Sound and Audio
During my lesson today, we were taught about sound and audio.
Whenever a sound technician is planning on recording audio, there are many factors they should consider. For example:
The weather could severely impact the quality of the recording. Therefore, the technician must take the wind or weather in general into account. If precaution is not taken, the rain could potentially damage the equipment, and even the slightest breeze in the air could be picked up on the mic and cause a reshoot.
The location truly matters because many professional film studios will be situated near loud roads. Or, in one case, an airport. So, for example, the Lord of the Rings movie series was all filmed in New Zealand. And when they were not filming out in the vast countryside, they were filming inside Weta Studio, which is based in Wellington, New Zealand. Unfortunately, it is found right next door to a busy airport. To prevent this, they hired a 'Plane Spotter' who would use a radio to call in whenever a plane was about to take off or land.
The quality of the mic is crucial because if you are aiming for professional quality, you may not get the results you want from using a basic/cheap microphone.
There are lots of different types of mics on the market, and not choosing an appropriate mic could mean missing out on a day of shooting. For example, you wouldn't want to turn up to the beach for a day of shooting without the mic being at least water/sand resistant. Nor would you want to take a USB mic to a wildlife documentary shoot.
Sound technicians should always prepare beforehand. First, do their research and fully understand their equipment. Next, they should know the best way of operating the equipment to get the best results. Finally, they must be turning up to the shoot with good training, practice and experience.
The placement of the mic is something that must be planned out in advance if possible. For example, if you are on a film set for a TV series, no one will want to see the microphone attached to the actors clothing. Your best bet is to use a Shotgun/Boom mic and hold it just out of shot. However, the director will not appreciate the boom being dropped into the frame.
Recorders
In class, we were split into groups of 4, and each group had a person who had previous experience with using the college recorders.
The recorder my group was given was the Zoom H4N. Although the recorder was reasonably basic to use, it was slow to load. You needed to insert the SD card into the side by opening a little flap, which could occasionally get stuck. Once inserted, you had to slide and hold the tiny slide switch on the side until the screen lit up. Ours didn't work the first time because it took over 10 mins to load, so our teacher, Paul, lent us one of his spare SD cards, and it loaded fine.
Once turned on, you would have to click the button once, release, and then hold to start the recording. You would do this until the timer on the screen began. Then, you needed to press the stop (square) button or the pause button to stop the recording.
One thing to remember to do before you start your recording is a battery check. It would be embarrassing to have your mic/recorder die before or midway through the shoot. Another thing to do is a soundcheck. Do a test recording and listen to it to ensure you have selected the correct settings or mode to record in.
Our interview
In our groups of 4, we took turns, each being the sound technician, interviewer and interviewee. Paul gave us a set of 5 basic questions, which we had to record using our recorders. This was a lot of fun, and we were nervous at first, but then we got used to it and powered through.
My group attempted to read and answer the questions so that we could perhaps cut out the interviewer's voice entirely later on in the editing process. The interviewee would try to answer the questions in their own words, but it was hard to do on the fly.
Except for the giggling and laughter at the beginning, which was edited out, I think each interview went well. We all made a conscious effort to speak clearly and to speak in whole sentences. I think next time we could try to sound a bit more enthusiastic and use more expression in our voices. We could also practice or write down what we want to say.
Editing
After our interviews were completed and uploaded by Paul, he explained that our goal was to edit the clips so that we could cut out the interviewers voice and any noises, breaks, or talking that was not part of the interview.
We were instructed to sign in and use Adobe Audition. Adobe Audition is a bit of software specialising in digital audio. It can be used by all levels of experience and is considered one of the industry's best digital audio workstations. Audition is what anyone could use if they needed to edit, enhance, clean up or fix audio tracks. It can also be used to record and mix clips with real-time effects and automation.
I can't say I ever heard of or used Audition before this lesson, but due to my experience in editing film in Adobe premiere pro, I picked it up quickly enough. As you can see in the image below, these tools are basically the same as those offered in premiere pro. However, the shortcuts were slightly different, so that took time to pick up.
To begin, I used the razor tool to cut out any long quiet spaces in the clip. This would save time later. Then I started listening from the beginning and cut out the excess noise. For example, breathing, clothing rustling, shoes and lots of others.
