Audio - Basics
Bad Sound = Bad Video
Don't think just visual. Think sound. Try watching TV with your eyes closed but listening to the sound. Then watch TV with the sound turned off and only watch the action. Sound is huge. Without good sound quality, clear and articulate voices and music that enforces and inspires, the visual has a hard time standing on its own.
The best projects are a perfect marriage of video and audio.
A. Basics of Sound in Video - There are five basic aesthetic factors that can help you achieve an effective audio/video relationship:
1. Environmental
In most cases you want to eliminate as much of the ambient (background) noise that you can. Sometimes you may want the crowd or the water of a river or other natural or man-made noises to be in the background. You need to make that judgment. The sound must compliment the video but usually never over-takes it. Use one mic for the speaker and one for the background noise so you can deal with them separately with editing.
2. Figure-Ground
This is difficult to explain but think of it like this. If you want to bring out a specific sound or group of sounds louder and more distinct than the ambient sound, you will make that sound either louder or very different than the other sounds.
3. Perspective
This means that close-up pictures are matched with "close" sounds, and long shots are matched with sounds that seem to come from a distance. The trick is to get the microphone as close as possible to the source of the scene. Close up sounds need to have more presence - a quality that makes us feel we are very near.
4. Continuity
When you film close ups, you get a certain sound quality. If the scene changes to a far shot, the sound quality can change. Different microphones will sound different. Sounds recorded indoors will sound much different than sounds recorded outdoors. Different rooms make people sound different. People will sound different from one scene to the next. This is getting complicated!!! Music from a CD or live recording will add another quality of sound. How to blend these so when sound changes with scenes there isn't a noticeable difference is tricky.
5. Energy
How loud should sound be in a scene? How soft should it be? If you have two tracks of sound how loud or soft should each be? You need to match the "energy" of the scene to the energy of the voice or music.
The Golden Rule of Sound Energy:
Energy of the scene = Energy of the sound
How you use quality sound can become a very personal quality of aesthetics.
B. Types of Microphones - Below are five types of microphones that you will eventually need to know and use in Video classes; Hand Held, Personal (lavaliere/clip-on), Shotgun, Contact and Studio
1. Hand held - These are the type held by on-camera talent or used for on-location interviews
2. Personal (lavaliere / clip-on mic) - Whether hung from a cord around the neck or clipped to clothing, these are all referred to as personal mics.
3. Shotgun - These are used for on-location production to pick up sounds a moderate distance from the camera
4. Contact - These pick up sound by being in direct physical contact with the sound source. These mics are generally mounted on musical instruments.
5. Studio - This is the largest category of microphone, these will be covered in more detail later when we work in the television studio.
Microphone information is used with permission from the creator of CyperCollege.com.