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Looking for advice for recording audio on location

Noob Questions

Last Post by bjdzyak 14 years ago

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Coltimar

(@coltimar)

Posts: 24

Eminent Member

Topic starter

I read a few dozen posts last night and today and have answered many of my questions, but a few linger.

In the Spring of 2011 I will be filming a short/feature (running time around 55 mins at this point) and I want to improve the audio quality above what I've done before.

This a very small budget project and is primarily a teaching tool for high school aged kids in our town and will, hopefully, serve as an encouragement to young people enduring the challenges of high school. This will be my third such project. Each time we have expanded the script and increased our production quality in almost every area. During the editing of our last film I realized that audio quality was the main drag of the project. I read a comprehensive theory book on sound principles, but the information may have been a bit dated (not to mention largely over my head). The author recommended not using a DAT, but recording directly into the camera. Syncing audio and video would be a real problem. Based on this recommendation we shot the whole 30 minute film with two panasonic 3CCD camcorders and fed our audio into the cameras. More specifically, I used an AT shotgun mic that I purchased mounted on a boom pole and then a studio mic on a stand (lol, I know) and fed them through a very cheap 4 port analog mixer, and back into the cameras. Actually, we ended up just putting the audio on one camera because only one output worked :/

We were never able to get the sound very clear or even. I know the cheap Behringer mixer was one problem. As our project looms ahead I am starting to think about how to tackle audio this time.

We may have as much as $200 to spend on new equipment. Here are our assests:

Canon XL-2 standard definition miniDV camcorder
JVC GZ-HD6 camcorder (not sure how these two will work together :/)
An old 8 port powered portable mixer amp (previously used for live sound, a few ports don't work and it can be a bit cantankerous)
AudioTechnica ATR-55 condenser mic
A handful of Shure live sound mics
3 Telex/AT bodypack lavalier microphone systems
1 old AKG LD studio condenser mic
Toshiba Qosmio gaming laptop wtih USB, Firewire and standard 1/8" audio interface
Sound Sound Forge 9 (all of our editing will be done on Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 10)

That's about it. We have a bit of cable (XLR mostly) to use. Using what I have, what's my best option for recording our live sound? I considered borrowing a DAT drive from a friend. I know I will probably have to buy a USB Audio Interface but I haven't yet since I don't know how to use it, lol. We will have a variety of shooting environments; classroom, hallway, in homes, outside, along a highway, etc. We will also have voice over narration play a large role.

Thank you very much for taking time to share your experiences in tackling my vague, noobish question.

Posted : 23/11/2010 11:35 am

bjdzyak

(@bjdzyak)

Posts: 587

Honorable Member

quote:

Originally posted by Coltimar

I read a few dozen posts last night and today and have answered many of my questions, but a few linger.

In the Spring of 2011 I will be filming a short/feature (running time around 55 mins at this point) and I want to improve the audio quality above what I've done before.

This a very small budget project and is primarily a teaching tool for high school aged kids in our town and will, hopefully, serve as an encouragement to young people enduring the challenges of high school. This will be my third such project. Each time we have expanded the script and increased our production quality in almost every area. During the editing of our last film I realized that audio quality was the main drag of the project. I read a comprehensive theory book on sound principles, but the information may have been a bit dated (not to mention largely over my head). The author recommended not using a DAT, but recording directly into the camera. Syncing audio and video would be a real problem. Based on this recommendation we shot the whole 30 minute film with two panasonic 3CCD camcorders and fed our audio into the cameras. More specifically, I used an AT shotgun mic that I purchased mounted on a boom pole and then a studio mic on a stand (lol, I know) and fed them through a very cheap 4 port analog mixer, and back into the cameras. Actually, we ended up just putting the audio on one camera because only one output worked :/

We were never able to get the sound very clear or even. I know the cheap Behringer mixer was one problem. As our project looms ahead I am starting to think about how to tackle audio this time.

We may have as much as $200 to spend on new equipment. Here are our assests:

Canon XL-2 standard definition miniDV camcorder
JVC GZ-HD6 camcorder (not sure how these two will work together :/)
An old 8 port powered portable mixer amp (previously used for live sound, a few ports don't work and it can be a bit cantankerous)
AudioTechnica ATR-55 condenser mic
A handful of Shure live sound mics
3 Telex/AT bodypack lavalier microphone systems
1 old AKG LD studio condenser mic
Toshiba Qosmio gaming laptop wtih USB, Firewire and standard 1/8" audio interface
Sound Sound Forge 9 (all of our editing will be done on Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 10)

That's about it. We have a bit of cable (XLR mostly) to use. Using what I have, what's my best option for recording our live sound? I considered borrowing a DAT drive from a friend. I know I will probably have to buy a USB Audio Interface but I haven't yet since I don't know how to use it, lol. We will have a variety of shooting environments; classroom, hallway, in homes, outside, along a highway, etc. We will also have voice over narration play a large role.

Thank you very much for taking time to share your experiences in tackling my vague, noobish question.

In general, assuming your picture framerates are in sync with your audio recording speed, synching the two in post should not be a problem. While there will be pluses and minuses with various recorders, mixers, and mics, as long as your Boom Operator does his job well, there isn't any reason that your dialogue tracks shouldn't be adequate, at the very least.

But, that said, I'm a Camera guy so I'm going to recommend that you take this question to forums populated by industry professionals who specialize in audio. 🙂

You can find them here: http://jwsound.net/SMF/index.php
and here: http://www.coffeyinteractive.com/phpbb2/ramps.php

Brian Dzyak
Cameraman/Author
IATSE Local 600, SOC
http://www.whatireallywanttodo.com
http://www.realfilmcareer.com

Posted : 23/11/2010 12:45 pm