I did this throughout all four interview clips. I was even going so far as to switch and edit certain words that my classmates had stumbled over/poorly pronounced.
I adjusted the audio of each of the clips so it would sound even all the way through the whole recording. This was very easy to do as the software just makes it so you can adjust the yellow line, up or down, until you're satisfied.
Learning from this experience, I will ensure that the sound technicians are all stood an equal distance away from the interviewee after every rotation. This will cut down on time later on in the editing process. I think writing a script helps, or at least having a rough outline of what you would like to say.
Our college audio tour
For this lesson, our class was set the task of dividing ourselves into groups of 3-4. Somehow, our group managed to end up with a total of 5 members. However, this did not make any impact on the actual task. We were required to plan and record an audio tour around the college. The point of this exercise was so we could experience the challenges we may face while recording sound in different locations.
To begin, we wrote down a list of locations where we wanted to go. The list goes as follows:
- Entrance/Cafeteria - Joanna
- Sports Hall - Caitlyn
- Media Suit - Natasha
- Library/Stairway - Heather
- Lift/Elevator - Poppy
After we decided who would talk about each part of the tour, we inserted an SD card into one of the college recorders and ventured off to our first location.
Our first location was the entrance/cafeteria. This is a very big, loud and open space, and because of this, any sound would reverberate. As you will be able to hear in the first section of the recording, there was a lot of background noise coming from the students alone. This would be quite a tricky thing to fix later on in the editing process.
The second location we planned on filming in was the sports hall, but unfortunately, there were no teachers present to let us in and supervise our time in the sports hall. So as a group, we made the decision to capture the recording in the corridor just outside the sports hall doors. The passage was relatively quiet, although you could get the occasional member of staff or student walking down the hall.
The media suit was the third location we planned on filming in. This room was incredibly well insulated and barely let any sound from the outside slip through. From this location, we got to see a great view of the sports hall through a wide glass window.
Our fourth location were the staircases. These are known to be incredibly noisy places, and a few times, we had to stop due to a few people walking up or down the staircase, which seemed to reverberate throughout the space.
Our final location was one of the lifts. We chose this in hopes to demonstrate the risk of electrical/motor sounds being picked up in the background of a recording. It is a common occurrence to get a buzzing noise in the background of an audio clip, and we were unsure how to demonstrate that. I'd say this came pretty close to what we were getting at.
Editing
Once we were happy with our audio clips, we returned to class. Our next task was to use Adobe Audition once again to edit the clips together. This task was one I was able to complete quickly due to my previous experience with the software.
There were a few mispronunciations in the unedited clips, so I attempted to edit and clean the audio up a bit. I feel as if this was somewhat successful, but I would prefer if we just reshot some of the sentences. Unfortunately, at some parts, it does sound a little bit glitchy. Next time to prevent this, I will think about writing a script so we have an idea of what we want to say and we can practice beforehand. This will help prevent significant gaps of silence and mispronunciations.
This time around, I used a technique called crossfading. This is where you can slide one clip over the other, and the software will provide a soft cross over of the two audio tracks. Using this type of technique will prevent silent gaps in between clips. It also allows for a relaxed, professional transition.
Overall I am pleased with how the audio tour clip came out once exported. It was planned out in a very logical order. Our use of different spaces in the college allowed us to demonstrate how different environments and locations affected the sound of an audio clip.
On a set, it would be the Location/Production sound engineer's (also known as location sound mixer & location/production sound recordist) responsibility to identify and solve any problems that arise. For example:
- Background noise
- Echo/Reverberation
- Distortion
- Flubbed lines
Typically this person will work as part of a team or lead the production audio crew. But it is this person who balances the audio as it is being recorded. It is harder to correct audio post-production, so the audio crew work hard to ensure that each audio clip comes out how they want it.
Sound Studio Setup
In a professional recording studio, you will most often find that the room will have had a lot of soundproofing added to it. Most purpose-built studios will be designed to have thick, insulating walls and doors. But for those who do not have that option available to them, there are alternatives. Acoustic foam panels can be added to the ceiling and walls of a room to prevent sound reverberating. Carpet and thick rugs can be added to wooden or hard flooring as well.
