What are some effective ways to deal with background noise while recording audio on set?

It is very important to listen closely to the environment for any extraneous sounds and then try to stop them or mitigate them! That means everyone needs to stop talking, the mics get turned on, and you listen in the audio booth and/or on headsets. Air conditioning noise, refrigerators, aircraft, freeway sounds, barking animals, and motors that turn on and off can easily be missed. Our brains tune them out but microphones do not! Position your microphones in such a way that they face away from those sounds and are shielded by barriers such as people's bodies. Face directional mics towards people speaking rather than downward.

The only tip here is not to settle. If someone says, "we can fix it in post." It'll never be optimal. Wait, move, or suffer through it. It's expensive to realize you're in a pickle the day of. Proper planning prevents poor production problems. Find a new sound guy.

Having worked on many films, I can tell you that even sound stages, like those at the major studios have their issues. Just becuase it's a sound stage doesn't mean you can't still hear sounds coming from crew members. Every sniff, footstep and paper shuffle can sometimes be heard. It is especially nerve racking not only to the First AD and Sound Mixer, but the Actors. Sometimes working on smaller or intimate sets gets the best results. Less people in the room, the better.

Anticipate BG noise IE location tour before with crew leads. The sound crew can listen for fans or engines, etc. And anticipate any potential BG sounds and prepare IE, have crew kindly ask someone to delay mowing their lawn, or is there a factory or school nearby to schedule around. Big budget projects do all these (sometimes) but anyone can use these strategies. But, as a filmmaker, I've had BG sounds that just happened despite planning that we couldn't stop and I incorporated them into the soundscape. Not loud voices or intense construction of course. But if you are sensitive to the moment and your story, you can imagine how the sounds might work. In that way, artistry and real life can find synergy.

No matter how thorough you are with your pre-production, you can't always predict what is going to happen on the day of shooting. Many is the time I've had to run over to workers with noisy equipment and politely ask them when their next break is, or if they'd be willing to stop working for the next 15-20 minutes. Working with people and being polite can help immensely. Being grumpy and rude to other users of your space will get you nowhere. Your background noise might be a couple of kids on skateboards making clunking noises, it might be a conversation between people you didn't expect to be able to hear, or it might be a piece of jewellery that a crew member is wearing ...whatever your challenge, solve your problem with good manners.

Ein drahtloses Krawatten- oder Lavaliermikrofon, macht Aufnahmen von Talking-Heads heute sehr einfach. Aber in einer Fertigungshalle oder gar vor CNC Maschinen ist das gute alte Handmikro, denen haushoch überlegen. Und ja, auch die gibt es mittlerweile drahtlos. Muss kein verm?gen kosten, nur bitte auch keine Billigheimer. Das r?cht sich sonst sehr schnell. Ach ja, und bei Au?enaufnahmen sind diese fusseligen Windschüzer eigentlich Pflicht. Die n?chste B?he kann unerwartet um die Ecke kommen. Und wenn dann dort etwas wichtiges zu h?ren war, das nicht wiederholt werden kann...

I’ve been 12 years in the video production industry and Shotgun microphones are always preferred when recording sound on location. Super cardioid microphones also great choice. In very noisy environments - dynamic microphones. A lot of unwanted noise can be taken out in post production too… just find proper sound designer.. i worked with such a person and he was able to completely remove airplane sound out of the dialogue and kept the ambience…

Equipment is expensive and we all look for ways to save in certain areas with lowered priced gear. Audio is NOT the place to cut costs. Brands like Rode are ok for prosumer level or capturing on the fly natural sounds, but they often can't compare to more professional brands like Sennheiser and Lectrosonics when we're talking about recording your main A-roll audio. One of the areas you'll really notice the difference is in the noise floor - in my experience Rodes have a higher noise floor, meaning you'll have more noise to take out in post and potentially lose some of your wanted sound in the process of getting it clean. Another area is wear and tear. I've had the same Sennheiser lav set for 11 years and it looks and functions like new.

A shotgun mic WILL pick up some background noise, an atmosphere wildtrack can get you out of gaol. If, however you are shooting a period drama, modern background noise such as planes, sirens, traffic etc will dictate what mics you use. ALL dramas nowadays will use a combination of radio mics and booms.This is an industry standard.The sound from a properly placed boom mic is always a warmer, truer sound than a clean, crisp radio. However, as a sound mixer, you're paid to capture clean, intelligible dialogue. Work with the wardrobe dept in planning how to conceal lavaliers. Is the costume material noisy? Wardrobe assistants will work to your instructions and in my experience they're usually better at placing mics than I am!

The closer and more directional the mics the better the isolation, but if some back ground noise is unavoidable and still audible make sure you have good wild track to help the editor out.

Da differenziere ich was gedreht wird. bei einem Werbespot braucht es einen Tonprofi mit einer Mikrofonangel damit nichts im Bild ist. Der kümmert sich dann um den idealen Abstand. Bei Tutorials oder Info-Videos an relativ ruhigen Orten mit bis zu 2 Personen, sind dei Krawattenmikrofone ohne Tonassistent oder Ingenieur handhabbar. Darüber hinaus und in komplexen Interview-Situationen, finde ich das alte Handheld Mikro meist am besten. Und bitte eines das so gedacht ist. Oft sehe ich jetzt, dass gerade jüngere, einen Lavaliermirkofon in der Hand halten statt an die Brust zu pinnen. Ein Lavaliermirkofon klingt einfach anders. Das ?ndert sich nicht wenn man es vor den Mund h?lt. Ist lauter, aber trotzdem mit mehr Nebenger?uschen.

