What are the steps to prepare audio for video recording?

As a Video News Stringer, I have to evaluate the my location to determine what sound will add to the dynamics of my video capture. If I am shooting a B-Roll at say an airport and need shots of a commercial jet taking off, then I will need to use the appropriate microphone to capture the sound of the jet engines as the jet takes off. My choice would always be my on camera mounted shotgun microphone. But then I have to shoot a Man on the Street Interview with a Passenger at that same location, then I would switch from the shotgun to using a hand held condenser microphone. And yes, the microphone will pick up the ambient sound of aircraft taking off in the background, but once again, sound plays a pivotal part of telling the visual story.

Excellent points. May I just add that one size does not fit all...even within the same shoot. Check your audio every time you move from one location to another or from one speaker to another. AND never let an audio cord touch a power cord. That buzz'll kill ya.

Excellent points, another critical part of capturing those Mic sounds is filtering out some of those sounds you don't want with sound proofing. Those foam cushions placed on the walls frame and bounce sound to your desired preference. Diverting sound is fun and this is a cost effective way to enhance microphone quality

When shooting interviews, consider the environment in which you are recording. If it's a noisy environment, I would opt for a lavalier mic and maybe place it a bit closer to the mouth than usual to get even better separation between the person and the surroundings. You can also use the persons body to prevent surrounding noises from reaching the microphone, simply by placing the person so that their back is facing in the direction of the most noisy areas. That way their body will be blocking soundwaves coming from that direction.

Sound is 50% of the battle. If you're building your kit, my advice would be to initially get a small, camera mounted shotgun mic. This will capture mostly what is in front of the camera while isolating the mic from handling noise. If you're going to be doing alot of interviews or piece to camera shots, a lavalier mic would be the next purchase. Correctly positioned, this will capture clear dialogue but listen out for clothes rustling, jewellery rattling and wind noise. Finally, a good boom mounted shotgun mic is ideal for professional sit-down interviews with no visible mic and fewer extraneous noises. With al all audio, it's critical that you monitor what the camera is hearing with closed back headphones or sealed in-ear monitors.

Unfortunately microphones don’t plug into computers - so you will also require an Audio Interface. An Audio Interface is a device that converts the sound, or “signal” picked up by the microphone (and/or instrument) into a format your computer and software can understand. It also routes the audio out from your computer to your headphones or studio monitors. They usually connect via USB.

In video news work, your audio recorder will be your camera. If you need to have a separate audio recorder in addition to your camera, then you will need to sync the camera and the audio recorder together to ensure the audio from the recorder perfectly matches the video from the camera. Today, a majority of Video photographers who have to work with a sound man will have the sound man use a time code generator and use the video editing software will do the rest. Best yet when shooting solo, make sure your camera has a good XLR mike mixer and again make the camera into the audio recorder.

Always make sure you have healthy recording levels. Usually I go for a peak input of about -10 to -6dB and will also use an external audio recording device such as a Zoom or a Tascam recorder. If you are using your camera for recording the audio, check if you microphone has a level boost function. Most R?de mic's have a +10/20dB boost which means you can set your cameras audio gain as low as possible to prevent too much self-noise from the cameras' mic-preamplifier. Most DSLRs have quite noisy pre-amplifiers which add more and more noise as you turn up the input gain, which is why an external recording device usually yields better and clearer results.

If you can, try to use more than one audio recorder. The track that your camera records may be of good quality, but it's best to treat it as the track of last resort. (It's also useful for syncing up other tracks.) You may want to develop the habit of carrying a small dedicated recorder and mike.

Most good cameras should have in their setup menu, a section for adjusting your audio. If your using an attached XLR Microphone mixer, that mixer should have sound level and gain adjustments. But also have a good set of headphones, and listen to sound through your camera. The again adjust appropriately for your levels and make sure your audio is not clipping. One rule I follow: Get your sound levels close to perfect, so you can capture your video on the first take. Having to redo a shot or interview shows your client or subject just how ill prepared your were. That can reflect badly on your part.

If you're a one-person operation, handling both audio and video, a clapboard may not be worth carrying around. It's actually easy to sync up your audio tracks in most editing apps, either automatically or by using the waveforms to line the tracks up visually.

I will pass on a word of caution. If your shooting a music video, or a Cinema style video, then editing your audio editing will be a key part of your video editing. But, if your shooting a client interview or shooting for use in a news broadcast, I never will edit the audio. I leave that job to the producer or the correspondent covering the assignment. Quite often in the field, I will work with the correspondent in the video edits, they will also have me add voice overs in the edits. I can then adjust the audio levels as needed and to the sanctification of the correspondent. Otherwise, I let the TV station or Network editors perform the necessary audio edits.

Working in broadcast audio, the post production process is critical to have great sounding audio not just on television but also for a more discerning on-demand platform. This could mean using industry standard software like Izotope RX to remove any unwanted noises, isolate dialogue or balance conversations. It also has extremely helpful batch processing when I’m dealing with similar long audio files.

For those looking for a basic audio chain to follow, I've found the following to work quite well in Logic Pro: -Expanded - helps kill room noise -DeEsser2 - helps tame sibilants and other aspirations -Natural Voice EQ - drops the low end and brings out upper bands -Opto Vocal (Compressor) - replicates analogue sound -Gain - boosts loudness -Limiter - kicks in when levels get too high -Level Meter - monitors the output of the track (keep between -14 and -12dbs -Tube EQ - gives extra warmth to the track These will be called something different in each audio work station and will have different results, but they are all roughly the same.

The industry standard for audio files (synced to video) is a sample rate of 48khz and a bit depth of 24bit. This can increase/decrease depending on platform, for example feature length films can go up to 96khz.

First step check if the audio is on before start videoing. Second, don’t forget to press “rec” on the audio device when videoing (if it’s separated from camera). Then monitor the audio while you film. Do the basics and the result will be great!

The second best person to have on set besides the Director of Photography is the Sound Mixer. Great shots and beautifully lit interviews mean nothing if they aren’t accompanied by great sound. Having a professional Sound Mixer on set will insure your success because they come prepared with all the various mic options listed above to solve any on-set issues. They also understand the magic of mic placement. Proper mic placement is an art in itself! That will help minimize things you don’t want to hear. Lastly, they’re dedicated to watching all mic levels during recording and catching any sudden or subtle sounds that you don’t want in your audio track. When crewing your next shoot, make sure you have a good sound person on set!

I have learned over time, not all clients will want you to perform the audio edits from your videos. You might want to have creative control over your video and audio, but your client has the final say.

When recording a band for video, it’s generally nice to get a line-out feed from the band. That should only be part of it. Consider: Is everything mic’d? Many times only the lead instruments and or vocalists are on-mic. Especially for an indoor, small-room, environment, bands may mic only the vocalist(s). Is their mix actually good? It is possible that the mix coming out of the board may be slightly off or even a bit distorted. Feeding sound to a noisy room has different requirements than that of making a recording. Bass and drums: the former may be mic’d but going into its own speaker; oftentimes the drums won’t be mic’d at all. In any case, an AMBIENT MICROPHONE is essential, preferably recorded on its own track.