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Recording audio with the proper setup
Hi,
I have been working steadily as a sound tech for small shoots requiring at the most 2 channel recording with either a shotgun, lav, or combo of both. I recently secured a larger gig doing the audio for a TV pilot and I feel a little out of my league in terms of what the best approach is to capture audio.
The setup consists of 3 locations, no sets, and one setup consists of 4 people having a conversation. My initial instincts tell me that I should have two booms going and maybe a 3rd or 4th smaller mic setup, whether it be lavs or something else. So I would need at least 3 channels going I’m guessing but I’m not really sure.
Most of my experience in audio is with interview setups so seeing lav’s are never a problem and a simple boom overhead usually works for a pair of people if I monitor the levels.
Any tips on the best approach here would be greatly appreciated. I have a wide range of equipment options so any setup suggestions would be great. Thanks.
Bobby
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5 Replies
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Hello Boby, For doco work the standard basic Audio kit consist of a stereo audio mixer 1 boom mic with pole and two radio mics and that will cover many aplications. What ends up being recorded is Boom mic to channel 1 and mixed radio mics to channel 2. I like the boom mic channel as it sounds more natural and you are booming interviews rather than mixing them. Remeber to have the mike favering the peron who is talking and watch the lipse of the person who is not when they breath in it is usualy a sign that they are going to talk and so you can move the mic closer to them as to be there for there comments. Remeber the mike has a average of 45 degrees of working enviorament so perhaps not having the mike pointed directly at them but slightly of may mean you get an average sound from the group rather than one person on mike and the rest off. Work with your camera operator and look at the lighting the last thing you want is good sound but bad shadows. good luck good sound is achievable but often compromised by bad picturs.
Best regards Jonathan Mitchell
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Hello Bobby and welcome to the Cow Audio Forum.
In US sitcoms and dramas, on sets, multiple booms are pretty normal. So are wireless lavs. ISO recording with each person on one track plus one or two tracks of your mix is not uncommon. In the best of cases, they use your mix, if something unfortunate happens, they can go to the ISO tracks.
Zaxcom has wireless with built-in recorders so if you experience a wireless drop out, the audio is still in the transmitter.
Regards,
Ty Ford
Want better production audio?: Ty Ford’s Audio Bootcamp Field GuideWatch Ty play guitar -
Thanks so much!
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Thank you!
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Remember that there will be the usual round of camera angles for a scripted / dramatic production. It’s very different with “reality” style productions, where just about everything is wireless and ADR is unheard of.
With scripted shoots, you have the opportunity to boom each close up and get cover dialog for the wide shots. It’s a lot more critical to get good dialog on the close up than the wide shot, so set up for that scenario – if you are indeed doing a scripted shoot. If it’s reality style, invest in a bunch of wireless and get ready to wire everyone up.
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