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Newbie Tip - Sound

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indietalk

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This is a simple tip to up your production quality.

1. Upgrade your sound gear, not your video gear, when choosing one over the other.

Think about it. When you're sitting in a theater, would you rather watch a film with a washed out, grainy picture, with superior sound and sound design... or... a crystal clear picture with inaudible sound?

The answer is obvious. If you can't hear it, you'll leave the theater. If you can hear it clearly, but the picture is grainy or not the best, most will just chalk that up to a stylistic choice anyway. Bad audio is never a stylistic choice.

And you know what, the camera you are thinking about updrading will probably give you good images anyway! So go get the mics and sound recorder you need for the two grand, and upgrade that mini-DV later on.

Out.
 
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Sound is it,
but considering that most of the high impact "sound" in any movie is post production. I wouldn't spend $2k on field recoding stuff. If you have some way to LINE IN on your camera, look into used music equipment, mixer, microphones, etc. (There are more starving musicians than filmmakers out there)

There is a ton of options going this route..

Find a used small mixer, something with phantom power and XLR inputs, connect its line out, to your cameras LINE IN.. that way, you can find all kinds of high quality, inexpensive microphones used by home recording people
 
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wheatgrinder said:
...look into used music equipment, mixer, microphones, etc. (There are more starving musicians than filmmakers out there)
Click to expand...
Unfortunately most music gear is not applicable to location recording as it relates to film, especially the low budget stuff. Very few musicians use shotgun mics, and most of the condenser mics will be too large and heavy for use on a boom. The mixers will have many features that would have no application in production sound, most require AC power. The low budget mixers have fairly noisy preamps which will not very noticeable in loud music applications but will be quite apparent when recording quieter sounds like dialog and Foley.
 
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Alcove Audio said:
Unfortunately most music gear is not applicable to location recording as it relates to film, especially the low budget stuff. Very few musicians use shotgun mics, and most of the condenser mics will be too large and heavy for use on a boom. The mixers will have many features that would have no application in production sound, most require AC power. The low budget mixers have fairly noisy preamps which will not very noticeable in loud music applications but will be quite apparent when recording quieter sounds like dialog and Foley.
Click to expand...

I can imagine that (I don't have the experience to know it) but as this is the newbies section, and on the off chance that anyone else here is like me, a guy with a consumer camcorder, I offer that the low budget music gear path remains a viable option.

As I'm already somewhat fleshed out with low budget home recording gear, that's my path of least resistance. My camcorder has a line in, but to use any of my mics, Ill need xlr and phantom power, so.. drop the Mackie 1202 VLZ (very clean and quite little mixer) in between, and Im already sounding better.

I could imagine that a mixer would allow you the flexibility of having your audio going to a backup sound recorder, but now Im just making excuses.. :D

As for AC, yeah good point. Chances are if your at all serious, your using lighting, hence you have AC already on set (more excuses!)
 
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I am but the humble student of the true masters of the craft. If any credit must be given it should go to those who were kind enough to give me advice when I needed it - I'm just passing the lessons along; I owe my mentors at least that much and more. And that's what being a community is all about; we may be in competition for clients, but we are bound together by a love of our craft, a desire to grow and expand it and to pass the lessons along to those who follow in our footsteps.




An adult is someone who learns from their mistakes.

A professional is someone who can learn from the mistakes of others.

A true professional is someone who knows that there is always something more to learn.




A craftsman knows how to avoid mistakes;

An artist knows how to use them.
 
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WWAD (What Would Alcove Do)

:D
Alcove,

You are me and you have:
  • Sony Handycam DCR-TRV27 (1/8" mic inputs labeled "Plug In Power")
  • Mackie 1202 VLZ mixer
  • Rode NT1 mic
  • Pair of Octiva 012 Small diagram condenser mics
  • Miscellaneous Dynamic Mics SM57 and 57 clones.. a decent EV.
  • Roland D16 stand alone 24bit recorder (old, but okedokee)
  • Alesis Nano-comp 2ch compressor
  • elechepO' TubeMP (single ch. tube preamp)
  • (also dedicated PC with Digi001 but that not moving)
  • Lots of cables
  • Soldering Iron and a will to use it!
  • A pretty decent work shop tools and room
  • $0 budget

Your mission:
Film (focusing on audio here) a simple dialog conversation with the gear you have.
 
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Sony Handycam DCR-TRV27 (1/8" mic inputs labeled "Plug In Power")

Mackie 1202 VLZ mixer

Rode NT1 mic

Pair of Octiva 012 Small diagram condenser mics (BTW, it's OKTAVA)

Lots of cables

Soldering Iron and a will to use it!

A pretty decent work shop tools and room
 
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