Sound: Step by Step/Tips

[Sucramdoow]

Hi,

I will admit I am very inexperienced with sound, so wanted to create this thread for people like me wanting to learn more about the process.

Could anyone provide a step-by-step breakdown of the best way to capture sound whilst shooting, including preparing for the post-production part?

Any tips, tricks or useful information will be great.

I'm making a short film and want to pump some money into sound, but if I can't get a professional, or someone experienced, I want to make sure I understand what there is needed during production & post-production.

Cheers.

 

[Alcove Audio]

There is no "just do this or that" and you'll get great sound. Capturing solid production sound requires the proper equipment (no skimping!) and a great deal of skill.

Number one is the skill of the boom-op; if s/he doesn't know what they're doing no amount of gear is going to improves things. So the first "tip" is to have the person swinging the boom get a lot of practice and the sound editor should spend a lot of time critiquing the practice sound. That's a big part of the problem right there. Doing something well requires a lot of practice, and 99.99% the boomed mic is handed to an intern that says "what's this?"

Scouting Locations

Everyone scouts locations based upon how they look. Almost no one scouts locations based upon how they sound. The time of day, the day of the week and the time of the year can all play large roles in how a location will sound. That backyard may have been relatively quiet on Wednesday afternoon, but on Sunday afternoon all the weekend fliers are taking off and landing at the local airport. Maybe there is a motorcycle club that meets nearby on Saturday afternoons, or someone is having a birthday party. That corner of the park was fine in March, but when you shoot in May there are Little League games going on. That quiet patch of woods sounded just fine on that June night, but when you shoot on a warm August evening the crickets are so loud that you can't hear yourself think. Indoors locations can pose just as many problems – noisy neighbors, appliances, etc. - to compliment the noise problems of the baseball games, plane traffic, bike rallies and crickets. Some of these problems you will just have to live with, and but many may be solved or reduced by prior planning and the proper use of microphones.


Here is a checklist of a few simple things.

Every member of the crew should wear soft-soled shoes (sneakers) and wear quiet clothing – no vinyl jackets or pants and no corduroys. They should take change out of their pockets and turn off their cell phones and iPods.

The crew should remain absolutely still and quiet while rolling unless their job requires movement (i.e. the boom-op and camera operators). They should stand as whatever they sit on could create noise if they shift their position.

If someone has a cold keep cough drops and nasal spray available to cut down on coughs, sneezing and heavy breathing. Microphones can be very sensitive and pick up things you will not hear until you get to audio post.

The Cast

They should also wear soft-soled shoes (sneakers) and wear quiet clothing – no vinyl jackets or pants and no corduroys.

They should take change out of their pockets and turn off their cell phones and iPods.

If someone has a cold keep cough drops and nasal spray available to cut down on coughs, sneezing and heavy breathing.

Great extras are "mimes", they can appear to be having animated conversations and yet they are speaking in whispers or not at all. Remember that you can always add crowd Walla in audio postproduction, but it is very difficult to remove crowd noise from the production audio tracks.


Prepping Locations

Keep the cast and crew rest areas as far away from the actual shooting location as possible. If a person is not required on the set it would be better if they were not on the set. A buddy of mine maintains that the possibility of noise from the crew is the square of the number of crewmembers - five people on the set means 25 chances for an unwanted noise, ten people means 100 chances, 20 people means 400 chances.

When shooting indoors you will encounter rooms that are very ambient or have a "hollow" sound. They have hard floors, bare walls and not much in the way of "soft" furniture. Bathrooms or gymnasiums are excellent examples of excessively ambient spaces, but even a living room or bedroom can be very ambient; kitchens are notorious with all of the hard surfaces. An expertly used mic can mitigate but not eliminate this effect. Hanging up sound blankets (moving pads and comforters are an adequate substitute, as are foam mattresses) and laying down carpets (if they won't be seen in the shot) can help reduce the ambience of a room. Carpeting should also be used to reduce the sound of footsteps emanating from the crew who need to move during the shot. Sweep the floors. That little piece of grit can sound like an avalanche to the microphone.

