Sound

SOUND

Camera function button is a shortcut to main four settings. Record setup is for turning on gridlines and zebra lines. Two formats can't be on the same SD card. Make sure the camera is on manual mode to change more settings. XLR for professional audio connections. Secure audio cable in velcro on the camera strap. Audio Options are in record setup. Mic Setup has Surround sound mode, zoom mic, focus is pretty much the same as zoom, and stereo mic. Zoom and focus mic are supposed to react to the zoom on the camera, so if you zoom in the mic will hone in on the area that you're filming and get the sound from that specific area. Stereo sound uses the left and right channels, while surround comes from both sides. The higher the mic level/signal is, the louder the sound in the mic will be. We want the sound to be around -6 dB and lower than 0, to avoid digital distortion. The louder the environment is the lower it should be, for example, a noisy room could be -17, while a soft monologue in a quiet environment could be +3. The bass settings are for lower sounds. The higher you set the bass, the lower the sound would sound (e.g. movie trailer narrations). Strengthening the bass can pick up on frequencies unheard to the human ear, and therefore make it seem slightly unrealistic, so turning on Lowcut omits certain frequencies below a certain amount.

The shotgun mic requires an AA battery (lefty loosey righty tighty). The onscreen meter shows the loudness of the mic. Past the 5th the signal turns red, which means the signal is too loud and we should adjust our settings. Make sure the volume on the headphones are set to the same as the audio to control both. The ratio should remain -6 while the mic is 15 dB. The wind sock cuts down on the "whoosh" sound as I move the mic back and forth. The mic also has a pickup area, shaped like a 3D sphere around the mic. People behind the mic can still be heard because of the pickup area. However, if we angle the mic and tilt in downwards, we can put the sound behind us into an area of rejection.

The boom pole is called the boom pole because the action of moving the mic up and down is called booming. The shock mount is for connecting the mic to the boom pole. It stops the vibration and any excess movement being recorded. With the shock mount and wind sock, we can cut down on excess environmental sound. For recording outside on a really windy day, we can use a dead cat. We want the fur to stand up, as the flatter they are the more sound they pick up, which is why we have a comb to ruffle it. Don't get the dead cat wet though, as it would pick up on all the windy noises. Even if the film is a visual masterpiece, if the sound is terrible it will come off as amateurish. Conversely, if the film is horrible and pixelated, but the sound is exquisite, the film would come off as an art piece. 

There's also a compact shotgun mic. We attach it with the cold shoe on top of the camera. It's called a cold shoe because it doesn't have a connected power to the slot. Then, we lock it in place. The top switch represents turning on and off lowcut sound. The second switch controls the audio levels. Left is -20 dB, middle is 0 dB, and right is +10 dB. The difference between the compact shotgun mic is portability and size of the pickup area. However, the sound quality of this mic is still very good despite its size. Different mics are for different purposes. One type of shotgun mic at the school is good for room environment audio e.g. foley, dialogue, while another type is better at picking up certain frequencies, making it better for a single voice. There's also a USB mic for recording voiceovers in the studio.

Sound for location is very important. Along with considering visually, consider the sound. We should visit the shooting site during the same time of day when we'd be shooting. Take pictures and record 15-20 seconds of ambient sound. At the end of the shoot, the sound person should record one full minute of absolute silence. This is so we can make a "noiseprint" and apply it to the footage to take away any excess buzzes and ambience. When recording, the same person should wear the headphones and mic. Point the mic in the direction of the sound. When recording something like a conversation, if depends on how far apart the two subjects are and how close we can go with the mic staying out of view. In a dialogue, we could pick a spot in the air between the two subjects, and rotate it back and forth depending on who's talking.