Which sound track should I use for this shot?

I

ironpony

Carbonite Member
It takes place downtown and I recorded the sounds of heavy traffic. Now I did this two ways to be safe. One with a shotgun mic and I pointed the mic in various directions focusing on the sounds coming more from the those directions. This is so I can put all tracks from different directions, into a multitrack recording. I also got a a few tracks with a hypercardioid and got some from all around, instead of being so directional. I'm just learning myself so I'm guessing the former shotgun method is probably better?
 
Silly question: Is this going to be used with a shot of the city? It would be odd to have a big bus go by on the visual side but not hear it, or the other way around.

Personally, I would have grabbed an omni for this application. And just let it run for a couple of minutes, that way you could just chop it up and overlay it to make it sound busier. Sometimes, a highly focused mic is not good, especially trying to get overall "atmosphere". You may find your focus points too focused.
 
Okay thanks, I can always go out and do it again, if I did it wrong. I only have those two mics for now, on my current budget. The shot is a pan up from the street to a building, which the scene takes place in.
 
Everyone has their own personal way of doing ambient backgrounds. A lot also depends upon the usage of the background ambience, whether it's an establishing shot or will have dialog over it, etc.

I like a stereo bed and then fill in with other layers plus specific individual sounds if there are any visual cues, or just add mono and stereo layers if there aren't any visual cues. If it's a dialog scene I try to leave the center as empty as possible.
 
Nope, no dialogue. If it was dialogue then I would have used a shotgun for the dialogue tracks for sure.
 
I'm also in the Stereo for that kind of recording camp. You have to be careful of perspective switching. The human brain does a fantastic job of smoothing out the reality you experience. So when you create a "reality" you have to keep that in mind. If you look at a building and pan up you don't get a big change in perspective so adding one can be jarring. Of course that may be what you after.

As Rippie said whatever sounds best to you is the choice to make.
 
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