I started to right this on the 20th October, and its really not that interesting, but needs documenting. I left uncompleted having it mind to come back to it, however I've completely forgotten about it. Also there have been some changes in the production, half of this was written when I was directing and the other half is when Graeme is directing. It may come across inconsistent with the way I word it.
Anyway try to get through.
If there is one thing about film that really baffles me its sound. On set sound. Picking up the Dialogue clearly seems impossible. We really screwed the sound up on The Payoff and I had a nightmare trying my best to clean it up, but there are some sounds you cannot remove without distorting the actors voice.
Today Mark, myself and a good friend Simon, whom is a qualified sound engineer, we played about with the equipment we had at college. I was under the impression that we had much more sound equipment than we do. I really wanted to get everything and anything that records sound, mainly so that I've tried and tested myself to document it. Also to experiment, I love playing about with equipment and seeing what odd things they do, sometimes you can stubble across something great.
However, Matt (AV Supervisor) assured me 110% that the only way to record dialogue was with the Boom Mic. He said that I would only be wasting my time by testing the other stuff, I think he meant wasting his time...
Saying that he did let me have a few bits, Boom Mic, Clip mic, an external recording device and we brought along a big vocal condenser mic.
I'll start with the external device, real name M-Audio Microtrack 2. This appeared to be a nifty bit of kit. It had Phantom power, which is essential for high powered mics. It recorded with high quality, you could change the bit, EQ, hertz, etc settings. Monitoring looked simple, had a left and right volumes, easy it find and adjust. Plus it was pocket size, great for traveling. However, my first fears with it was when I realised it didn't have any XLR inputs, just a mini Jack and a left and right large Jack. This meant we had to use a converter.
Once we were plugged in and set up, it didn't record well at all. The levels were hissy and the dialogue sounds like it was coming from the other room. I think with none of us having any knowledge with this piece meant starting from scratch was a NO, NO!
We resorted to plugging the mic straight into the camera and monitoring the sound and recording from that. I was hoping to avoid this, the camera gets full with the appropriate crew round it. Adding another head watching two tiny metering icons seems inappropriate.
On to the Boom Mic. Matt says this is the only way to get good on set sound. My main problems with it are; it has to be connected to the camera. There is a device to meter the sound away from the camera, but it seems nobody has got good knowledge of it. We tried using this (forgive me I've forgotten the name of it) on The Payoff. With us only using one Mic the second input (left or right, which ever your not using) left a distorted track. This was easily deleted in the editing room, but left us with some horrible feeling when viewing it back. We also couldn't get a hang of the volume control, it looked simple enough, but there wasn't any consistency with it. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't. I would definitely not use it again until we have better knowledge of it.
Another problem with the Boom is shadows. The bastard thing leaves shadows over your cast. You have to get the boom as close to the actor as possible, but not create a shadow. When you've got three or four lights lighting all angles it can become annoying. A lot of the time you don't realise it has created a shadow until your viewing the footage, because on set your not looking for it. Your mind is too busy concentrating on the actors, that is where you need extra crew.
The boom did have the best sound quality, but it picks up everything around it. If your in a room with air-con or any sort of fans your in the shit.
We also checked out the Clip Mic, code name Audio-Technia AT803B. You usually see these on TV presenters. The sound quality was superb, very clear and rich sounding. The Problems, hiding the dam thing. Being a clip mic you have to clip it to the actor. You can't really hide either, because anything that rubs against it will create a sound. This brings me on to movement. You cannot do any heavy walking, jumping, that sort of thing. Anytime the mic moves it creates a sound. If I was ever doing a documentary or a piece to camera than this would be great, but not for a movement shot.
That sums it up, we did use the vocal condenser, but it gave a similar effect as the boom, but not portable.
My conclusion is to get reference sound on the day and then bring the actors back to a sound treated room and dub it. Thats the only way to get crystal clear sound.
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