Thursdays class was spent exploring the art of perfect sound through the use of the ZOOM F4 Audio Recorders. Paul Ritchard guided us through the set up of the materials and demonstrated how to properly utilise their functions. Although I’ve always found perfecting the minutiae of technologies to be mundane, i understand the importance of it. Once it is perfected that knowledge stays with you and your end product is the best it can be. Especially when it comes to sounds, which can be the silent killer of any film. If the sound is noticeably bad then your film is bad, no questions. Hence, I was keen to listen and get the exercises right.
The set up comprises of:
- Physically viable set up to get the best possible outcome in the recording of sound. E.g. Make sure you understand the physicality’s of using a boom and/or placing a lapel mic on the subject properly.
- Formatting the card
- Understanding the function of each dial, sound levels and data display reader
After the thorough explanation we were sent out in partners to put these skills into practise. Jack and I found a quite spot so that our sound would be clean and untainted by distracting background noise. We used a boom mic, placing it close quite close to our faces (in retrospect unnaturally close) and recorded each-other asking questions; each taking turns to check the levels and hold the boom. One thing that was important to take care of was the levels, in order to avoid the sound becoming grainy. In order to avoid this, the volume should peak at -12db, -10db at most. That is why it is always important to have someone on the track dials levelling the source of sound, as it is subject to change and links back to my aforementioned point; that dirty sound is extremely noticeable and important to do correctly. I noticed Jack talked a lot softer than i did and with less inflection, so once I found the perfect level position I did not have to alter it. In comparison, I tend to speak quite unlevelled so Jack had to adjust more often.
Overall is was a very informative lesson. Attached below is the audio that we recorded.
JACK PT. 1