Turn off appliances such as air conditioners, refrigerators and so forth. Physically unplug computers, televisions, stereos and similar devices; they are not actually off but are really in standby mode so still emanate some noise; the cumulative effect can be very loud when you get to audio postproduction. Unplug all landline telephones. If you are shooting in a bar, for example, and an appliance cannot be turned off, muffle the noise with a sound blanket.

If you are using a generator place it as far away from the set as possible. Use C-stands and surround it with as many sound blankets as you can. If possible put it around a corner and, if you are outdoors, surround it with cars and vans to help deflect the sound.

When shooting in alleyways and other excessively ambient outdoors spaces you can use the same ambience suppression techniques mentioned above. When shooting on concrete, tall/dry grass, gravel, etc. lay down carpeting for the crew.

Room Tones and Wilds

Collect room tones. This is recording the sound of the empty set. You should try to record room tones for every angle from which you shot. So when you have finished shooting from one angle collect 90 seconds of room tone.

Dialog wilds are recording the dialog close up off camera. The talent is still in character and still in "rhythm". Do at least four takes of each line. This could save you from having to do ADR sessions.

Set wilds are recordings of sounds that emanate from the set. This includes doors, furniture, squeaky floorboards, tableware, sinks, toilets, cars (engines, doors, pull-outs, pull-ups, starts, stops, start-ups, etc.), elevators, ambiences and crowd Walla. For crowd Walla you can just roll for several minutes before you ask for quiet and begin shooting, it sounds much more natural.

These things will take some extra time on the set but will be worth your while when you get to audio postproduction.


Just search for posts about audio gear here on IndieTalk and you'll find dozens by myself and others.

 

[Sucramdoow]

Thanks, Alcove Audio. That was very informative.

My aim is to definitely get a Sound Recordist, as well as someone to help me in the post-production phase.

What would you recommend only be handled in the foley stage?

 

[Alcove Audio]

What would you recommend only be handled in the foley stage?

Obviously the Foley. And, by the way, it's Foley with a capital "F" because it is so named in honor of Jack Foley who codified the process besides being the true master and teacher.

The dialog editing should be done by a dialog editor. The Foley should be recorded by a Foley Mixer and performed by a Foley artist/walker, the sound FX should be recorded by a field recording team and edited by a sound FX editor, the music should be edited by a music editor and all of the final audio should be mixed by a rerecording mixer on a certified sound/dubbing/mixing stage.

If that's a little beyond your budget - as I'm sure it is - you need to hire me or someone like me who can do all of the above. It takes four times as long since you have one person doing four jobs. It also may not be as good as what each individual team may do as we tend to be jacks-of-all-trades rather than specialists.

This all may come off as being snotty or facetious, but it's the realities of film sound - and many other aspects of filmmaking; each craft/discipline requires the proper tools and takes a lot of time to master. Every time you do it yourself you are making huge sacrifices. Every time you skimp on the equipment budget you are making a sacrifice. Or perhaps "compromise" is a better word. But a trained DP is going to set up a better shot than you can. A trained boom-op is going to capture better production sound than the PA who isn't busy. An experienced gaffer will select and place the proper lighting more efficiently than you can. And on and on and on...

The one place you should not skimp, however, is the sound, but that's usually the first place filmmakers strip down their budget. "Your picture only looks as good as it sounds" and "Sound is half of the experience" are not just sayings you hear, say "oh that's right" and then immediately forget. Sound and picture have been completely integrated for over 80 years, and the sonic possibilities for films has never been greater, but fledgling filmmakers seem to treat it like a leprous plague rat.

If you hire only one professional for your entire project make it the boom-op. Without great production sound nothing else will matter.

 

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

Obviously the Foley. And, by the way, it's Foley with a capital "F" because it is so named in honor of Jack Foley who codified the process besides being the true master and teacher.

That's actually a common mistake made by many people. The Foley mic was not named after this "Jack Foley" guy, far from it. It was actually due to Eddie Murphy's loud voice in Beverly Hills Cop. His voice was so loud when he would act surprised that the standard rifle mic + boom mic could barely handle the dynamics, so the Foley mic was made - named after Eddie's character Axel Foley.

