Today we are fortunate enough to be joined again by guest blogger Ronald Hole, professional cinematographer and storyteller in Norway. Last spring, Ronald shared with us how to properly light your subject during an interview. Today, he’ll teach us how to capture the audio, i.e. how to hear the subject.
We’ve all seen those family history videos. You know, the ones where some lovingly devoted person in your family went to the trouble of interviewing Grandma for 2 hours. He made copies of the movie for everyone in the family. Unfortunately, it sounds like a garbled mess for 2 hours. Take it away Ronald:
Yup. Its audio time. And its important to listen.
People will be okay with bad imagery. But they will not forgive bad audio. In this short blog I´ll share some tips for better audio for you with consumer-cameras without external microphones.
First thing of all: Get to know your camera. What kind of microphone is mounted on it?
Is it unidirectional, it captures sound all around, and grannys talk drowns in all other sounds? (Narrow the distance to granny for better audio)
Or maybe it is directional, and grannys voice is clear and nice in all the noise. With a directional microphone you need to point at the sound source. (its okay for granny to stand a little away from the camera)
Okay. Heres how we “hotshots” in the videobusiness do it.
Does your camera have a headset outlet on the camera? USE IT. Get a good headset, and listen to the sound the camera gives you.
Point the camera at the source of the sound. Good start.
Always consider where you do the talk. A noisy place, not such a good idea. If I only have the camera mic, I would place granny as close to the mic on the camera as possible.
Here’s an example of an interview filmed in a noisy place:
I always clap my hands in a room, to hear if the sounds bounce or get swallowed. Bounce=bad, swallowed=good.
Bookshelfs, curtains and soft stuff on the walls helps very much for the acoustic on your sound. Furniture and other soft objects will also help. Empty room bad, furnished rooms better.
Wind is never a good thing for audio. Place your subject or yourself in the way of the wind. Or just put a sock on the mic, if that is possible.
Most consumer cameras have auto-adjustment of the audio. That means the camera will turn the sound up when there is quiet, and down when theres a lot of noise. Thus the importance having control of the audio on location where you are recording.
These tips will hopefully make the audio a little better. Most new consumer cameras now have mic input. Consider buy an external microphone for your camera.
- Headset
- point the camera at the sound-source
- Consider location (noise)
- Watch the wind
- camera close to the subject
Good luck!
Editor’s note: Bad audio can be fixed later on, but don’t depend on it. If you have access to a sound editing program like Soundtrack Pro, you can spend several hours and eventually get it to sound decent, but you are much better off filming if correctly in the first place.
Here is how Storymix Pro was able to adjust the audio on this video clip. It’s not perfect, but does sound much more professional. And when it was the only clip available, it certainly worked.
About Ronald
This kid has been in the television and film production for 20 years. He’s probably done anything you can do here, from making coffee and running errands to editing documentaries. But he loves taking pictures, meeting new people, and learning new stories. And sharing those. Some of his love for storytelling with moving images you can find at www.storytell.in, where he tries to share the tricks of the trade from directors, photographers, producers and the like from the web with you. If you have any questions or would like to contact Ronald, you can do so at ronald@storytell.in
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