Filmmaking: Professional Sounding Audio In Independent Films

When Lights Film School asked me to write a three page blog post on audio for independent filmmakers I said it was impossible. I believe the reason sound is such an overlooked component of the filmmaking process is because not only is not very sexy, but it’s also incredibly technical and complicated. It’s not that capturing video isn’t as challenging, but with sound, audiences are less forgiving. Due to lowered production budgets, the advent of reality TV and cinematographers who could care less about the content they are creating, we have come to accept and even celebrate poorly thought out footage. They same thankfully, is not yet true for sound.

It is said that the sound team on a film has the most important job but at the same time one of the most thankless jobs. You never hear film critics praising a film for its sound mixing or sound editing or audio tones. However, the critics are the first ones to attack a film if the sound is bad. As a filmmaker you only get sound recognition if the sound is bad. If your work is good, all you can hope for is that people don’t even notice it.

The reason I thought that a 3 page blog post was not possible was simply because audio, like video, is such a massive subject. I would need to discuss issues such as sample rate, bit depth, mono, stereo, gain control, equalizers, frequency, microphones, room tone, editing, ambient noise and acoustics and recording space to name on a few issues.

However, what I’ve decide to do instead is focus on a few major areas that independent filmmakers consistently make mistakes time and time again. If you would like to know everything you need to know about audio as it relates to your video and film productions then consider enrolling in our online film course.

The three main areas that filmmakers have difficulties with are:

1. On-camera mics vs. off-camera mics
2. Audio Tones
3. Sound editing.

On-camera mics vs. off-camera mics

We will not discuss the different types of microphones for your video and film productions but we will discuss the differences between on-camera vs. off-camera microphones. Unfortunately many filmmakers are intimidated with incorporating off-camera microphones into their independent films. Sound is an afterthought. “We’ll fix it in post” they say. If only it were this easy.

The fact is, you need to capture the highest quality audio from the original sound source. You can’t make bad audio sound great in post production. The best you can do is slightly fix it. You can however make great audio sound even better in post production. It’s the difference between making audio compromises to fix something that is broken vs. enhancing something that is already beautiful. Capturing the best sound and visuals from the source is a must with independent filmmaking. NLE (Non Linear Editing) systems are not magical devices that make technically inept filmmakers look good.

Recording sound using an off camera microphone is a must because on-camera microphones are simply technically inadequate. They offer a decent “run and gun” solution if you’re a 1 man team, but they lack proper microphone positioning, audio sensitively to certain sound directions, and optimal audio recording for certain sound frequencies.

1. Camera placement:

In camera microphones can’t change their positioning. If your actor changes their distance to the camera the amplification of their voice will change slightly. Similarly, if you are shooting with 1 camera and you change your camera position you’ll have troubles matching up the sound levels in post. If either your position or your actor’s position changes so do the sound attributes such as volume, directional sound, ambient noises etc. The result is a jarring audio transitions that immediately labels your film as a low budge production. You need to consider audio continuity just as you would image continuity. You need both image and audio continuity to create seamless and flowing scenes. If you lack either one, or both, your scenes will be jarring, mechanical and unprofessional.

2. Audio sensitivity to sound direction

Your on-camera microphone lacks the manual capability to pick and choose their audio focus. For example, if you’re shooting outdoors and you’re filming your actor running across the street while he’s talking to someone on the phone, your on-camera mic will make a series of adjustments based on the sound volume at the time. At times it might focus on a car driving past, and then if your actor starts talking it might focus on his voice instead if there are not other primary sounds in the background. However, in this case your automatic audio setting will become confused and audio adjustments will be noticeable as your in-camera mic tries to make the necessary compromises to capture all of the loud sounds in the scene as it attempts to figure out what the sound focus should be.

However, you don’t always want “loud” to be the focus. You might want to focus your attention on a quite conversation happening close to a highway while dulling the sound of the traffic in the background. This would be impossible with an on-camera mic that are often “omnidemensional” (Sometimes called “omni mics. They respond equally to sound coming from all directions). In this situation you may need to choose a “super cardoid”. These microphones are the best at isolating the sound from one particular spot in front of the microphone. They are often called “long tube shotguns” or just “shotguns”.

Sound design is an incredibly important part of the filmmaking process. Just as lenses help you control the visual design of your film, different microphones allow you to control your sound design. If you’re using an on-camera microphone you completely loose this ability.

Audio tones & the ability to record at certain sound frequencies

Sound frequencies are important because they control the “weight” of the sound of your audio. Sound can be “heavy”, “light”, “deep”, “bassy” etc. These sounds are controlled by the frequencies that the microphone is optimized for. In-camera microphones are often manufactured to be a good “one size fits all” solution. However, dialogue is often recorded at too high a frequency in these cameras.

Before you buy a microphone you will want to look at its frequency response graph. Ideally the sound frequency response graph would be level all the way across showing that it responds to all sound levels equally. However, most have some bend in them and many filmmakers prefer microphones with specific graph trends. For example, they may want a microphone which favours the midranges to help enhance dialogue and give the audience the feeling of being there.

Alternatively if you’re going to be recording narration and you’re going for the sound of a male’s deep voice then you’ll want a microphone that will be able to handle those lower frequencies to help recreate the actual sound of his voice. Obviously, if you’re shooting with an on-camera microphone you lost the ability to control any of this.

Sound Editing

Editing sound is another major area for error. When you’re editing you will want to overlap sound and video to create a more harmonious and less mechanical sound environment. This is particularly important if you’re going to be shooting with one camera.

For example if you are filming a basic dialogue sequence with two people talking, you might choose to shoot a series of OTS (Over the Shoulder) shots. You might have one person ask a question and then the other person responding. Instead of editing the sound and video at the same point, it’s often beneficial to keep the audio continuing from shot 1 slightly longer before introducing the audio from shot 2. This allows you to create a very professional, less mechanical and more flowing conversation between people.

Now get out there and play with your microphones!

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