talks to someone, and then walks away a bit to do a task. In the first part the boom may be to far away, so you need to use a lav for the muttering, then the boom is good when the character talks to the other, and then the boom is too far away again for the last part and clothing rustle makes the lav bad, so you rig up a plant for that. During the take you mix so that the lav is used for the first part (maybe with a little boom to to give some air), then fade the lav down and the boom up for the talking part (but maybe keeping a little bit of lav so the character of the voice isn't changed too much), and then the plant or a mix of plant and boom for the last bit.

Here's two videos of a french mixer in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAHqRl-taq4&feature=player_embedded
...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zynUCXU2ods
Click to expand...

This is a bit misleading. Most productions these days are using multi track recorders and most of the time they are not being actively level adjusted much. BUT the mixer on a film that is doing dailies is activly doing a mixdown for the dailies. That is what I suspect you are seeing in the clip. There used to be active mixing since with a two track or mono recorder you would have to if you used more than one mic. But with a multi track recorder and the MUCH quieter electronics used today you can leave the direct feeds alone more. But you do need to have something that sounds good for the dailies or you won't be working long.

From a post perspective a track that is very plain vanillin with very few level moves and no "fixing" is much preferred.

The reason is we have much better tools to "fix" things than the ones you can use in the field. And if you do a bunch of level moves it means the noise floor is constantly changing and that makes noise removal much more difficult to imposible to do effectively.

That isn't the case with a lot of ENG and such that is going to have no real sound post. In that case you are probably better off doing what you can in the field.
 
This is a bit misleading. Most productions these days are using multi track recorders and most of the time they are not being actively level adjusted much. BUT the mixer on a film that is doing dailies is activly doing a mixdown for the dailies. That is what I suspect you are seeing in the clip. There used to be active mixing since with a two track or mono recorder you would have to if you used more than one mic. But with a multi track recorder and the MUCH quieter electronics used today you can leave the direct feeds alone more. But you do need to have something that sounds good for the dailies or you won't be working long.

From a post perspective a track that is very plain vanillin with very few level moves and no "fixing" is much preferred.

The reason is we have much better tools to "fix" things than the ones you can use in the field. And if you do a bunch of level moves it means the noise floor is constantly changing and that makes noise removal much more difficult to imposible to do effectively.

That isn't the case with a lot of ENG and such that is going to have no real sound post. In that case you are probably better off doing what you can in the field.
Click to expand...
This is more or less how I think too and what I was trying to say with my post, along with the examples (and yes, the mixer is most likely doing a mix for dailies). I'm sorry if I wasn't very clear or wrong.
 
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