Ok So i have the worst problems with audio. I have a Tascam DR-05 and a rode Videomic Rycote Lyre. I am getting an absurd amount of hiss and hums which I use the denoiser to help with that but when I import into premiere I have to add a 20db gain just to see the audio waves. When I add the gain it gives my audio a digital sound to the dialog. What are the best settings for recording audio so i dont have to add a high level of gain. any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Help!!! My audio sounds like S***
- Thread starter effinmedia
- Start date
As the audio guys say, "It's fine to have the equipment, but who's going to operate it??" Most of the time, the best operator is going to get better results from the worst gear than the worst operator with the best gear.
What's the cause of this? It sounds to me, if you can eliminate this, that's most of your problems solved.
My guess is the audio has been destroyed by the denoiser. Use a better quality source.
Piece of string question. The single best thing you can do to record good audio is to use an appropriate location to capture sound. The more noisier the location, the worse your sound will be.
Next thing, get the best signal to noise ratio you can for the situation you are in. Quite often, that should be your primary aim. Get the microphone in as close as you can to the audio source you want to capture and as far away as possible from the audio you want to avoid. This is partly why audio sound bad when the microphone is mounted on the camera.
Understanding your polar patterns of your microphone will also help you ensure you keep what you want recorded in and avoid what you want out.
As for settings, use the settings that give you the result you need for the situation at hand keeping in mind the limitations your hardware impose on you. Better gear does help, but great locations, correct use and monitoring will often yield better results.
This sounds like settings problems. As Sweetie said, it's a piece of string question, because every piece of gear has it's quirks, two pieces of gear interacting adds more quirks. All this on top of unique challenges every time you move to a new location. My guess would be that you have a low mic output level, which means that you have to really increase the gain on your recorder, adding more preamp noise. There's also the possibility of RF (Radio Frequency) and/or EM (ElectroMagnetic) interference at your location - cell phones, tablets, computers, TVs, fluorescent lights, refrigerators - Pretty much anything that runs on electricity or emits a signal of some sort. Shut 'em all down. This will be especially problematic when using Hi-Z (High Impedance) equipment, which you are; your Hi-Z mic cable is especially vulnerable.
Oh, make sure that you have brand new, fresh, quality batteries. Some budget gear does not react well to low power. Yeah, there's plenty of charge in the battery, but not enough to keep the unit happy. 90 minutes of use can drain most 9-volt batteries to under 8 volts, plenty for quality equipment, could be an issue for budget gear.
Is anybody monitoring the audio when you're shooting? Not you, who as the director is concentrating on the performance, not the technical aspects, someone whose only job is to monitor audio quality?
What you need to do is expand your knowledge base. You can start with:
Gain-staging. This is the process of setting the input and/or output levels on each piece of gear so that you have optimum signal levels with minimal noise. I can't tell you what are the best settings because you will have to discover the quirks for yourself. From there you will find a good basic ballpark setting which you can optimize for each situation.
Proper mic technique. The mic should be above and in front of the talent, aimed at the notch at the base of the throat (where the mic will pick up more chest resonance). If you're not booming your sound will be for crap no matter what you do.
Purchase and read The Location Sound Bible by Ric Viers. You really need to upgrade your audio knowledge.
Your project will only look as good as it sounds, because
"Sound is half of the experience"
If your film looks terrible but has great sound, people might just think it's your aesthetic.
If your film looks great and has bad sound, people will think you're an amateur.
Sound is the first indicator to the industry that you know what you're doing.
No matter what else you do, GET THE SOUND RIGHT!!!
"Sound is half of the experience"
If your film looks terrible but has great sound, people might just think it's your aesthetic.
If your film looks great and has bad sound, people will think you're an amateur.
Sound is the first indicator to the industry that you know what you're doing.
No matter what else you do, GET THE SOUND RIGHT!!!
Just as there's no one setting on your camera which will always give you a great picture, there's no one "best setting" to always get good sound. Just as with filming an image, there are variables which affect which settings will work best in any given situation. With sound, those variables are: The equipment you're using to record the audio, the amount and type of environmental noise, the volume/loudness of the signal you're trying to record and the distance between the mic and the source of that signal.
If you're having to add 20dB of gain in post before you can even see the waveform, that would indicate that you are not recording a sufficiently strong signal. Getting the mic closer to the source signal and/or increasing the gain on the mic pre-amps should alleviate this issue, you should be aiming for an average signal level of around -20dB and peaks at roughly -10dB to -12dB.
You are never going to completely eliminate hiss, even with high quality recording equipment, but you should be able to achieve manageable levels with appropriate gain-staging and mic positioning. The hums you mention are a different matter! You should be eliminating the causes of the hums from your filming environment, as described by Alcove.
G
I can't really add anything to what Alcove and the Expert have said except to emphasize the RFI/hum risk of unbalanced high Z cable. Even if your gain staging is perfect, your batteries are fully charged and your mic is placed precisely where it is supposed to be - a long run of unshielded, unbalanced cable between a comsumer mic and consumer recorder is asking for trouble.
Cheers,
Bill
Cheers,
Bill