I’m a camera man… so not a sound guy or a doctor. But here are some helpful tips Pay the Gardner to come back another day. Try and make sure all appliances are unplugged. Turn your phones off. And don’t mouth breath (remember to still breath)

On the shoot day, be sure to record at least :30 of "room tone" for your post team and make sure they know where to find it in the logs. Audio-savvy editors can sometimes match and dial out ambient noises like air conditioners, etc.

Another way to deal with background noise is to adjust the position and level of your microphone. You want to place your microphone as close as possible to the sound source, without being in the frame or affecting the performance. This will increase the signal-to-noise ratio and make the sound louder and clearer. You also want to adjust the level of your microphone so that it doesn't clip or distort the sound. You can use a headphone or a monitor to check the audio level and quality while recording.

It really depends what you’re shouting. Interviews where you can use a lav, that’s ideal. However, I would suggest having an onboard camera mic and shotgun mic too. Sometimes you want to hear the environment but also control it. Just don’t forget to capture room tone as well! This way it can smooth out the hard edits and be a base track. When you bring it into post, there are options these days to get help isolating dialogue through AI. Sometimes it works and other times it sounds like they are in a fish bowl.

Sometimes, the noise you hear on set is not from the environment, but from the camera itself. The camera's internal microphone or preamp can introduce hiss, hum, or other unwanted sounds to your audio. To avoid this, you can use a separate audio recorder that has better sound quality and features. You can sync the audio and video later in post production. This will give you more control and flexibility over your audio.

Have a dedicated audio recordist/sound person on the crew--and heed their warnings during and after takes. They're your focused ears, enabling you to focus on performance.

Using a recorder will give you full use of a much better pre-amp giving a cleaner signal and sound. Also utilising newer recorders that use 32 bit float recording gives you the best chance at usable audio through your shoot without the need to make your subject feel trapped on the spot and trying (most times in vain) to stay at a reasonable volume.

Agreed. For narrative work, I never send my audio straight to camera with the intention of using it as my primary sound in the mix. I would suggest having a decent on camera mic to record scratch audio though. I would also suggest getting an external recorder with 32-bit float. This allows you more leeway in editing to boost the volume without adding noticeable hiss. These types of recorders make recording audio more user friendly if you or your sound recordist is less experienced. It's kind of like using a tennis racket with a bigger sweet spot.

Sometimes noisy environments are impossible to deal with especially when filming with low budget. A cheap lav mic would almost always give a better signal to noise ratio and at the same time provide a second option when picking which audio recording to use. A much better and easier alternative than cleaning up in post or to ask an entire mall to turn off their centralized air conditioning.

Izotope RX10 noise reduction suite is amazing and can extract background noises, remove hum, plosives, deess, rumble, and remove constant noise sources like HVAC, traffic, refrigerators, etc. RX advanced has an AI feature plus more modules, but you are talking $1100 for the big boy.

When you absolutely have to clean up audio in post, try using either Adobe Podcast (drag&drop with impressive results) or even the integrated noise reduction tools inside the newest version of davinci resolve. These tools have come a long way in the last years and with the integration of artificial intelligence you can “save” otherwise unusable voice recordings

You should always record with two mics. A lavaleer mic to catch the speaker and a boom mic. I usually use a condenser mic i find it it eliminates background noise more then a dynamic mic. After you do the necessary adjustments in post.

also, record some of the background noise floor and invert the phase, combined with the original it will filter some of the noise. it can also introduce some comb filtering.

Nowadays the best way to deal with it is to clean it in post with AI. Most audio post programs like protools and even some editing softwares like premiere pro beta have already this function build in and it works wonderfully.

One alternative, from a documentary perspective, could be to incorporate this into your narrative in an authentic, humorous & endearing way. Admit the situation and visually document the source of the noise so you have the option of leaning into it. Imperfection might be quite relatable.

When filming on location it is essential to secure street permits and schedule local paid duty officers to control traffic and help eliminate as much background noise and neighbourhood elements. You can certainly work with tracks in post but you certainly don’t want to schedule ADR with numerous cast from different countries because you didn’t prepare for location filming properly. Engaging a local Location Manager will ensure permits are secured through the local film office and arrangements are made with the police department for officers, with vehicles if required, and Emergency Task Force (ETF) if you are using weapons.

Usually we always run boom mic as well as lav mics. If we have to stop for airplanes flying over and other nuisances, I always check with our audio engineer to check the lav feed isolated on playback. Usually the noise is only picked up by boom and the lavs contain the cleaner audio. If we have a good take and the lav is clean, we move on. I hope this helps!

The most important thing is the original performance by the actors that is sacrosanct. It is always possible to ADR after in post if there’s a noise and better than trying for perfection of sound if problematic on location or set. If the performance is there. Trying to replicate with another take can take time if schedules are tight and actors might not nail it the same. On Nostradamus I wanted a 5 minute scene with F Murray Abraham & Tcheky Karyo in one take as a scene emotionally at the heart of their relationship. After reviewing later there was a faint hum from the Ari. It was such a remarkable & honest performance I added a faint atmosphere in the final mix and retained a scene I might never have got again

I completely agree with @Matej Dimlic .In my personal experience there is noise which can be controlled and noise which cannot be controlled .In a good budgeted production the control can be bought about by a Sound Control Crew or Security personnel assigned for that.On the other hand the production sound crew can bring in some control .The factors that cannot be controlled should be intelligently masked in Post Production.