 

[Sucramdoow]

Obviously the Foley. And, by the way, it's Foley with a capital "F" because it is so named in honor of Jack Foley who codified the process besides being the true master and teacher.

The dialog editing should be done by a dialog editor. The Foley should be recorded by a Foley Mixer and performed by a Foley artist/walker, the sound FX should be recorded by a field recording team and edited by a sound FX editor, the music should be edited by a music editor and all of the final audio should be mixed by a rerecording mixer on a certified sound/dubbing/mixing stage.

If that's a little beyond your budget - as I'm sure it is - you need to hire me or someone like me who can do all of the above. It takes four times as long since you have one person doing four jobs. It also may not be as good as what each individual team may do as we tend to be jacks-of-all-trades rather than specialists.

This all may come off as being snotty or facetious, but it's the realities of film sound - and many other aspects of filmmaking; each craft/discipline requires the proper tools and takes a lot of time to master. Every time you do it yourself you are making huge sacrifices. Every time you skimp on the equipment budget you are making a sacrifice. Or perhaps "compromise" is a better word. But a trained DP is going to set up a better shot than you can. A trained boom-op is going to capture better production sound than the PA who isn't busy. An experienced gaffer will select and place the proper lighting more efficiently than you can. And on and on and on...

The one place you should not skimp, however, is the sound, but that's usually the first place filmmakers strip down their budget. "Your picture only looks as good as it sounds" and "Sound is half of the experience" are not just sayings you hear, say "oh that's right" and then immediately forget. Sound and picture have been completely integrated for over 80 years, and the sonic possibilities for films has never been greater, but fledgling filmmakers seem to treat it like a leprous plague rat.

If you hire only one professional for your entire project make it the boom-op. Without great production sound nothing else will matter.

Cheers. Yeah, I've always understood that sound is important in film. But to get good sound, you need equipment and someone who knows how to use it, both of which are hard to come by, especially with little to no money.

In regards to the question about Foley, I meant what would be recorded in a Foley session? For instance, would foot-steps be recorded then, or would it be best to do that on set?

By the way, it's 'Jack-of-all-trades' not 'Jacks'.

 

[Alcove Audio]

By the way, it's 'Jack-of-all-trades' not 'Jacks'.

One person is a Jack-of-all-trades, several people (as in my post) would be Jacks-of-all-trades since you are referring to multiple people.


Okay, you want to DIY.

1. What's your budget for production sound gear?

2. What audio gear do you have already?

3. Who will be swinging the boom and running the audio recorder?

4. How much experience do you have doing production sound (or the person you are asking to do the production sound)?

5. What's your budget for audio post equipment?

6.What audio post equipment do you have already?

7. Where will you be doing the audio post work.

8. How much experience do you have doing audio post work?

 

[trueindie]

Alcove, man.... you're a gem.

Is this thread brilliant or what?

 

[Sucramdoow]

Okay, you want to DIY.

1. What's your budget for production sound gear?

The budget will be in the £1000 region (if crowd-funding goes well), so then at that point we will decide where the money will be going.

2. What audio gear do you have already?

A shotgun mic, with boom pole & a Tascam recorder. I'm not entirely sure on the model, I think it's the 100MK2.

3. Who will be swinging the boom and running the audio recorder?

This hasn't been decided as of yet because I'm contacting as many people as possible that are experienced/wannabe sound men/women. If I can't get anyone, most likely a friend (who's also an amateur film-maker.)

4. How much experience do you have doing production sound (or the person you are asking to do the production sound)?

My experience only extends as far as what my college course has taught me, as well as being self-taught. I've only really used a RODE video mic. If my friend was to do it, he has about as much experience as me, but he knows more about sound as he is a keen musician and constantly plays around with sound on his computer.

5. What's your budget for audio post equipment?

Same as above. It's all speculation at this point in time. But I have (well, I can get a hold of) all the necessary software/hardware available for post-prod.

6.What audio post equipment do you have already?

See above.

7. Where will you be doing the audio post work.

If possible, I will be doing it at a sound recording studio of which my friend can get us in for free. If not, then it will be at his house.

