Decent Sound, anyone?

[ThomYorke]

Greetings,

I recently shot a film and edited it etc, but upon watching it back on TV realised just how crap it actually was.

The crapness was due to various reasons (mainly acting) but one of them was sound. I was using a boom mike (quite a decent one) yet it still picked up too much background noise and made the scene inconsistent (it was set on a train)

My boom mike has 3 settings - Off, Low, High - basically, Low is the directional setting.

Using this setting, however, I still got too much background noise. What is the best way to alleviate this problem using the equipment I have?

Thank you

[eddie]

Hmmm, pro's usually record a short amount of silence (cant remember what they call this) Basically everyone on set is dead quiet for about a minute. Then they record the shot.
I think that this is then taken out of the soundtrack using a mixing desk of sorts. You can remove unwanted frequencies with the right equipment.
Does the problem lie in your equipment (electric static, picking up HUSH) or in the
location of the shooting? If its the equipment then reduce the number of connections (seperate leads) you have, otherwise do the above and edit out the background noise, or re-record voices afterwards.

[Hitch]

this is known as "Atmos" ( short for atmosphere). It is very important, and when added to the sound mix in post-production, will cover up those jumpy sound problems.

[Jon Taylor]

And also known a "Buzz Track" or a "Wild Track".

Jon.

[ThomYorke]

My problem lies, I think, in my location - as in, there is too much background noise.

An atmos track is something I had considered and I will record one when school decides it would be a good idea to let me have some breathing space away from homework.

Thanks all

[Matt Fielding]

I have experienced similar problems. The location where I was filming would not turn off their air-conditioning due to various electrical problems. And due to the scarceness of Arabian palaces in the local area I had to settle for it as there was no other option in the time I had left.

The humming on the tapes was very noticable indeed. When I finished editing the film in AVID, I also exported it as a Low res (240*180) Quicktime movie with full quality sound. I then brought it into Cubase VST where I have been (and still am) taking out the hum with 5 different filters and adding on all the music and sound fX. I'm going back into the AVID suite next week to mix the new soundtrack back on.

I'm gonna lose a generation but as sound quality is always a giveaway for low budget films, it was very nessasary.

Matt

[Hitch]

Yes, I have to agree with Matt.
Sound is always something we think we can skimp on, but it's as vital as the images. Good sound can also "cover up", some dodgy cuts you may find.

[eddie]

Has anyone tried using a portable minidisk-man with a re-recordable mini disk to record sound? Any good?
DAT recorders seem pretty expensive to hire....
Does anyone have any comments on using a minidisk player?

[Mark Jury]

good question Ed. A professional sound recordist recommended using a mini-disc recorder. I am yet to buy one..
Also, try using a hi-8 camera as a sound recorder if you have one spare.

[Matt Fielding]

I've been using minidisk for post-production work. I have been recording the VO's, foley effects and some music at a local recording studio onto pro-tools, dropping them onto minidisk and bringing the recordings home to use on my PC.

It wasn't a portable recorder I was using but the quality up to now has been fantastic.

I could highly recommend them for recording speech. They give a good punchy sound.

Matt