Location Sound I

Sound from MOS Next week bring in one page of your sound report (or have your director).

Sound for the Documentary What to record? With what? How? Bringing a dedicated sound recordist is strongly recommended if you don’t want amateur level sound. Usually you’ll have a 2 person crew- camera and sound, the director being one of the two (usually camera).

Sound for Doc: Equipment Mixer: Shure FP33 Microphone: Shotgun & Lavs (lavs/wireless next week) Breakaway Cable Audio Recorder: The Camera!!!

Concepts: MIC vs LINE Levels Level: ‘Strength’ of electricity (Voltage) MIC levels are weak, small, low. (milliVolts). Not useful unless they are amplified. Line levels are strong, over a hundred times stronger than MIC levels. (Volts) MIC levels need to pass through a preamp in order to become line levels. MIC preamp knobs on FP33 Mic level into mixerLine level out of mixer

Concepts: Mixing The dynamic range of the sound you record is constantly changing. Sounds that are too loud will overload the electronics of your equipment and will cause _____. Sounds that are too low must be amplified and in doing so, you also amplify _____. One way to deal with this is by changing the input gain.

Concepts: Monitoring & Meters Two ways to monitor the sound: _____ Meters on the FP33, (VU or Volume Units) are different than those on the 702T and DVX100 (peak or PPM). Average (VU) meters react much slower than Peak meters. Ideal dialogue levels on VU meters: -10dB - +3dB Ideal levels on the DVX100: -20dB - 10dB

Concepts: System Calibration How do we know we’re recording clean audio to the camera since we can’t see the camer’s meters? Send Line Up tone: 0 VU = -20 dBFS

Monitoring Sound from Camera Plug small end (1/8”) of breakaway cable into headphone jack in camera. Plug other mini jack into MON IN in FP33. Switch to MON on front of FP33.

Sound for Doc: Audio Signal Flow Shotgun Mic (416) Mixer (FP33) Camera (DVX100)

Sound for Doc: Boom Op 1.Know the frame line. Boom from above when possible. 2.Get mic close as possible to sound source while staying out of frame line. 3.Be VERY aware of the umbilical cord (breakaway cable).

In-Class Exercise One talking subject. Static shot: Record examples of levels that are 1. too high 2. too low 3. just right Verabally slate what you’re doing. Moving shot: subject- vary the loudness of your voice to give the sound mixer hell. Communicate with camera operator what the frame line is.

Assignments Sound Design Presentations: We’ll pick this up in Week 9 & 10, December 7 & 14. MOS: Bring in one page of your sound report due Nov. 30 Assignment #4: Documentary Location Sound Competition Criteria: Wide shot, med, CU. Camera stationary, subject moves. Camera and boom op walks backwards. Shot with Boom (shotgun) only. (verbally slate for me) Shot with lav only. (verbally slate for me) One shot of wild sound, verbally slated (can be BG or SFX) Each team member MUST mix. Judging Criteria Signal to noise: Levels shouldn’t be too low. Distortion: Better be distortion-free! Clarity of Dialogue: We need to understand what they’re saying. Content: How interesting is your location’s sonic quality? Verbal Slating: Did you do it? Due in class Dec. 14. Winners get a little prize.

Next Week (Week 8) Lavs, wireless mics, more in-class DOC exercises Week 9 & 10 POST Audio Post basics Sound Editing techniques Using location sound vs. sound effects from the library Workshop a couple MOS’s Finish Sound Design presentations