Typically a recording suite will be called a dead or dry room in which the room will be pretty small and will have been set up with a lot of acoustic foam. This could help you get the best and cleanest sound for your recording.
How I set up my room for recording audio
Linked below this text is the link to my 'Journey to College' audio. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I needed to import my '.wav' files into Adobe Premiere Pro and convert them into video files in order to upload them to my website.
The video below is an audio walkthrough of my journey to college on Friday, 24th September 2021. My task was to write a short script detailing my journey to college that day.
Step one for me was to write down a few bullet points in order. From waking up in the morning until finally arriving at my destination. My next step was to convert my bullet points into a story format. The class were given the option to 'pimp it up' or make it more exciting, so I included my detour to the test site where I needed to take a covid 19 PCR test earlier that morning.
Once I typed up my script, I displayed it on my IPad, and I set up my bedroom for my recording. My room is small and carpeted. We have thick walls and strong wooden doors in my house, which already allows little sound to creep in. So all I needed to do was shut my window and close my blind as an added layer of soundproofing.
I used my lavalier (TASCAM) to record the audio.
I believe the recording went well, apart from a couple of slip-ups and mispronunciation. I feel as if I have improved and gained more confidence while recording my voice since my first attempt on the summer project.
During the editing process, I used Adobe Audition again and played around with the voice effects.
The software offers hundreds of presets. For example, I could've made my voice sound like I was speaking on a radio or if I was speaking from outside a building.
It was a lot of fun to do, but I needed to find how to best enhance my voice before cutting and splitting the recording. This is because you need to select the recording clip you wish to add the effect to, and it's easier to do before you make lots of cuts using the razer tool.
Once I had my audio sounding the best I could get it, I used the razor tool to cut out long breaks and unusual background noise. I also attempted a fade-out at the end of the clip.
A fade-out is when the volume of the audio gradually lowers at the end of a clip. This prevents a sudden loss of sound and makes it easier to listen to.
Once I was happy with my clip, I exported it as a '.wav' file and saved the project. Unfortunately, I couldn't upload the file to my website, so I converted it to an '.mp4' file and uploaded it to youtube.
All things considered, I felt as if this was the best recording I've done so far. I think this is because I prepared a script and learned most of my lines before I started the recording. This helped reduce the time I spent editing to get the sentences I planned to say right the first time.
Linked below this text is the link to my 'Journey to College' audio. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I needed to import my '.wav' files into Adobe Premiere Pro and convert them into video files in order to upload them to my website.
First of all, let us take a look at the audio recording of my journey to school. In this recording, I describe my journey into college. This was a task set to us by our teacher so we could learn and experiment with how to set up a fixed environment to record in.
I made a short video explaining how I would generally set up my bedroom for an audio recording. I used my IPad camera to record video, but I used my lav mic to record the sound. I used the video as a practice test. This was because I had not used my mic in a while. Testing is essential because I wanted to avoid making any mistakes.
I was pleased with how my audio recording sounded. From the test, I learnt that my room was the best place to record in my house. My bedroom is the smallest carpeted space. I'm fortunate because my house has very thick walls, which can act as a sound barrier, preventing a lot of sound from coming in.
Another thing I did to prevent sound from coming in was closing my window and shutting my blinds. Having the window open could mean your microphone may pick up road noise or voices from outside. The blind I have on my wall is thick and heavy. It probably could help reduce the reverb in a lot of spaces.
The microphone I used was the Tascam Lavalier mic. I have used this mic at many weddings, and it is very versatile. I clipped the mic to my shirt and put the recording device in my pocket. However, while using this kind of mic, I have learnt that having the mic too close to your mouth will pick up breathing and a lot of other sounds, which will be unwanted post-production.
The mic is brilliant at making my voice sound crystal clear. However, if I were to film outside, I would consider using a miniature windbreaker or covering the mic with a small foam cap to stop the majority of the wind from being picked up.
My practise test was vital because when I put it into Adobe Premiere Pro to be edited, I made a few minor changes so that the audio recording could sound even better. For example, taking my leather jacket off prevented any noise from the leather stretching, and sitting on the bed prevented the floorboards from creaking.