My name is Tony Errico and I’m a sound guy. I’ve worked on countless productions, large and small. Raindance asked me to write up an article on the DON’Ts of sound recording. Here goes:
Nowadays it is so easy to make movies, DSLR are getting cheaper and better, every phone can shoot a movie in HD, so everybody can become a director. (even though all the technical magic of the world will never buy you knowledge!)
But by far the biggest problem of many independent filmmaking is the sound.
The dialogue recorded on location, which in most cases is the project’s only source of dialogue in post-production, is not always recorded with the correct technique, which results in poor audio quality.
People have to realize that poor audio can completely ruin an otherwise great video.
Never underestimate the power of audio-acoustic. Bad image quality can be regarded as Arty, bad sound not, and worse it makes the audience feel uneasy!
So here is a Top 10 of things NOT TO DO regarding sound on a movie!
1. “We’ll fix it in post!”
Yeah right! How many times I’ve heard this one. Doing ADR – Automated Dialog Replacement – with the actors listening to the recorded dialogue and replacing it in the comfort of a recording studio with quality microphones, compression, EQ costs a LOOOOOOT of money, and time as well.
And I am not even talking about the background sound here…
2. Underestimate the sound guy recording the sound.
If I had to listen to only one guy on a set, it would be the sound guy. I’ve been on set as Production Assistant noticing that none listened to the sound operator when he said “hum, there was a plane in this take”, and the Director thought the take was great enough not to redo it.
Honestly guys! A sound guy has experience and knows what to listen to, his job is ‘hearing’ – and trust me it is a job per se. He knows what people need in post-prod, so if he says that there is a plane, then it means a big problem for later on…
I would trust a sound guy a lot!
3. One sound guy can do it all!
Of course, and one person in a restaurant can cook, serve and wash the dishes… all at the same time!
Depending on the budget it is true that a sound guy can record, mix and dub the movie, but still the skills are not quite the same, and to mix a movie, better have a pro who owns a studio or at least a perfect acoustic place to do so.
You don’t want muffled dialogues.
4. Using the microphone of the camera will do!
Then why not shoot your movie with a phone cam?
Any mirophone will do! Yeah right, then why some microphones are worth thousands of pounds and some £10? Never wondered why in a professional music studio there are hundreds of different microphones?
To record high-quality location sound the right type of microphone must be used: ultra-directional for external locations, directional (shorter) for interiors, and non-directional for cramped interiors. The more directional the microphone, the greater the extent to which it selectively picks up sounds from its front end, and the higher the signal-to-noise ratio will be.
And professional microphones uses XLR connections! So if you have a jack microphone, it won’t sound as good as it should, this is a sign!
5. Underestimate the location!
When you check the location, you should bring the sound guy with you if you want to be pro!
He will then know exactly what needs to be done to get the best sound recording there. A room without windows, posters or furnitures will reverb a lot, hence will be very difficult to deal with, to edit and mix.
An important rule to master is: once there is a reverb or echo on a recording YOU CANNOT TAKE IT OFF!
But it is easy to ADD one on a perfect recording neutral of effects.
6. Record the sound with the music or background noise is fine!
Of course, then when you choose your correct take and mix it, that’ll be fun!
Same as 5) here, once a background sound is on the dialogs, it is impossible to take it off, but if the dialogs are clean, you can easily add a background music, noise etc
The cleaner your dialogues, the better for post-production.
7. We don’t need a “wild track”!
Then I am wondering how your dialogs will sound like… If you edit a dialogue leaving spaces between them or taking a dialogue from one take and the other from another take, there is a big chance that the background noise is slightly different, then, people will hear it, and it will distract the audience. Is that what you want? Really?
Avoid this by always record a “wild track” – or ambient sound = one minute of total silence on a set, before or after the main shooting – to have a neutral background sound. So useful that you cannot live without.
8. Anyone can be a boom operator, I’ll ask a friend
Cool, then I should ask my mum too!
A Boom operator knows what to do and most of all what NOT TO DO!
When you move your hands on the boom, you touch the XLR cable then the sound is recorded on top of the dialogues! Microphones are very very sensitive, any movement or noise will be recorded. And this is why a boom operator should always wear headphones, to hear ONLY the recorded audio and not the sound on the set!
