Excuse the other post. How do I get good sound?
Excuse the other post. How do I get good sound?- special effects and filmmaking
Hi,
I am going to be shooting a movie on Digital 8. Does anyone have any ideas on what I could use for getting decent sound. I don't want to use the internal mic obviously. My friend has a mixer, is there a way to hook it to that?
Don't try to do a live mix. Record what you need - and that would mainly be the dialogue. Get an external mic with a long cord that isn't too heavy. (Most *real* hi-quality mics need a heavy duty cord) Try mounting a mic holder at the end of a long pole and have a friend off to the side holding it above your actors. That is all you really need. If you want additional ambient noise + music and other stuff, you can make recordings later and put them in the final mix.
Isaiah
For my next movie I'll be using an off camera mic. We bought a cheap mic boom and a shotgun mic. We're recording onto MiniDisc. If you do use an off camera recording device, you should also invest in a sync sound slate to help you during post production.
What kind of synch systems are there? Any reasonable price? How do they basically work? Thank you, you guys really are helping me quite a bit!
Sorry if I gave you the wrong idea as to what a sync sound slate is. Here's a picture of one:
You just have someone hold it in front of the camera and then clap the top board to the bottom board. It give you an accurate point at which to sync the video and sound. It also help with logging scenes during longer shoots.
You only need a sync slate if you are recording onto a seperate sound sorce then your filmstock... a high 8 camera records sound and video in sync allready...
How much are clapboards (or sync slates)?
Gamecat, that's a good point. But, I only mentioned them because I'm recording onto MidiDisc then syncing it to my footage in post. Slates run about $20 to $50 for those kind. However, there are some with timecode compatability for a lot more.
I would go with the off camera gun mic on a pole. Remember the sound in this format will be of digital quality/sampling. If you want to add effects, I'd mix them down later onto a master video/audio tape.
have fun.
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I Thank You
Off camera mic is the best way to go, of course. But make sure you've got a mic that is MEANT for this kind of work. An omnidirectional mike on the end of a fishpole will be worse than useless. You will pick up everything for blocks around, and your actors will vanish. Even a cardiod mic won't work as well as a shotgun.
And ALWAYS record ambient sound ON THE DAY, and ON SITE. Don't think you can capture the same quality of sound at another time. Freeze everyone for a minute, lay down room tone, and you can use it for background when you have an embarrassing difference in level/tone.
Also, before relying on post sound to sync to picture, ensure that your picture/sound (assuming you're using double system) has time code. Without it, you're fooling yourself. You will not be able to sync without a lot of work, sweat, pain, suffering and ruined friendships.
Remember, it doesn't matter how good the pictures are. If the sound doesn't work, you're an amateur.
Roy
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