Jacob Bennett Unit 5 – Sound Production

Production - Sound Recording

On Set:
Boom Operation
The boom operator is an important member of the production audio crew in the film and
television industries, assisting the sound mixer on set by controlling boom microphones,
selecting, and placing radio microphones, and maintaining the audio equipment. The
primary task of the boom operator is to capture sound during each take. The boom
operator stands near the camera operator, holds the boom pole, and positions the boom
mic close enough to the actors for good sound quality recording, but not so close that
the boom mic or its shadow enters the shot. The boom operator is equipped with a variety
of audio equipment to aid in sound recording. The boom operator utilises a boom pole to
get the microphone as close to the performers as feasible. A boom mic refers to any
microphone that is suspended from a boom pole, rather than a specific type of
microphone. Shotgun microphones (excellent for noisy outside filming) and small
diaphragm hyper-cardioid microphones are the two most used boom microphones. The
mic blimp is a wind-resistant cover that fits over the boom mic and reduces ambient
noise. Because of its fuzzy grey hair, it's sometimes referred to as a "dead cat." A shock
mount: The mic is held in place by the shock mount, which is attached to the tip of the
boom pole. The shock mount absorbs vibrations, preventing them from being picked up in
the audio recording.
Positioning: The "H" position is the most common technique to hold a boom. It places the
mic close to the subject's mouth while keeping it out of the camera's view. Bench press:
This position lowers the "H" position to the chest, allowing your arms and back to rest a
little. When booming from above isn't an option, such as when a light from above creates
a boom shadow on your subject, scooping is a wonderful approach to get the boom
near to your source without producing shadows. Resting the boom against your shoulders
(shoulder rest) is a nice method to take a break without having to put your gear on the
ground. If you're holding your boom vertically between takes (vertical rest), make sure it's
resting on your shoe rather than the ground. Boom box: This handy device allows you to
store your boom pole without having to lean it against a wall or lay it on the ground.
There are many pitfalls you also want to aim to avoid when recording as a boom
operator. You must make sure you are out of the way, keeping a low profile. You want to
go to rehearsals and understand the blocking, so you are aware of how the day’s shots
are going to unfold. You want to be aware of lighting, make sure your mic doesn’t
appear in the shot as even the slightest part of a boom mic covering the light can cast a
huge shadow and ruin a scene. You need to pay attention to the camera and the
framing of the shot to stay out of the way which also means knowing the lens being used.
Jacob Bennett Unit 5 – Sound Production

Wild track (Room tone)

On the set of a film, without the camera operating, a recording of conversation or
sound effects is made. Wild tracks are frequently used to produce a clean
recording of speech that would otherwise be impossible to obtain due to the noise-
making instruments (e.g., wind turbines) that must be active during filming. I have
used room tone before during the recording of our audiobook and film scene
recreation to help transition between clips where the original room tone of the
audio clips cut off. So instead of there being a cut off silence, I could transition. You
must set up the microphones and audio recorders in the location you’re going to
be filming in. The crew must be settled, and you run a test take to find your ideal
recording levels. You begin recording and slate the sound effects. Record the room
tone for at least 10 seconds and for each microphone, position, and perspective.
Then begin performing your prop or recording your subject.

If you didn’t record a wild track, even if it was for only once scene, that scene now
has inconsistent sound and any gaps between dialogue have nothing to be filled
with but silence. The only other solution would be to cut any small snippets from the
dialogue recordings where there is no dialogue and to replace the silence with the
empty noise from the snippets however you would still here the cut between audio
files, and it wouldn’t sound consistent overall therefore room tone is a basic though
essential part of sound recording within film. Wild track is usually used as a sound
bed to accompany any additional audio used during postproduction. Therefore,
you must keep the audio settings identical with the settings which you record your
dialogue with so that the audio bed doesn’t clash with the audio overhead.

Wild takes (on location sound effects/foley)

The process of recording sound on site without the cameras rolling is known as "wild
takes." As a result, you'll be able to go a lot closer to things and record crisp, clear
sound effects. This is done so you don’t need to keep the microphone out of shot
when recording loud and clear sounds. You would have a directional mic, so a
shotgun mic positioned very closely to the subject to pick up the audio to pick up
quality audio from close up. So, for example gasps or a creak of a floorboard, you
wouldn’t record them during the shoot as the audio wouldn’t be picked up
however you place the mic by the subject and record
Jacob Bennett Unit 5 – Sound Production

the sound to then use underneath the scene’s original audio. Like the wild track you
would want everyone to be silent, so you only pick up that specific sound. This is
very useful in adding continuity to a scene and realism. The editor notices that the
entire silence before the next shot, in which we hear the two main actor
conversing, appears unsettling. The editor considers using music to fill in the silence,
but the director has instructed him not to use any music in this scene. It will be easier
to remove any background noise in any recordings, such as dialogue or sound
effects, if you capture a noise profile. Some DAWs feature automatic tools for
removing noise from recordings that use noise floor information. A Room Tone gives
more data than a few seconds of recorded background noise, therefore it's more
likely to produce a better result.

