The 10 Commandments of Professional Sound
- Chris Miles
- Mar 24, 2019
- 4 min read
Hey folks! Been a while since I've been active on here. Lot of stuff has been happening to me such as moving up to London to work my way up the career ladder to becoming a professional Dubbing Mixer. I'm currently working as a Runner for a very reputable post house called ENVY Post Production which houses clients that have worked on shows that you've most likely spotted on telly such as Channel 4's Gogglebox and ITV's The Chase.
Aside from that, I've been exploring what makes sound such an important concept in cinema. Just last month, I attended the BVE 2019 Convention at the ExCEL Centre. On the last day of the event, there were two sound keynotes that I attended. One of them was with Academy Award winning dialogue and ADR editor Nina Hartstone who has quite recently attained the Best Sound Mixing Oscar for her work on biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). During the talk, she was highlighting the techniques, technologies and processes which enabled her to deliver audio in a movie where sound is at the heart. The other talk was with BAFTA winning Sound Recordist Simon Clark who is the Head of Production Sound at the National Film & Television School.
Simon gave us his ten commandments on how to record professional sound which is what I'll be sharing with you guys below!
The TEN Commandments of Professional Sound - Simon Clark
1. Use your EARS, not EYES! Listen, don't look
Real common sense for anyone who is either recording or editing sound in the industry. Even though it's wise to know where you're aiming the microphone during takes, just make sure to plan ahead where you're going with the mic and then put all your focus on how well sound is being picked up.
2. Fix it in PREP, don't fix it in POST! If it's one thing I hate when working with crews on set is when you have someone say 'don't worry, we can fix it in Post'. It's not only an unrealistic way to re-record sound but can be a real pain for the dubbing mixer and sound editors to fix. That's why it's crucial to get the best possible sound quality when recording on set. Do this and the guys working in post will love you forever!
3. Choose the RIGHT microphone for the job
As mentioned above, it's very important to get the best sound across before the editors can work with it later in post. For dual conversation shots, use lapel mics! If you have to record background ambiance on set, use a professional boom microphone!
4. Microphones aren't magical. Only pick up crucial sounds closer and any unwanted sounds away from source
Kind of self-explanatory. Make sure there's no unnecessary noises being recorded. If so, make sure to ask the Production Designer why the noise is there and if it can be removed. It can be anything small from a noisy fan to the crackling of a fireplace.
5. Set your monitoring levels and LEAVE IT ALONE!
One important aspect to professional sound recording is to NEVER let your recordings reach peak levels. It makes things a nightmare for the Sound Editors as they can't undo the levels if they are peaking. This will result in re-recording actors and sound effects in both foley recording and ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement), thus costing the studio more money to hire out these booths since the Sound Recordist was too lazy for not properly adjusting the levels.
6. Buy a good set of headphones, keep them and use them!
I currently own a cheap set of Sennheiser headphones which work fine when recording on set as-well as editing from home. But I'm considering on getting headphones with better noise cancellation (not just for work, but mostly for listening to music whilst commuting as the trains I travel on can be loud). Just make sure to buy a set that will last you a long time and keep them safe as they can easily break.
7. Know your audio standards (mono, stereo, 5.1, 7.1)
Here's a little tip for recording on set. Make sure that you adjust your recorder so that you're only recording sounds in Mono. It will help give your post mixers a better time to work with audio standards like 5.1 Surround. For those who don't know, a mono recording is one where the sound in the left and right channels is the same. A stereo recording has different sounds in each channel. So if you have to record ambiance on set, the most obvious choice would be to record in stereo as you'll want to pick up various sounds in your recording.
8. AGC - Automatic Gain Control
If you recording directly into the cameras and this function is available on your cameras, MAKE SURE it is turned OFF as it will automatically adjust the audio gains on set, thus screwing up the audio levels for the Post Mixer.
9. Record MORE than you think you NEED
So you've just finished up a great take and everyone else is eager to move on with the shoot. As for sound recordists, don't feel pressured into moving on without recording anything extra or if you feel that the previous take didn't sound good enough. It also doesn't hurt to ask the director if you can record wild tracks on set. I normally do this after shooting a scene, I just simply tell everyone to keep quiet on set or to move somewhere else, I then turn on my recorder and start recording the noises going on in the background which will help with continuity in editing.
10. Watch the PICTURE when you are making the recording
Pretty much clarified this on the first point. Make sure that your equipment isn't showing up in the shots and that your microphones are within a reasonable range to help pick up the dialogue.
So there you have it! It was great being able to hear from professionals in this field of work. Hopefully, I'll be attending to more talks and classes where I can find out many aspects to professional sound (particularly in dubbing). Make sure to look out on my blog for more posts coming soon! :)
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