audio question for those in the industry

[heron88]

Up until this point in my explorations with video work, I have never needed good quality audio, as most of my work involves mountain biking.

Now however, I am seeking to produce a short film for my school. The film would be shot with a Canon XH-A1. So heres my question. In movies and stuff, what kind of mics do they use to get such good quality audio of the actors? Do they use shotgun mics on booms, or lavs? I would think a shotgun on a boom would be the best, but I really dont know what is the industry standard. So if you guys would be so kind as to suggest what my best options are, I would be really appreciative.

Thanks

 

[CaptainChunk]

Up until this point in my explorations with video work, I have never needed good quality audio, as most of my work involves mountain biking.

Now however, I am seeking to produce a short film for my school. The film would be shot with a Canon XH-A1. So heres my question. In movies and stuff, what kind of mics do they use to get such good quality audio of the actors? Do they use shotgun mics on booms, or lavs? I would think a shotgun on a boom would be the best, but I really dont know what is the industry standard. So if you guys would be so kind as to suggest what my best options are, I would be really appreciative.

Thanks

It's usually a combination of both booms and lavs, depending on the complexity of shot. Lavs are good to use on subjects that move frequently within the frame. And sometimes, they're not practical to use because their wireless transceivers may be visible in your shot. But I'd also have a boom up and running as well (in fact, I'd never NOT use a boom). If anything, they're also useful for picking up environmental tone and ambience that your sound designer may want to use during post production.

It's also a good idea to have an experienced location sound recordist on set for monitoring and mixing. Bad production sound really sticks out like a sore thumb in post production.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Now however, I am seeking to produce a short film for my school. The film would be shot with a Canon XH-A1. So heres my question. In movies and stuff, what kind of mics do they use to get such good quality audio of the actors?

They re-record the actors doing their lines in a recording studio. Have you seen Apocalypse Now? There's not a single piece of location sound in the film.


Lethal

 

[heron88]

Thanks for the replies.

Lethal, they really redub everything afterwards? I guess that would give them the best quality, it must be a pain to get everything nicely synced though.

Seeing I'm on a low budget, and dont really have any experience with all that highly technical stuff the big shots do, I'll probably just stick to a boom.

 

[CaptainChunk]

Thanks for the replies.

Lethal, they really redub everything afterwards? I guess that would give them the best quality, it must be a pain to get everything nicely synced though.

Seeing I'm on a low budget, and dont really have any experience with all that highly technical stuff the big shots do, I'll probably just stick to a boom.

It's typical in post production to do ADR (automated dialog recording) to clean up bad dialog because production sound is never pristine. Often, you're competing with vehicles, aircraft and even generators on set. On a limited budget, you'll want to try to get the cleanest production audio possible.

 

[mcpryon2]

Not everything is done afterwards. Try to get somebody to run sound who has done it before, you'll be glad later. You'd be surprised by the crap some network shows slide downhill to the sound department to work miracles with.