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Low profile doc seeks audio advice
Shooting in about a month and looking into all possible audio solutions for getting usable audio from (8) people. This is guerilla style shoot and a soundman is not an option based on the low profile nature. Exploring the idea of giving everyone their own digital audio recorder (microtrack w/no TC) and then putting the cameras in free-run TC, huddling up and giving a head slate to everything and then letting the recorders go as long as possible before reslating. Does anyone know of any slick sync tricks for post? Editing on Final Cut. This is an 8 day shoot and even if we only record 8 hrs a day, times 8 people thats 512 hrs of audio to deal with sync on. The cameras will be starting and stopping. Any suggestions?
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2 Replies
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So it’s low profile, but you’re expecting everyone to wear some sort of recording device? How much will those cost? What do you expect to do about microphones?
Sometimes people just shoot their projects in the foot because they are in denial about getting good audio. Don’t know what that’s about, but I see it from time to time.
If you put absolutely no value on the time you’ll spend in postproduction, then syncing audio from eight MD recorders (after you buy them and mics for them) is one way to go.
Hiring a competent sound person to take care of that and having them deliver you a mixed soundtrack on your camera sounds like the way to go here.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Ty Ford’s “Audio Bootcamp Field Guide” was written for video people who want better audio. Find out more at https://www.tyford.com
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With the money you spend on the digital recorders and mics, you could get some fairly decent wireless systems in which to send back to a mixer and maybe even include a multitrack recorder. I’ve used ADATs for that purpose, although you won’t have synced TC, you will only have one manual sync per take.
If you’ve got some budget, you might want to go ahead and rent two Sound Device 744T recorders and two 442 mixers along with eight Lectro 400/411 wireless units. Some additional hard drive space would be helpful as well if you want to use redundant media. This would give you all eight sources synced to each other and a camera (if it has TC i/o). Of course, with all this gear, you would need an experienced location sound recordist. The additional cost upfront would be re-couped with the time-savings in post – trust me.
As for sync tricks: Use a small still camera flash unit to provide a single-frame sync point. Aim it at the subject and all cameras should have a single blown-out frame with which to sync to the others. If you have some electronics knowledge, you can even make an audio pulse to use on a mixer input that triggers at the same time as the camera flash.
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