• Audio

  Sound perspective

  Posted by Dominic Hadenfeldt on May 20, 2013 at 11:47 pm

  Hello all,
  I was hoping for a few pointers. I’m finally doing my first low (really low) budget gigs as a soundie. And sound perspective is a struggle. The difference in room tone, volume, and sound between wides, mediums, and close ups is jarring. I’ve found that I have to back the mic off on close ups to more closely match the medium shots. And of course, any wide master with a boom suffers the same fate when moving in.

  I’ve done entire scenes with lavs. Despite the lav sound, it was much more pleasing than hearing all that air move around on the boom stuff.

  I’m still using a Schoeps MK41 or an Audix HC for a hyper. Would a mic with more “reach” help? MKH-50, etc?

  Given the usual scenario of shooting a wide master with dialogue, and going closer for the over-the-shoulders, is there a better/different way to approach this?

  I would give anything to either be on a real narrative film set for a day, or observe a seasoned professional.

  Thanks so much

  p.s, Eric, Ty: thanks for all the great gear recommendations on the COW. I finally bit the bullet and got the Sound Devices 702, a CS-3, and a Schoeps, The step up in audio quality was not incremental, it was exponential. Wow and wow.

  Ty Ford replied 12 years, 12 months ago 2 Members · 3 Replies
• 3 Replies

• 

  Ty Ford

  May 21, 2013 at 2:46 am

  Hello Dominic,

  Thanks for the hat tip. Glad you could hear the difference! 🙂

  OK, yes, the mic distance thing. Use your room tone looped under all of the scene to mask the transitions. Stagger the audio tracks when you can so the audio leads or lags at the video cut. Put a sound effect right at the cut to distract the ear.

  The drive to get as close as possible does have its problems, especially when trying to edit close, mid and wide takes together. On the wide shots, can you lay down more sound blankets to knock down the bounce and even the differences out? Maybe not push in quite as close on the close shots?

  During a mix I might “dirty the boom track” with some lav track. Other times the reverse works, go with the lav and add air with the boom to cover the differences at transitions.

  Hpw’s that sound?

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog
• 

  Dominic Hadenfeldt

  May 21, 2013 at 8:38 pm

  Thanks for the guidance Ty!

  Dominic
• 

  Ty Ford

  May 21, 2013 at 9:27 pm

  Dominic,

  Glad to help. Please let us know how that works for you and what your impressions are.

  Regards,

  Ty Ford
  Cow Audio Forum Leader

  Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field Guide
  Ty Ford Blog: Ty Ford’s Blog

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