A lot of people blame their tools and equipments when the job done is not good. If the movie or video sounds bad it is blamed on a low quality microphone, or the inputs in the camcorder or on some external factor. Of course these things matter when you are recording but with certain safety measures one can easily eliminate these aberrations.
A lot of film and video makers panic when at the end of the shooting; they look for sound technicians to sweeten the track. The reasons for these could possibly be the use of cheap quality microphones, using the on camera microphone while shooting, or the person shooting aimlessly pointing the microphone at the ground, sky or somewhere else except at the place where the action is, or the microphone being misplaced erratically. At times you can hear people‘s voices, humming sounds, buzzing sounds, whining sounds, hushing sounds or bumping sounds in the recordings. A high level of sound can be very distorting to the ears and too low sound level can conceal the good sound. The sound editing adds to the problem.
At the time of shooting film, the filmmaker gives the least attention to the sound being recorded. To the filmmaker, editing would involve axing the frames of the picture and with that the sound is also cut. It takes time and painstaking care and expertise to split the tracks, replace the bad sound and bring clarity of the soundtracks to the film. It does cost you to give a good soundtrack to the film. A little care while recording, using good microphones and headphones can help you from the trouble of bad sound and waste of time and money. A video can sound as good as film if a little time, care and attention is paid to the recording of the sound during shooting of the film. Listening carefully to the sounds helps in knowing the distortions and this comes with practice. You can take help of online literature or read books on sound recording and editing.
Tips to Make Your Video Movie Sound like a Real Movie
- A film movie does sound different than a video film. Movies are made by big production houses and hence a lot of detailing and costing goes into it, where as a video is made on a small scale and not too much importance is given to the sound aspect,
- The sound of movie is better because it is taken care at the production level itself. It is mostly recorded on analog machines and sample recorders of 96Khz/24bit. Mini-DV cameras have a better sound quality than the CD audio as the sound is uncompressed at 48khz/18bit.
- Using cheap and low graded analog to digital circuits create aberrations, distortions and noise in the microphone’s analog sound.
- It is sensible to have a good camera with flash memory recorders; this gives a digital sound quality to the film.
- Film sounds are great to hear because they are recorded at an EQ raise above 6Khz which is the maximum of human voice. This gives it a clarity and crispness. Where as video sound is recorded without EQ.
- The microphones used to record videos are of inferior quality than those used to record films. You can even have a separate sound recording system from the camera.
- Films use sound designers to match the tempo and mood of the movie. The post production correction and sweetening of the sound makes it so clear from the video. Video sound is not given such attention and care.
What Can You Do To Make Video Movie Sound Like a Real Movie?
The processes used for making video are intended for fast and simple operations unlike films. These video cameras are not hi-tech as the ones used for making films. Most of the people who record pictures lack skill and knowledge to record sound quality. Focus is given more on capturing the images. To get a good sound on films use headphones during recording. It is imperative to keep the microphone near the subject, use a piece of fur on the microphone and merge enough room noise only when necessary. Take care of EQ editing, placing the microphones in the right area and eliminate extra cluttering that is recorded.
Setting the sound levels carefully is an important part of recording process. A digital recording like DAT or flash memory has little space for correction and is difficult to clip or chop than in analog. It is good to use 6Db levels for your 0Db levels to keep the sound clean. Feeding single mono signal to both the L and the R tracks helps in salvaging the sound when you edit it.
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