9. Overlapping dialogs is fine!
Then how would you mix them if you need to change one? Or take a dialog from another take?
If you can, it is very good to avoid overlapping dialogues, you can ask your actors to “play it” as to avoid it, not easy but far easy on post-production!
10. Use of a song is fine, no one will notice, or we’ll get the right afterwards!
Mmmmh…. Copyright issues regarding music is a very common problem. If you need a specific song for your movie, be sure that you have the right BEFORE you shoot the scene, or prepare a backup song. Especially if your actor has to sing on it, cos if you don’t get the right, it means you might have to reshoot the scene or let it go!
On how to get the right of a song, there are many Raindance courses about it, as it is a big subject per se, and complicated too.
Honestly if I had to pay ONE guy only on my set, it would be the sound operator!
The Director of Photography and sound guy are the most important people on a set for me! If I can take them with me on a location recce, I definitely would, cos they would know what works and does not.
One last advice on sound recording on set: it all depends on the technique used – there are many – but mainly PROXIMITY IS KING! So get the microphone placed properly and it should do the trick.
Tony Errico – one of our fabulous MA students and a professional sound recordist has written a great thought piece on movie sound:
Very useful for my current project! Cheers 🙂
I have been a broadcast sound recordist for over 15 years and after reading that,I'm made up.
I must admit it's only been the last 2-3 years that us soundies are really getting more respect for what we do.
Cheers Tony.You've made my day.
Great piece. Sound too often given for granted and underestimated.
Great Advice, thank you! But I would like to say something that might seems irrelevant… I would change coulple "he"s for he/ she, or his/her…
Good article, Mr Errico
Really fantastic article! Really appreciate such good advice. I have however met many sound ‘girls’ so there’s a few pronouns that if changed would bring this up from 95% to 100% 🙂
What if you happen to record random people’s voices (not images, just voices!) when on location — does one need to have had a location disclaimer? Let’s assume that the voice isn’t *really* all that recognizable but you can make out the words to some extent… Anyone know the legality of that? I’ve heard someone say that it’s fair game in public, no location disclaimer even needed.
Nice article! First time directors often underestimate how important these points are. Regarding point 7, that is not what a wild track is. Get your actors to re do the scene in a more controlled enviorment on set. eg if they’re having a conversation in a car that is speeding/very noisy, get the actors to re deliver the lines in the car with the engine off. Same for scenes that have generators/planes in the background. Switch your camera off and just get the lines, your dialogue editor will know what to do with them. Whenever you have 1 take only, always ask your sound mixer if everything was alright, otherwise it’ll be ADR. Also when you have a character running, get a wild track of heavy breathing, chances are the scene needs to be recreated in post, especially if your crew is running behind the camera. Same goes for those beautiful spinning shots around the actors, get them to record wild tracks without your crew tip tapping around them.
Something that hasn’t been mentioned, always use radio mics as a back up, that boom won’t reach everyone, make sure your sound team has a chat with your costume department, I can’t stress enough how important this is.
Don’t bother with recording “roomtone”( which is what in the article is called “wild track”), I can’t remember the last time I’ve used one – unless there’s something peculiar/interesting sounding in that space.
The article mentions to be careful with overlapping dialogue, I’d also suggest to tell your actors to avoid using props while delivering their lines if possible ( plastic bags, tapping fingers on a desk or playing with pens/paper ), especially if their hands are not in shot.
Big ups for Raindance for educating young filmmakers!
This is a really good article. I have worked as a sound girl with good sound equipment but I’ve always felt underappreciated as compared to other crews. The thing is we always have more patience than everyone around. We are always treated as people who should always be unnoticed. To add another point to your article, a sound operator should also be valued to pack the equipment. Surely we always have more stuffs to handle and in many cases ALONE! From cables to recorders to boom poles and microphones. (Sure there are more than one people sometimes but I have done that alone several times) Its not an easy job to check the levels on a recorder, listen to the dialogues and carry a boom pole without moving at the same time and pack all the sound equipment carefully after the shoot. We should be appreciated accordingly. But the sad thing is they won’t even put our names in the credit list as important as the cinematographers or the editors.
These are good tips. I’d also add that you may want to have a dedicated boom operator and not just a sound guy on set.