We have always been told that people will accept bad video, but not bad audio. That being said, we wanted to give you a few tips and things to be aware of to make capturing sound for your project a little easier. This is after all, the age of digital, not just for video, but audio too. Theaters have THX and SDDS with 5.1 surround sound. Home audio is often better then outdated theaters as an audience gets Blue Ray DVDs with 24 bits. That’s why it’s so important to capture the best audio you can at its source, on set.
The Sound Crew are the people you depend on to capture the best possible audio during your video production. Unlike the work of the majority of the people who are working on set, the mixer’s efforts can’t be “seen” until you’re in the editing room. Included in the sound crews job are monitoring the set for unnecessary, accidental, ignorant, and sometimes even malicious actions or lack of actions that may compromise your sound.
The problems that we face on set might lead you to believe that good sound can’t be reached without any set disruptions and maybe even additional costs. But if measures are taken in pre production and during production this can be avoided. Good audio begins in Pre Production. The sound crew should show up to any set locations at the same time of day actual filming will take place to hear what sound issues they will need to resolve.
Picking sets should always consider sound. Often times, shoots will take place in a location that could have easily been substituted for another location or shot on a weekend. Many times a shoot will take place at a location that has construction, traffic, schools, airplane patterns and other background noise, which are quite obvious. Only shoot those kinds of locations when it’s absolutely necessary and essential to your project.
Also consider things like air conditioning, when this goes on and off during a shot, it changes the noise in your scene. Either get a few minutes of “Room Tone” or make sure someone is regulating the air conditioning. Have control of noisemakers like computers, icemakers, refrigerators, any thing from the art department, wardrobe department, props department, and special effects department, etc. Avoid filming in locations during normal business hours.
Like it or not, sound is a part of your entire film making process from pre-production through production and on to post production. You might as well do it right.