Postproduction :
ADR (Automated Dialogue Replacement)
ADR is the audio recorded in the studio postproduction. Where the actor from the scene
has to re-record, the audio matching the original clip. It is a necessary part of film as the
original recorded audio in a scene is never good enough and if it is then it has to be
heavily edited to remove counteracting factors like background noise and other
interfering factors which disrupt the conversation. It is vital to ensure the audio is as good
and as natural as it can be for a scene. It is added over and synced with the original
video using the original audio for reference. There are two main methods of recording
ADR, visual ADR, and audio ADR. Visual ADR is when the actor watches the original video
in silence and attempts to sync their ADR with the original lip sync. Or there is audio ADR
where the actor listens to the original audio as reference and tries to recreate it to match
the original video. When I come to recording ADR, I feel audio ADR will be the better
option as it is easier to match your own audio with it. Despite breakthroughs in ADR in
movies, there is still a lot of work to be done. ADR is recorded in what are known as ADR
sessions, in which an actor views a scene multiple times while listening to the original
production track on headphones to instruct them. They then re-enact each sentence,
matching the lip movement, language, and delivery. https://bit.ly/3v9ysMX
Another reason why ADR is an essential piece of film making is because when recording
the RAW audio, it picks up a lot of the surrounding sounds which can sound very poor in
post-production. As well as this any scenes where the camera is framed quite a distance
from the characters a mic wouldn’t be able to pick up much of the actors speaking
therefore using ADR is a no brainer and the director would have already of planned to
use ADR beforehand. As boom mics are directional up close and once the mic is moved
away from them the area of sound widens and all other sounds blend with the dialogue
making the audio unusable. There was no technique for capturing sound separately from
the moving images in a visual film at the start of the sound era, around the 1930s. There
was no way to duplicate the sounds, sound effects, or music. When the studios began to
Jacob Bennett Unit 5 – Sound Production

evolve into master sounds, hundreds of radio broadcast and telephone engineers were
brought in, many of whom had never shot a film before.
As sound became the 'new thing,' these new engineers became more involved in the
production process; yet their involvement influenced the stylistic developments made in
silent films in the late 1920s.

Foley
Foley is the reproduction of everyday sound effects which appear within film, this can
be as simple as someone walking down a corridor, with each footstep being
recreated during postproduction. The people who create this are foley artists, they use
every material and method imaginable to recreate the sounds within the film/scene so
that every piece of audio in the final edit is high quality. It is so important to use as
when recording the scenes for real the mic will not pick up the quieter sounds as they
are too far from the mic.

Some examples of foley sounds are footsteps, chewing, drinking, cloth movement,
keys jingling etc… These could be recorded on set as a wild track however echo and
background noise could interfere the recording, so it makes more sense to record this
in foley. Diegetic sound, or sound that exists within the environment of a film,
encompasses all foley sound. Non-diegetic sound, which often consists of music and
narration, is a completely separate thing. Foley sound recording is a given, even with
the right sound recording equipment and techniques.
Jacob Bennett Unit 5 – Sound Production

There is a lot of sounds to consider in every given situation if you think about it. A
different department is in charge of re-recording dialogue, or ADR – it's the most
prominent sound element, but it's far from the only one. Although foley sound is
recorded after a film has been shot, it is still required to record sound on location. For
film and video projects, proper sound recording is critical. The best audio recording
device for capturing audio recording is the RODE shotgun mic which is heavily
directional and would pick up the clearest sounds while avoiding any
background/surround sound from being picked up.
Foley's roots can be traced back to the live broadcasting era of the 1920s. Sound
artists would be hired by radio studios to produce effects on the fly and improvise with
the radio host during broadcasts. Jack Foley was a pioneer and a household figure in
the broadcasting industry. Jack Donovan Foley was born in 1891 in New York and died
in 1967 in Los Angeles at the age of 76. This talented individual desired to devote his
professional career to the advancement of innovative film sound techniques. And the
reality is, he was successful. Foley was the creator of the technique that carries his
name, and after spending so much of his life working in sound effects, he was able to
watch how other artists contributed to its evolution. Today, Jack Foley is regarded as
the "Father of Sound Effects in Film." He was a pioneer in introducing them in the
middle of a film shot using real noises like footfall, rain, and clothing movements.