Month: February 2018

The sound editing process requires many different steps in order to reach pre mixing stage and mastering. Being aware of these steps and the order in which to do them is really important and will help the workflow as well as logistics of the project. Many people start thinking of effects, music and dialogue editing, before even organizing tracks and syncing audio to video, and then the workflow becomes confusing, while thinking of one thing, having to do another step of the process, it becomes messy and unconventional. Through some research, I was able to find a chart which shows the steps in which to act on from start to finish.

https://wolfcrow.com/blog/the-post-production-audio-guide-part-one-sound-editing/

This chart shows us how to organize ourselves when looking at the post production stage. From here we can see the coherence in the workflow and how everything seems to flow as you follow each step.

In my project I will attempt this workflow and follow through each step in order to coherently go through the entire chart and achieve a good result from it.

 

Michael Gallagher is a researcher from Manchester and he explores different audio methodologies and the sonic environment. In his website, he writes a study on how to reduce wind noise. In lake district, where the filming will take place, is a location where bad weather is a challenge I will have to face with certainty. Fast and strong wind, as well as rain are factors which I will have to overcome while filming. In his post he suggests different methods which are usable in order to be able to record as clear as possible even while under these conditions.

Michael mentions 4 ways in which I am able to apply to my recording.

The first object he mentions for noise reduction is the windshield. Windshields are essential on every microphone we use on an outdoor environment. Any environment which is classified as outdoor, will have wind blowing by even when not very noticeable at first with our ears.

Secondly, Michael mentions that finding a shelter where you can use it to block wind. Fortunately where I will be recording is a closed forest with lots of trees and this technique is something which I will definitely be using to overcome this problem. However, even though the trees help stop the wind noise, it creates a loud wind noise at the top of the trees. However, for this particular film I will not have much dialogue to pick up outdoors. In this case I will try to pick up as much ambiance sound as possible with minimal extreme wind noises.

The third technique he mentions which I will be doing is getting down low. The lower you are to the ground the less velocity the wind will have. This will help massively with this major problem we encounter at every shoot we attend.

Lastly, he mentions that, contact microphones and Hydrophone microphones are great as they are almost immune to wind. I will take one Hydrophone microphone to our film shoot which I will be able to use if the weather starts to become a major issue which my boom microphone won’t be able to solve.

 

 

Reducing wind noise

Anthony Q. Artis explores different booming positions and techniques we can use in order to diminish stress on our bodies from the weight of the boom pole and also things to be aware of while booming.

In hi video he mentions a few ways in which to hold a boom pole. All depending on the actors movements, we can hold the boom pole in 5 different ways. The overhead position which is the most common one, allows us a lot of mobility and direction. In a scene where the actor is moving a lot, this position would fit well. However this position carries a flaw which many people including myself complain and suffer from. After a few minutes, the pole starts getting very heavy and causes us to some times move our arms due to the weight and sometimes cause noise on the boom pole because of the moving. The second position is to lay the pole on the back of the shoulder. This position takes all the strain away from the weight, however also comes with some flaws. Your mobility is very affected by it as well as noise from the boom pole rubbing against your shirt or jumper. Thirdly we have the down low position, which is one I have never used before. Holding the microphone down low means that you will be able to hold it for a long time and you will still be able to have mobility. The drawbacks of this position is that, in an outside environment it will capture very clearly any sounds coming from above, a plane, birds, leaves from trees or whatever it is that you may be under causing any sort of noise. Another technique shown is to place the boom pole on your upper thigh while holding the pole with one hand. This position is great as most of the weight is on your leg allowing you to hold it for a long time and you could also hold the boom with one hand, allowing you to have one hand free to check levels or anything else need doing while recording. Lastly, we have the pistol grip. This position is very flexible and with a lot of mobility. This is a position that can be used for tight spaces where a massive boom pole won’t fit.

These different boom handling techniques are essential to know! Many times on set I have been so tired holding a boom pole up above my head and caused me to fidget a bit because of the stress on my arms which then cause handling noise on the microphone. To be able to understand each of these techniques will help me be as diverse as I possibly can with a boom pole helping me maintain good quality audio and not have the strain on my arms throughout the entire shot. These techniques will improve my handling stability and create more quality audio recording with as few handling noise as possible. In my film shoot, I will make sure to use all these different techniques at the appropriate time depending on the shot so that this weight and tiredness problem can be solved.

 

 

Location Audio Simplified: Book written by Dean Miles

This book helped me a lot to learn the basics of everything to do with sound on location. Many things that was explained were things in which we don’t really look into it with the care that is needed. However, from a professional point of view, it is something that is crucial in being able to provide the best sound quality as well as the best judgment when recording what needs to be recorded.

In this book, I picked out a couple of points on the preparation of a film shoot which will help me immensely when I go out for my film shoot.

1) Choosing and preparing the location:

– Shot types: Knowing all the shot types for every shot to be taken is very important as each of them will provide their own challenge.  The different shot types that I will be capturing will probably include a close up, medium shot and wide shot. For the time being, the voice over shot as well as the interview shot will not be needed for this project.

– Determining if the sound will match the image: Knowing this is crucial! Dean Miles in this book says that, ”It is important that the editors only hear and see what was shot.” A microphone can pick up sounds and noises that a lot of the times we come to notice while editing, this is a mistake in which I have committed before and it’s a mistake which many people do it. Taking the time to observe the location and be on the look out for the sounds that are not supposed to be there is something that can ruin an entire shot take and if continued unawareness, can ruin the entirety of the shoot. This preparation to recording a film will be essential on my list as I go out to record!

– Assess the location and identify potential problems that could cause disruptions: This is something which adds to the awareness of sound around the location that I need to consider and look out for. Assessing the surroundings for sounds that may come into my recording while in the middle of a shot is critical as it will ruin the entire shot and cause delays in the production. Dogs barking, telephone ringing and car alarms are common factors which will cause disruptions. Making sure that I can control as much of these disruptions as possible is something which I will do as part of my preparation out in the field.

– Assess the quality and consistency of the general ambiance of the location: As boom operators and sound in general, we don’t know how long each edit clip will be, and stability in terms of ambiance noise is crucial! This is something which I have personally been tripped up by in my last shoot. I recorded the entire shoot and in post realized that my background sounds were different volumes and not stable at all. When I came to edit and mix, it was a complete nightmare to try and fit the different edits in correctly and have the background noise change as subtle as possible for every edit transition. In my next shoot, this will be something which I will take close and careful attention to. A unstable ambiance will have to be taken up to the director directly and try to find different solutions in terms of location or maybe time to shoot.

 

 

My learning outcomes for this project will be the following:

 

1) Implement a professional location sound recording process with a client.

2) Use professional techniques to organize my own audio post production workflow.

3) Reference and compare my own audio post production work to commercially released work.

4) Implement a professional sound design and mix process with a client.