Usable sound with this equipment?

moonshieldmedia

moonshieldmedia

I plan on spending as much money as possible on sound editing, sound mixing, and sound design. I'll have more time and money later on to make sure I do it right in post.

However, I need to start shooting really soon and my production time and budget is going to be more restricted.

Can I get usable sound that the post guys can work with if I only have a Zoom H4n & a Rode NTG3 ??

Should I sacrifice another aspect of production to also get a lav mic and/or a hypercardioid mic, or can I get by without them? I need the sound to be good enough for major festivals.

All of this is assuming my sound guy is competent, of course.
 
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Assuming your sound guy is competent and your set sounds good (no bg noise, reverb, etc), then yes you can get good sound in most production scenarios with that.

Boom pole, headphones, windscreen, shock mount and other accessories too, right?
 
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Good sound is an integrated whole.

It begins with acknowledging that your characters live in a sonic world as well as a visual one; in other words, good sound begins with the script.

You retain a competent boom-op and production sound mixer. Let them worry about the audio equipment.

During preproduction you discuss the sound of the project in just as much detail as you do the visual aspects, from both an artistic and a technical point of view.

During preproduction make sure that you allocate the time and resources to handle the taming of sonically horrible rooms; don't forget lots of blankets, carpets, etc. and plenty of C-stands.

Be sure that you schedule enough time to capture room-tones/ambience and dialog wilds.

Make sure that you have plenty of batteries and/or several battery packs with their chargers.

During production you must make sure that the PSM and boom-op are involved during the blocking and rehearsals. It gives the boom-op the opportunity to practice his/her moves and the PSM to (hopefully) get accurate levels.

Listen to what your PSM and boom-op have to say to you; they have been retained by you to capture solid production sound, and they have the trained ears.

Take the time to capture room-tones/ambience and dialog wilds. Yes, I said this already, but if you fall behind schedule you'll be very tempted to skip this very important process. You'll be putting a pistol to your head in audio post if you don't capture room-tones/ambience and dialog wilds.

Keep excruciatingly detailed audio logs (video logs too).

Make sure that you have back-ups of all the audio files.

If you do all of this then you have a fair chance of surviving audio post.

So, yeah, the NTG-3 is fine. The H4n will work; it will eat batteries voraciously since it will be supplying phantom power to the NTG-3; it has low grade pre-amps, so expect a little noise. A hypercardioid mic for indoors would be a good idea, the Audio Technica AT4035b is a nice mid-budget choice..

But do you get the message? Just having the "right gear" is a very small part of capturing solid production sound, and having the audio post done by someone with experience will greatly enhance your project.
 
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Paul: Yes, I'll have those accessories

Alcove: Solid info, as usual, thanks for that

I'm more worried about sound than any other aspect of production. I come from a background of recording bands in the studio so I have a good ear, but I need to find someone who can take care of it on set so I won't need to worry.
 
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moonshieldmedia said:
I need the sound to be good enough for major festivals.
Click to expand...

When you say "major festivals", mmm. Many/most of the major festivals are supported by Dolby who provide equipment and techs to calibrate the screenings, the implications of this are not immediately apparent. You don't generally have to have a Dolby printmaster but the sound requirements/expectations are usually a significant step up from the smaller film festivals, while at the same time the sound systems are less forgiving of weaknesses.

Your audio post team and especially your re-recording mixer must do some research about the screening venue/s and the producer should do some research regarding not only the audio specifications but also the usual audio format/standards of the category you are wanting to enter for each festival. You then need to be absolutely sure the audio post team you are employing have the facilities and experience to meet all those festival specs/standards/expectations and of course that the audio post team is supplied with production sound of sufficient quality to enable this task.

I'm not trying to scare you more than you already are, there are solutions to everything I've said but you are probably going to need some expert guidance. It may be a surprise to some but I've found that Dolby themselves are often much more approachable and willing to advise than many would think.

G
 
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