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Filmmaking
Bad audio kills good video
People forgive soft focus, not bad sound. Six ways to get clean audio on any budget, cheapest fixes first.
The half nobody sees
Audio is half of video and the half most people ignore. Viewers will forgive slightly soft focus. They'll scroll straight past echoey, distant or distorted sound.
Six fixes, cheapest first
Get the mic close, within 30cm. Pick the right mic for the shot. Kill the echo by recording near soft furnishings. Set peaks around −12dB, never touching 0. Record a backup track. Clean it up with a light touch.
The right mic for the job
A lav for talking heads and walking. A shotgun on a boom for interviews. An on-camera mic for ambience only. Each mic has one job, and using the wrong one is the most common audio mistake I hear.
Distance beats price
A cheap mic close to the mouth beats an expensive one across the room. Every time you double the distance, you pick up far more room and far less voice. Clip the lav about a hand's width below the chin.
Levels and backups
Too quiet adds noise when you boost it. Too loud clips, and clipping can't be fixed. Aim for peaks around −12dB. If your recorder has 32-bit float, use it. If not, run a safety track 6dB lower.
Clean-up in the edit
High-pass around 80Hz to remove rumble, gentle noise reduction, then a little compression. Go easy, heavy noise reduction makes voices sound robotic. And always record 30 seconds of room tone, it saves your edit when you need to fill gaps.
