Help for shooting audio in an empty hallway

[Greg Curda]

Hi Susan,

Well, if you’re seeing an empty hallway, the sound can’t be totally devoid of reverberation…that’s what an empty hallway sounds like, right? The trick is to get the right amount of reverb. Unless the client wants none at all…

You could boom with a hypercardioid mic (not a shotgun). Keep the dialogue shots tight, or if you have to shoot wide masters, shoot tight coverage and steal the dialogue from the tight. You will still get some room reverb, but you can adjust it to some extent with mic placement.

You could use a lav, taking a little bit of time to find the right placement on the body for the sound you want. Standard lapelish placement should be ok. Then you can shoot masters and coverage, no prob.

You could cover reflective surfaces that are not in the shot with packing blankets, or similar material, and cover the unseen floor, as well. You could even drape blankets on C stands, just out of the shot.

Or, if your talent is pro and does the dialogue the same way every time, you could record dialogue wild in a less reverberant space, if you need tight dialogue without room reverb. Do this right after the takes, so it is fresh in talent’s mind.

Or you can ADR later in a studio, or makeshift sound booth. You can construct this from foam, or blankets and C stands too, and shoot it on location.

Once you have a plan, you will have to do sound tests to get to the quality you want, and get it approved, not just hope for the best.

Unfortunately, there are no magic plugins that can remove reverb in post, so get the best you can on production.

G

[Ty Ford]

Hello Susan and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.

Greg covered everything I can think of. We are all fortunate to have him here to provide such solid information.

Regards,

Ty Ford

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