8. How much experience do you have doing audio post work?

Very little experience. I'm self-taught, and the course I am on hasn't really taught us that much.

I understand completely sound is important by the way, but if I can't get people who are experienced then I would rather understand the fundamentals than go in blind and waste a load of money.

 

[Alcove Audio]

So let's clear it up a little...

You have £1,000 to spend on production sound gear and £1,000 to spend on audio post gear; £2,000 total.

You don't know what type of shotgun mic or audio recorder you have. (I would really like to know exactly what you have, all the way down to the last cable and battery pack.)

Your musician friend will possibly be swinging the boom and running the audio, but possibly not. (You should settle this quickly. If you do not get an up-and-comer as I said in my previous post "the first "tip" is to have the person swinging the boom get a lot of practice and the sound editor should spend a lot of time critiquing the practice sound.")

Neither you or your musician friend has any experience with audio post.

You don't know what audio post gear is available. You don't know where you will be doing the audio post. (Settle this a quickly as possible. A reasonably quiet treated room is a necessity so you can accurately hear everything. If the "studio" is not available you'll have to do some treatment to whatever room you use.)

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

For a start you can begin with reading:


The Location Sound Bible - Ric Viers

The Sound Effects Bible - Ric Viers

(BTW, Ric has a lot of great videos on YouTube.)

The Foley Grail - Vanessa Theme Ament

Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound - David Yewdall

Sound Design - David Sonnenschein

You should also spend a lot of time at www.filmsound.org. There are many great articles, especially those by Randy Thom, and some good general informative history.

 

[Sucramdoow]

So let's clear it up a little...

You have £1,000 to spend on production sound gear and £1,000 to spend on audio post gear; £2,000 total.

You don't know what type of shotgun mic or audio recorder you have. (I would really like to know exactly what you have, all the way down to the last cable and battery pack.)

Your musician friend will possibly be swinging the boom and running the audio, but possibly not. (You should settle this quickly. If you do not get an up-and-comer as I said in my previous post "the first "tip" is to have the person swinging the boom get a lot of practice and the sound editor should spend a lot of time critiquing the practice sound.")

Neither you or your musician friend has any experience with audio post.

You don't know what audio post gear is available. You don't know where you will be doing the audio post. (Settle this a quickly as possible. A reasonably quiet treated room is a necessity so you can accurately hear everything. If the "studio" is not available you'll have to do some treatment to whatever room you use.)

-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

For a start you can begin with reading:


The Location Sound Bible - Ric Viers

The Sound Effects Bible - Ric Viers

(BTW, Ric has a lot of great videos on YouTube.)

The Foley Grail - Vanessa Theme Ament

Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound - David Yewdall

Sound Design - David Sonnenschein

You should also spend a lot of time at www.filmsound.org. There are many great articles, especially those by Randy Thom, and some good general informative history.

I should have worded that better. The whole film budget will be in the £1000 region. I want to fund-raise, but I want to be realistic in my goals.

I'll have to ask my friends about the equipment, as it's scattered all over the place at the moment. If it is my friend handling the sound, I will do some test runs with him before the main shoot.

Well, he has had more experience than me. I know he plays around with software, as he records his own music.

All the planning will be done in the pre-production phase, as we're still writing the script. I can't guarantee anything now, as it could all fall apart at some point.

Thanks for the book suggestions, I'll be sure to check them out.

 

[Alcove Audio]

If it is my friend handling the sound, I will do some test runs with him before the main shoot.

No matter who it is do A LOT of practice. Booming is very difficult to do properly.

I know he plays around with software, as he records his own music.

I was a touring and session musician for almost 25 years, owned a personal studio for 15 of those, and was a recording engineer for another five (5) before migrating to audio post. Sound-for-picture is completely different than music engineering. I had quite a few preconceptions and habits to overcome.

I would suggest that he also read those books. I've read them all several times (except for Ric Viers Location Sound Bible - it just came out) plus endless hours at www.filmsound.org. There is a great deal of information to assimilate.

 

[Sucramdoow]

That site is very extensive. Cheers.

I've found a few video production companies in my area, I might just ask e-mail them so I can talk to their sound department to see if they would be up for it.